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Buying magic items vs. finding magic items
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<blockquote data-quote="Dannyalcatraz" data-source="post: 6155459" data-attributes="member: 19675"><p>Just because Otis doesn't know the robe is magical, it does not follow that he cannot sell the robe. It just means he can't sell it for the price of a magical robe. That is the "information" part of the equations that form the market. When imperfect information is had on either or both sides, price can vary wildly from expected market value.</p><p></p><p>An acquaintance of mine is one of those lucky individuals who bought a Picasso at a yard sale for @$5- it is currently on "permanent loan" to the local library (he couldn't afford to insure it in his house). Until he actually paid someone to appraise it, both he and the seller had imperfect information- they both thought it was not authentic, and so, it sold at a greatly discounted price.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>If your players actually agree that it is plausible, then you're good.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Sorry, but you are the one making the extraordinary claim, and as such, the burden is yours. As yet, I've seen no mitigating factors that lay down a believable justification to kill meaningful trade in arcana.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I'm 100% correct: talking from the historical economic perspective, there is no item so rare or so illegal that a market for it has been extinguished, to date. Even the most tightly controlled substances in our world- weapons grade uranium, bioweapons, etc.- have gone missing, sometimes in <em>ton-sized</em> amounts...even allowing for clerical errors, you cn bet there is someone out there who paid money to acquire those substances.</p><p></p><p>Finding a buyer is simply not the Herculean task you make it out to be. Finding a buyer willing to pay your price may be difficult, or even impossible, but that does not end the story unless you are absolutely unwilling to bargain for anything less.</p><p></p><p>And even your unwillingness to bargain only removes YOU from the active market: unless all who own a good that is economically equivalent, the buyer will ultimately be satisfied elsewhere.</p><p></p><p></p><p>What are you talking about? What I listed makes trade <strong>easier.</strong></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Of those three, the only thing that could 100% globally prevent trade in magic would be the latter. (Unless, of course, you mean that said interventionist deities a using magic to do so, in which case the first and last are functionally identical.)</p><p></p><p></p><p>The only presumption I'm making is that we're all talking about D&D RAW/RAI. Scrying and Teleporting just makes it easier for such trade to happen. Eliminating scrying and teleporting just gets us back to a world where commerce is about on a medieval level...which historically had active trade in things beloved to be magical on some way. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Actually, according to studies of both consumer psychology and gambling psychology, it is. Humans are TERRIBLE as risk/reward assessment. Given a blind choice between a good option and a bad option, or walking away, a very large percentage will opt to take a chance.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>All I'm presuming is average D&D.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Otis merely can't get full value for the magic robe- he can still sell it. And that next owner may recognize it for or learn what it is.</p><p></p><p>Unaffordability doesn't kill a market or prevent one from forming, because prices are variable.</p><p></p><p>(The legends thing was addressed above.)</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Ravenloft cuts off a lot of things via a big "Magic makes it so!". I'll grant that one- it's equivalent to why a dragon can fly.</p><p></p><p>DarkSun's assumptions just means the trade in magic goes underground, it doesn't eliminate it.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Dannyalcatraz, post: 6155459, member: 19675"] Just because Otis doesn't know the robe is magical, it does not follow that he cannot sell the robe. It just means he can't sell it for the price of a magical robe. That is the "information" part of the equations that form the market. When imperfect information is had on either or both sides, price can vary wildly from expected market value. An acquaintance of mine is one of those lucky individuals who bought a Picasso at a yard sale for @$5- it is currently on "permanent loan" to the local library (he couldn't afford to insure it in his house). Until he actually paid someone to appraise it, both he and the seller had imperfect information- they both thought it was not authentic, and so, it sold at a greatly discounted price. If your players actually agree that it is plausible, then you're good. Sorry, but you are the one making the extraordinary claim, and as such, the burden is yours. As yet, I've seen no mitigating factors that lay down a believable justification to kill meaningful trade in arcana. I'm 100% correct: talking from the historical economic perspective, there is no item so rare or so illegal that a market for it has been extinguished, to date. Even the most tightly controlled substances in our world- weapons grade uranium, bioweapons, etc.- have gone missing, sometimes in [I]ton-sized[/I] amounts...even allowing for clerical errors, you cn bet there is someone out there who paid money to acquire those substances. Finding a buyer is simply not the Herculean task you make it out to be. Finding a buyer willing to pay your price may be difficult, or even impossible, but that does not end the story unless you are absolutely unwilling to bargain for anything less. And even your unwillingness to bargain only removes YOU from the active market: unless all who own a good that is economically equivalent, the buyer will ultimately be satisfied elsewhere. What are you talking about? What I listed makes trade [B]easier.[/B] Of those three, the only thing that could 100% globally prevent trade in magic would be the latter. (Unless, of course, you mean that said interventionist deities a using magic to do so, in which case the first and last are functionally identical.) The only presumption I'm making is that we're all talking about D&D RAW/RAI. Scrying and Teleporting just makes it easier for such trade to happen. Eliminating scrying and teleporting just gets us back to a world where commerce is about on a medieval level...which historically had active trade in things beloved to be magical on some way. Actually, according to studies of both consumer psychology and gambling psychology, it is. Humans are TERRIBLE as risk/reward assessment. Given a blind choice between a good option and a bad option, or walking away, a very large percentage will opt to take a chance. All I'm presuming is average D&D. Otis merely can't get full value for the magic robe- he can still sell it. And that next owner may recognize it for or learn what it is. Unaffordability doesn't kill a market or prevent one from forming, because prices are variable. (The legends thing was addressed above.) Ravenloft cuts off a lot of things via a big "Magic makes it so!". I'll grant that one- it's equivalent to why a dragon can fly. DarkSun's assumptions just means the trade in magic goes underground, it doesn't eliminate it. [/QUOTE]
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