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Magic item traders, cursed items, and hapless buyers or shoplifters
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<blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 9036289" data-attributes="member: 29398"><p>This is where I run aground - you're assuming the sellers are always static for-profit businesses: as in, actual "Magic Shops". They're often not. Most of the time the sellers are either private individuals or other adventurers just like the PCs; and adventurers are as often as not looking to trade rather than sell outright.</p><p></p><p>The peg point for an item's value is "what does it cost to have an artificer make you one?". Why? With the exception of charged items such as wands, magic (in any setting I've ever seen) doesn't tend to age or wear out or corrode, thus a +2 longsword straight out of the artificer's forge and a +2 longsword made centuries ago are probably indistinguishable when laid side by side, assuming they've both been recently cleaned up.</p><p></p><p>And thus, magic doesn't inherently lose value with age. If anything, it might gain value - for example a sword might acquire a name, a reputation, and some legends and lore around itself, all serving to increase its perceived value. So, if you commission a +2 longsword for 4000 g.p. and collect it once it's made, there's no reason in the world you can't expect to get 4000 g.p. for it if and when you later decide to sell it. And so, my single-value system is justified. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p>Which reminds me: another obvious, if rather intermittent, source of major items coming on to the market would be long-time adventurers getting out of the trade and cashing in, selling their items in order to fund strongholds or temples or whatever other retirement plans they might have.</p><p></p><p>I fully agree with the bolded. What's on the market at any given moment is a) very random and b) changes constantly, but there's still magic items being bought and sold. For example, in the adventure I'm running right now the party have already found two very magical tridents. That crew o' characters between them wouldn't know a trident from a teapot, so once they get back to town it's ironclad guaranteed those things are going straight on the market. Which means, by random chance (or so it appears to anyone else) one day there'll suddenly be two magic tridents for sale that weren't available last week and might not be next week.</p><p></p><p>There's enough item pricing guides out there (look no further than the 1e DMG for one) that surely you could have found something, if only just a base point to extrapolate from. And again, if you're selling a big-ticket item you're not selling it to some town merchant, you're selling it to another adventurer (to use, probably) or a noble (for whatever reason) or a guild (who will resell it at cost later, or use it, whichever) or a temple (who might offer it up in sacrifice).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lanefan, post: 9036289, member: 29398"] This is where I run aground - you're assuming the sellers are always static for-profit businesses: as in, actual "Magic Shops". They're often not. Most of the time the sellers are either private individuals or other adventurers just like the PCs; and adventurers are as often as not looking to trade rather than sell outright. The peg point for an item's value is "what does it cost to have an artificer make you one?". Why? With the exception of charged items such as wands, magic (in any setting I've ever seen) doesn't tend to age or wear out or corrode, thus a +2 longsword straight out of the artificer's forge and a +2 longsword made centuries ago are probably indistinguishable when laid side by side, assuming they've both been recently cleaned up. And thus, magic doesn't inherently lose value with age. If anything, it might gain value - for example a sword might acquire a name, a reputation, and some legends and lore around itself, all serving to increase its perceived value. So, if you commission a +2 longsword for 4000 g.p. and collect it once it's made, there's no reason in the world you can't expect to get 4000 g.p. for it if and when you later decide to sell it. And so, my single-value system is justified. :) Which reminds me: another obvious, if rather intermittent, source of major items coming on to the market would be long-time adventurers getting out of the trade and cashing in, selling their items in order to fund strongholds or temples or whatever other retirement plans they might have. I fully agree with the bolded. What's on the market at any given moment is a) very random and b) changes constantly, but there's still magic items being bought and sold. For example, in the adventure I'm running right now the party have already found two very magical tridents. That crew o' characters between them wouldn't know a trident from a teapot, so once they get back to town it's ironclad guaranteed those things are going straight on the market. Which means, by random chance (or so it appears to anyone else) one day there'll suddenly be two magic tridents for sale that weren't available last week and might not be next week. There's enough item pricing guides out there (look no further than the 1e DMG for one) that surely you could have found something, if only just a base point to extrapolate from. And again, if you're selling a big-ticket item you're not selling it to some town merchant, you're selling it to another adventurer (to use, probably) or a noble (for whatever reason) or a guild (who will resell it at cost later, or use it, whichever) or a temple (who might offer it up in sacrifice). [/QUOTE]
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