clockworkjoe
First Post
All this talk about buying magic items and magic stores has gotten my interest. You see, it's been an issue I've thought about for quite some time. I even wrote an article in KODT about it called the Wealth of Dungeons. Here's my take on the subject:
In order for a GM to determine whether magic items can be bought or sold, the GM must figure out how valuable magic items are viewed by the people of that campaign world. This is how I think magic items would be viewed by most 'generic' fantasty settings like Greyhawk or Forgotten Realms.
A magic item is considered to be as useful as a swiss army knife, only instead of a little knife, scissors, and a nail file; you have a machine gun, a defribiliator, a supercomputer, a jet, an aircraft carrier, a force field, and a nuclear missile. Because of that, magic items have a demand that can not be comprehended. There would literally be an unending demand for all magic items and all orginizations from governments to criminal gangs would do everything in their power to hoard them.
Magic stores are a laughably stupid idea in general. Aside from the difficulty of protecting the store against thieves, what power would allow a merchant to sell items that grant incredible powers to whomever holds them? That constitutes a grave threat to any government. Simply selling magic items creates political instability since by ANY definition, magic items are extremely valuable military resources. If you were a king, would you allow someone to sell magical swords and armor that would make a warrior all but invincible in combat or at the very extremes, a ring that granted 3 wishes?
Logically, anyone with half a brain will hang onto their permanent magic items as long as possible and sell them only when it profits them the very most while 1 shot items will be used when the user gets the most benefit out of them. Thus, the more powerful a person/group is, the more magic they accumulate. Even items the group doesn't immediately use can be stored as an asset, like land, jewels, or fine art. Any time a magic item does appear on the market, a buyer will almost immediately pop up to keep it. A large kingdom can NEVER have enough +1 long swords for their army.
In the end, like so many other (demi)human activities, magic item economics is about control. More magic means more power for the owner and that will remain a universal in any setting with governments and magic items.
How this affects your campaign:
This isn't to say that players could never ever buy magic items. Generally, I allow players to find a way to buy item x if they're willing to work for it. Of course, I think that GMs should allow players to pursue any goal, provided the GM throws them sufficient challenges to overcome that goal.
(Incidentally, I think this is important for any campaign. Players should be encouraged to make goals for their characters and GMs should allow them to try and win or fail. The idea isn't to give players everything they want, but to give them a chance to try)
In my Forgotten Realms campaign, magic items can usually only be purchased from two groups, the Red Wizards and the Skaven (Slitheren imported from SL). And they tend to charge at least twice as much as the DMG says. Why? Because they have a near monopoly on the market and no other group can fill that demand or even want to)
However, a specialist type of merchant, known as an agent, can fill the demand for adventurers wanting a specific magic item. Adventurers approach an agent and tell them want magic item they want. The agent then approaches several powerful groups with a surplus of magic items and asks them if they would be willing to part with item X to sell to adventurer Y. The agent then handles several rounds of negotiation between the two and eventually the item can be sold if the adventurer is someone the group likes. For example, the Church of Illmater won't sell a flaming longsword +1 they bought from a sellsword who retired to a ruthless pirate who routinely works for evil groups like the cult of the dragon.
The notable exception of this are potions and scrolls. Healing potions are a major industry, and practically all churches brew healing potions for profit. Many spellcasters often sell scrolls to finance their own research. But scrolls have a much lower demand than potions since only other spellcasters and some rogues can use them.
Also, as a rule of thumb, all magic items cost at least double than what it says in the DMG.
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So what do you think of my take on magic items and the economy ?
In order for a GM to determine whether magic items can be bought or sold, the GM must figure out how valuable magic items are viewed by the people of that campaign world. This is how I think magic items would be viewed by most 'generic' fantasty settings like Greyhawk or Forgotten Realms.
A magic item is considered to be as useful as a swiss army knife, only instead of a little knife, scissors, and a nail file; you have a machine gun, a defribiliator, a supercomputer, a jet, an aircraft carrier, a force field, and a nuclear missile. Because of that, magic items have a demand that can not be comprehended. There would literally be an unending demand for all magic items and all orginizations from governments to criminal gangs would do everything in their power to hoard them.
Magic stores are a laughably stupid idea in general. Aside from the difficulty of protecting the store against thieves, what power would allow a merchant to sell items that grant incredible powers to whomever holds them? That constitutes a grave threat to any government. Simply selling magic items creates political instability since by ANY definition, magic items are extremely valuable military resources. If you were a king, would you allow someone to sell magical swords and armor that would make a warrior all but invincible in combat or at the very extremes, a ring that granted 3 wishes?
Logically, anyone with half a brain will hang onto their permanent magic items as long as possible and sell them only when it profits them the very most while 1 shot items will be used when the user gets the most benefit out of them. Thus, the more powerful a person/group is, the more magic they accumulate. Even items the group doesn't immediately use can be stored as an asset, like land, jewels, or fine art. Any time a magic item does appear on the market, a buyer will almost immediately pop up to keep it. A large kingdom can NEVER have enough +1 long swords for their army.
In the end, like so many other (demi)human activities, magic item economics is about control. More magic means more power for the owner and that will remain a universal in any setting with governments and magic items.
How this affects your campaign:
This isn't to say that players could never ever buy magic items. Generally, I allow players to find a way to buy item x if they're willing to work for it. Of course, I think that GMs should allow players to pursue any goal, provided the GM throws them sufficient challenges to overcome that goal.
(Incidentally, I think this is important for any campaign. Players should be encouraged to make goals for their characters and GMs should allow them to try and win or fail. The idea isn't to give players everything they want, but to give them a chance to try)
In my Forgotten Realms campaign, magic items can usually only be purchased from two groups, the Red Wizards and the Skaven (Slitheren imported from SL). And they tend to charge at least twice as much as the DMG says. Why? Because they have a near monopoly on the market and no other group can fill that demand or even want to)
However, a specialist type of merchant, known as an agent, can fill the demand for adventurers wanting a specific magic item. Adventurers approach an agent and tell them want magic item they want. The agent then approaches several powerful groups with a surplus of magic items and asks them if they would be willing to part with item X to sell to adventurer Y. The agent then handles several rounds of negotiation between the two and eventually the item can be sold if the adventurer is someone the group likes. For example, the Church of Illmater won't sell a flaming longsword +1 they bought from a sellsword who retired to a ruthless pirate who routinely works for evil groups like the cult of the dragon.
The notable exception of this are potions and scrolls. Healing potions are a major industry, and practically all churches brew healing potions for profit. Many spellcasters often sell scrolls to finance their own research. But scrolls have a much lower demand than potions since only other spellcasters and some rogues can use them.
Also, as a rule of thumb, all magic items cost at least double than what it says in the DMG.
--
So what do you think of my take on magic items and the economy ?
