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Andy Collins: "Most Magic Items in D&D Are Awful"
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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 3393043" data-attributes="member: 4937"><p>Bingo. And don't underestimate the power of physics bending objects like the ubiquitous HHH.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I've never had magic items available for sale above the level of potions and scrolls, and I've never had a problem with characters finding things to do with thier wealth.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>There are lucrative markets around the buying selling of F-18's and nuclear weapon technology too, but they aren't exactly the easiest markets to break into if you happen to be well, just about anyone. My assumption has always been that there is essentially infinite demand for magic items, but essentially zero supply because the major brokers of power try to horde magic items for thier exclusive use. So, you can always find a major religion, nobleman, or government that wants to add to thier collection, but you can almost never find someone willing to sell a magic item that they own any more than you can normally find people who'd willingly sell thier own XP. This is actually pretty easy to justify. If you dry the market up, what you'll discover is that PC's don't sell magic items that they could reasonably at any point in the future have a use for, because they recognize that such items are essentially irreplacible. You'll also notice that high level characters that can produce high level magic items are rare, and when they do make something its for thier own use or the use of a close ally. How do we know that? Because that's exactly how the PC's operate. Moreover, if you assume a living system, then no one really wants to put magic items on the open market because everyone knows that if you put it on an open market there is a very good chance that that item will come back in the hands of an enemy. Try this excercise. Every time the PC's sell an item on an open market (open meaning that they are selling it to someone who is acting as a distributer), dice for the chance that the item is purchased by one of the sinister organizations that the PC's are up against. Then, if the PC's get unlucky or just stupid, add that item to the enemies wealth above and beyond thier CR. Doesn't take much time for your average PC party to realize that selling the +2 unholy flail to that merchant they met was maybe a bad idea - tidy profit or not. So, my assumption is that all the markets for magic items are basically closed ones, and would only be available to the PC's if they had a close alliance with a major broker of power.</p><p></p><p>And speaking of, just what do you think PC's in my experience tend to do with thier money?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 3393043, member: 4937"] Bingo. And don't underestimate the power of physics bending objects like the ubiquitous HHH. I've never had magic items available for sale above the level of potions and scrolls, and I've never had a problem with characters finding things to do with thier wealth. There are lucrative markets around the buying selling of F-18's and nuclear weapon technology too, but they aren't exactly the easiest markets to break into if you happen to be well, just about anyone. My assumption has always been that there is essentially infinite demand for magic items, but essentially zero supply because the major brokers of power try to horde magic items for thier exclusive use. So, you can always find a major religion, nobleman, or government that wants to add to thier collection, but you can almost never find someone willing to sell a magic item that they own any more than you can normally find people who'd willingly sell thier own XP. This is actually pretty easy to justify. If you dry the market up, what you'll discover is that PC's don't sell magic items that they could reasonably at any point in the future have a use for, because they recognize that such items are essentially irreplacible. You'll also notice that high level characters that can produce high level magic items are rare, and when they do make something its for thier own use or the use of a close ally. How do we know that? Because that's exactly how the PC's operate. Moreover, if you assume a living system, then no one really wants to put magic items on the open market because everyone knows that if you put it on an open market there is a very good chance that that item will come back in the hands of an enemy. Try this excercise. Every time the PC's sell an item on an open market (open meaning that they are selling it to someone who is acting as a distributer), dice for the chance that the item is purchased by one of the sinister organizations that the PC's are up against. Then, if the PC's get unlucky or just stupid, add that item to the enemies wealth above and beyond thier CR. Doesn't take much time for your average PC party to realize that selling the +2 unholy flail to that merchant they met was maybe a bad idea - tidy profit or not. So, my assumption is that all the markets for magic items are basically closed ones, and would only be available to the PC's if they had a close alliance with a major broker of power. And speaking of, just what do you think PC's in my experience tend to do with thier money? [/QUOTE]
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