A few of my PCs have died. It happens. But now what? Specifically, now what happens to their items? They are rolling up some new characters and I assume they should follow the character wealth guidelines for their current level, but what is stopping them from locating their corpses and effectively doubling their wealth just like that? How do you deal with dead characters' wealth?
[RPG] How to deal with dead characters’ gear
gm-techniquespathfinder-1e
Related Solutions
I see several options here:
Get over it
Embrace it
Talk about it
Change it
Most likely you will have to implement several of these methods to come up with a true solution, but here are my recommendations for each:
Get Over It As a player (but more a GM) you're putting yourself out there a bit. Yes it'd be nice if your players respected your NPCs a bit more, but if you are enjoying the game why is it a big deal? You may need to examine your expectations here. Maybe your group is looking for a lighter play style than you are.
Embrace It Pun it up, make your NPCs fit their puns. Make your ridiculous character all the more ridiculous. This may not work if you're looking at a more serious play style, but even those have room for humor. Or maybe your Minotaur has a complex...Maybe it's no metagaming, maybe it's really an insult. Maybe your character really is a cow?
Talk about it This is the hardest of my recommendations, but is probably the most useful. Most likely your group doesn't see an issue. You've got to actually dialogue about how your expectations are different from what plays out at the table and talk about how you guys can come to a solution. This is cooperative gaming, it should also be about cooperating to have a good time so everyone can have fun. This is especially important if you feel offended or if the jokes have crossed the line. There is no reason to sit and stew when if you asked them to stop they would likely stop.
Change it Come up with a different character concept, do a better job roleplaying/naming/characterizing your NPCs. This isn't to say that you're not doing fine right now, just that if it's bothering you, use it as motivation to get better.
It sounds to me like your expectations and your groups' expectations are kind of on a different page. Really most of this boils down to aligning those and continuing on. If you're group is looking for beer and peanuts to relax after work and you're looking for serious theater, you might have to all adjust your expectations and find different outlets for the sentiments that are no longer welcome at the table.
Personally I think it's important to have fun at the gaming table and if something is impinging on your fun you should let your group know. I'm pretty sure they'd be happy to help you fix it, even if it means they have to pass on the cow jokes.
I used to play The Dark Eye (Das Schwarze Auge) myself and in my opinion it strongly resembles medieval Europe - apart from the obvious fantasy additions. It's rule books give information of the economy, trade and demography of nearly everything.
Therefore the dilemma is quite understandable; in medieval Europe a sword was worth a fortune and in the world of The Dark Eye it is the same. However, a hero needs a sword right?
Well, maybe not necessarily. In our group we don't have a rule to handle wealth but here are some thoughts on how we somehow deal with it usually (after writing it down I realised that our heroes are not that wealthy because of these guidelines so it may not suit your question that well):
Equipment has flaws. Nearly everything a (starting) character possesses is not a shiny new blade but rather a crude axe, and old dagger from the grandpa, a warm winter coat with some holes, the elven bow that was handed to the character in a ceremony and would not be considered for sale.
Producing goods has its cost. It is true that potions or magical items are worth a hell lot of money in The Dark Eye. But producing these is an investment and requires material and knowledge - both of which can be costly to find.
Valuable findings are rare. Again, nearly everything a character finds, loots or gets possession of has either flaws or is an unknown object that requires identification. However, here you'll find yourself in a situation where player and character knowledge interferes. An adventurer may not have ever seen a telescope and finds no use in keeping it but the player knows it is worth a ton of money. We also have some problems with stealing because the players have knowledge about the worth of goods - also stealing creates a difficult situation by either letting it pass or punishing the character that may hinder adventure progress (but that's a different story).
Carrying gold or whatever currency is not very common. Carry a chest full of gold and silver and it will attract thieves. Taxes may be imposed upon crossing borders and cities. And the greedy tavern keeper will charge more if he spots the characters entering in bling bling.
Value comfortable but rule-speaking unnecessary goods. Create an environment where player not only value the next best weapon or armor because it will raise their damage and defence in battle. Good shoes can be expensive but keep from getting exhausted and have a minor impact on game balance. The same with regular feel-good massages, company during the night, the feast at the end of an adventure. The more characters act with each other and the more a personality they have the more readily the spend money on that. All these are sorts of money sinks.
But in the end the characters are heroes and it may be frustrating to not get a bit wealthy at some point. The reward for risking their life is loot, treasure and occasionally - a very special event - the acquisition of a new and shiny sword.
Best Answer
Do they have the corpses?
Do they already know where the corpses are? Do they have access to them? Are they already in someones possession?
If the party doesn't currently have the corpses but does know where they are... then it's easy: by time the new characters get to them, someone else has already looted the bodies.
If you think the party can actually get the items on the corpses, lower their starting wealth appropriately. Character wealth guidelines are guidelines, they can and should be altered as needed.
If you can't do that (because the players will be angry about it), then you'll have to alter the upcoming encounters to lower the amount of loot they get until they're back in line with where they should be.
Unintended Consequences
If you just use the wealth rules as-is but also let them get all their previous character's stuff back, you're encouraging them to change characters every time they die. Doing so gives them a major wealth boost.
There's lots of reasons you want to discourage that:
I was in a game once where resurrection was strongly encouraged, because a new character would come in with HALF the wealth of the old character. Granted in the event of a total party wipe he likely wouldn't enforce that, but we wouldn't be able to get the gear back in that case either without so much work that it'd just be an adventure of its own.
If you wanted to retire a character, you would leave the party while alive (with all your gear, so the party gets no wealth boost), and your new one would come in with full equivalent value. As a result, that only happened when someone was unhappy with their character and not because the character wealth chart said they could get ahead by doing it.