LOL well you did say this Mal. So a totally random roll for a wizard could be a +1 club.
That's absurd. Why would the wizard gets the +1 club, just because we rolled a +1 club? That's an extra random item, remember? Everyone already has the basics so the random items are up for grabs.
Odds are some melee guy will claim the club as his backup weapon and get a laugh out of it. 'Look, I'm a
real thug, now!' Seeing that he likes the image, the DM will surely arrange for a few situations where he can use it (a bar brawl, an infiltration mission where you are disguised as, you guessed it, thugs, etc.)
Then, beside its use as a backup weapon, the player starts finding any excuse he can to use his club. Scaring off tax collectors. Hammering his tents pegs into the ground. Tenderizing meat.
Before long, the player can't picture his PC without his trusty club +1 and he specifies that when he sleeps, he has his club with him in his sleeping bag.
That's what happens when I play, anyway.
Well there is an issue with that. What you think is useful and that the player think is useful are two different things.
Yep. He might be wrong and I might be right. We'll never know until we actually try the item, will we?
Being surprised is part of the fun. If I knew exactly what next adventure would bring me, I'd stop playing.
Looking at your first post, I'll address them.
#1 magic items are not going OUT of the system: Don't see this as an issue. When characters get to a certain level their items start moving up to +2, limiting the pool of items by plus. Second, players aren't guaranteed a buyer. If you are looking for an item NOW, your only option is generic buyer for 1/5. Quite honestly, the only items sold will be items outgrown or 'random' items.
Items outgrown are precisely the problem. The leftovers of a high level PC are very valuable to a lower level PC.
As far as the buyer getting a more powerful item, I say so? If Joe the 3rd level buys a +2 sword, it'll be a LONG time before he can expect another item drop. he better be REAL sure he like it because he's going to be looking at it for a long time. he'd better be sure he likes not having magic armor or neck items...
I am as harsh as any DM, but I won't let a PC get butchered for lack of appropriate defenses because he got a lucky deal on his sword. That's way too metagamey for me. He may not be my first choice for level +4 items, but he's gonna get his level appropriate armor. Not doing so would 'punish' the player for a flaw of the system. It's not his fault if a sword +2 became available at 25% value. Incidently, if the guy is a defender, I would also be 'punishing' the people he is defending. That'd be silly.
The only fair way to resorb the problem would be to quickly provide better equipment for the other PCs. Of course, that leads to a monty haul.
#2 Long time players have more 'contacts': How does this even matter? As I understand it, the OP was looking for a kind of auction house (like WOW if you play). More or less you put an item in the auction house thread and people bid. The highest bidder gets it. How does knowing people alter that?
In a perfect world. But a direct deal between two players who know each other well and promise to reciprocate is much more worthwhile. (I sell you my sword at 30% for your new PC but when your 6th level bard gets a new neck slot item, you sell me the old one at 30%). People will inevitably push for that. It does have the advantage of being the easiest way to manage the sales.
But if we go with strict rules preventing collusions, we need to enforce them! That means we'll need someone to police the auction system like they are the damned WTO. Judge and reviewer will need to check every new items on a character sheet to make sure if it has been handled properly by the auction house.
Kinda silly, really. I just want to play D&D.
#3 Even if DMs endeavours to balance things out, we are talking several months per adventure: The reverse is just as true. A player with an item they don't want has the same waiting period. A player that has a fire sale to dump the items he doesn't like has to endure those months of being behind the others in the group. If he keeps the item, then he's forced to use an item he doesn't want for several months.
The proposal won't change this. Whether a PC sells at a fraction of the value to a PC or a NPC, he still has only a fraction of the value. If he has to wait to buy what he wants, I'd rather he didn't create twice the unbalance!
A word of advice to players in this situation; keep the item! Sell it only when you can immediately replace it with what you want. Meanwhile, odds are you may learn to appreciate the item. With a little imagination, just about everything can be made to be cool, even a frigging club +1.
