Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Alzrius" data-source="post: 6153247" data-attributes="member: 8461">Just because somebody wants to buy it, however, doesn't mean that they'll be able to afford to. Exceptionally expensive items aren't going to be subject to mass-production because, regardless of how much demand there is, if the money made from selling them isn't a net gain versus the cost of creating them, they won't be marketed in large quantities. As such, the "market" for certain things can be so small that it's not self-sustaining (that is, people can't make a living just catering to that particular market).A +1 longsword costs 2,315 gp. If we presume that you average peasant makes 500 gp per year in gross revenue, and has to pay out 360 gp per year (e.g. 30 gp per month) in costs, they only make 140 gp per year in net profits, so that longsword is out of their hands unless they save everything they can save for well over a decade. There's no real market there, due to prohibitive costs.Now, a king whose total wealth in taxes and tributes is 20,000 gp per year (we'll save time and assume that this is net profit) can commission eight of these swords per year, if he wants to buy as many as he can. If his army has 10,000 men in it, that means he can equip them all with magical weapons in only 1,250 years, which clearly isn't feasible. So there's not going to be demand even at this level due to prohibitive costs.This is particularly true when you question just how great the demand would be for a particular item. A 2,315 gp +1 longsword is granting a +1 to hit and damage, whereas a 315 gp masterwork longsword is granting a +1 to hit, for a fraction of the price. True, the magical sword is doing slightly more damage (and is slightly harder to break, and can overcome DR X/magic, but if we're talking about equipping armies that will presumably face other armies, those aren't relevant benefits), but increasing the price almost eight-fold doesn't seem to be worthwhile.Now, you can ameliorate these issues by presuming a more robust economy - since the prices for magic items are fixed by the rulebook, whereas earning power is only loosely implied for non-adventuring characters - wherein people simply have more money to spend. But that's largely an issue of setting the background for your campaign, and there is no particularly "right" answer. That said, saying that there's no real market for expensive magic items is certainly a viable option.</blockquote>

Verification