Rules change ruined the economy!

[jefgorbach]

From a national perspective, the question isn't so much asto WHY the Gods decided to ruin their economy by altering the Identify spell, but rather
1) a PR campaign mis-informing potential customers why using pearl produces better results (say a roll modifier or chance an extra property is revealed)

2) developing/expanding new uses for the pearls ... funding the research of a custom Charisma or Reflective spell, then giving freebies to PCs/etc known to travel widely thus ensuring the discovery will quickly spread ... replacing the now extinct Identify market with a new popular niche.

 

[Tauric]

By the way, not only do you no longer need a 100 gp pearl to cast identify, you don't even need the identify spell anymore to identfy a magic item. It can easily be done with detect magic, which can be cast at will.

Wait, really? I thought that detect magic gave you the generalities, but identify would be needed for specifics. Like, detect could tell you it's a wand of fireballs but you would need identify to figure out how many charges were left and what the command word was. Am I reading that rule wrong? Or is identify really superfluous?

 

[Qwillion]

I think it would be more fun to play out the economic consequence it plays out upon them, though the pearls are still worth 100 go, DnD economics are funny.

Having the PCs help them out by finding a new market for their pearls could be a fun campaign.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Wait, really? I thought that detect magic gave you the generalities, but identify would be needed for specifics. Like, detect could tell you it's a wand of fireballs but you would need identify to figure out how many charges were left and what the command word was. Am I reading that rule wrong? WellOr is identify really superfluous?

Well, what you actually need is Detect Magic and a Spellcraft check. As mentioned, my character can auto-ID anything of caster level 5 or less (DC is 15 + CL), but would have to roll for something stronger - or use the Identify spell.

 

[Kaisoku]

The identify spell gives a +10 enhancement bonus to checks. So that becomes a caster level 15 minimum with the spell. Not too shabby.

The theme of the OP ("What inocuous spell changes had sweeping in-game consequences?") makes me think of all those "unlimited Create Water orisons means deserts don't exist!" threads over at the paizo forums, heh.

 

[Talonne Hauk]

Pearls of Speech should be important to any merchant economy. Perhaps this land is also the place where people come to plot intrigue, being that it's a place where items facilitate communication.

 

[tvknight415]

Magic didn't change. It's all a conspiracy supported by propaganda put out by an evil dictator of a 4th world land-locked country, who is upset about not having any realistic control over the pearl supply, and is trying to devalue it as a foreign currency to improve his trading position. He's doing it to make up for being a half-elf in a dwarven land, who was referred to as a tallie growing up, and has overcompensated. But then again, it's not his fault really, since he grew up on the streets with no moral compass except watching too many programmed illusions on Mage-TV.


Or, you could just house-rule that using Detect Magic to identify magic items requires a perfect 100 gp pearl and not worry about the socio-economic impact of the rule change.

 

[Tauric]

tvknight415: Brilliant. a bit too involved to work into the campaign, but brilliant nonetheless.

Talonne Hauk: I'm not familiar with Pearls of Speech, where are they from?

I think having the economy in ruins (for this kingdom, not IRL) is more fun, especially if the characters have to go back multiple times and circumstances have changed each time, as the people try to cope and find a replacement.

And yes, I'm aware that the pearls will still be worth 100gp, but the demand for them will have gone down, unless someone creates a fashion buzz about wearing pearl jewelry.

 

[Talonne Hauk]

Pearls of Speech are in the Magic Item Compendium. I realize that's not straight up Pathfinder, but it's a fairly cheap item (600 gp) so it's not exactly a game-breaker.

 

[Dingo333]

The theme of the OP ("What inocuous spell changes had sweeping in-game consequences?") makes me think of all those "unlimited Create Water orisons means deserts don't exist!" threads over at the paizo forums, heh.

Sadly, the create water spell stated the water lasts for 1 day then gone, on another note, create water + transmute mud to rock means the desert is now a mountain or the like. Add the druid turning into a tree and starting a forest, or trying to, on the rock, may take a while, but hey, thats DnD or in this case Pathfinder

Now back to topic. Pearls of the Sirens is great for an island nation to produce and sell (1000g pearls + powers related to surviving underwater) and Pearls of power are items most casters still enjoy having. To make up for the change in economy, maybe these other pearls are on discount to increase their sales and off set the economy change