Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Magic Item Shops in Your Campaign
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Sword of Spirit" data-source="post: 8339807" data-attributes="member: 6677017"><p>It depends. Basically, I like the 5e stated premise about magic items being rare and special, but I try to extrapolate what makes sense into the world also. So the fine arts market makes sense, but that doesn't just mean auctions--there may be some shops based on locale.</p><p></p><p>In any place where it is assumed there are wizards, whether resident as more that one or two, or traveling through, there will probably be a magic shop.</p><p></p><p>A magic shop is essentially a spellcaster supply shop. They sell spell components (I assume PCs go to such a place in down time to fill their spell components pouch with cheap consumables), spell book and scroll scribing inks (which they have to specifically state they are buying and keep track of other than the freebies a wizard gets on level up), arcane spellcasting components, blank spell books, etc. Sometimes they will offer the service of allowing you to learn a spell by copying it from a spell book they have. In that case, I randomly roll to see if the particular spell the characters are looking for is on offer there (unless it's something that should definitely be or not be available).</p><p></p><p>In some locations, you may be able to pay an individual wizard for such goods and services rather than a shop. It isn't considered odd to ask the local wizard when a shop isn't present.</p><p></p><p>As far as actual magic items, potions of healing are probably available somewhere in town--usually at temples. A random selection of spell scrolls are often available at a magic shop, and can often be commissioned at shops or temples (again, it's always a random selection, not the whole list). Potions are the same.</p><p></p><p>Beyond that I will tend to roll some additional random items from the DMG tables, based on the size and commonality of magic in the locale. The number might be zero in some places, but likely is 1d4 in a small-medium shop, which is almost always the biggest shop available. In Waterdeep, there are a few such shops, some of them specialized.</p><p></p><p>Now, in a real planar metropolis like Sigil, you will have full-fledged magic item stores, and even potentially magic items in high-end version of other stores, like the party found a bag of holding in a clothing store. In those full-fledged magic item stores, they will have some specific randomly rolled items available, and probably a (tiny) percentage chance of having any particular other magic item the party might specifically ask about, or being able to get one for an extra cost.</p><p></p><p>One can never just assume what you are looking for is available. When our party was in Sigil they wanted to get some bags of holding. I think they found one at a clothing shop, another couple at a magic item shop, and the fourth may have been at yet another magic item shop. Each shop has its own interesting character and NPC proprietor.</p><p></p><p>I should also mention that it's often a better deal to trade magic items they have at the shops rather than paying in cash. If the shop is interested in the item they will get a better deal, though if they aren't it may be a worse deal.</p><p></p><p>Other than potions and scrolls, I don't actually treat common rarity magic items as common. They tend to be luxury baubles that only make sense existing in areas where magic items are widespread like Eberron, or to a lesser extent Sigil. While a PC with Arcana has probably heard of most of the items in the DMG, they probably haven't heard of things like XGtE "common" items unless it's Eberron.</p><p></p><p>To me, this keeps magic items in a place that makes sense in the world. Players can relatively easily get supplies they should be able to, but finding any specific item requires luck or work and can't be done just anywhere.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Sword of Spirit, post: 8339807, member: 6677017"] It depends. Basically, I like the 5e stated premise about magic items being rare and special, but I try to extrapolate what makes sense into the world also. So the fine arts market makes sense, but that doesn't just mean auctions--there may be some shops based on locale. In any place where it is assumed there are wizards, whether resident as more that one or two, or traveling through, there will probably be a magic shop. A magic shop is essentially a spellcaster supply shop. They sell spell components (I assume PCs go to such a place in down time to fill their spell components pouch with cheap consumables), spell book and scroll scribing inks (which they have to specifically state they are buying and keep track of other than the freebies a wizard gets on level up), arcane spellcasting components, blank spell books, etc. Sometimes they will offer the service of allowing you to learn a spell by copying it from a spell book they have. In that case, I randomly roll to see if the particular spell the characters are looking for is on offer there (unless it's something that should definitely be or not be available). In some locations, you may be able to pay an individual wizard for such goods and services rather than a shop. It isn't considered odd to ask the local wizard when a shop isn't present. As far as actual magic items, potions of healing are probably available somewhere in town--usually at temples. A random selection of spell scrolls are often available at a magic shop, and can often be commissioned at shops or temples (again, it's always a random selection, not the whole list). Potions are the same. Beyond that I will tend to roll some additional random items from the DMG tables, based on the size and commonality of magic in the locale. The number might be zero in some places, but likely is 1d4 in a small-medium shop, which is almost always the biggest shop available. In Waterdeep, there are a few such shops, some of them specialized. Now, in a real planar metropolis like Sigil, you will have full-fledged magic item stores, and even potentially magic items in high-end version of other stores, like the party found a bag of holding in a clothing store. In those full-fledged magic item stores, they will have some specific randomly rolled items available, and probably a (tiny) percentage chance of having any particular other magic item the party might specifically ask about, or being able to get one for an extra cost. One can never just assume what you are looking for is available. When our party was in Sigil they wanted to get some bags of holding. I think they found one at a clothing shop, another couple at a magic item shop, and the fourth may have been at yet another magic item shop. Each shop has its own interesting character and NPC proprietor. I should also mention that it's often a better deal to trade magic items they have at the shops rather than paying in cash. If the shop is interested in the item they will get a better deal, though if they aren't it may be a worse deal. Other than potions and scrolls, I don't actually treat common rarity magic items as common. They tend to be luxury baubles that only make sense existing in areas where magic items are widespread like Eberron, or to a lesser extent Sigil. While a PC with Arcana has probably heard of most of the items in the DMG, they probably haven't heard of things like XGtE "common" items unless it's Eberron. To me, this keeps magic items in a place that makes sense in the world. Players can relatively easily get supplies they should be able to, but finding any specific item requires luck or work and can't be done just anywhere. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Magic Item Shops in Your Campaign
Top