Gecko85
Explorer
Of course your strawman isn't reasonable, you made it as idiotic and unrelated to the argument as you possibly could.
His analogy (not strawman) was perfectly reasonable.
Of course your strawman isn't reasonable, you made it as idiotic and unrelated to the argument as you possibly could.
Bilbo didn't get into enough fights to make it to 3rd level. At the rate he was literally being handed and tripping over magic items he'd have had several hundred by 20th level.
If better gear is literally all you care about, then presumably you will spend your mountains of gold to employ a network of information gatherers and sages to help you find more gear. They might even be able to help you track down specific items if you pay them well enough.Yeah, you (and others) keep saying so...
...but this still does not answer the question "in previous editions we enjoyed buying magic items for our gold, but now we can't find anything worthwhile to spend gold on" assuming a party that doesn't enjoy downtime or castle building.
The DMG completely fails to provide an alternative for when you have 40000 gp and tomorrow enter the Dungeon of Slaughter.
Previously, you could whet your appetite for a +3 Axe of Slaying or another equally functioning item.
Now, not so much. In fact, not at all. All options either mean doing downtime stuff, or adding rules that merely act as a money sink. (Why hand out that much gold if all you can do with it is pay a trainer to level up?)
If better gear is literally all you care about, then presumably you will spend your mountains of gold to employ a network of information gatherers and sages to help you find more gear. They might even be able to help you track down specific items if you pay them well enough.
It's functionally the same as having a magic market, but it does require a modicum of role-play and effort. I don't think the DMG should facilitate the complete removal of RP from the game, so this might be as good as it gets for that kind of play style.
If your group really does hate role-playing all that much, I have to wonder why they choose to play a Role-Playing Game?
Of course your strawman isn't reasonable, you made it as idiotic and unrelated to the argument as you possibly could.
The DMG completely fails to provide an alternative for when you have 40000 gp and tomorrow enter the Dungeon of Slaughter.
Previously, you could whet your appetite for a +3 Axe of Slaying or another equally functioning item.
DMG pg 135 said:Unless you decide your campaign works otherwise, (emphasis mine) most magic items are so rare they aren't available for purchase.
I don't see a reason the two philosophies being debated here can't coexist on a campaign by campaign basis. If some people want to play in a magic-rich environment, so be it. Use the DMG rules or something else and go with it. If other people want to play in a rare magic milieu, that's okay, too.
The argument that economies will force the creation and propagation of magic items is ludicrous, IMHO. The average worker makes 1sp a day, or 36gp a year. Magic items require mystical components, obscure instructions, highest quality materials and spellcasters who have better things to do with their time than sinking weeks and weeks into creating a Ring of Feather Fall to put on Ebay.
On the other hand, if you want to have magic be 'mundane' in your campaign, go for it.
Oh it was directly related. A normal non-adventuring person in a fantasy world has the same level of need for magic weapons & gadgets as a normal person in our world has for the items I mentioned. An economy on any sort of scale needs more than a half dozen or so people to support it.
Yeah, but there is a major societal difference between the two which make them non-related.
In the real world, adventurers do not walk around in body armor and powerful weapons, infiltrating into areas which are none of their business, killing and looting; at least in a significant portion of the planet.
The laws of society in an adventuring world tend to lawfully allow PCs to do this in any area outside of civilization. Monsters and many other creatures are considered outlaws (i.e. outside the law), they have no right to life, and most DMs do not have kingdoms who punish PCs for doing this.
Since it is a game that allows for breaking and entering, murder and theft as part and parcel of the fun and escapism, comparing magic items in a fantasy world to modern weapons in the real world is nonsensical.
I directly quoted a post where he said his group did not enjoy "downtime" activities or building buildings or basically anything other than combat and character advancement. I wasn't trying to disparage anyone's play style; I merely referred to the play style he himself described. I certainly didn't imply that his play style wasn't fun.The game can be fun either way, and just because there are magic item shops (or alternatively, easier ways to acquire or get rid of magic items) in a game does not mean that the players are not role-playing or that the other poster's group hates role-playing.
Yes, a DM can use your approach if he does not want magic item shops, but not doing so does not mean that people aren't role-playing.