D&D 4E 4E Item price parity.

[tallyrand]

<smacks forehead> Dwarves!

Obviously, in their infinite wisdom, the Developers of 4E took into account the price mitigating factor of dwarves manufacturing reasonably priced chain, scale and plate armor for mass consumption. See, it all makes sense now.

Sorry, I can't seem to find the wiki article to back up my point, but I'm sure it's there.

 

[Lanefan]

In theory, it doesn't matter what you set the price to, since PCs aren't supposed to get money from selling nonmagical treasure (it's a rule, though the DM can override it obviously)

Are you serious?! This is a 4e (or any e) rule?

Going to town with 47 longswords, 18 chainmails, 6 plates, and 22 heavy shields is now something we can officially ignore, right next to bathing, toiletry, common diseases, food poisoning, etc.

OK, but does this no-money-for-non-magic-stuff idea extend to going back to town with non-magical gems, jewelry, works of art, tapestries, books of lost knowledge, golden statues, captured ships, etc. and trying to sell them? If so, that's bloody ridiculous. If not, then what's the difference between selling 6 gems and 6 longswords?

And if it matters, disease and poison at low level are things to be greatly feared, not ignored.

Lanefan

 

[The Little Raven]

And if it matters, disease and poison at low level are things to be greatly feared, not ignored.

To mundane people, perhaps. To heroes, frak no. I play this game to be a heroic adventurer, not a plague victim.

 

[Mirtek]

To mundane people, perhaps. To heroes, frak no. I play this game to be a heroic adventurer, not a plague victim.

So you dislike the 4e disease rules?

 

[keterys]

Are you serious?! This is a 4e (or any e) rule?OK, but does this no-money-for-non-magic-stuff idea extend to going back to town with non-magical gems, jewelry, works of art, tapestries, books of lost knowledge, golden statues, captured ships, etc. and trying to sell them? If so, that's bloody ridiculous. If not, then what's the difference between selling 6 gems and 6 longswords?

And if it matters, disease and poison at low level are things to be greatly feared, not ignored.

Lanefan

Gems are a form of currency, much like gold. Works of art, tapestries, books of lost knowledge, etc are one way to express getting treasure, yep.

You only get money for selling non-magical equipment (eg, lanterns, leather armor, longswords, etc) if your DM expressly allows it, in which case you get 20%.

This route is good for both parties
PCs
1) get to not worry about tracking that crap
2) can choose to play a more 'good' character who doesn't go about stripping the dead to their skivvies for loose change

While DMs don't need to
1) total up and factor in that treasure to subtract it from another column
2) figure out which equipment would be sellable or not

'Well, let's see - the orc was shot by three arrows, then killed by an orb of crackling lightning... wonder where that puts the value of his chainmail.'

Honestly, while D&D is a game about killing things and taking their stuff, I'm not sure it needs to encourage doing it for coppers. After all, the next logical step after killing orcs to strip off their leather armor (eww) and sell it is to start prying out teeth, tusks, maybe a little organ harvesting.

Man, now I miss the 'Resurrectionist' I played in a middle ages game once

 

[The Little Raven]

So you dislike the 4e disease rules?

Haven't read them, yet. But I don't intend to be using them much, since I've never been one to use them.

 

[keterys]

So you dislike the 4e disease rules?

The 4e diseases so far (like 3e) are supernatural diseases like mummy rot... not things like the common cold or a variety of diseases earned by eating the wrong things, not eating the right things, getting too close to dying things, etc.

More 'You were hit by the rabid wererat' and less 'well, your character didn't try enough water or have enough vitamin C'.

 

[Sashi]

Also, if you like to bleed money from your PCs (who doesn't?!) you can always charge them upkeep on their armor. The more expensive armors cost more to repair, of course!

This, this, this, this, this

1500 gp full plate is a chunk of change for a 3rd level party, but that party is going to be facing quite a number of enemies with full plate. If they fight 20 opponents in full plate (easy to do if you have a humanoid-centric campaign) and they strip half of those enemies of their plate, you've just given a 3rd level party 10,000 gp, irrespective of actual treasure.

 

[ZombieRoboNinja]

Remember, the prices in the PHB aren't an attempt to model an entire functioning economy; they're an attempt to model how that economy affects heroic PCs specifically. The key word here is "heroic": even at level 1, a PC is already a hero, favored by fate and idolized by the masses, meaning he isn't necessarily haggling for starting equipment at the local flea market.

Take the cost of plate. Well, first off, the only class that can wear it out of the gate is the paladin. A paladin is sponsored by his church, who can be presumed to be providing armor for its most stalwart heroes - and again, even a level 1 paladin PC is well-established in his order. Consider the 50gp cost a tithe.

There are some fighters who can wear plate at first level, but only if they specifically buy a feat. Now, since we're talking a ROLEPLAYING-INTENSIVE game here, it would be safe to assume that the character has some in-game reason for spending his one and only feat on Armor Proficiency, yes? Maybe he's trained with a well-armed constabulary, or he's the son of a skilled smith (or a skilled smith himself). Either case would provide a good way for him to get his hands on a cheap set of armor.

And even if you don't care enough to come up with a specific explanation like this, remember the POS setting: the human empire has recently fallen, and where once there were well-supplied armies patrolling the land there is now chaos. My guess is that there are plenty of villagers who'd rather see great-grandpa's armor on a local goblin-slaying hero than rusting on their mantle, especially if they get a decade's salary out of the deal.

 

[keterys]

Or, more precisely... the rest of the world does follow 'medieval' pricing guidelines and such, but Adventurers face a different type of market altogether.