D&D General Buying Selliing Magic Items

[Lanefan]

Then you promptly set up a Magic store

Magic stores make zero sense:

1. Magic is the most powerful resource in the fantasy world, so why wouldn't the richest people just buy all of it up?

Because they simply couldn't afford even a small percentage of it.

That, and high-level adventurers usually ARE the richest people in their worlds.

1. Why wouldn't governments shut down the stores and take the items since they pose a threat to their power?

If you're the government (and if you're really that paranoid) would you rather have magic being sold openly through known outlets that you can monitor or sold on the black market where you've no idea who is buying or selling what.

1. Why wouldn't (my favorite) Thieves Guilds rob Magic stores blind?

A bunch of reasons, not least of which could be that the shop is owned and run by the Thieves' Guild.

I remember a few years ago a GM was telling me about his setting's magic store and I proceeded to tell him how my thief would rob the place and use the items to pull off the greatest string of heists ever How would the store be defended? By magic? Governments (and thieves) can use magic too.

In a world where a) accurate divination, b) scrying, c) teleport, and d) unbeatable lie detection are available to those that have the resources (and someone who owns a magic store will probably have these resources on speed-dial), what makes you think for a second your Thief would stand a chance of getting away with this even if you could get through the shop's defenses?

The sequence:

a) Commune "Who robbed my magic store?"
b) Scry the person whose name is given as the answer to a)
c) Teleport to that person if-when you can, and haul them in
d) Interrogate under Zone of Truth.

Aaaand......you're hosed.

So yeah, magic stores?

I'm not a big fan of magic stores as such but I very much support the idea of people buying and selling and trading magic privately, or through guilds used as third-party brokers. That, and not everything made by artificers is done to specific commission; they can make things on spec and put them on the market.

 

[James Gasik]

The only magic store that even remotely made sense to me was Chemcheaux, from 2e's Encyclopedia Magica, with the actual magic items being stored in a warehouse on a demiplane and with crazy magical defenses.

Generally in my campaigns, you can expect a few magic items to be laying around, but most artificers (small-a) work on commission, there's no real emporiums for magic. Some of the ways people guard against theft:

*Curses that only the proprietor knows how to remove.
*Method of attunement a proprietary secret.
*The creator of an item puts in a (hidden) feature allowing them to track and scry on the item's surroundings.
*Selling an item is just as difficult as buying one, so there are far easier ways for someone to make a profit through theft, especially when you can commission the exact item you want (for a cost) in major cities.
*Guilds offer insurance to members, and will happily hire "retrieval specialists" to recoup their losses, as well as post open bounties, as well as report the theft to the authorities.
*Items that provide "mundane utility", ie, the kinds of things most people would want to buy, are cheaper and more plentiful than stuff that provides "bigger numbers", so the market is limited.

Obviously, none of that would stop someone who was really invested in stealing magic items, but given that my campaign isn't exactly magic-poor to begin with, I think it's a lot easier to go get items legitimately.

Oh and of course, the best items all require attunement, so there's a limit to how many someone would want anyways.

 

[Zardnaar]

I think it's what items are available. Wand of fireballs hell no +1 armor so what.

Hence curated lists of specific items.

Atm close to 5.5 DMG guidelines.

 

[aco175]

Several items that are/were bad for people are now legal so that the government can tax them for revenue. I'm mostly thinking of alcohol, tobacco, and mamajuana, but I'm sure there are plenty. I'm also sure there can be plenty of reasons for both sides of the argument. Magic could be the same way with some nations having more open or closed laws that others.

 

[Koloth]

Typically overlooked is the value locked up in a Walmart type store of magic items. Well beyond the means of most people or organizations to afford. And as mentioned, a crime target. In a world where street thieves are willing to risk life and limb for a few silver or a chance at a gold piece, a place with Tens of Millions of GP worth of small easily transported items would be an irresistible target. And for the potential profit, the would be robbers could afford counter magic to attempt to overcome the store's protective defenses. (Polymorph into the Mayor. Spells to obscure alignment and other features. Disguise as someone not the Mayor. etc. Attempt the robbery. If successful, flee to another plane....)

But a lot of GMs don't want to deny players the ability to get magic items for their characters so a bunch of hand waving happens and presto "A Magic Shop" that somehow defies basic economics and security concerns.

 

[GrimCo]

Ah, good old magic markets.

First thing i did, was remove few items from magic items list. Mithral, adamantium and serpent scale are regular armors, not magic items. They are semi rare, but can be bought in large trade hubs. Magic items availability depends on size of the city. In small village, you may find cure wounds potion or something like that. In town, few more common items, maybe couple uncommon ( what's in stock is what makes sense in setting). Big trading towns - all uncommon, few rare consumables (potions, scrolls, wands). Anything else is commission based - you either find someone to craft it for you, or someone to procure it for you ( either the item itself or location where one can be found). Permanent rare and very rare items are called like that because one can't just walk into the store and buy one off the shelf. Legendary items are mostly piece unique. Not for sale. Some may be lost, some are in possession of powerful and wealthy individuals. Those are not for sale in any way and in game are rewards for big important quests.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Easiest reason why cities and nations would allow the existence of magic markets? Sales tax.

Same reason why any government allows the proliferation of the sale of standard items to the general populace. Every sale brings cash into them. So of course stores would exist for expensive items such as this for people to spend their money on.

And in terms of the myth that magical items are "too important" and "too rare" in a society to make them in bulk or sell them in a store... if even something like +1 weapon was THAT important and rare that you wouldn't be able to make a bunch of them or sell them on the open market... you would never find these items just lying around in dungeons. Because AS SOON as it was heard that someone who had one of these supposedly-ultra-important items went into a dungeon and then never came back... the local government would send oodles of people back into that place to go find it and bring it back. They wouldn't just throw up their hands and say "Oh well!" and let it sit there for a couple years until some random party of schmucks just stumbled into the place, killed the lamia guarding it, and then claiming it for themselves. That's ridiculous. The only reason why a magic item would just be abandoned and never hunted for would be if they weren't that rare or important. That'd be the only reason why you'd ever find a half-dozen of these things strewn about a dungeon with no thought or care from anyone in the area thinking about trying to get them back.

I mean come on... someone is known to be carrying a Faberge Egg around with them and then goes on a hike and dies in the woods... and after the body is found but the Egg is not, people just shrug their shoulders and say "Oh well... no more Faberge Egg, but that's okay. We're fine with that."? No. That's just dumb. Everyone and their mother would be out hunting for that damned Egg because at a minimum the reward for finding that rare and important item would be huge. So no one just lets these items just lie fallow around the world for adventurers to pick up if they were really worth that much.

Rare magic items found in treasure troves are just a silly trope of fantasy gaming that has proliferated for decades because it's fun for the game to have those kind of rewards available to players for playing the game... but make ZERO world-building sense. So treating it as anything other than a simple game mechanic reward for game players is silly.

 

[Theory of Games]

Easiest reason why cities and nations would allow the existence of magic markets? Sales tax.

Same reason why any government allows the proliferation of the sale of standard items to the general populace. Every sale brings cash into them. So of course stores would exist for expensive items such as this for people to spend their money on.

So why can't I buy a rocket launcher at Walmart? The sale would bring the government a ton of "sales tax", right?

And in D&D magic items aren't rare because any goofball wizard can make them given enough time and resources. You could make a setting where magic items are rare, but then you gotta change the Magic Item Creation rules. The fact that magic items are so ubiquitous in D&D is the very reason the concept of Magic stores even exists

My point is there are powerful groups who would take issue with a Magic store in town. And take steps to rectify the situation

 

[SkidAce]

I think it's what items are available. Wand of fireballs hell no +1 armor so what.

Hence curated lists of specific items.

Atm close to 5.5 DMG guidelines.

I read the last line as the magic shop having an ATM inside.

 

[SkidAce]

My point is there are powerful groups who would take issue with a Magic store in town. And take steps to rectify the situation

I could build an adventure/campaign around that.