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lowkey13
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*Deleted by user*
In a pre-industrial society without mass production, how valuable would it be to extend the life of all goods at no cost?
I'm not trying to be mean, but it really doesn't seem like you've thought much about this. Especially when this is a cantrip. Please feel free to go back and look at the need for repair in the middle ages through the renaissance and get back to me- this isn't terribly advanced stuff.
I hate to break it to you, but I prefer my approach ("Yes, it would change a lot, but I'm not going to worry about that because it's a game") to your approach, which appears to be, "The world wouldn't change at all because of magic, and boy, it is amazing just how right this game got it."
The fundamentals of society varied widely between places just on Earth; it would be staggering that a make-believe world with powerful magic, present deities, and intelligent non-human races would be ... kinda like a weird 60s fantasy book. Don't you think?
The demand on rubies cost would be nil. Because the required amount is a gp value of dust. If price rises, amount needed goes down.No, I'm not. This is what I was discussing before- it is really, really hard for someone, today, to try and understand all the changes that would occur. In fact, it would be impossible.
Heck, just look at the cantrip- mending. Always able to be case (so no real cost). Think about how the (assumedly) widespread use of this cantrip would affect the second-hand market. Go on.
Then what about continual flame? What would the effect of a wide-spread market for that be on the price and availability of rubies? Because, dang, who wouldn't want continual flames everywhere? It has no "cost" other than the material component, so any caster who can cast it likely would equal to their spell slots on every day off, and then profit (50gp cost, .... well, supply and demand would raise that but whatever, and then sell for 70gp).
If you are interested in how light affected us all, there are books and stuff, like I said. Feel free to incorporate those ideas into your campaign ...
Or, just ignore them. Which is what most people do.
That's why I added the caveat about PCs engaging in a scheme to mass produce continual flame items. At the gaming table, prices are mostly static, for the reasons you state. It's a convenient abstraction for the DM. When we're debating worldbuilding and the history of the setting, though, there's no reason to treat "50 gp for a continual flame item" as an ironclad law for all time.Because it is! Everything is.
I mean, I am sure there are DMs, somewhere out there, that dynamically adjust prices, or try to. Does the party have a home base that they get supplies in? Well, those prices are going to rise after the the first (or third) treasure hoard, right? But ... the vast vast majority of DMs don't bother, because it's not worth the paperwork.
The demand on rubies cost would be nil. Because the required amount is a gp value of dust. If price rises, amount needed goes down.