Earlier this week, Thomas, one of my players who does the book=keeping for party treasure made the comment, its a "Pet peeve" of his, when players come into the game, get assigned cool items from party loot, then leave, with their characters taking those items out of the group...
How does everyone else handle that situation?
Do those 'characters' who fall out/go inactive' (or what ever you wish to call it), keep the gear they got/were given? Do you have them hand it back in?
Something else?
IN the past i've always fallen in the "the item was theirs, so what they do with it is up to them, so if they leave with it, its gone"..
players leave, and their characters take cool magic...
Moderator: Stik
Re: players leave, and their characters take cool magic...
IMO ... It comes down to how was it given to them. If it was part of a split, then its theirs. If it was loaned to them, then they owe it back. The bigger question is how the the character break off from the party? If there is a chance to role-play these situations out, then you can resolve it without the DM having to make any sort of ruling. If the player never came back, then the character could very well just have disappeared like socks in the laundry.
"Some terrifying space monkeys maybe got loose?"Re: players leave, and their characters take cool magic...
Most of the time the player in question just stopped showing up (or let me know they were dropping out and moving away).. So the character often stayed around the party (could be hired as an henchman, or assigned to someone till they rolled their own PCs up), TILL after a while the group as a whole decided "LETS purge" out these characters, and just make them all inactive/fully retired...
NOT even thinking of the loot they've given away to them.
Then after last session, after 2 characters nearly died, one because of "they didn't have a scroll of remove curse + cure disease of sufficient level to save one, but had the elixir of health to save the 2nd, when the treasurer was going through his list of party treasure, he remarked (via email) "I remember one scroll of remove curse and cure disease cast at 13th level, we gave to XYZ's character.. And he only showed up twice.. Grr, its a peeve of mine when we give stuff out to folks, who don't show back up, as that item could have been used by or for someone else"..
More of a griping, than a 'we need you the DM to step in and do something'....
NOT even thinking of the loot they've given away to them.
Then after last session, after 2 characters nearly died, one because of "they didn't have a scroll of remove curse + cure disease of sufficient level to save one, but had the elixir of health to save the 2nd, when the treasurer was going through his list of party treasure, he remarked (via email) "I remember one scroll of remove curse and cure disease cast at 13th level, we gave to XYZ's character.. And he only showed up twice.. Grr, its a peeve of mine when we give stuff out to folks, who don't show back up, as that item could have been used by or for someone else"..
More of a griping, than a 'we need you the DM to step in and do something'....
Re: players leave, and their characters take cool magic...
I feel your pain and agree, it 
"Some terrifying space monkeys maybe got loose?"
Re: players leave, and their characters take cool magic...
When a player leaves, I NPC their character until I can find a way to have them leave the party without breaking the story too much. And they take their gold, equipment, magic items and any henchmen with them, yep.
Re: players leave, and their characters take cool magic...
My approach to this really varies and depends on both in-game and 'meta' factors. The most recent time this occurred (with several items at once), the items which were kept and lost was pretty much a negotiated outcome with the players.
The main things I would consider are:
If there is a story reason why the character is gone (and maybe took a particular item with them), then it's gone. However, it could be that the item could be recovered, eg. by tracking them down; finding what they did with the item; trading them for it; etc.
If it's just the case that the player stopped showing up, then in deciding which items are lost, I'd generally base it on whether the item could be considered as belonging to that character, or whether it was more of a communal item which that character just happened to carry. For example, if the item belonged to them for a story reason (family heirloom, etc.) then it will definitely go with them. If that character was the only one who really made use of the item (eg. a fighter and the magic weapon they found), then it would probably go with them. However, if it were clearly a communal item (which may be evidenced by it being handed around to different characters at different times), then it's fair to say that the item should stay.
Some players might try to argue that everything found is group property (even that long sword +1 which only the fighter was interested in). However such logic can really only be expected to hold for as long as the group is together. Anyone leaving the group will reasonably expect to take their fair share with them. It might be the case that this can be achieved through means other than distribution of the magic items. For example, if the character decides to depart from the group to settle down, then maybe they don't need the magic items anymore, but they need gold to set up their new tavern. In that case, the remaining PCs could give up a larger portion of the group wealth in exchange for not losing the items.
The main things I would consider are:
If there is a story reason why the character is gone (and maybe took a particular item with them), then it's gone. However, it could be that the item could be recovered, eg. by tracking them down; finding what they did with the item; trading them for it; etc.
If it's just the case that the player stopped showing up, then in deciding which items are lost, I'd generally base it on whether the item could be considered as belonging to that character, or whether it was more of a communal item which that character just happened to carry. For example, if the item belonged to them for a story reason (family heirloom, etc.) then it will definitely go with them. If that character was the only one who really made use of the item (eg. a fighter and the magic weapon they found), then it would probably go with them. However, if it were clearly a communal item (which may be evidenced by it being handed around to different characters at different times), then it's fair to say that the item should stay.
Some players might try to argue that everything found is group property (even that long sword +1 which only the fighter was interested in). However such logic can really only be expected to hold for as long as the group is together. Anyone leaving the group will reasonably expect to take their fair share with them. It might be the case that this can be achieved through means other than distribution of the magic items. For example, if the character decides to depart from the group to settle down, then maybe they don't need the magic items anymore, but they need gold to set up their new tavern. In that case, the remaining PCs could give up a larger portion of the group wealth in exchange for not losing the items.
Re: players leave, and their characters take cool magic...
The current group doesn't really do the 'communal' property on magic.. It stays in party funds, TILL someone claims it, then its yours unless YOU trade it to someone else..
Re: players leave, and their characters take cool magic...
My group generally keeps a list of "party treasure" until they decide to sit down and divide it up. Once treasure is doled out among the party, it's theirs. If a player then leaves, that treasure is gone with them. It seems from your campaign posts that you have had quite a bit of turnover of players in the past. I think if I had players show up, get some loot, and then stop showing up after a session or two I would hand waive it and allow that treasure back into the party treasure.
Re: players leave, and their characters take cool magic...
Me toJadedDM wrote:When a player leaves, I NPC their character until I can find a way to have them leave the party without breaking the story too much. And they take their gold, equipment, magic items and any henchmen with them, yep.
but if that can't happen... it's just gone. Let em cry! 
The Borg of Dungeons & Dragons