I have found that I really dislike the current loot system as it assumes everyone starts searching bodies at the same time. Everyone has the ability to search and even find the concealed items on the body - it just takes them longer. What if they decided to start searching a body mid-battle rather than wait 'til the end?
Special Actions Available to All Character Types
To search a body takes one minute and you can find anything on the body, except concealed items. Finding Items concealed with “Spot” (a Rogue skill) takes two minutes. If you wish to search an N.P.C. you must tell that N.P.C. that you are searching him or her. You may not search an N.P.C. once they have left the scene unless otherwise stated by a GM.
While the town fights the Phantom Knight attacks, the town had defeated henchmen #1-#6. The heroes encircle the Phantom Knight and begin their final assault on him. From the sidelines, Clagron decides not assist in the assault, but instead, drags henchman #4 behind a tree and begins searching him. The heroes of Haven are still in the heat of battle, so Clagron decides to search henchman #1 as well.
Yes, Clagron is a jerk, but he should not be penalized because of his lack of the spot (or improved spot) skill when he took the initiative to begin searching bodies while everyone was busy doing something else. (And yes, Clagron's doings may eventually be discovered by the town and punished, but that's the kind of guy he is.)
My Proposal
Before NPCs enter the field, they will be carrying one or more numbered tokens (based on an estimated number of repops for the battle). Before the battle, the booty master or GM will determine what loot corresponds with each number and what, if any, loot is concealed.
During the battle, as an NPC is killed, they will drop one of their tokens on the field where they died before going out of game, moving to the sidelines and then doing a repop where they will begin the process again. Players may pick up and drag a body token (based on whatever body dragging skills that player has) to a new location if desired (you can not pocket or otherwise conceal the body you are carrying/dragging). If a player wishes to loot a body, the token must be placed on the ground and the player must sit or kneel with the token in front of them for the appropriate amount of time needed to search the body based on how thoroughly they wish to search - it should be rather obvious to anyone what you are doing if they should see you.
Once the body has been searched, the player may pick up the token and wait for the time in which the booty master distributes loot. They will approach the booty master, show the numbered token and inform the booty master if it was a basic search or thorough search. The booty master will offer the appropriate loot tags to the player (the player may decline to accept all the tags - perhaps the player was only interested in henchman #4's feathered hat, or tarnished ring - so others may re-search the body and find loot, possibly making it appear the player never did search the body). The booty master will determine if the token is then collected from the player or if the body token needs to be placed back out of the field to be searched again (in case the player was trying to conceal his looting, or if the player did a basic search but there's a concealed item on the body).
------------------------------------------------
I know there's a good deal of room for improvement for my proposal, so please speak up and make suggestions.
I also feel this would contribute to fixing how search and spot have somehow become instant skills - in my 10 years of playing this game, I'm not sure I've ever seen someone spend time to spot or search something (from my experience being a PC and NPC). There is just a simple announcement that they are using the skill and there seems to be some instant response.
