Where PCs buy & sell magic items

[blargney the second]

I set up a few guidelines for the players in my Eberron campaign who wish to buy magic items:
1) Minor disposable items like wands, potions, and scrolls (ie 1st level) can be purchased pretty much freely, along with most mundane equipment.
2) The House Cannith Fabricator's Guild can be commissioned to build items at regular DMG market values and crafting times. They can also fabricate mundane equipment very quickly at a premium.
3) House Kundarak's Banking Guild uses their interlinked vault system to create a world-wide brokerage of magic items. The smaller the item, the more likely it is currently available. Prices are slightly marked up over DMG market values due to the unique nature of their service.
4) As the PCs make friendly contacts, they will have a better chance of finding what they want.

They can sell magic items to Cannith, whose artificers always need XP for crafting.


What guidelines are in place in your campaigns?
-blarg

 

[Wik]

Really, none right now. I'm running Savage Tide, and it's really my first time trying to run a "by the book" game (ie, no major house rules). As such, I wanted to keep Magic Items as "standard" as possible, so I just use what's in the book.

Usually, though, I favour "magic items are very rare, except for stuff under 1K". It's good, let's me control the wealth, and it works in the types of games I run. However, since I'm thinking of running an Eberron game (I just read the Campaign Setting, and it's awesome!) I might have to re-think that.

 

[Aeric]

Wow...I was planning to use a system identical to yours in the next (Eberron) game I run. Great minds think alike, I guess.

How do you determine the availability of existing magic items from House Kundarak? I was thinking a percentage chance based on the market value of the item as well as where the PCs make their inquiry (Sharn is more likely to have stuff on hand than some town in the middle of Aundair).

 

[Hussar]

Well, in my World's Largest Dungeon campaign, there has been pretty much zero shopping for magic other than a couple of minor bits. In my last campaign, set in Scarred Lands, I allowed shopping pretty much freely. The city of Mithril actually has magic shops, so, it's not a big deal.

 

[Storyteller01]

Scrolls can be found fairly regularly amongst fellow spellcasters (not nessecarily cheaply though). Think of it as scientists writing papers for others to analyse. The constant exposure improves the art overall.

Other items are on commission, and I've been using the IK magic item rules (accumulators are great at limiting magic item reliance). About the only exception are flares of sweet breeze (variations of candles of sweet breeze). These are easily purchased, and can be found on nearly every ship.

I've also been enforcing material components. Given that dragins and sorcerers rule the area, these shops are fairky common if not on the expensive end. On the plus side, smart players can find other uses for their components as needed.

 

[luke_twigger]

It depends from campaign to campaign.

In my current campaign, I've deliberately gone for a straightforward, by the DMG approach, so have GP limits assigned to each town (typically <3000gp) and PCs can freely buy/sell anything below those values (but I only allow magic items from the DMG, not from any other source). There is a place called "The Plunderdome" in the capital city where more exotic/expensive items might be found (i.e. at my discretion).

In previous campaigns we've had various approaches as extreme as "magic items are incredibly rare to be bought" (campaign world was pseudo-middle ages England and two wizards in the whole kingdom) to "any/all magic items are freely available" (high powered Kalamar campaign with lots of huge cities and powerful wizards guilds). So our group changes approach depending on the needs and mood of the campaign in question and also DM preference.

Sorry, I realise "it depends" is not the most helpful of replies

 

[Solarious]

I would use the same guidelines as blargney does (in an Eberron world), with the following details:

5) Each 'division' of Cannith has a purchasing power aproximately equivilant to twice that of a metropolis, and roughly a fourth of it is tied up in standard operations. Their large size and multiple operations allows them great capital, but the Houses have their limits, especially one divided against itself. Exactly how much purchasing power is available at any given moment is up to the DM depending on the campaign situation, but keep in mind that if Cannith wants something badly enough, they'll take a loan on Kundarak and pay the dwarves off later.
6) Items requiring a CL of +10 to create is difficult to come by, and are generally commissioned from Cannith, available on a "when it's done" basis (top crafters and Creation Schemas are typically busy elsewhere), and anything requiring CL 15 or more are virtually unattainable, requiring you to either convince legendary crafters such as Golan Dol, or to find them in lost ruins (plenty of those lying about), or to go the 'lamentations' angle and pry them from the cooling hands on your foes. Oh, and there is always making it yourself.
7) In the same respect, higher level spells get harder to buy after 4th or 5th level, depending on your location. Wizards, Artificers, and other people who possess these scrolls are unlikely to part with them percisely because they are so rare. Some nobles even consider them collector's items. Aquiring such spells usually involves a trade, or (less commonly) a high markup over market price.

 

[blargney the second]

How do you determine the availability of existing magic items from House Kundarak? I was thinking a percentage chance based on the market value of the item as well as where the PCs make their inquiry (Sharn is more likely to have stuff on hand than some town in the middle of Aundair).

The Banking Guild has vaults that use an interdimensional space to be connected with each other. Something that is put in a vault in one Banking Guild enclave is instantly able to be withdrawn from any other enclave. When I realized what that meant, I decided that they had to have a world-wide brokerage of magic items. The market for magic items in a single place isn't huge, but if you take all the major cities on a single continent, then things start to get interesting. Lots of buyers = more money.

Since the vaults have a finite space, the smaller the item, the more it's likely to be available. As a DM, this gives me some room for the characters to grow in level and still be able to buy some high-level gear. It's effectively like removing the gp limit for a city, while imposing another restriction on availability and an increase in cost.

For the actual probability of availability, I start by eyeballing the item in question and try to figure out how common it is, and how likely someone else would be to part with it. After that, I'll assign a % chance that Kundarak has one at that particular moment. I err on the higher side because my goal isn't to screw over the players.

 

[blargney the second]

Solarious - yep, that all makes quite a lot of sense for a wide magic world like Eberron.

 

[Thomas Percy]

I love the idea of Dream Apthecary from PTOLUS.