D&D 5E The Case for a Magic Item Shop?

epochrpg said:

I've got THOUSANDS of GP and nothing to spend it on, because we cannot buy magic items, even minor ones. What are we supposed to DO with all that gold, anyway? Buy hexes on the world map?

Click to expand...

Build a palace/castle/fancy house (depending on the costs in the game world). Found a university, church or library? Found a town! Hire an army, and use it for good/selfish/evil ends? Set up your own dominion (local rulers' objections notwithstanding). What did real medieval people do with lots of money? What do rich people do with it today?

My question is, if you didn't have a need or a plan for all that gold, why did you bother collecting it in the first place?

Joe Liker said:

My question is, if you didn't have a need or a plan for all that gold, why did you bother collecting it in the first place?

Click to expand...

My question is, how (and why) are you traveling for months through the underdark with thousands of GP in tow?

Grainger said:

What did real medieval people do with lots of money? What do rich people do with it today?

Click to expand...

Purchase things that make life easier, gadgets and toys, expensive tools that make their job easier, all of that sounds like magic items to me.

Things like bags of holding, portable holes, decanters of endless water, goggles of night, flying carpets, tons of expensive toys for rich people in a D&D world to spend gold on.

Paraxis said:

Purchase things that make life easier, gadgets and toys, expensive tools that make their job easier, all of that sounds like magic items to me.

Things like bags of holding, portable holes, decanters of endless water, goggles of night, flying carpets, tons of expensive toys for rich people in a D&D world to spend gold on.

Click to expand...

If they're readily available for sale. I suppose you might be able to hire agents to go out and learn about the locations of such items (at the DM''s discretion). Depending on the campaign, this might attract the attention of nefarious characters who might use this as an opportunity to intercept the news, gain the items for themselves, or just to try to get some of the PC's obvious wealth (if he/she is sending out people just to look for magic items, he/she must be a wealthy individual).

Personally, I'm going to keep a tight reign on magic items in 5e. By modern standards, I was incredibly stingy with them in my old BECMI campaign, but it still crept upwards over time, and I really want to minimise power creep and losing the wonder that, say, The Hobbit and LOTR have when the characters come to posses a magic item.

In a more magic-item light game, I'd encourage players to have their characters raise armies, build castles, or try to otherwise buy political influence, in order to further their character's aims. If their characters aren't interested in this, keeping themselves safe (hiring bodyguards or building a very safe home) might be options. Or perhaps building public works to impress the populace (this would possibly irritate nobles in the region). There are so many great story ideas that come out of PCs spending large amounts of money that I can't help but digress. In fact, spending it on magic items is probably one of the more boring ways to spend the money, in terms of narrative or character development.

By now, I think you should just reroll. Nobody should feel obligated to play a character he or she thinks is handicapped in the chosen field of expertise. Maybe your DM should allow you to play a different character for this part of the adventure; when your group is back from the underdark, you can come back to your ninja, if you want to. I just don't see your reasons as compelling enough to justify that magic shops have to be a thing in D&D. They can be a thing, if the setting demands it, but allowing all character concepts to work perfectly under any situation is definitely not a good reason to make magic shops default.

Perhaps your DM could arrange for the party to encounter (be ambushed by) a group of baddies, at least one of which is wearing a set of Darkvision Goggles, or they could be carrying the loot from a previous encounter with someone else who had worn the goggles.

steeldragons said:

My question is, how (and why) are you traveling for months through the underdark with thousands of GP in tow?

Click to expand...

Handwaved encumberance.

I'm all for ways to buy/trade/sell off magic items, but I also want to stay in tune with the 5e theme of no MagicMarts.

What I decided to do was apply a little bit of economics to it.
Magic Shop - A huge city (like Waterdeep) may have a few shops where one can buy magical items. They're the high end shops of master crafters and merchants so cunning that the Thieves' Guild doesn't so much as pass through his door. The alchemist will have healing potions, but may also have a few other potions/salves of this and that at any given time. But while you might find a Flaming +1 sword (as an example) for sale, you won't be able to walk in and order a +1 sword with Keen and Icy Burst. You have to buy/trade from their selection on hand.
(In this, I add in the sorts of weapons the characters want to use. Say that random treasure gave a +1 Flail but the player likes Warhammers, letting them trade for the role play preferred equivalent isn't game breaking at all to me.)

Research - Hitting up a huge library (like Candlekeep) during your downtime and being willing to shell out some gold finding what you're looking for is a good way to get things going. The more you're willing to spend researching, the more likely you are to be led to the necessary item. Note, that researching an item in this manner only gives one an accurate locale. That location may very well be "within a Yuan-ti egg chamber".

Common [A few hours]: Very easy. Around 25g or so.
Uncommon [1-3 days]: 25-50g (50%), 50-75g (75%), 80g+ (100%)
Rare [1-5 days]: 100g (25%), 200g (50%), 300g (75%), 400g+ (100%)
Very Rare [3-10 days]: 500g (25%), 1000g (50%)*
Legendary [14 days, minimum]: 2000g (25%)*

*You can't generally get any higher than this without some really potent aid. A master archaeologist, a wizened scholar specializing in this kind of thing, etc.

I was going to add an Epic Level Consortium or Enigmatic Peddler of Exotic Wares, but I figure the DMG will be out before getting to that point, so it won't be necessary.

Giltonio_Santos said:

By now, I think you should just reroll. Nobody should feel obligated to play a character he or she thinks is handicapped in the chosen field of expertise. Maybe your DM should allow you to play a different character for this part of the adventure; when your group is back from the underdark, you can come back to your ninja, if you want to. I just don't see your reasons as compelling enough to justify that magic shops have to be a thing in D&D. They can be a thing, if the setting demands it, but allowing all character concepts to work perfectly under any situation is definitely not a good reason to make magic shops default.

Click to expand...

Can't re-roll. I'm 7th level and if you re-roll or join the campaign you start at level 1. I'd quit before I'd do that. See the thread on "Everyone Starts at First Level" for why.

We're not talking about a "slight penalty so you are not perfect" we are talking "YOU ARE FREAKING BLIND!!!!" That is a horrendously bad penalty to have 24/7. You had disad on all rolls, they get advantage on all rolls against you, etc.

The campaign pitch was "heroes chosen by destiny, deliver this artifact to prevent the end of the world, traversing many lands to do so" not "Traverse one land, then spend several months in permanent pitch-blackness and stupid you for your character being born a human and not having darkvision. I guess Destiny had a sense of humor choosing you for this mission. It's okay though, you can carry the water for the real heroes who do have darkvision."