Splitting loot

[NunoM]

Our gaming group is currently playing "The Age of Worms" adventure path and we decided to take turns as DMs. This has some consequences, of course, as each player leaves his character for a while and returns to it after a few levels.

In game terms, the characters decide to go off to pursue other endeavors for a while and return later, more experienced (i.e. with a level appropriate to the adventure to be played) and, most likely, better equipped to deal with the challenges of the new level.

As the subject states, my request for advice is about the splitting of the loot part...
Have you been in a similar situation? How did you handle characters leaving and returning later?

Thanks in advance!

[whitetyger009]

characters who leave the group for a time don't get a share of the party loot.  they are not there to get a cut.  pretty simple.  now what I have done is give the character an amount of cash equal to a standard share.  if they have been gone for a level or two then I instead give them the WBL difference for their time absent and let them buy equipment with that.  once they rejoin the group, there may be some spare equipment they can use.  some groups have sold off spare stuff and others have held on to it, so no way to tell.  but that is between the group and the character.  generally this doesn't make the absent character stronger than anyone else.

[dna1]

Usually when a character is gone they dont receive portions of the treasure.

Simple fix, just give the character a item or something when they return.

[veekie]

Yeah, just run up something else for them to do to acquire the appropriate gear to keep up with WBL.

[NunoM]

My party mates don't like simplicity!

We usually insert characters in the game (ex.: if a character dies and the PC builds another character) with the appropriate wealth for it's level, but most of the time those characters tend to be wealthier than those in the party. In short adventures, this usually isn't a problem, but with a long adventure path like "Age of Worms" this will become an issue...

I still don't know how we're gonna do this, but i ended up setting up a spreadsheet in Google drive for the group to record the equipment and loot being carried.

Thank you for the input so far!

[Nunkuruji]

Currently DMing Age of Worms, currently at the Spire

As far as loot the module provides
1. Some of the discovered loot is specifically useful against future encounters
2. Some chapters are far more generous than others, including some large potential wealth that is acquired depending on how clever the PCs are
3. Loot given is higher than WBL table

[Jackinthegreen]

Due to AoW having loot that is useful for later encounters (as Nunkuruji says) you'd best make sure everyone in the party is keeping the items that the path assigns.

As far as the other characters are concerned, I'd probably recommend you give them half the usual share of XP as well as loot value.  That way they're still behind, but not so much so that it creates a problem.

My last in-person game did a similar thing since there were two regular DMs and sometimes we had a third rotate in.

You might want to have the characters leave a bit of wealth behind with the party before going out on their own so the character being traded in for the session can get something that might be necessary for that part of the adventure.

[Sjappo]

Having the absent trail behind in xps is a bad idea in this case. Seeing that the absent player is the DM. It is usuele A bad idea to punish someone for being the DM.

Giving GP loot based on WBL is a pretty decent solution as long as you play on or slightly above WBL. I find that being able to spend every GP as you want gives more powerful equipment than from random or scripted loot.

[NunoM]

Aye... One of the main reasons for the loot confusion is that the player coming back, will be able to customize his equipment at will. While the players in the adventure path are limited to what the adventure brings them, cities they visit, etc.... and limited to the adventure timeline (i.e. they might not have time to wait for the ubber-charged magic items they want, to be built, even if they do have the money for it).

[whitetyger009]

the issue with the absent character spending his/her money on magic items that may be better than what the group has looted isn't much of an issue as long as every member is given the option of being DM.  that will still keep them on a near equal footing.

[NunoM]

Not really, in this case...
We've split the adventure path modules between us. We're a total of 7 players, 1 being the DM. The player that has just acted as DM for this module, won't be DM again for the rest of the campaign.

[Nunkuruji]

Most of the chapters in AoW have access to cities with high buying threshold. Buying items should not be an issue in the adventure path at all (unlike Savage Tide)

[nijineko]

we either dmpc or hench absent player's characters. works out great for us. we have a 'current character sheet caveat' to keep it fair.

[Sjappo]

Well, an other option could be this.

The DM PC shares in the loot just as if he had been there. Stop being DM for a bit and be a player. Once loot has been divided and shopping is done the DM PC will retire again and the adventure can continue. Caveat. Do this at a point when all loot is identified and the campaign is at a resting point, like in a big city. Do not do this when loot is shared on the fly in a dungeon to make better use of item X that has just been found.

[NunoM]

Thank you for the mini-spoilers, Nunkuruji (BTW, i've been restraining myself from reading your campaign journals in another thread ), and to all for the inputs.

We still haven't established definitely how we're going to do. That will be decided in our next session, because that's when the new player (the DM so far) will come into the party. We've just finished "The 3 Faces of Evil"
For now, we're engaged in filling up the spreadsheet online. The sheet calculates the amount of wealth owned by each character, along with the amount of wealth belonging to the party the character is carrying. It also calculates the various averages to help with the decision, later.

When the loot is calculated, each of the party members will be given the option of buying the equipment at sell value (i.e. full price for trade goods, half price for everything else), if they want to keep it. It's a sort of a reward for helping the party in acquiring the item.
For example: currently i have a "Ring of Protection +1" equipped. It's price is 2000 Gps, but the sell value is only 1000 Gps. If i want to keep it (most likely), i'll be paying 1000 Gps, which will come from my share of the loot.

If two or more players want the same item, we step up for an auction

[Nunkuruji]

Sorry for that bit of spoiling, however, it's one of those details I as a DM think that players should know ahead of time to prevent unfun situations if their character relies on items more so than other alternative builds.

Tip:

(click to show/hide)

Character knowledge should be reasonable to get more specifics. A knowledge local/geography/region check should let you know how large the town you're in is, a bit of commerce information, nearby cities that may be points of interest for commerce, etc. Get a circumstance bonus by visiting your local library or sage.

Still trying to wrap up Spire of Long Shadows ourselves, summer vacations causing conflicts.

I will also say that IMHO, the Forgotten Realms adaptation for AoW is a far cooler meta plot than the default.

[NunoM]

As a Duskblade (with all the Knowledge skills available, and "Knowledge Devotion"), i'm currently the know-it-all of the party

I'll insist for a while on the checks for that kind of info. We're still in Diamond Lake, which, according to the DMs description, is a very poor settlement. We all have the booklets that come with the adventure path, mentioning a larger city (can't recall the name now... er "Free City" ???). I can't wait to get there and get a hold on, at least, MW equipment...

I don't know about you, but our DMs tend to be a little cheap in homebrewed adventures and that even reflects on the pre-made settings. It isn't the first time we go into a store (in game) and come out empty handed :/

[Reidshot09]

i have to agree with WhiteTyger009. the easiest way to go about it would be to give them gold. personally i would let them spend it before they returned (if they wanted to) as reason to why they have the new equipment.

[NunoM]

Almost forgot about this...

We ended up using that spreadsheet i mentioned. We calculated the party wealth and it turned out to be more than the WBL for our level... because of this, and to keep it fair to everyone, the player coming in, came with more wealth than determined by the rules.

Thanks for the input, guys!

[macdaddy]

The fairest way I have seen it done is as follows:
1. Every session a person shows up, they get a bid point
2. When the party goes to divy up treasure, they use their bid points on items.
3. bid points used on loot are expended, new ones can only be accumulated by attending a session

Everyone has a chance at everything and if you get that holy +5 avenger sword, perhaps the paladin will be willing to trade his +8 cloak of charisma to your sorcerer.

A group I joined has implemented this mechanism to avoid fights that broke out over loot. I thought they were crazy. After a while I convinced them we go with a more communist/altruistic approach. We give item X to whomever is best suited for it, if two people really want the same thing, we look at their # of items and give to whomever has less, or at worst, just d20 it. Haven't had a problem doing it this way in... EVER