Purchasing Magic Items

[Lord Ernie]

My game has an NPC Genasi craftsman who will make magic items on request (for the right price, of course), which is more or less "Ye Olde Magick Shoppe", but with a bit more personality to the character.

Now, I do ask for wish-lists every few levels, and I don't hand out that much gold, but in theory they could purchase any item they liked, just no artifacts, divine boons, or other special items - which makes sense, since those can't be crafted.

 

[Tsukiyomi]

For me it would depend on what level of magic item the PCs want to buy.

Minor items of level 1-5 are probably pretty common. Many adventurers have the cash to afford these items and most places probably have a spellcaster of some kind who is more than willing to sell them to make a living. Things like potions of healing or basic magic weapons and armor are not all that hard to find, provided you have the cash.

Above that, and it's based on where the PCs are. If they are in a small village, odds are there's no one who can manufacture a level 10 magic item, but a large city might have someone who can do that. Epic level items, at least in my worlds, are generally not for sale since there are so few epic level people around -- and the ones who DO exist are often too busy pursuing their own agendas, so they don't have the time or desire to churn out magic items. That's even true for items in the upper paragon tier too, most of the time. Of course, I don't really like the idea of the epic tier at all (I plan my games around levels 1 to 20), so my stance there doesn't necessarily affect things too much.

I tend to dodge the problem by creating my own unique magic items and having the majority of the treasure be made up of those things, rather than use book items (I also ignore the parcel system and all that and just use my gut instinct on how much treasure is enough).

 

[Loincloth of Armour]

30 seconds? Whoa! That's like 30 minutes each to come up with those ideas, and you do that for EVERY magic item bought? That's an insane amount of effort that I couldn't possibly reproduce, let alone not use repetitively, which would kill the idea in the first place.

??

30 minutes? To fill in the sentence: [person X] wants to sell [selected item] for [reason A]? I'm having difficulty seeing why it would seem so troublesome.

And it doesn't have to be for every single item, although it's nice if it could be. Potions and consumables can be bought from an apothecary, or a temple clearing out room for arriving acolytes, or a wizard who for some reason, has to leave town RIGHT NOW.

If it seems like too much to create on the fly, then make up a small list before the game. One unique seller for each character should cover you. If you're having trouble with ideas, just read the paper and modify the people in the stories to be sellers.

As an example, the following ideas are all lifted from my city's news section:

• After a house fire, they find [magic item], thinking it cursed, the family is willing to have the character buy it off them.
• A gentleman's club wants to fund their 20th anniversary, so offer up [magic item] to generate the needed cash.
• Through the grapevine you hear [magic item] was uncovered after a flood in a building. It will take some cash to find out who has the item and how much they are willing to part with it for.
• An old cleric has fallen into addiction. She's sold her [magic item] to fuel her habit. By spending some money, the characters can track down where the item is.
• A man arrives in the city, destitute. All he has is a [magic item] that he has never used, not being an adventurer. For a chance at a new life, he's wiling to sell... If you can grease enough palms in the immigrant community to set up a meeting.

None of these ideas took more than 30 seconds to think up. It does take some work, but not a whole lot. And from my experience, does help spice up the world and make it seem more 'real' (whatever that means).

 

[gnfnrf]

First, I make it clear to my players that their mechanical ease of buying and selling magical items has nothing to do with the general game-world view of magic items. It is a concession to the system that they can do it at all, explained by them being special people with unusual connections.

They can only buy or sell magic items in major communities, not small towns or villages. If it ever comes up, I would potentially relax this for potions and other smaller items, but it hasn't.

Players can purchase any normal or set item they want; items from non-rules sources (dungeon, dragon, and adventures) are given a once over for general applicability and sanity before they are used. I haven't introduced boons into the game at all; I don't even know if they exist. And obviously, nobody buys or sells artifacts, or the custom legacy items I am using.

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gnfnrf