A town's ready cash limit.

[ThirdWizard]

The DMG (page 137) goes into detail about the cash limit and cash reserves of cities. Specifically, if you want to make a large purchase, the size of the city limits its wealth, thus limiting how much is available at any one time. That sounds great, but I must be interprieting this wrong. The limit is (1/2 gp limit) * (1/10 population). It states:

If those same adventurers hope to buy longswords (price 15 gp each) for their mercenary hirelings, they'll discover that the hamlet can only offer 30 such swords for sale, because the same 450 gp [100 gp/2 * 90/10] limit applies whether you're buying or selling in a given community.

This implies that each shop is bound by the maximum cash reserves separately, or at worst, that even each type of shop is bound by this maximum cash reserve. So, say, the weaponsmiths will be limited to 450 gp, the armorsmiths 450 gp, etc.

But, then when I tried to make a large town of only 4,500 people, the system... erm... broke down a bit. 675,000 gp worth of longswords, or even weapons just doesn't add up. That's 45,000 longswords! And that's for a town of 4,500... a metropolis apparently has an Undermountain devoted to housing its vast array of longswords and chain shirts!

What am I missing?

 

[Hypersmurf]

Ah, yes. The seven billion chickens problem.

Effectively, the system is completely screwed if you start analysing it. It works okay when someone wants to buy one thing, singly or in quantity. But when you really look at it, you find that that hamlet has thirty longswords available... and thirty scimitars... and forty-five battleaxes... and forty-five shortswords... and... and...

And a metropolis has something like seven billion chickens in stock.

-Hyp.

 

[ThirdWizard]

Hmmm, that is going to make designing a magic shop "by the rules" a much more difficult process if not completely impossible... 675,000 gp worth of magical items is far too much for my tastes. Even if the shop carries mostly mundane items (which is how I envision it) how much could they possibly make up? Looks like I'm off to House Rules land with this one.

 

[yennico]

Hmmm, that is going to make designing a magic shop "by the rules" a much more difficult process if not completely impossible... 675,000 gp worth of magical items is far too much for my tastes. Even if the shop carries mostly mundane items (which is how I envision it) how much could they possibly make up? Looks like I'm off to House Rules land with this one.

You better ignore the rules in this point.
Designing a magic shop is not as difficult as it sounds. Use your imagination.
Which magical items would the owner sell to the citizen?
Does the owner create the magical items himself or does he buy them from other adventurers?
Most of his stuff will be not interesting to the city and shop visiting PCs , so imagine only one or two items the PCs might interest

 

[Ed Cha]

Those rules are just a guideline. Just go with what you think is reasonable.

 

[yennico]

Those rules are just a guideline. Just go with what you think is reasonable.

Not only those rules. All rules are just guidelines for GM and player.

 

[Tzarevitch]

The DMG (page 137) goes into detail about the cash limit and cash reserves of cities. Specifically, if you want to make a large purchase, the size of the city limits its wealth, thus limiting how much is available at any one time. That sounds great, but I must be interprieting this wrong. The limit is (1/2 gp limit) * (1/10 population). It states:



This implies that each shop is bound by the maximum cash reserves separately, or at worst, that even each type of shop is bound by this maximum cash reserve. So, say, the weaponsmiths will be limited to 450 gp, the armorsmiths 450 gp, etc.

But, then when I tried to make a large town of only 4,500 people, the system... erm... broke down a bit. 675,000 gp worth of longswords, or even weapons just doesn't add up. That's 45,000 longswords! And that's for a town of 4,500... a metropolis apparently has an Undermountain devoted to housing its vast array of longswords and chain shirts!

What am I missing?

But wait . . . there's more. If your generate random NPCs to fill the town, you frequently can't generate NPC spellcasters of high enough level to even make the magic items that should be available per the town's cash limit from the DMG.

Tzarevitch

 

[Terath Ninir]

Those rules are just a guideline. Just go with what you think is reasonable.

Better not say that too loudly or too often in this forum! They'll lynch you for that.

 

[kigmatzomat]

But wait . . . there's more. If your generate random NPCs to fill the town, you frequently can't generate NPC spellcasters of high enough level to even make the magic items that should be available per the town's cash limit from the DMG.

I generally explain (hand wave) that away as the DMG indicates permanent residents while the "available for purchase" includes various transients or frequently absent residents (aka "adventurers") that may be able to craft items or have items available for immediate purchase.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

I generally explain (hand wave) that away as the DMG indicates permanent residents while the "available for purchase" includes various transients or frequently absent residents (aka "adventurers") that may be able to craft items or have items available for immediate purchase.

Or, alternatively, "Yeah, I'm the most powerful wizard in town (at 4th-level). Need a scroll of fireball? Well, I won this two years ago at the Magister's Concordium in Erlesburg, and it's been mouldering in my study ever since. I guess I could sell it to you ..."