How does one deal with a PC that steals from the rest of the group?

how does one deal with a PC that steals from the rest of the group?

Swiftly

lynching

Harshly

Depends.

If it's your stuff he stole, I suggest axing one of his hand.

Cut off his hands!

OOC

Stop deducting it from your sheet.

In fact, why not ADD some money every time he does it?

Put him in charge of the party's money.
He'll inevitably become too greedy to handle it and either embezzle it, in which case you catch him IC, or try to take the money and run, in which case you kill him.

If your the gm you dont, its the parties job to deal with it

Roll a kender, fight fire with fire

He was in charge of the party's finance in our previous campaign.
let's just say that i'd rather lose my nutsack than let that happen again

Have the party, IC, kick him out of the group because what other bastard in the party is sneaky enough to steal all that shit with out being caught. Then OOC tell him to leave because he's being a dick.

Did he get away with it or did it just kick off the party kill wagon?

I wish.
He didnt even do anything shady, he was just a greedy fuck wit. Greed that made us into wanted criminals btw

Have the players gang up and break his arm, rendering anything that could be held in that hand useless.

Did he steal batteries?

Ask him to return the money. Don't beat him, for that same night he'll probably try and murder you in your sleep in retaliation

Bobby trap your money. have a wizard cast a spell on it, hide them somewhere.

Also refuse to help him when his greed endangers the party, but cooperate in catching him and handing him over

Nah, it's slightly more complicated than that

If he's stealing batteries, it isn't really about the batteries.

He didnt steal anything (that time).
He just refused to hand some money during a negotiation

...

Kill him

That would be unnecessary, he (and half the party) got wiped away shortly afterward.
Thankfully he died like in pic related.

Decapitate him the next time he declares he steals from you.

if you're the player, you should be able to make contested perception checks every time they're stealing from you, if they're pickpocketing. think of ways to trap potential thieves with a warding spell or something. Keep your gold tied up or in the very bottom of your backpack, some kind of ingrained reason why it should be much harder to pickpocket. your character should be able to recognize that their coinpurse is getting mysteriously lighter. other options include glyphs on your coinpurse to deter unauthorized entry, or confront your whole party about it in a Zone of Truth if you can convince your fellow players that your character could deduce it's a party member. because Zone of Truth lets people voluntarily fail the save, and because your character can tell whether or not a targeted person avoids the spell, you can force the thief into a confession.

if you're the DM, start establishing consequences for serial thievery. if they try to steal from someone in a tavern and get caught, cue a barfight from the righteously angry victim. next time they think they can get away with it in town, have the next person they pickpocket be an undercover guard with a glyphed coinpurse. Cue the thief being caught red handed and forced to go peacefully or resist arrest by the town guard.

anytime your players start pulling illegal shit, punish them with the law. if that's the kind of shit they want to pull, then they can get the consequences for it. it makes things interesting, too.

Alternatively: just beat the shit out of the actual player until they stop being a fucker

Remove the player from the group. Without mercy!

Tell them to knock it off at first. If they keep doing it then beat em up and take your stuff.

>if you're the player, you should be able to make contested perception checks every time they're stealing from you,
What if you fail, everytime?

If you're the DM, you let the party deal with it

If you're the party, and you know theyre stealing from you IN CHARACTER, not just out of character, you have the PCs confront them. If they don't apologize and stop you either a) road side justice and kill them or b) Knock them out and drag them to the nearest jail cell naked

cheater

change dice
set up traps or ambush

To remind you he aggressively refused to pay a shop keeper to not speak a word about our party member's alleged robbery, because he was handling our gold.

Depends on what he's stealing, is he stealing comically insignificant things then sure I'll let it fly. If he's stealing things that hamper my character and he continues and i catch him then i will do what you always do with thieves.

You chop off his dominant hand and if he still insist then off goes the other one.

>alleged
alleged my ass, you robbed the poor man after he refused to return you the money for that fucking dress

We were group fighting a hobgoblin at level 1, he was the only one who avoided the fight and hid behind a tree (without our consent [or awareness]).

After the fight ended, I personally looted the hobgoblin's body, and when the DM described that I have found a pouch with 1g+ coins, he immediately asked the DM if he could rush to loot the hobgoblin's body (even though his character obviously was not in a position to see that pouch).

>Trusting a blood-crazed Dhampir

IT WAS A HAGGLE. A HAGGLEEEE!!

Steal their underwear in retaliation!

Swiftly lynching him harshly while cutting off his hands in real life

My barbarian girl literally cut the dick off the rogue who was stealing shit from her.

So, basically like that.

>Step 1, warn about ic consequences (remember, drama is part of the game!)
>Step 2, express clearly how fatal crossing a group of people at your own level could be, give final warning that your not going to give that person any special protection.
>Step 3 Storytime.

Storytime?

Rance?

The punishment should be more humiliating than debilitating, at least the first time. They still have to function as a member of your group, after all.

No they don't. Once someone is known to be a thief, they will be a thief forever. Death is a mercy to those pathetic people.

Settle down there, Hassan. Or maybe you'd like to be in charge of checking for traps on the next crawl.

Talk to the player, tell him it's disruptive to the game. Tell him that if it's not going to stop he will no longer be invited to game.

Thats a dark powers check

Let Him.
It should be a good test for the party.
If they can't keep it together, they were not a good fit for each other.

Set a trap to fuck them over.

"We need him."
Make him give back the treasure he stole and make him take point.
"Kill him."
Gang up on the fucker and take his shit.
"Frame someone else."
Plant some loot on a friend and watch him get slammed for a crime he didn't commit.

"We need him"
Make him give back the treasure and make him pay a fine.
"Hes got a friend"
Split the party and hire another character to thug for you. (knowing that one will likely fold)
"Who dun it?"
Nobody knows who took the gold. Ignore it and carry on.
"Gold Fever"
Nobody knows who took the gold. Everybody suspects everybody. Watch you back. Don't go to sleep.

"Truth Serum"
Have the wizard cast charm.
"Resevoire Dogs"
The victim is the bitch of the group. You've seen the movie.

"Tag you back"
Honor among thieves. I'll get you next time.
"Bluff"
Party is dumb. Lie out of character. Gleefully continue to rob them blind.
"Deny Everything"
See how far you can push your luck with other players. See if they will give up without a fight. Backpedal right before getting kicked out of group.
"Troll Player"
Argue loudly. Stand up. Talk belligerantly. Insult somebody. Flip over the table and flip them off with both fingers as you back out the door from your local game shop. Get banned from the shop permanently until they literally forget who you are or why you are banned.
"Troll DM/Player Collusion"
see resevoire dogs above.

figuratively Rance Jr.