# Party Treasure: How Do You Divvy?



## Kastil

A recent discussion came up amoungst online buddies of mine on how party treasure is divided between players.  They are in a game I choose not to participate in (trying to limit myself to two games a week) and some of the other player's suggestions threw them for a loop.

For example, one suggested they use some sort of buying system.  Meaning, you have to buy said item at PHB price or some such and there can be bidding 'wars' ALA E-Bay.  If you can't buy it then and you're the only person the party capable of wielding it, the item is loaned to you until you pay it in full.  All money found is split equally.

Okkkaaay....that said (the short and skinny of it anyways), I will now state the way every group I've ever played in divvies treasure:

As above, all money is split equally.  Gems, with the exception of useful ones like pearls for the mage's Identify spell, are sold for 'cash'.

If an item is useful to any party member, it is given to said party member especially if it will enhance the party as a whole.  Basically we share the wealth and don't bicker (MUCH) like children.

Same goes for any magicial items.  Granted, it took some heavy convincing to tell the fighter of the group a magical bastard sword is better suited to them than the rogue of the party.

Do some of the party members have magicial items while my character doesn't?  Yes.  Do I care?  Not really.

In my opinion, as long as the party as a whole is balanced, it shouldn't matter who has what and divvying down to every red copper is just insane.  Perhaps if you were a band of mercenaries with no 'companionship-like' ties to one another, the nickel and dime system would be for you but most adventuring parties aren't like that.  We all pay our dues and shed our blood for whatever task we take as a team and as a team, we all get our fair share.  If not right away, it comes soon enough.


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## Terraism

I talk fast and see how much I can manage to weasel away with!


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## Wormwood

My favorite method of dividing treasure is to roll for initiative.

Losers weepers.


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## Crothian

Most of the money goes into a group fund for the party to decide to do with later.  Items go to whomever needs them.


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## Henry

Money is split equally.

Magic Items usually follow the policy of Need before Greed; the person to get the unarguable best use out of an item (say, a plate-mail wearing fighter getting the ring of swimming) gets it, then it's down to personal preference and bargaining with your share of the money.


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## clark411

Character Wealth System

Fundamental Concepts
All Items have a value equal to .5 market price.
All Cash Items have a value of 1.0 market price.
All Items bought at character creation have a value equal 0.0 market value.
All Items acquired out of encounters (say, by followers, rogue solo spelunking) equal 0.0 market value.
Save unique situations, Character Wealth never decreases.  CW the history of what you've earned in adventuring, not what you have on you at any given minute.  Selling 2 .5 value shields at .25 to buy a .5 value sword (at full 1.0 market price) does not lower your CW, for example.


Step 0- Sort out obvious items from non obvious items and Cash
In this step, the Paladin gets the Holy Avenger.. The Ogre hatin' ranger gets the +5 Dagger of Ogre Slaying.. the Wizard gets the Scroll of Prismatic Wall.

Step 1- Evaluate Character Wealth (CW = sum of market value)
Step 2- Lowest Wealth Character picks item.
Step 3- Re-Evaluate Character's Wealth.
Step 4- Return to Step 2 until no items remain.
Step 5- Divide Cash items (art, gems, coin) until all Characters are as close to even as possible.
Step 6- Record Character Wealth for each character at the end of the game session.

Step 7 (for Some)- Question why you put the LN Cleric with a tendency towards fairness and bookkeeping in charge.


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## ArielManx

All items, magic and mundane, are divided based on who needs/can use them most.  Sometimes one character comes away with more loot than another, but it all evens out in the end.  Items that no one wants are sold or donated to local folks who need them (like MW weapons to the local militia).

Coinage and gems are added together for a total value (those 100 gp pearls excluded), which is divided by the number of characters to determine everyone's share, and then everyone rolls a d20.  Highest roll gets dibs on the nice gems and platinum pieces...the poor schmuck with the lowest roll is left with the silver and copper after everyone else is done picking out their share.

We've found this to be the easiest and quickest method with little arguing involved.  We all hate dividing treasure - takes time away from the crux of the game - so we aim to get it done as painlessly as possible.  We also deem one player (me) to keep track of the treasure so there's no, "What about that shortsword we got off the bugbear?" "No, that was a longsword!" "I thought it was a scimitar..."

Ariel


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## Dark Jezter

All money is divided equally among the party members.

Gems and art objects are sold off, and the money divided up among the party members.

When magical items are found, they are usually given to the person who can get the most use out of them, such as the party's archer getting the _Quiver of Ehlonna_.  Magic items that are of little or no use to anybody in the group (such as a _+1 Guisarme_) are sold off and the money divided among the party members.


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## LcKedovan

Kastil said:
			
		

> A recent discussion came up amoungst online buddies of mine on how party treasure is divided between players.  They are in a game I choose not to participate in (trying to limit myself to two games a week) and some of the other player's suggestions threw them for a loop.
> 
> For example, one suggested they use some sort of buying system.  Meaning, you have to buy said item at PHB price or some such and there can be bidding 'wars' ALA E-Bay.  If you can't buy it then and you're the only person the party capable of wielding it, the item is loaned to you until you pay it in full.  All money found is split equally.
> 
> Okkkaaay....that said (the short and skinny of it anyways), I will now state the way every group I've ever played in divvies treasure:





Oddly (?) enough we had one guy in our group early on who insisted on calculating every cent worth. Like that suggestion. So if someone got a ring then they had to pay the rest of the party. It was a bit rediculous, especially when it was something say only the mage could use. Eventually the mage said "Ok, you can have it, and pay me the difference". Since they would lose money, and the usefulness of the item, he eventually got the point that working as a team and trying to be fair about magic item distribution rather than bean counting is generally more productive.

-W.


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## hunter1828

LcKedovan said:
			
		

> Oddly (?) enough we had one guy in our group early on who insisted on calculating every cent worth. Like that suggestion. So if someone got a ring then they had to pay the rest of the party. It was a bit rediculous, especially when it was something say only the mage could use. Eventually the mage said "Ok, you can have it, and pay me the difference". Since they would lose money, and the usefulness of the item, he eventually got the point that working as a team and trying to be fair about magic item distribution rather than bean counting is generally more productive.
> 
> -W.




There was a guy in our group for a while (Ariel mentioned him in another thread here as a "magic hoarder") who frequently insisted on magic items being purchased from treasure recovered by the party ("I'll hold on to the large icy burst bastard sword, even though I can't use it because I'm too small and I'm not proficient with it...but if you want it you can pay up"...or something to that effect).

I'm the DM, and I always want the treasure divying done as quickly as possible so we can get on with the story.  When he played we would sometimes need two or three hours just to divide up treasure...  

He would frequently argue in favor of magic rings and amulets going to his wolf companion instead of a PC that could use it.  That really infuriated some of the others.

hunter1828


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## hunter1828

ArielManx said:
			
		

> All items, magic and mundane, are divided based on who needs/can use them most.  Sometimes one character comes away with more loot than another, but it all evens out in the end.  Items that no one wants are sold or donated to local folks who need them (like MW weapons to the local militia).
> 
> Ariel




Two things you guys do that I really like:

1) Make sure new PCs and NPCs are properly outfitted.  If you guys have something better already than what was found you almost always insist on new members of the party taking the new stuff so they can do a better job.

2) Hand-me-downs: If one PC picks and takes an item that he/she already has a less powerful version of, that PC puts their old one back into the mix to be divided.  e.g. Ariel's character picks a _Ring of Protection +3_ but already has a _Ring of Protection +2_, you replace the +2 with the +3 and put the +2 back into the mix.

hunter1828


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## Thresher

Most of the good-guys games its a case of need before anything else and thats rather civilised even with the inevitable chaotic alignments. No one really gets all that upset if they dont get an additional toy if its going to someone who desperatly needs it, after all, theyre the ones who'll be looking after you if you buy a dirt nap later on.

The real fun is in the 'evil' game though.   
In an email to my DM I mentioned I was swapping out my CE dark elf for something far worse, but as a token gesture of love I did want it stealing everything before buggering off into the sunset. Well, the character did feel it was getting slightly gipped in the divvy it spent a lot of time gathering info for.
The result of said character nicking everyones stuff that physically wasnt nailed to them was in short.
"Delightful"
Man! Some of them spat the proverbial dummy, threating dire acts of violence and other unmentionables if they ever caught it, it was bloody funny and taken very personally by one guy. But I nearly broke a few ribs trying not to be screaming in diabolical laughter.
Now, the evil characters all woke up one day with a little iron ring on their finger which so far has caused immense amounts of agony and cant be removed if they try physical violence on each other. So far no one has managed to gank anyone else successfully, but I think its only a matter of time before someone bites a finger off and goes psycho.
As for loot divvy in that group of characters its sort of a mix of need and whatever you can steal, we dont have a rogue so the stealing is pretty minimal so far. The characters do realise that they are in a situation of being surrounded by vile goodness and low on hit points, they may be evil but they arent stupid enough to deprive someone who is 'useful' to them in the inevitable scraps they get into. At the moment its a LE cleric, a LE fighter, who get along quite nicely, then theres the NE Orc barb who's mostly fair if a bit self centred and lastly, the CE succubus/incubus who is played true to part as I can to being a machine of molestation and evil incarnate. Unfortunatly for the rest of them the fiend, as much as they would like to tie to the boat anchor and send to the bottom of the ocean, dosnt sleep and is constantly reading their minds so they cant really gip it on the lewts. However fortunatly for them, the fiend isnt really that into trinkets but it is looking into ways of getting them to sign a bit of paper in their own blood and is quite happy taking its 'share' in captives or any open orifice presented to it as a trade.


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## Desdichado

Crothian said:
			
		

> Most of the money goes into a group fund for the party to decide to do with later.  Items go to whomever needs them.



That's essentially what we do.  Although we deviate substantially from the "kill a monster, take it's treasure" paradigm anyway, so it's not as much of an issue as it would seem.


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## drnuncheon

Two games, two very different methods of dealing with it.

In the Freeport game, it's very loose.  Items are swapped, sold, traded, given to cohorts, all with the thought that it will even out in the end.  Since there's only two players, they're probably right.

In the online Planescape game, we tally up the total value of the treasure and split it into 7 parts - one for each member and one of 'party funds' which go towards things that benefit the party as a whole - rent on our 'home base', items that benefit everybody (like the lenses of _identify_ that we bought, since we lacked a wizard).  If someone wants a particular item, they 'buy' it at book value.  Anything we don't want, we sell.  This works OK because it's a high-level game, and the treasure isn't largely bound up in a single item like it might be in lower levels.

J


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## DMScott

It depends somewhat on the characters involved (roleplaying and all that), but the basic structure is usually:

- Distribute items to those best suited for them as they're found

- Unwanted items and all other valuables go into a party kitty for conversion to cash when possible

- Party money is used to replenish group assets (mostly healing items, also teleportation scrolls, and top up a fund to raise dead members or otherwise pay for necessary spellcasting)

- The remainder can be distributed to group members upon request. Many just take enough to have some walking-around-money, some take their full share

- Those who didn't take their full share agree as to how the remainder of the money is to be spent - usually on a big ticket item for one party member

That way, instead of having everybody accumulate their own money and take care of their own stuff when they get enough, usually one or two members will get a shiny new magic item or upgrade to an existing item each time the group hits town. A vaguely communist setup, but it works well enough. Those who take a full share in step 4 handle their own upgrades and such; usually it's character personality that determines who does this rather than player personality. For example, a wizard has ongoing spellbook expenses that usually mandate taking a full share, whereas the same player running a barbarian might only take enough out for the obligatory carousing between adventures.


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## mmadsen

A few Articles of Agreement:

*Article One*
Every man shall obey civil command; the captain shall have on full share and a half in all prizes. the Master, Carpenter, Boatswain, and Gunner shall have one share and quarter. 

*Article Seven*
That Man that shall not keep his Arms clean, fit for an Engagement, or neglect his Business, shall be cut off from his Share, and suffer such other Punishment as the Captain and Company shall think fit.


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## diaglo

the only thing i require of my fellow players:

who is carrying what.

just b/c the stuff is equally divided doesn't mean it goes into some computer generated bag of holding and can carry infinite number of coins.

otherwise we divide the stuff up evenly. with magic items going to those who can use or need them the most.


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## Wombat

I let each party work it out for themselves.

I rarely play, only gm, I don't get my hands dirty with such decisions, although I sometimes throw in NPCs who mess up smooth workings


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## Limper

We divy based on who can best use it as our first priority for magic and equipment.

Cash (and gems and jewelry and art etc.) is an even divy.


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## Mark

Although ultimately this needs to be something the players agree to do, I'm adding this to the DMing Advice thread.

Sometimes the metagaming of players can cause an inequity in the division of treasure that turns the actual character relationships upside-down, and a DM should have some options to steer the division, or to suugest to the players, so that they can best manage to survive through high levels in a campaign.


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## Limper

> Sometimes the metagaming of players can cause an inequity in the division of treasure that turns the actual character relationships upside-down, and a DM should have some options to steer the division, or to suugest to the players, so that they can best manage to survive through high levels in a campaign.





Its not the metagaming of the players that causes the imballance its the DM's choice of treasure.


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## alsih2o

http://www.gamespy.com/comics/nodwick/nodwick/dragon/nodwick07.html


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## dagger

Yea this is what we have been doing for years as well:


"Two things you guys do that I really like:

1) Make sure new PCs and NPCs are properly outfitted. If you guys have something better already than what was found you almost always insist on new members of the party taking the new stuff so they can do a better job.

2) Hand-me-downs: If one PC picks and takes an item that he/she already has a less powerful version of, that PC puts their old one back into the mix to be divided. e.g. Ariel's character picks a Ring of Protection +3 but already has a Ring of Protection +2, you replace the +2 with the +3 and put the +2 back into the mix."


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## kigmatzomat

Kastil said:
			
		

> A recent discussion came up amoungst online buddies of mine on how party treasure is divided between players.




Being naturally LN, I *want* a system like *clark411* uses, especially as a player when the GM doesn't apply any logic to loot.  I've been in games where one guy ends up with 85% of the party's wealth.  I didn't like it, even when I was that guy.  (As the fighter I got a ring of regeneration, the sentient mage-bane blade, spiffy armor, and by dint of being the only non-elf the ring of sustenance; the next best character had a sword +2, chain+2 and a cloak+1 at 9th level.)  

It wouldn't have actually changed the distribution of wealth but maybe the GM would have gotten the hint when I owed the party 390,000gp.  

In the games I run I keep a pretty close tab on the distribution of wealth.  Ignoring party items that someone is just holding (rod of security, lantern of revealing, cube of force), I try to make sure that I don't give out too many arcane-only items or a single hyper-powerful weapon.  Roughly every other level I run an audit to make sure everyone is in the same basic class of wealth and make whatever adjustments necessary to future treasure rolls to compensate.


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## Nifft

In the group that I DM, they seem to be very Communist -- "to each according to his need", and all that. What they can't use, they sell.

They never bother to add up exactly how much loot each one has -- and I exaserbate this by having non-DMG items as primary loot, such as multi-function items, Psionic tattoos and a symbiont. Generally, each one feels slightly poor but equal, which is how I like them. 

 -- N


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## Mark

Limper said:
			
		

> Its not the metagaming of the players that causes the imballance its the DM's choice of treasure.




You'll have to be more clear.

Players' metagaming absolutely can cause an imbalance, as I stated.  I've seen a six foot six inch tall, 250 lb. male shout down an entire table of smaller players regarding the distribution of treasure to get the best of the items despite his character being the lowest level, weakest character in the party, and supposedly not interested in wealth or treasure.  Clearly a case where player metagaming changed the face of the game.

Whether through bullying or manipulation, greed of a player (rather than a character) often has an influence on how treasure is divided in gaming groups.

As to a DM's choice of treasure, I can see that as well but I'd say it is nearly impossible for treasure ever be available for perfectly equal distribution.  So unless you are pointing out an extreme case I'm not so sure I am following your point.  Can you elaborate?


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## diaglo

i've also seen DMs hand out magic hand over fist.

the one true munchkin in the group asked for as much as his character could carry. the rest of us more than oblige. we were initially planning on just selling the items as mundane. just to piss of the DM.  

but it was better to give it to the munchkin. that was what made him happy. and made the rest of us cackle with glee as the DM tried to give us more and more items. 

edit: read the story hour in my....


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## Leopold

Sum of all loot/[(Total number of PC's+NPC's)+1 for the company treasure]


this way everyone who can get something get's something and in emergencies people can dip into the company treasure which constantly keeps getting refilled.


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## Urbannen

This is a system I worked out for one of my groups:

Depletable magic items are considered party treasure, unless taken specifically for personal use (i.e., potions of healing and scrolls to be added to spellbooks).  The thinking is that until the party breaks up, all the depletable magic items are used to help the party, thus they shouldn't be counted against the character's share.  

A tally is kept of the value of permanent items and personal use items taken by each character.  When new items become available, an effort is made to balance out each character's tally.  

Monetary party treasure is kept in the party until the party decides to split it up.  Party expenses, including scrolls and potions, are bought with party treasure.  


This system is not as strict as I would have had it - I prefer strict division of personal and group treasure.  However the opposite end of the spectrum is the player that tries to use fast talking to get the party to finance things he's too cheap to buy for himself.


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## Limper

Mark said:
			
		

> You'll have to be more clear.
> 
> Players' metagaming absolutely can cause an imbalance, as I stated.  I've seen a six foot six inch tall, 250 lb. male shout down an entire table of smaller players regarding the distribution of treasure to get the best of the items despite his character being the lowest level, weakest character in the party, and supposedly not interested in wealth or treasure.  Clearly a case where player metagaming changed the face of the game.
> 
> Whether through bullying or manipulation, greed of a player (rather than a character) often has an influence on how treasure is divided in gaming groups.
> 
> As to a DM's choice of treasure, I can see that as well but I'd say it is nearly impossible for treasure ever be available for perfectly equal distribution.  So unless you are pointing out an extreme case I'm not so sure I am following your point.  Can you elaborate?




Ahhhh your position now makes sense to me... I would call that Player intimidation not metagaming.


Sorry


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## howandwhy99

*George Burns while Rome*



			
				diaglo said:
			
		

> the one true munchkin in the group asked for as much as his character could carry. the rest of us more than oblige. we were initially planning on just selling the items as mundane. just to piss of the DM.
> 
> but it was better to give it to the munchkin. that was what made him happy. and made the rest of us cackle with glee as the DM tried to give us more and more items.



You know I can't figure out who this is.  Must be me, huh? 

Actually, our group doesn't really divide treasure equitably.  We prefer a more realistic method.  We give/take/fight/steal/and hide treasure from the other players.  This gives us some incentive to find stuff before the others do.  

Plus, we have a halfling carryall who willingly hauls all our loot in some magic bag.  Currently, my PC has about 30 gp to his name (minus a few magic items).  He's never really needed much, though, as this "Fiddle" character willingly buys him stuff.  Not a bad deal really.


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## diaglo

howandwhy99 said:
			
		

> You know I can't figure out who this is.  Must be me, huh?




another group. i'll tell you about it this weekend.  

i was just pimpin the story hour.


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## Xeriar

In the main world I play in (which spans several campaigns) my characters become a 'manager' of sorts.  They have most of the equipment, money, jewelry etc.

It gets assigned according to party need, spreading around defense, offense and other magics as best appropriate.


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## Voadam

Starting in 3.0 we started having magic items we could sell, items we could buy, and other real uses for money such as spell buying and upgrading existing items.

My eldritch knight character is good but very mercenary, while the paladin is good but forgetful about details which led to some acrimony over items and gp splitting. i.e "My paladin will take the cloak of charisma +4, your wizard can have the dagger +1 and we each get 500 gp from this loot! Hmm, if I sell this cloak for 4,500 gp I can then get a . . ."

We settled on this system which has worked well for us:

1 healing wands and potions are considered party treasure and we keep a group store of diamond dust for restorations, just in case.

2 left over loot is split evenly among the party.

3 magic items are to be sold as a default and are valued at our fencing sale price not buying price (1/2 market price).

4 PCs can buy out loot items with their share of treasure at 1/2 market price (what we could fence it for).

5 plot artefacts do not count as treasure.

Usually we have enough cash to buy any loot items we want and usually there are specific minor items we'd rather buy than random more expensive ones we find.


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## ledded

Kastil said:
			
		

> <snip>.
> 
> In my opinion, as long as the party as a whole is balanced, it shouldn't matter who has what and divvying down to every red copper is just insane.  Perhaps if you were a band of mercenaries with no 'companionship-like' ties to one another, the nickel and dime system would be for you but most adventuring parties aren't like that.  We all pay our dues and shed our blood for whatever task we take as a team and as a team, we all get our fair share.  If not right away, it comes soon enough.




We do pretty much the same thing, though there is often some very fun in-character bickering that goes on over stuff.  Some characters tend to hoard magic stuff they dont really need sometimes, while others will accumlate just a few things but they are the most powerful/expensive.  Nobody really minds, though my only real rule is that if you claim an expensive magical item, dont use it, then sell if for huge cash the first time you get a chance then be ready to split that cash.  Havent had to use that rule though, because we manage to do pretty well at splitting;  however, our DM gives out scoop like the Governor of Texas gives out reprieves...


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## orchid blossom

Our group does what most of the others seem to, give out treasure according to need/best use and split money evenly.

Every few levels we do an accounting, adding up all our characters equipment, magical or mundane costing over something like 20gp.  If anyone is far, far behind everyone else, we make sure they get special consideration the next couple times we divvy treasure.


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## Nighthawk

IME, the division of treasure usually produces strong reactions in the players. The only thing I prefer is that the players, with GM input if desired, discuss this issue before the campaign starts. Otherwise, it can become a sudden explosive issue in which people say and do things that may be regretted later (not to mention taking up far too much game time).


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## Shallown

My group has settled on this method as the differences in the division of spoils grew larger. During the adventure Items were given to whoever could utilize them best. This was often obvious and done without arguement. During time periods when the treasure was collected and fenced a character could throw in whatever items they had as part of the group then everyone figured out what they were worth and then group treasure was divided to even things out.

Example : Party goes through several adventures fighting a group of rogues and thieves so the rogues/scouts in the party rack up on stuff they can use best. After several many sessions (usually like 6-8) they get to a major city and settle up which means if you don't want to keep it you throw it in group treasure and then everyones personal wealth is computed. Most likley the rogue/scouts are still ahead with their newly found items so the Group fund is split so every one has an even share as possible. Ie the rogue/scouts may pick upmostly pocket change while the rest get enough to upgrade to match the Rogue/scouts. It is not a penny pinching nickel dime system just a ball park figure. Some items of use remain party treasure, like the folding boat which no one wants counted against thier peronal booty but is most useful to the group. 
Also the party fund gets a share to buy general healing, ressurrects and pay group fares, taxes and other unexpected cost. 

Just the  way they do it in the Groiup I gm. Wasted a whole session figuring the system out and has only been applied once. Will be ineteresting in 5-6 sessions when they get to a time and place they can do it again.

Those that think the best items should go to the best suited hopefully realize that this distrubites the power/items evenly which in the long run makes the ability to work as a team better. If the party keeps ending up with killer fighter stuff and no mage stuff how does that help the party. Yeah in the short run dungeon day to day fight for life it does but when the dust settles it pays to have that power spread around and not have all the eggs in one basket.

later'


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## Steverooo

"Need over greed" sounds good, but doesn't always work...  The last group I was in, we had a Human Paladin, my NG Elven Ranger, a Half-Orc Cleric of Gruumsh, a Dwarven I-don't-know-what spellcaster, a Human Fighter, and a Halfling Rogue.  We killed a Boarclops (giant warthog-headed cyclops), a fireballing Troll, and his chain-shirt-wearing Lizardfolk allies.

Once the regenerating Troll was down, everyone else ran off, yelling "Somebody finish that off!", so I did, and searched the body.  I found a rod-sized Wand of Fireballs (I knew what it was, as he'd used it on us, first, and I made a Listen check to overhear the command word), a pair of bracers (which magically resized to fit me, when I tried them on), a masterwork bow, and some other stuff.

After finishing the fight, we collected the gear from the Lizardfolk and others.  The Paladin (wearing a chainmail shirt) said if any of these shirts were magical, he wanted it.  I objected (being able to use only Light Armor), saying that if they were Mithril, I wanted it (he could have any magical steel).

Then, thinking our group the standard "All for one, and one for all" type, I revealed the goods I'd found, and that the bracers were magical.  The Fighter immediately tried to lay claim to the bracers!  This brought up how the treasure would be divided...

Meanwhile, the Cleric of Gruumsh was "secretly" casting _Detect Magic_ on the bow, revealing it to be magical.  He then tried to "pick it up out of the treasure pile" despite the facts that my PC had it, and had taken all the bows and put them into his _Quiver of Ehlonna_ (after asking if anyone wanted one, and getting no answers).

I pointed out to the GM that spells must be cast "in a strong voice" (according to the Verbal Components section of the PHB), and that hearing NORMAL Conversation was DC:0, and asked to make a Listen check to hear it.  Naturally, I succeeded, and the Spellcraft check to ID the spell did likewise...

I had asked, before this, if anyone could _Detect Magic_, and no one had said they could.  Naturally, I was a bit disgusted with the HO, but I said nothing.

So we rode off.  Along the way, the HO asked if he could "see the bow you took off that Troll".  So my PC asked him, "You mean the one that's magical, that you weren't going to tell us about?"

Then, like an idiot, instead of keeping hold of all the magic items (and I believe that I had all of them, at that point), I re-opened the discussion on how to divide them, and in order to prevent anyone from thinking that I was trying to keep them all, I handed the wand to the Dwarf to see if he could use it (as the Halfling had no Use Device skill), gave the bracers to the Fighter, and the bow to the HO...  That turned out to be a mistake.

After getting to the castle of the local lord, we agreed upon how the goodies were to be split.  I asked to see the bow to Evaluate it, and the HO replied "Sure, come by my room, later...  There's this trick we do with apples..."  He then left the room, as I used my one rank of Sleight of Hand to pull the bow off his back.

A few rounds later, he was back, yelling and screaming, and attacked my character.  I won initiative, and tried to tangle him.  He was slowed, but not stopped.  The councillor, there in the room with us, called for a halt (after the HO had taken his turn, and missed).  I halted.

Then I get this E-mail from the HO's player, about how he really didn't care about the bow, and would drop this PC if it was a problem, and how he was only doing this (laying claim to the bow when, by the agreement we'd just hashed out, he wasn't entitled to it) because he was RPing his character, etc., etc., blah, blah, blah!

Next thing, in-game, his HO attempts to grapple my PC... by the neck!

At this point, after having just been through a bad gaming experience, and having already told the other players/PCs that I really wasn't interested in being part of another party that didn't work well together, I rolled a Tumble check to get under the table, and posted a note that I was gone, then dropped the game.

The division of treasure I left up to the remaining PCs.      I suppose the Fighter kept the bracers, and the HO got the bow.  Don'know what happened to the wand, as I was the only one who might have been able to use it (one Rank in Use Device), and knew the command word.

The game folded soon after, though...

Nope, "Need before Greed" just doesn't always work!


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## TuDogz

Step 1: Total cash, gems, artsy bits
Step 2: Total magic at 0.8 of DMG list

Add Step 1 & 2 then divide by number of party members.

This is your share.

Now, everyone interested in items rolls dice.  High number picks first and run down through the numbers.  Run through them again and again untill nobody is interested in remaining items.  Items are purchased at .8 of DMG list and paid for out of your share and personal funds.  Any unwanted items are sold off at 0.8 list (arrangements for easy fencing handled much earlier in the game via roleplaying).

This is our basic system.  It is mitigated on occasion by items deemed "party use".  Members frequently loan each other cash to allow them to purchase items beyond their means.  It is a meta-game method but it is quick and keeps all the characters at the same financial/magical power level.


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## Sabathius42

Our group is running a pretty militant communism.  Everything we find (with the exception of what the rogue finds when hes not in visual range of the party) is marked down into "the ledger".

All items we find are distributed to the person most likely to use it.  For items everyone could use we put our head together to figure out who is will MOST benefit.  All gold/gems/art/etc is kept in a huge bag of party treasure and you can dip into the bag to buy something at any time without asking.

When the bag starts to get full, we stop in somewhere and purchase some items with the loot that fill in gaps that need filled (i.e. making sure everyone has a magic weapons and a couple healing potions).

The rogue has his separate list thats "his" that he picked up out of sight.

DS


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## Greybar

Firstly, *mmadsen* that's a great link.  Yoink'd with a Thank You.

Secondly,
The group I GM is interesting to me.  They are very easy going about it, perhaps because much of the magic has been obviously a match for a player or for none at all.  One PC has become the keeper of the loot, and seems to have been (in-character) browbeating or subtly gathering nice stuff.  Which is probably very well balanced by the fact that he's the one burning XP to make them things on a regular basis too.

Most campaigns I've been in of late are not typical "adventurers" out for the heroics, but people pulled in by fate.  The exception is a space-opera game in which I would have loved to have found mmadsen's pirate link, since I was the captain laying down the rules for splits and such.

john


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## Clint

My group uses Voadam's system to great success, although we didn't know that it had a name when we came up with it. 

-Clint


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## shoplifter

IMC, gems that aren't usable as components are sold, total gold is divided into # of party members, plus one share for the group fund. Items are distributed according to need, and the party attempts to find buyers for those that aren't useful.


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## Zappo

Another commie here. 
 Both in the campaigns I DM and in those I play in, the party divides loot according to who needs what or who can make the best use of what. Neither me, nor the other DM put treasure in the adventure according to the PCs' classes and skills; we put what's logical for the adventure to be there.

 This means that often the party lacks key magical items, or has useless stuff. The junk will be sold, the missing gear will be bought. No formal rules really, a typical division of loot would go something like "can I take the bracers? I only have AC 15..." "sure" "hey, what's the situation with potions of healing?" "only one" "get three, I'll get the last one" "anyone wants a dagger +1?" "nah" "ok, I'll keep it as a side weapon" "take the gems, we'll sell them later" "wizzie, want this scroll?" "I already know that spell" "I've got UMD, can I keep it?" "fine"...
 We've never had any real problem.


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## Bauglir

I've had a lot of bad experiences with terrible treasure distribution.  From the character that was carring 400,000 GP worth of magic items, while the rest of us were underequipped for our level (6 - I'm not kidding - this was one of those games where a big charismatic guy talked his way into getting stuff before anyone else could get a word in) to the games where the 'neutral' characters start looting while there's still fighting going on (and entirely looting a character is a standard action it seems...) and refuse to help pay for things the party needs (most recently the party needed to take a ship down a coast to try and and catch some slavers who had captured an important npc - the 'neutral' characters insisted that we could take horses and refused to pay for the voyage [it had been made clear that while landbound travel WAS possible it was a lot slower and more dangerous than taking a ship..] - the end result was that the good characters basically had to pay over every cent they owned while the rest tagged along for free.  What else could the good people do?  We needed the ship, and we needed the neutral people to take on the slavers...)


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## mmadsen

Greybar said:
			
		

> Firstly, *mmadsen* that's a great link.  Yoink'd with a Thank You.



You're very welcome, Greybar.

For those not familiar with Pirate Articles, here's an excerpt from the page describing them: 







> In the second half of the 17th century, buccaneers began operating under a set of rules called the Chasse-Partie, or Charter Party, which for a season even held legal weight in the Jamaican court system. This later grew into the Articles of Agreement, which basically explained the standard operating procedures for all pirates involved. To "go on the account" usually meant that a person signed the articles and was declaring their membership with a group of pirates.



These seem appropriate for pirate crews, mercenary companies, or adventuring parties:


> *Article One*
> Every man shall obey civil command; the captain shall have on full share and a half in all prizes. the Master, Carpenter, Boatswain, and Gunner shall have one share and quarter.
> *Article Two*
> If any man shall offer to run away, or keep any secret from the Company, he shall be marroon'd with one bottle of powder, one bottle of Water, one small Arm, and shot.
> *Article Three*
> If any Man shall steal any Thing in the Company, or game, to the value of a piece of Eight, he shall be Marroon'd or shot.
> *Article Four*
> If at any Time we should meet at another Marrooner (that is, Pyrate) that man shall sign his Articles without Consent of our Company, shall suffer such Punishment as the Captain and Company shall think fit.
> *Article Five*
> That man that shall strike another, whilst these Articles are in force, shall receive Moses's Law (that is 40 Stripes lacking one) on the bare Back.
> *Article Six*
> That Man that shall snap his Arms, or smoak Tobacco in the Hold, without cap to his Pipe, or carry a candle lighted without lanthorn, shall suffer the same Punishment as in the former Article.
> *Article Seven*
> That Man that shall not keep his Arms clean, fit for an Engagement, or neglect his Business, shall be cut off from his Share, and suffer such other Punishment as the Captain and Company shall think fit.
> *Article Eight*
> If any man shall lose a joint in time of Engagement, shall have 400 Pieces of Eight: if a limb, 800.
> *Article Nine*
> If at any time you meet with a prudent Woman, that Man that offers to meddle with her, without her Consent, shall suffer Death.


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## Imperialus

my own group works on the basis of a hockey pool.  The money and equipment that no one wants is devided up equally with one share going to the resurection fund.  

After that a list is made of all magical items and grouped into like items (all arcane scrolls are 1 lot, the 3 500GP gems are 1 lot ect.).  Our group has 5 members in it (NPC's recive a 3/4 share of mundane treasure but are not allowed to participate in an item pool) so we make sure there are at least 7 different item lots, and no more than 10.  

Everyone then rolls a D20 and the highest roller picks first going down the list untill the last person gets to pick, then the list is reversed, the lowest roller gets to pick again and it goes up the list from lowest roller to highest.


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## Philip

Kastil said:
			
		

> If an item is useful to any party member, it is given to said party member especially if it will enhance the party as a whole.  Basically we share the wealth and don't bicker (MUCH) like children.
> 
> Do some of the party members have magicial items while my character doesn't?  Yes.  Do I care?  Not really.
> 
> In my opinion, as long as the party as a whole is balanced, it shouldn't matter who has what and divvying down to every red copper is just insane.




That's an important statement, but "as long as the party as a whole is balanced" can mean different things to different players. Besides, this way of dividing the treasure is heavily dependent upon the DM of giving away 'customized' treasure (magic items especially).

I play in a campaign where DM'ing is rotated and published adventures are often used. While DM'ing is rotated, the PCs in a party are rotated as well, meaning what is balanced in one combination can be unbalanced in another.

Besides, I must say I felt pretty neglected when during last adventure (wherein my PC gained two levels) one character of the party could use about 90% of the magic items we found, while my character could use nothing, and the other characters maybe 10-20%. That 'fortunate' character got to enjoy the items during those sessions, but if he also walks away with 80% of the treasure after dividing the shares (putting him far over the advised g.p. limit, just because the items are of no use to the other PCs) I would feel more than a little miffed.   

I also would not feel good I my character was to play second fiddle to one super-character just because that character got all the 'right' magic items, even if it does enhance 'the party as a whole' with him having all those items.

The rule is there to protect the players more from DM stupidity/carelessness, or from published adventures that give out magical items that will unbalance a previously balanced party. To prevent potential bickering, not to encourage it.

I can remember the 2nd edition days when every fighter specialized in a longsword because most magical weapons were longswords. If you specialized in an exotic weapon, chances were that you never got a magical version of you favored weapon....


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## Philip

Sabathius42 said:
			
		

> All gold/gems/art/etc is kept in a huge bag of party treasure and you can dip into the bag to buy something at any time without asking.
> DS




How do you deal with situations where one character dips into the bag to spend his money on ale, whores and gambling, while another builds a temple or a magical laboratory?


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