Selling Magic Items

[Spatzimaus]

I kind of saw the story as a joke.

It WAS a joke. Well, a humorous way of showing why allowing players who want to use divinations to find a buyer could be a bad idea, shown from the other side. The point was, if you wouldn't want the NPCs to do that to the players, don't let the players do that to the NPCs.

Although, it gives me an idea: let the players still use Divinations, and have the spells give them vague hints that boil down to "be in the bazaar on Thursday wearing a red sombrero, with your female friend holding the sword while she has a rabbit in her arms", but less clear.
On that day a potential buyer will happen to wander through, notice the hat, then see the sword, pet the rabbit, hit on the woman, ask to examine the sword, then buy it.
It'd make for a funny adventure hook, especailly if your people didn't have any red sombreros or bunnies, or any idea where to find them.
"Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?"
"I think so, Brain, but where are we going to find a duck and a rubber hose at this hour?"

The flip side of THAT one isn't so bad; how many times have the players found a merchant who happens to be selling exactly what they needed? Now you've got a good reason for that; those merchants did divinations to find out when a good buyer would be passing by.

 

[Bonedagger]

It WAS a joke. Well, a humorous way of showing why allowing players who want to use divinations to find a buyer could be a bad idea, shown from the other side. The point was, if you wouldn't want the NPCs to do that to the players, don't let the players do that to the NPCs.

Although, it gives me an idea: let the players still use Divinations, and have the spells give them vague hints that boil down to "be in the bazaar on Thursday wearing a red sombrero, with your female friend holding the sword while she has a rabbit in her arms", but less clear.
On that day a potential buyer will happen to wander through, notice the hat, then see the sword, pet the rabbit, hit on the woman, ask to examine the sword, then buy it.
It'd make for a funny adventure hook, especailly if your people didn't have any red sombreros or bunnies, or any idea where to find them.
"Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?"
"I think so, Brain, but where are we going to find a duck and a rubber hose at this hour?"

The flip side of THAT one isn't so bad; how many times have the players found a merchant who happens to be selling exactly what they needed? Now you've got a good reason for that; those merchants did divinations to find out when a good buyer would be passing by.

That could make for some good roleplaying. And it's always nice to hear creative ideas from the players which they could be forced to make here.


I can see that you on some level still saw the jokes potential to bring in some humor in games, in the shape of bizarre situations.

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P.S.

As a GM it's ok to use such tricks to spice up your game as long as the players don't feel cheated. The balance issue you mentioned.

I would personally not considder this case a problem since few of those in my campaign who could, would even considder doing this trick. Most magical items are made for personal use or kept within a form of organisation. And when you are a powerfull spellcaster so many other safer ways of making money are available. Powerfull magic is, when given to others, intented for helping an ally.

More powerfull items found for sale are usually looted from the dead or living. Finding a potential buyer who would need that item a lot would normally not be worth it. Therefore finding out if it has the potential is not either. If my player ever tried this trick I would not hesitate to use it's potential for a surreal adventure however.