Im running a high magic campagne with five players. The Problem is that one of them is an Arificer and plays some kind of wierd scientist. Because of this he grabs all magic items the party encounters for himself. He has about six of them but no one else has any. Has anyone a hint for me how to fix that?
You could just straight up tell him out of character to play fair and share the items if everyone else is annoyed at his loot hording and aren't having fun. You could control who finds the items. Maybe the fighter finds them all this time? Maybe a spirit of greed or something shows up and starts messing with him, then there's a quest to cure him!
I know at my table, we have a rule that all money is distributed evenly, and all loot is discussed between the party members. It may be a little immersion-breaking (i.e. The bard on the opposite end of the dungeon received a cut of the loot) but it stops conflict and lets us move on to fun stuff which is the point in the first place! Then again, all my players are long-time friends and we've all known each other forever so its easier to compromise like this.
Really depends on the group. You didn't mention whether or not your other players are bothered by this behavior?
Some groups can benefit from LeBattery's method of splitting all loot evenly, and giving things "intended" for certain players directly to them no matter who finds them or other circumstances.
My group, who are all fairly good friends, really like one upping & screwing over each other. I make sure that one way or another everybody does get cool stuff as the game goes on, but there are plenty of instances where a player will find something that is clearly not suited for their character. Sometimes they give it to a more suitable party member, sometimes they keep it just in case, sometimes they'll just go sell it. It's all very situational. If there is an item that I have designed/selected for a particular character, then I'll do something to make sure they get it (I.E save it for a time when they say they are searching the room, have it given to them by an NPC, etc.) I keep these items on the back burner and drop them in at an appropriate time, rather than just having them be in a chest in some room that any party member might end up looting.
You'll always have people who are way more into looting than others. I have a couple players who hardly ever say they search for anything, and a couple others who say "I loot the bodies" before the last enemy even hits the floor. Naturally, the latter end up finding more items/treasure than the former, but that's just their (and their characters') personality, and the personality of the others causes them not to really care.
You don't necessarily want to "punish" the player(s) that are more interested in loot by having their searching and looting give them no more stuff than the rest of the party gets for doing nothing.
It also depends on what kind of magic items you're giving them. If he's received 6 items that require Attunement, there's nothing he can do with half of them and it's pointless for him to have them, and you should probably talk to him about this. If they're all potions/magical grenades/scrolls/other expandable items, maybe it makes the most sense for him to collect them and the rest of the party doesn't mind on account of that.
If it's an issue, talk to your player(s). Truly the easiest way to resolve any such situation. If you don't want to do that, well, as I mentioned before I would recommend finding ways to have other players receive things; don't just have everything available to the first player who says "I loot the room/bodies." Let them do that, but say something like "While [X] opens the chest and begins combing through the treasure inside, a large weapon rack along the side wall catches your eye, [Y]. You see an impressively crafted, bejeweled long sword hanging in the middle of it."
Some players don't get engaged, especially if one already called out "I loot all the bodies." They feel like things are already covered, this player's already doing all that so they don't get to; but coming through corpses/rooms/treasure chests doesn't happen instantly like in a video game, it takes time. In this case, instead of saying "You find all this stuff on the bodies/in the room," say something like "So, while [X] starts combing through the pockets and gear of the body/chest nearest him, what do the rest of you do?" Split the treasure up, and it'll be much easier to give everyone the opportunity to loot. This kind of example would also be a good time to give character-specific items to the person who's supposed to get it.
Coda: Don't forget the almighty part of DnD; dice rolls. If two or more players want to search a single room or body, you could have them both make Investigation checks and distribute the loot as you see fit based on their rolls.
I think it’s important to see how your other players are feeling about this. Our group generally has the unwritten rule that whoever can best utilize the item gets it. Magic rapier? Probably the Rogue. Magic Plate armor? Probably the Paladin/Fighter. Magic Bow? Rogue/Ranger. Magic wand? Wizard/Sorcerer. Etc, etc. The gold is split evenly with 10% taken out and put aside for group spell casting like resurrection and identify and such. This is usually reiterated during session zero as a reminder. There’s not much point in having PCs carrying items that would better benefit the party if another member had it.
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Hello,
Im running a high magic campagne with five players. The Problem is that one of them is an Arificer and plays some kind of wierd scientist. Because of this he grabs all magic items the party encounters for himself. He has about six of them but no one else has any. Has anyone a hint for me how to fix that?
Magic items probably aren't just lying around for no reason. Maybe the items belonged to someone, or a group of people, and they want them back?
As for him taking the items, perhaps you could add attunement restrictions only clerics/warlocks/dwarves ect?
Another option is the Adventurer's League system. More on that here: https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/events/magic-items-and-rewards-dd-adventurers-league
You could just straight up tell him out of character to play fair and share the items if everyone else is annoyed at his loot hording and aren't having fun.
You could control who finds the items. Maybe the fighter finds them all this time?
Maybe a spirit of greed or something shows up and starts messing with him, then there's a quest to cure him!
I know at my table, we have a rule that all money is distributed evenly, and all loot is discussed between the party members. It may be a little immersion-breaking (i.e. The bard on the opposite end of the dungeon received a cut of the loot) but it stops conflict and lets us move on to fun stuff which is the point in the first place! Then again, all my players are long-time friends and we've all known each other forever so its easier to compromise like this.
Really depends on the group. You didn't mention whether or not your other players are bothered by this behavior?
Some groups can benefit from LeBattery's method of splitting all loot evenly, and giving things "intended" for certain players directly to them no matter who finds them or other circumstances.
My group, who are all fairly good friends, really like one upping & screwing over each other. I make sure that one way or another everybody does get cool stuff as the game goes on, but there are plenty of instances where a player will find something that is clearly not suited for their character. Sometimes they give it to a more suitable party member, sometimes they keep it just in case, sometimes they'll just go sell it. It's all very situational. If there is an item that I have designed/selected for a particular character, then I'll do something to make sure they get it (I.E save it for a time when they say they are searching the room, have it given to them by an NPC, etc.) I keep these items on the back burner and drop them in at an appropriate time, rather than just having them be in a chest in some room that any party member might end up looting.
You'll always have people who are way more into looting than others. I have a couple players who hardly ever say they search for anything, and a couple others who say "I loot the bodies" before the last enemy even hits the floor. Naturally, the latter end up finding more items/treasure than the former, but that's just their (and their characters') personality, and the personality of the others causes them not to really care.
You don't necessarily want to "punish" the player(s) that are more interested in loot by having their searching and looting give them no more stuff than the rest of the party gets for doing nothing.
It also depends on what kind of magic items you're giving them. If he's received 6 items that require Attunement, there's nothing he can do with half of them and it's pointless for him to have them, and you should probably talk to him about this. If they're all potions/magical grenades/scrolls/other expandable items, maybe it makes the most sense for him to collect them and the rest of the party doesn't mind on account of that.
If it's an issue, talk to your player(s). Truly the easiest way to resolve any such situation. If you don't want to do that, well, as I mentioned before I would recommend finding ways to have other players receive things; don't just have everything available to the first player who says "I loot the room/bodies."
Let them do that, but say something like "While [X] opens the chest and begins combing through the treasure inside, a large weapon rack along the side wall catches your eye, [Y]. You see an impressively crafted, bejeweled long sword hanging in the middle of it."
Some players don't get engaged, especially if one already called out "I loot all the bodies." They feel like things are already covered, this player's already doing all that so they don't get to; but coming through corpses/rooms/treasure chests doesn't happen instantly like in a video game, it takes time. In this case, instead of saying "You find all this stuff on the bodies/in the room," say something like "So, while [X] starts combing through the pockets and gear of the body/chest nearest him, what do the rest of you do?" Split the treasure up, and it'll be much easier to give everyone the opportunity to loot. This kind of example would also be a good time to give character-specific items to the person who's supposed to get it.
Coda: Don't forget the almighty part of DnD; dice rolls. If two or more players want to search a single room or body, you could have them both make Investigation checks and distribute the loot as you see fit based on their rolls.
I think it’s important to see how your other players are feeling about this. Our group generally has the unwritten rule that whoever can best utilize the item gets it. Magic rapier? Probably the Rogue. Magic Plate armor? Probably the Paladin/Fighter. Magic Bow? Rogue/Ranger. Magic wand? Wizard/Sorcerer. Etc, etc. The gold is split evenly with 10% taken out and put aside for group spell casting like resurrection and identify and such. This is usually reiterated during session zero as a reminder. There’s not much point in having PCs carrying items that would better benefit the party if another member had it.