Dying in a Pit

[drathe]

While in a pit, a Hero may search for treasure or secret doors as if it were a separate room. If a Hero dies in a room or corridor and no other Hero is present in the same room or corridor, then the dead Hero's inventory is lost. Now, what happens if a Hero dies in a Pit while another Hero is in the same room or corridor as the Pit? Is the Pit treated as a separate room in this case, resulting in the loss of the dying Hero's inventory? Or does it still count as part of the current room or corridor in which, the other Hero will gain their possessions?

[Phoenix]

If this rare situation happend in one of my games, I would say that it is still a part of the room/corridor that the trap is in and follow the rules from that point. If there is a Hero within the same room/corridor, then it would be up for grabs, etc.

[Kpax]

I think that by the rules, the pit should be as other room. But think very cruel to the Heroes, so I would use a house rule as Phoenix understand.

[Pugahla_272]

When me an my group play, it ends ur turn if u fall in a pit, step on a trap, or search 4 treasure and find a WM or a Hazard. No1 in my group has ever died in a pit trap, but I would say it's in the same room or corridor.

[el_flesh]

Well how deep is the pit? Not so deep the hero can't climb out on his next turn - so yes, the surviving team members who hear him expire in the pit can manage to get his inventory - IF they roll a 1 or 2 they manage to hook him and pull him out with all his stuff complete, on a 3 or 4 they fail to hook him and must try again; on a 5 or 6 they screw up and fall INTO the pit with him! So they got his stuff, but also suffer half the damage from falling in on top of him. Hopefully not landing on his weapon and doing a "Vlad the Impaler." Unless it's some a-hole falling in.

[Daedalus]

While in a pit, a Hero may search for treasure or secret doors as if it were a separate room. If a Hero dies in a room or corridor and no other Hero is present in the same room or corridor, then the dead Hero's inventory is lost. Now, what happens if a Hero dies in a Pit while another Hero is in the same room or corridor as the Pit? Is the Pit treated as a separate room in this case, resulting in the loss of the dying Hero's inventory? Or does it still count as part of the current room or corridor in which, the other Hero will gain their possessions?

From the North American edition Instruction Booklet, p. 22, Dead Heroes:

What Happens To A Dead Hero?
...Armor, weapons, and treasures
that belonged to you prior to death can
be picked up by any othe Hero in the
room with you.

Warning! If there are no other Heroes in
the room or corridor with you when you
die, any monster in the room or corridor
with you will claim your possessions....

A dead Hero's equipment isn't necessarily lost if there are no other Heroes in the same room or corridor. A monster must first be present to claim the unguarded possessions. A Hero can die completely alone from a pit trap, with no monster(s) in the room or corridor of the trap. From there I'd say it's a race between any available monsters and Heroes to claim the equipment by entering the the room or corridor of the pit.

From NA IB, p.19:

What Happens to A Hero In A Pit?
<> As a Hero, once in a pit, you may
search the pit for treasure or secret
doors as if it were a separate room
unto itself.

The pit isn't an actual room. It is treated as if it were a separate room unto itself for purposes of searching for treasure or secret doors. Neither of these specific cases applies to a dead Hero's possessions.
If a monster was alone in the room or corridor with the pit trap when the unfortunate Hero died, the monster will claim the equipment. [A benovolent Zargon could rule that a monster must wait until it's part of the turn to claim treasure if he wanted to give another Hero a chance get to the room or corridor in the same turn as the death of a Hero. -edit] If a Hero was alone in the room or corridor with the hapless pit victim, then the Hero gains the equipment. If there were both a Hero and Monster, the Hero gains the equipment.

Being as there are may Zargons with individual interpretations of the rules, you could say that a pit was a separate room. I that case, a monster or Hero would actually have to enter the pit to claim the (fallen ) Hero's loot. A monster doesn't take damage from entering a pit. Heroes, on the other hand, do.

[torilen]

I tend to agree with daedalus on this, I think. It would basically be a race b/w the monsters around and the heroes...to get to
the possessions and grab them first.

As far as monsters not taking damage by going into the pit and heroes taking damage...perfect reason for using my climbing
rules. A hero can "climb" down into the pit once they know it is there.

[Daedalus]

A house rule for a Hero entering a pit seems appropriate in this case. I'd make it the same as jumping a pit, otherwise Heroes would usually elect to climb down and out to cross any sprung pit trap. For me, I'd want the sprung pit threat to remain constant.

[HeroQuestFrance]

I stay logical : a hero cannot search for treasure in a pit or even a secret door !
If he dies in a pit, his gear is lost.
Special artefacts (borin's armour etc) will be available in the next quest then the game master just decides where he wants to put the lost artefacts.

[Big Bene]

Well, taking the original rules strict, a pit is a pit and a room is a room. You can search a pit for treasure like a room, but that's a special rule that doesn't make the pipt a room.
It's most logical this way, too:
In an inhabited dungeon, treasure is either well hidden or already gone. It may be hidden in a pit trap, as long it is not sprung and therefor invisible. So after a hero has fallen in a pit trap, he may search it for treasure.
The dead body of a hero on the other hand is clearly visible, and would be looted by the fist monster who finds it, so if no fellow hero is in the same room, it is lost. If the body lies in an open pit trap, it is of course inside the room for all searching purposes. If there's a monster in the same room, it can claim the equipment, as can a fellow hero. You may argue that taking the corpse out of the pit is a task of it's own and should require some dice threw or the like. You are free to make up some house rule for that, but in the original rules it is just an "automatic" action to keep it simple.