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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ancalagon" data-source="post: 7137566" data-attributes="member: 23">Let's start thinking about the details - the biggest one for me is the frequency of the auction.  There are *huge* security risks involved in the sale of magical items.  The auction house has to have an impeccable reputation, ironclad security *and* assassins on retainer to murder anyone daring to steal their stuff.  Their commission is probably fairly high.There may also be buying agents - people who purchase stuff on behalf of someone else.  They too would need a good reputation/security, although perhaps not as much as the auction house.  So those are the people running the show... and it seems unlikely to me that they would operate in anything less than a small city with lots of traffic. (small town is more the "alchemist has a few potions in the back" scenario...) There is also a consideration of the *supply* of magical items.   There are 3 sources really:1: a spellcaster making an item and putting it for sale because she needs money (it may be what they do for a living).  I can see this happening, but given the time involved, uncommon and rare items are the only realistic possibilities.  Since they want money, such items would be ones that are likely to have a good demand (ie are *useful*) but this will be limited by the magical "recipes" the caster has access to.  Of course these items will not be sold below cost so there is a cap to how low the price can go. 2:  Someone (noble, retired adventurer, spellcaster etc).  with an item they've had for a while unloading it for cash.  Items like these could be a lot more powerful/rarer than #1, buuuut it is unlikely that someone would sell something they need, so the *utility* of these items may be a bit less.  An old feeble mage isn't going to sell an item that is boosting his constitution for example. It should be noted that under this scenario, an item that is very rare but without a lot of utility could be sold for a lot less than the "list" price, especially if the seller needs cash fast. 3:  Adventurers coming town in with loot from that tomb they just explored, or offloading "lesser" items they don't need anymore (this is less likely in the "standard" 5e economy)So how often does 1, 2, 3 happen?  It can't be *that* common.  But once you've figured this out, you can give more rational thought to how often the magical item auction happens.  My gut feeling is that weekly is too frequent, but I haven't done a formal analysis.</blockquote>

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