Anyone importing 4E’s’Used gear sells for 1/5th if at all’ to other RPG systems?

[Baumi]

My experience is that it is no longer important if it is 50% or 20% since you usually don't loot randomly anymore. Normal enemies don't have anything interesting on them (how many mundane longswords do you want to carry?) and if there is really some magical treasure in it that it is handpicked from the GM for the group.

Since you can even upgrade and transfer your old items now, there is hardly loot that will get sold (in my group).

 

[delericho]

...if there is really some magical treasure in it that it is handpicked from the GM for the group...

Of course, that's somewhat less true if you aren't also using 4e's guideline that the DM should ask players what items they want, and then seed them into the hoards.

If the DM instead determines items randomly (as was the default suggested in the 3e DMG), or even semi-randomly (throws in the items that the PCs want, but not just those items), then there's more to be sold.

 

[ironfang]

I think I might add to much emphasis on role playing as opposed to roll play, because I just dont see what the big deal is about all of this. I mean, physics and the basic law of supply and demand can sort this out....

1. Your first battle pits you against 20 armed guards in chain mail in some remote outpost. How do you intend on carrying 20 suits of chain mail, plus twenty long swords, plus 20 shields, plus twenty helmets... PLUS continue on your adventure. I mean, lets face it, this is your FIRST battle..

2. You bring back 100 long swords to the Tiny village which only has 100 people living in it (about 60% being women and children). Why would the shop keeper buy 100 long swords when there is no way he is going to be able to sell them???

I mean, dealing with selling mundane items should still make sense. The rules should just help streamline things. For example, if you have henchmen who follow the party who can go and deal with this for the party, then using a 20% rule makes a little bit of sense, but then again that now adds to the PC's (and DM's) responsibility of accounting for henchmen during an adventure (which nasties kill quickly).

Encumbrance Encumbrance Encumbrance takes care of this question.

 

[Fifth Element]

You've ruined it now - jokes are never funny when you have to explain them.

Someone should explain that to Leno already.

 

[Fifth Element]

So magic items simply do not depreciate like other items do.

They're also not as easy for the purchaser to resell as mundane items are. Few people in the world can even afford magic items, especially the more powerful ones. If you're a purchaser intending to resell the item, you know that the item is likely going to sit on your shelf, so to speak, for some time before being sold. (And if you're a purchaser intending to use the item, you know this is true and can afford to lowball the offer).

So you have financing and inventory costs to consider, etc. Looking at it from a merchant's perspective, there's more to cost than just what you paid for the item.

 

[Raven Crowking]

(And if you're a purchaser intending to use the item, you know this is true and can afford to lowball the offer).

If this was true, then it follows that the PCs could lowball the offer on any item offered for sale (although not any item commissioned).

Just saying.


RC

 

[Fifth Element]

If this was true, then it follows that the PCs could lowball the offer on any item offered for sale (although not any item commissioned).

Just saying.

Um....no? They won't get the item if they lowball the offer, because the seller knows he only paid 20% of the price for it, and can afford to wait until someone with some real cash comes along.

If he paid 50%, that might be a different story.

Buying from a merchant and buying from some sweaty adventurer-type...not the same thing.

 

[Raven Crowking]

(And if you're a purchaser intending to use the item, you know this is true and can afford to lowball the offer).

If this was true, then it follows that the PCs could lowball the offer on any item offered for sale (although not any item commissioned).

Um....no? They won't get the item if they lowball the offer, because the seller knows he only paid 20% of the price for it, and can afford to wait until someone with some real cash comes along.

If he paid 50%, that might be a different story.

Buying from a merchant and buying from some sweaty adventurer-type...not the same thing.

Sorry, but I am a bit confused here.

Why would a merchant who payed 50% accept a lowball offer, but a merchant who paid 20% not do so?

It is generally true, IRL, that you can shave cost off of more expensive items than cheaper items. For example, the last time I bought a major appliance, I was able to get the mail-in rebate upfront....and I was still able to claim the mail-in rebate. This is because I know that X% of the sale price is the commission, and a commission of X-Y, so long as Y is smaller than X, is still better than no commission at all.

It is hard to imagine how an adventurer could shave cost off of a few iron spikes -- where is the incentive for the merchant? But if you are talking an item worth (say) 5,000 gp, for which the merchant has paid 1,000 gp, it is not at all unlikely that he would accept an offer as low as 2,000 gp.

Again, in real life, every comic shop everywhere has "wall books". If you wanted to buy the most expensive wall book in any given store, there is a very good chance that you could get better than a 20% discount on that item.

Finally, it follows that if our end-uesr knows that adventurers cannot sell the item for its value, and can therefore lowball the offer, that our PCs could become the end users and do the same to other adventurers. They could even hire agents to do so, seeking out specific items, and thus pay no more than 50% of the value, after paying the commissions and costs of the agents.


RC

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I think there's truth in this and an interesting one. Perhaps the problem isn't that PCs should try to scrounge around the enemy's remains what they can to make some coin? Perhaps the problem isn't that a disincentive needs to be put in place to sell such scrounged goods? Perhaps the real problem here is the unrealistic treasure in both quality and quantity that is given/handed out by the DM?

Why would a band of thieving, desperate goblins be kitted out with a horde of saleable material? Their armor if any should be crap. The weaponry they use should be primitive, poorly constructed and/or inappropriate for use by the PCs. Leave the good stuff to the bandit leader (and even then, it doesn't have to be that good). Perhaps if more energy was devoted to appropriate treasure, the problems that the fifth value idea is supposed to solve would not really happen.

And the counterpoint to this is that when the party does defeat an excellently kitted out enemy, they should benefit from their new-found bounty. To me, this allows more scope, and greater satisfaction than the traditional, programmed and spoonfed wealth too often seen.

Best Regards
Herremann the Wise

The problem always happens with magical gear. In D&D, it lasts basically forever and you really want to have it.

Maybe it's also a fault that we fight against goblins and kobolds and not humans. Taking the equipment of fallen foes seems less typical in the real world then itis in D&D. But maybe I am wrong on this...

 

[Treebore]

Here is an interesting current situation going on on a HUGE national scale in sales, resale, and liquidation.

For stores, the holiday season may already be over - Yahoo! News