Dividing Up Treasure

The Wandering DMs did their traditional Sunday webcast (and if you don't watch them, maybe check it out one of these weeks) and one of the topics they focused on is dividing up treasure.

Dan and Paul, the Wandering DMs

The first thing they talked about is that dividing up treasure is a player-side activity. I agree with this completely. The ref can say, "OK figure it out" and walk away from the table completely.

Paul made the point that the players come to the table to play D&D, not to divvy up treasure, so the procedures they use are often ad hoc. And Dave said people don't generally think of D&D as a contract between (character) people to do a job and then get paid, although to the characters that's probably the most important thing most of the time.

So since the several players are not getting help and they probably will not on their own think up how to do it before it's time, then it follows that it's a good practice for the ref to bring it up before Session 1 so the players can decide how to do it - at least for the time being.

Here are some methods to suggest to your players or fellow players. Do this prior to the game rather than in the heat of the moment.

Always do this: 

A. Make the decisions UP FRONT, before you start the adventure. Otherwise someone will be tired or cranky at the end and there will be more hassles.

B. Subtract money to pay for burials and pay hirelings right off the top.

C. Then make sure there is one share for each retainer and two shares for each player.

D. Then split up the money evenly. This seems like a no brainer. 

Then:

Method 1. Then dice for each magic item! The highest roll gets it. Over time things will even out.

Method 2. Have each player who is interested in a particular item bid for it in money. Have an auction. Of course no one can bid more than they have. Whoever bids the most money wins the item and then that money is split among the other players.

Method 3. Have the players decide by consensus or by vote to give the piece to the most appropriate character. This method will not work when one or more players is greedy/avaricious or plays their character as such.