Ninja Looting

[*TheFrozenWind]

I just sit back and say something if a gem is spotted >.> sometimes I loot, by I usually grind with Az, who always picks up a little something for Khasef, since a good mage avoids getting to close to the action >.>

I tried the ox thing once way back, when we had a group of 6 or 7 in the plane o' ice,
did it ICly and such, we had the ox distribute things and what not, but it was a fairly time consuming process,

Easiest thing to do is take it icly.

You're never obligated to party with a certain person especially if ICly they offended your character.

As long as it's not ooc, exclusion is okay, at least from my viewpoint.

[*MadPorthos]

Interesting point here, and a bunch of assumptions happen around this. I experienced a devastating raid on Carceri... raid is the only way I can describe it cause the six of us lay waste to the forces in front of us. Started out enjoying the fighting and I thought hey, ok this is odd, I see some of these dead bodies have popped up with that blue glow, letting you know that there is treasure... in fact, in groups of like twelve of them we fought, I'd see about half of them with treasure sometimes. Well, my character Animal did his job, frontline, ran up and focused on the biggest and baddest as far as I could tell. It was a constant fight and we looped the mount of carceri serveral times, without getting a single drop.

Then I started watching the yellow text on the drops looted around me and noted things like +5 full plate, +4 great sword, an axe named Death, being picked up again and again right after the kill. Not like ten seconds later after the fighting, but instead by the midget who had just killed the baddy along side me. Then I'd make kills on my own, and see a little blur and again, the midget was standing on the body of the devil I had killed with a 140 point crit. The blue haze would appear then vanish, and another ... heavy shield +5, or staff of vitalization would scroll up in yellow.

You see that happen for several loops in Carceri and ask a time or two for an item you want, only to be ignored or replied to with "Oi", then ditched as they run on to do the same again...

...Well the you might decide to join the grab fest. Not proud of it. But it's the ground rule that seemed to be existing at the time and I jumped in late. Funny thing was, out of the whole hour, only thing I got was a +4 greatsword. Several times it said I got things, "Animal of the Big Drums picked up item X", but when I looked in the packs... someone else apparently
got priority and the item didn't actually end up with me.

Realizing this, I figured sometimes it might not even be clear who got the item when we had three fighters in close proximity. Each one might have thought they got it, but been pre-empted by another.

In the end, I grabbed a few scrolls and potions, after they had been passed over by the others in the battle line who had been right next to me and now had run forward to the next fight.

Not having haste, that makes me a slower looter. Don't know why. Defintely slowly enough to give the time a person who is clicking madly on the target to get the loot manages to get there, then start running toward the next target.

Also I know that when I do manage to get a group together to actually accomplish something, roleplay wise... such as save an idiot who got killed by the Paladins in Mercuria, or to challenge the balors of the abyss, and we roleplay it, then it follows that the players state thier goals... hey, I'm looking for a bastard sword, hey if we find good cloaks, I need a better one...etc.

This sort of ninja looting happens most often at the times that some player says something like... oh, we're all going to Carceri for the XP, so anyone too low a level, get out... and if you want the loot, tough, you're here for the XP, right?

So in conclusion I may have been a bit annoyed... obviously enough still that I wrote this in reply on this topic, but I also have to say, its a form of roleplay also to be a greedy inconsiderate bastard. It's called Evil. I can't entirely fault a player playing thier character that way. Long as they don't play all their characters that way.

Well, that's my few cents worth.

[*Lost and not Found]

My Fated, Nym, goes by the rule of "who kills it, earns it".

While my Bleaker, Caldo, thinks that there is no need to chase after those bags. The "loot" is likely going to be something rather useless, no matter what drops.

But if your party is formed in Sigil Main or any of the other appropriate areas, bring up the topic on how the loot is shared, preferably in-character. It's rather easy way to filter some of the arsehat behaviour and to spot the characters your character would not want to party with, in-character.


Anyhow, I would like to present one aspect of everyone's mutual interest.

In SCoD, each and every character has two "Pools" of roleplaying experience.
The one that is relevant to us, is the one that is filled through player to player interaction. In otherwords, the "common chat". As long as you are near, or doing the talking yourself, this pool is slowly filled up. But the important factor is how this pool get's emptied, as long as you got points in this pool, you can get up to 2x of the normal experience reward when you kill a "monster".

Thus, if something like this goes on the Fields of Slaughter:

Player 1: Oi, this one had a Bastard's Chiv.
Player 2: Player 3, give a look, perhaps the chiv is better than yours.
Player 3: Hmn, mine is better, but I'd better keep my hands on it, in case a monster decides to steal my blade. ///Disarm.
Player 2: Agreed, it takes a special kind of person to carry a pile of steel.{Being Sardonic. }
Player 3: Huh? - Wait. - Brace yourself brethen, there is more of the lot coming at us!

I would like to ask, in the best case scenario, would you prefer to grind two hours to go up one level, or could you consider settling with just one hour to go up that level?

[*Mr_Otyugh]

http://z13.invisionfree.com/nwn2planesc ... wtopic=540 <-

[*SavageAxe]

Being new to ScoD, I had the same issue as the poster. I come from a server where we emphasized teamwork, and if a valuable piece of armor or a weapon was found, it went to the character needing it. We had our ninja looters, but many became so notorious that even evil parties wouldn't allow them along, they just didn't get it.

That is a very good point concerning evil characters, although evil parties, especially if led by, say, a LE leader, might have some rules enforcing loot sharing. Yet as much as one can roleplay such a scenario, or, say, a CE leader that demands ALL the loot, it's short-lived. No one wants to toil alongside others and be on the short end of the stick all the time, OOCly or ICly.

Also had an incident where on a trip to the Abyss, one powerful party member kept surging ahead the party, killing the creatures, then grabbing every single drop. We later learned that this character (an uberbuild) was "training" us and apparently expected to own all the drops. One party member even asked if he could BUY some of the loot the guy was picking up, and was rebuffed. Naturally, the remaining members of our party left soon afterwards, including myself.

Just to be clear: any party I join I expect to be a full, participating member of that party, including drops. I will also try to RP while hunting. I don't care if my character, or someone elses character, is an uber-tweaked powerbuild and/or the subject of DM love such that they kill everything we encounter; that still doesn't entitle one to every single drop. If we have a weaker party member aboard that is having a hard time contributing something, they can still RP and still help out, and also deserve some goodies The only time someone should get every drop is if it's roleplayed that way, or they're hunting solo, period.

Looting, like most things in NWN, can be roleplayed, and any more my character states right at the beginining that she expects loot to be shared amongst all party members. We find a bow and someone's in need, they should get it. We try to loot i rotation, although we're not anal about it. I think since the majority of loot is pretty menial, i.e, a few potions, scrolls, maybe a gem or two, we don't really need to govern every single bag. However, armor, weapons, etc, should be picked up and "held" for the party at large. There also shouldn't be a "charge" nor should you have to pay jink for getting that item from a party member. Of course, my current main character is NG, so sharing comes a bit more naturally.

I'm glad to hear that ninja looting isn't considered "Normal" on this server. I have read the rules but saw they were being ignored. They are "suggested" rules governing behavior, after all. For myself, they are sensible and self-evident, rules I should follow if I want to continue to have IC friends and associates willing to go put their lives at risk with me and earn jink.

[*StealthedAssailant]

Normally, discussing the contract/terms of your adventuring party is a very common thing in PnP before everyone sets out to dungeon crawl. Splitting loot is very much like negotiating a business deal amongest partners (it's better to do it before the crap hits the fan). Or you can out people in IG if they take something that they don't need, but that is rarely productive. Players sometimes need guidance or it is anarchy or the "every man for himself" frenzy.

In my opinion, I think you didn't have a bad group. I think that the rules were not made clear in the beginning when every hit the party button. Everyone needs to be given a chance to decline if they don't agree with the terms of profit sharing. Normally, I enjoy RP'ing the conflicts if someone steps out of line. I sometimes purposefully provoke this kind of random mass looting just to get an IC reaction from a CHARACTER to see where their alignment and their moral compass stands. Just keep playing is the only other advise that I can give, roll with the punches so to speak, there are plenty other dungeons with equal if not BETTER loot drops.

[*Minotaurs88]

It happens and anger should ensue..

[*WhenWizardsWar]

I agree with the original poster this frustates me to NO end and i see it ALL the time.

A system I use, if everyone follows it is pretty nice and effecient.

1-No one loots ANYTHING until after the fighting is done.
2-Designate one person to write everyones name down in their journal, in alphabetical order.
3-Go down the list one by one, in order and after each person takes a bag (No checking each bag first if you open it you take it no matter whats inside).
4-As each person loots, the tracker puts a + near their name in the journal one by one down the list and when everyone has a + sign the +'s are deleted and it starts all over, or an alternate is you can just keep tallying +'s so you can tell who has picked up how many bags.
5-As most bags often have more then one thing, yes some people get more then others, but this is where talking and tradeing comes into play.

Its simple, and I've had ALOT of success with this system.

Since everyone here is often super cooperative i think this system would suit everyone.

[*Ravel's Heart]

From an IC standpoint, it is one thing to play Haley Starshine when it comes to loot. Your character ought to be prepared to deal with that sort of behavior, and should handle it IC however you think he would: say something quietly, complain loudly, shoot the looter in the back...or whatever.

From an OOC standpoint, however, this kind of looting is antisocial at best. While I have occasionally been pained by the OOC transactions that occur in party chat that might just as easily have been IC exchanges, it is really easy to say OOC to someone, "Umm...look...Masa has scooped up the last five drops before anyone else had a chance to pick anything up. How about sharing a little?"

I would like to think that anyone engaging in this sort of behavior is being unconsciously discourteous. If the behavior persists even after an OOC prompt or two, I would just move on. There is really no need to enable that sort of thing.

[*Fell Star]

Several good posts here.

Best thing I've seen work is to OOC decide with your party from the get go how you plan to distribute loot--whether that's with one person looting, then doling it out, or if that's everyone taking turns, that's up to you.