D&D 5E How do you handle the "economy killing spells" in your game?

TheSword · May 13, 2019

Economics may be the problem, but Economics fixes it.

Plant Growth
As supply of fresh food exceeds demand then prices will reduce. Traders then must find new markets, however the perishable nature of farmed goods would limit the range. There would probably substantial immigration with neighboring Labour forces seeking food. Towns and cities would swell and increase with abundant food and Labour.

This sounds like a feature to me rather than a problem. I don’t actually have an issue with Druid’s supplementing produce like this. After all harvest festival is a religious tradition in many real countries. Chauntea in the FR practically embodies this approach.

Fabricate
If you want to limit wealth creation limit markets. The number of the population able to buy plate armour for 600gp should be very limited. Even the king should be wary about equipping a 100 of his guards with plate armour. This would cost 60,000 GP but he would probably be able to recruit 600 guards at least for the same cost.

Some other considerations...

- Plate armour was fitted to size so is not easily mass produced, that’s why it’s so expensive - essentially made to order
- Plate armour needs substantial upkeep and repair. There’s no such thing as stainless steel (unless you invent it)
- Plate would be massively encumbering for many regular soldiers, not to mention unwieldy.

Even with all that though. Is it a problem that a relatively powerful wizard has improved the lot of the realm. Stories are filled with stories of powerful wizards performing feats to aid the kingdom, building castles overnight, binding a terrible foe etc.

S'mon · May 13, 2019

TheSword said:
- Plate armour was fitted to size so is not easily mass produced, that’s why it’s so expensive - essentially made to order

Yeah I think the purchaser would need to have his measurements taken by the wizard-smith prior to Fabricating. I could imagine breastplates & helmets being mass produced in a range of sizes, though. It's the limb armour that would need the most individual tailoring.

Edit: This reminds me - recently saw childrens' film "The Kid Who Would Be King" where Merlin Fabricates plate armour for the entire student body of a London high school to fight Morgana's
skeleton warriors.

Edit 2: If the spell really is game breaking then do the Cinderella thing and have the Fabricated goods return to their original form at midnight!

Bitbrain · May 13, 2019

Reply to OP.

In my campaign, Plant Growth and Fabricate are not economy killing spells.

So much ecological damage has been inflicted upon the world that the remaining city-states go out of their way to find and intimidate/persuade any druid they can get their hands on into living on the farmlands surrounding each city, so they can use Plant growth to increase the soil's fertility year after year.
The backstory of the Elf Druid PC in my group is that his parents were two such individuals captured and imprisoned by one of the city-states for this exact purpose.

Those able to cast fabricate in my campaign are almost immediately elevated to high-ranking positions within the various Artisan Guilds and Merchant Houses.

muppetmuppet · May 13, 2019

Is there a limit to who can wear plate? A strength limit or something in 5e I seem to remember. Not sure how many guards will have the needed strength if so.

I checked you need 15 strength. Admitedly I have no idea how you determine stats for guards.

Ok I found guard stat block they have strength 13 so they can't use the plate mail.

Fanaelialae · May 13, 2019

I think there are a number of limiting factors.

You must consider the demand side of the equation, not just supply. Who has the money to buy all of these suits of armor? The local baron probably isn't interested in paying such a ransom to armor his footmen, and the soldiers almost certainly can't afford it themselves.

Sure, there might be the occasional knight or lord, but even if they aren't superstitious about the armor's origins, there aren't going to be hundreds of them lining up at the wizard's door.

Then we also have to consider the local powers that be. The local lord may get a bit suspicious at all of this armor the wizard is stockpiling. (It's altogether plausible that the local guilds would be whispering in his ear, encouraging this line of thinking.) It might not be long before a small army pounds down the wizard's door. After all, all that armor and gold could fund a peasant uprising (plus, if all goes well, all that wealth now belongs to the lord).

Horwath · May 13, 2019

I would go with multiple casting required to have an item permanent.

I.E. Fabricate would last only 24hrs, and would require month, 6 months or a year of daily casting to make an item permanent.

Druids, plant growth might only require week or two of daily casts to enrich the land for agriculture. If the druid will cast it in the 1st time.
He might use that as a leverage to prevent settlers of advancing more into the wild.
Most druids that I played were of Sylvanus, border line eco-terrorists

Maxperson · May 13, 2019

dnd4vr said:
TANGENT:

I, for one, don't like the quick progress of XP and leveling in 5E compared to AD&D/2E. There is no reason why just about every elf and dwarf over 150 years old wouldn't likely be 20th-level if they wanted. I can just imagine an elven wizard who magic missiles one goblin a day, every day, for 20 years... and he will be 20th-level. If he wanted to increase the difficulty of the monsters when he got higher level spells, he could do it much quicker...

I've never had a problem with that, because it seems to me that it takes a special kind of crazy to go on what amounts to multiple suicide missions. Fighting dangerous creatures is deadly, and the vast majority of people just don't want to do that. Exp from non-combat situations should be very slow going, so most elves and dwarves that even have class levels at all wouldn't be mega high level.

Maxperson · May 13, 2019

Stalker0 said:
Yep, my player absolutely did with fabricate. We have both made a gentlemen's agreement. I say he is "very rich", which comes with some perks, he doesn't try to break it.

So basically...I handwaved it. But its left a taste in my mouth I don't like, hence the thread.

A few assassins would have been appropriate at that point. I mean, if I were the collective blacksmiths of the realm and one 7th level wizard tried to put us all out of business, I'd do something about it.

jgsugden · May 13, 2019

The wealthiest people in our world could solve homelessness and poverty if the just donated most of their money to the community.

dave2008 · May 13, 2019

I handle it basically as [MENTION=6801204]Satyrn[/MENTION] described in post #3. 99.999% of the population is level 3 or lower. It is the rare exception (i.e the players) that make it past level 3. So most "clerics, priest, druids, etc. are basically similar to their RW counterparts. With the exception of some ritual casting.