20% item resale value: impossible!

[S'mon]

1/5 is more believable than 3e's 1/2; but IRL I think 1/4-1/3 are more common.

 

[Pbartender]

One of the differences between the modern trade in used goods and the trade in magical weapons in a D&D world is a pretty simple one: most used goods depreciate in part because costs to manufacture are so low that people who want the item can usually find the new version, which is usually what they want.

You also have the "wear and tear" factor... The fact that goods wear out over time, thereby reducing the value of resale.

In the modern world, many items, especially the expensive ones, have a lot of parts that are hard-working and often used, so they tend to wear out quickly... most automobiles don't retain 50% of their resale value after 5 years.

Items made in the pre-modern world still had those problems... The construction was simpler, but the materials weren't as advanced. Unless the inherent magic protected it pergectly, a magical suit of armor that had lying around in a tomb for centuries could still be dinged and dented, tarnished and stained, with all the leather straps worn and cracked.

 

[False Keraptis]

The rationalizations in this thread are utterly ridiculous! SteveC is totally right: the 1/5 sale price is for game balance, and has nothing to with anything else. Even the 1/2 from 3rd was on the low side.

Wear and tear has <i>never</i> been an issue with D&D magic items - these are things you pull out of the belly of a displacer beast, find by sifting the sludge at the bottom of the keep's latrine, or pick up off a corpse that's been moldering at the bottom of a pit trap for a few decades, and find they're as good as new!

Secondly, magic items are extremely high value, low weight goods. Security is an issue, but aside from that, dealing in them is <i>ridiculously</i> easy money, especially in a place like Sigil, Waterdeep, or even Cauldron. Keep in mind in 3rd, 1 sp was a day's wage for an average joe. 100% returns aren't enough, now they need 400%?

I'll admit the economics of D&D never made a lick of sense; I'll also admit the PoL idea would make the magic item market a lot less liquid. However, it's obvious the 20% sale price is about game balance and nothing else. That's fine, 4e is a more "gamey" game, and they want to get away from looting everything of value. These are fine, defensible choices, even if they might not be the ones I would make. But please don't tell me it's about realism.

 

[mattdm]

The rationalizations in this thread are utterly ridiculous! SteveC is totally right: the 1/5 sale price is for game balance, and has nothing to with anything else. Even the 1/2 from 3rd was on the low side.

Sure, of course the decision was made for game balance. But the point is it's not so far from plausible as to physically require breaking suspension of belief if you're in the least bit willing to work with it.

Security is an issue, but aside from that, dealing in them is <i>ridiculously</i> easy money, especially in a place like Sigil, Waterdeep, or even Cauldron.

Where, where, and where?

 

[Slife]

Good to know. I'll have my adventurers buy from the used items store. That way I can pick up twice as much stuff!

 

[Pbartender]

Good to know. I'll have my adventurers buy from the used items store. That way I can pick up twice as much stuff!

"I've got gen-yoo-ein Heward's Haversacks! C'mon and get 'em here at only half the price! I gare-awn-tee your friends can't tell the difference!"

 

[Fenes]

Have your party track down a stolen magic sword. Once they find it after finding the corpse of the original thief and the adventurers that killed the thief, at the merchant that bought the thing, and they start convincing the merchant to give the stolen property back, there is your justification for a lower resale value of hig-value, low weight goods such as magic items.