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Forget about the treasure and pricing system of 5E!
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<blockquote data-quote="James Gasik" data-source="post: 7256843" data-attributes="member: 6877472"><p>Putting the bizarre economics of D&D in the DM's hands is really unfair. Unless you're some kind of economics expert, ironing out how much stuff should cost and how much money you should be earning by adventuring is a Herculean labor.</p><p></p><p>Now characters generally start out with armor 1-2 AC points less than the best non-magic armor. If you wear heavy armor, your first upgrade is (admittedly away from book) something like 400-500 gp. The second is, what, 1500 gp?</p><p></p><p>This isn't magic, this is something the system expects you to buy. It's a literal milestone for characters. But let's think about this. So if every Fighter is intended to wear plate...he has to earn 1500 gp.</p><p></p><p>Wait a minute. Let's look at lifestyle costs. You can live like a Trump on what, 10 gold a month? 120 gp a year (assuming 12-month years in a campaign). 1500 gp is enough money for you and 12 of your friends to live that way for a year (or you can live like a boss hog for 12 years).</p><p></p><p>Who is selling plate armor? Who is making it? Who is buying it? How can this stuff exist in every major city so every Fighter can snag it before leaving Tier 1?</p><p></p><p>Worse, how can this stuff, which is only 2 AC above the armor every Fighter can start with for free, be so expensive? How does one justify that? That's not even getting into all the armor monsters have (which is of course, cannot be used or sold)...take a closer look at what monsters get equipped with, and when they start showing up with various expensive armors.</p><p></p><p>Plate armor that costs 1500 gp and is also readily available means that one suit sold is enough to let you live comfortably for <strong>decades</strong>- a given smith only has to crank out a few of these in his lifetime. But there's apparently a huge market for the stuff, which means there are either a lot of smiths trying to win the "sell 3 suits of plate armor" lottery, or there's a legion of 4th level Fighter types who have the money to buy it...</p><p></p><p>Where is this money coming from? How has the economy not crashed to the point that buying a dagger requires you to spend 1000 gp or something equally ridiculous?</p><p></p><p>And then you have the problem of +1 armor. Why, it costs 500 gp, regardless of what armor type it is. Adamantine Full Plate? 500 gp...hold on a minute!</p><p></p><p>Sure you could say "well you shouldn't be buying and selling magic items in the first place" but armor made out of adamantine isn't really magic...it's just armor made out of rare materials...but then again, how much should +1 armor cost?</p><p></p><p>500 gp more than regular armor? Seems dubious, since AC 17 heavy armor is like 450 gp and AC 18 armor is three times that....for only 500 more that would be a steal...</p><p></p><p>And this is just armor, go look at your PHB equipment list and really start asking how many elephant vendors there could really be. It's a mess, there's no real logic involved in how much anything costs, any prices quoted are just...arbitrarily set.</p><p></p><p>Fixing all of this and making a game world seem remotely logical is a huge task for anyone, and if professional game designers won't do it, who can reasonably ask a DM to?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="James Gasik, post: 7256843, member: 6877472"] Putting the bizarre economics of D&D in the DM's hands is really unfair. Unless you're some kind of economics expert, ironing out how much stuff should cost and how much money you should be earning by adventuring is a Herculean labor. Now characters generally start out with armor 1-2 AC points less than the best non-magic armor. If you wear heavy armor, your first upgrade is (admittedly away from book) something like 400-500 gp. The second is, what, 1500 gp? This isn't magic, this is something the system expects you to buy. It's a literal milestone for characters. But let's think about this. So if every Fighter is intended to wear plate...he has to earn 1500 gp. Wait a minute. Let's look at lifestyle costs. You can live like a Trump on what, 10 gold a month? 120 gp a year (assuming 12-month years in a campaign). 1500 gp is enough money for you and 12 of your friends to live that way for a year (or you can live like a boss hog for 12 years). Who is selling plate armor? Who is making it? Who is buying it? How can this stuff exist in every major city so every Fighter can snag it before leaving Tier 1? Worse, how can this stuff, which is only 2 AC above the armor every Fighter can start with for free, be so expensive? How does one justify that? That's not even getting into all the armor monsters have (which is of course, cannot be used or sold)...take a closer look at what monsters get equipped with, and when they start showing up with various expensive armors. Plate armor that costs 1500 gp and is also readily available means that one suit sold is enough to let you live comfortably for [B]decades[/B]- a given smith only has to crank out a few of these in his lifetime. But there's apparently a huge market for the stuff, which means there are either a lot of smiths trying to win the "sell 3 suits of plate armor" lottery, or there's a legion of 4th level Fighter types who have the money to buy it... Where is this money coming from? How has the economy not crashed to the point that buying a dagger requires you to spend 1000 gp or something equally ridiculous? And then you have the problem of +1 armor. Why, it costs 500 gp, regardless of what armor type it is. Adamantine Full Plate? 500 gp...hold on a minute! Sure you could say "well you shouldn't be buying and selling magic items in the first place" but armor made out of adamantine isn't really magic...it's just armor made out of rare materials...but then again, how much should +1 armor cost? 500 gp more than regular armor? Seems dubious, since AC 17 heavy armor is like 450 gp and AC 18 armor is three times that....for only 500 more that would be a steal... And this is just armor, go look at your PHB equipment list and really start asking how many elephant vendors there could really be. It's a mess, there's no real logic involved in how much anything costs, any prices quoted are just...arbitrarily set. Fixing all of this and making a game world seem remotely logical is a huge task for anyone, and if professional game designers won't do it, who can reasonably ask a DM to? [/QUOTE]
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