d20 Modern - Buying magic items

[RangerWickett]

. . . Wow. In last night's game, the group manuevered themselves to have a rich benefactor for their next adventure. They demanded a reasonable fee in payment for what they're going to do - $25,000 apiece to basically go dungeon delving for a rare artifact. Basically they each ended up getting a great wealth bonus, so that everyone had a Wealth score of at least 19. One woman got a Wealth of 24.

And they wanted a few weeks beforehand to train and equip.

And then one player asked to see the d20 Modern rulebook.

And then she said she wanted a cloak of resistance, magical +3 brass knuckles, an item to resist mind control, and a belt of strength.

Jumping on the bandwagon, the other players soon requested items to grant +6 Dex, darkvision, flaming shotgun ammo, and magical foci to enhance their charm magic. I skimmed through the magic items section and saw that, yeah, they pretty much could afford all that stuff. By buying things in the right order, they could make sure their wealth score was high enough to afford all the expensive stuff.

Now, I said that it would take them a while to locate people who might sell these things (averaging 4 days of effort per Wealth check they attempt), and thankfully none of the players saw a problem in that. So I've got inspiration for the next few adventures lined up as the group uses their newfound money to seek out people willing to sell magic items (and we gloss over the dull details of taking out loans to cover the costs of these items). And, well, they are fairly wealthy. But I look at the rules, and I consider my own common sense, and I feel a bit of panic.

I know that if magic items really existed, yes, people might sell potions of healing for $10,000, and +1 flaming shotguns for $100,000. And even if you had a chalice that could heal the sick once a day, you might be willing to sell it for a few million dollars. But I don't like it. I know people in real life are greedy bastards, but for the sake of a game, I don't want the PCs to be able to buy magic items.

Let me ask you. If you had a longsword that was particularly good at destroying undead, how much do you think you'd ask for it, if someone wanted to buy it. This is even assuming you understand what you have, and have researched appropriate prices (and that you have security around you to make sure these people don't just kill you and take the sword). According to the d20 Modern rules, a good asking price is (rough memory of the wealth table) about $100,000.

What if you had a cape that let you fly for a few hours a day. In d20 Modern, that's something like a Purchase DC of 35, tops. But if I could fly, I don't know that I'd want to sell the thing, even for a million dollars. I'd gladly sell a dinky magic sword, because hurting people is easy. But magic, something fantastic like a flying cloak, or a healing brooch, or a belt that makes you strong . . . why would someone ever sell something like that?

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

If I was down on my luck, and my mother had cancer, and I needed the money really really bad, I'd sell a cloak of flying.

So it's just a matter of finding a few dozen poor people with dying loved ones and powerful magical items

Or, a mysterious old oriental man in a junk shop.

 

[Kenson]

Well, a great deal of what we're talking about is an issue of supply and demand.

How much is a magic elixir able to cure any disease worth? Depends on how hard it is to make and how much of it there is. If it's turned out by a "cottage industry" of alchemists or enchanters, then it's not going to be much more expensive than top-line medical treatment (maybe a bit, since it heals instantly and without complications). On the other hand, if you can only get one flask of it a year or something, its value will soar; the wealthy may want to own it just to put it in a safe somewhere for future use.

The same thing is true of pretty much every other magic item characters can make: if you've got, say, 1 person in a 1,000 who's a spellcaster capable of crafting magic items that's a whole different scale compared to 1 in 100,000, or there only being a handful of such crafters in the world.

 

[Roudi]

If you're worried about the price of magic items (ie, making them too easy to obtain), the answer might not lie in fiddling with the Purchase DCs.

In many movies & TV series where magic forces are intermingled with the modern world (I'm thinking specifically of Buffy and Angel here), magic items are sometimes really easy to acquire. However, the price for these might be more than just money... and sometimes the consequences of acquiring them might be more than the PCs realize. Imagine, for instance, that an underground vendor is willing to let the PCs have their desired goods for the listed Purchase DCs, if they do her a little favour: say, maybe, deal with a bunch of thugs that have been making her life (and business) difficult lately. Should the PCs agree to this mission and deal with the thugs, they might realize later in the game that said thugs were really a resistance group keeping the vendor from bringing an ancient artifact into the country. Said artifact is now currently helping to resurrect a dead god and is about to put the PCs into a world of hurt.

That's just an example. With a little bit of craftiness, you can weave "plot" into the price of these items, to make it clear to your PCs that they pay more than just Wealth bonus for that kind of power.

 

[C. Baize]

Okay... Let's start with the supposition that magic items exist.
We have a few choices:

1: Magic items are exceedingly rare, and most people either don't believe in them, or put them in the realm of "myth".
2: Magic items are out there, people know about them, but they're the property of the very rich, very powerful, or very lucky.
3: Magic items are fairly common. You can go into the specialty store ringed with security measures and can buy or order what you want/need.
4: You go to the corner 7-11, buy a pack of smokes, 3 sodas, and a +2 switchblade from the counter display, where everything is well marked.


So... in these worlds, here is how my willingness to sell would go:

1: You don't have enough money to talk me out of my +1 pen knife.
2: I MIGHT sell, for a high price, but I'd be more likely to barter something I thought I could use either as much or more.
3: Sure. No problem. I'll sell. Here's my price. Better yet, go to my e-bay page and put a bid on it, you might even be able to "buy it now".
4: *chuckle* Yeah... you can buy my cape of flight. I'll just get another when I'm at Mage-Mart, this weekend.

 

[C. Baize]

Yeah. Also what Roudi said.

 

[Turanil]

I think that letting PCs purchase magical items in a d20 Modern game will ruin the ambiance / flavor of the game / suspension of disbelief (although I admit to not know what it is in your game).

I would just allow the buying of a single magical item once in a while. Sometimes the owner will be pretty aware of the power and value of said item, and thus will sell it a high price. Other times it will be sold as a mundane item maybe seen as a piece of junk by some antiquarian unaware of its properties.

Personally, as a player in a d20 Modern game, if all kinds of magical items were easily available for purchase, I would hate it, even while I wouldn't pass the opportunity to acquire some. As a DM, this would only be as suggested above.

 

[Kenson]

One thing I hit upon for an Urban Arcana game that didn't quite gel was: very common magic items (potions and scrolls) could be made by earthly spellcasters with the right feats, but all other magic items came to Earth from Shadow, cast up by whatever random tides were at work, or in the possession of Shadow-dwellers who ended up in our world. Thus, most magic items were fairly rare and treated as precious, because you never knew when you could find another +1 sword, powerful magic items were very valuable (out of proportion with their normal value), and there were no technological magic items at all, since all items from Shadow were fairly low (medieval) tech: no +1 flaming burst holy shotguns for example.

 

[Nuclear Platypus]

People might not understand the value of the item they're selling, it doesn't work right or its more trouble than its worth. Who'd ever think that a bunch of stamps printed upside down would be worth anything let alone some comic with a guy lifting the front end of a truck on the cover?

Otherwise, they might have to hunt around like that belt of strength might be acquired from Ah-nuld, back when he was bodybuilding or some other successful weightlifter / bodybuilder. Some items might be behind the counter of a Chinese trinket shop like where Gizmo was found in Gremlins. "Ancient Chinese secret" and all that jazz. Heck, they might just get a good deal at a pawn shop.

Maybe they could look items on e-Bay? Think of it, they sell everything else so why not magic items? Also the players might understand the irritation when someone snipes the bid by a nickel or less in the last 5 seconds.

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

Depends on your campaign world.

If you've already let the cat out of the bag, where people are hiring them to fetch magical goods, and you've let them page through the book to BUY magical goods, and all that jazz ...

I'd go Buffyverse on it. That can be very fun. Let them uncover a whole "underworld" where cranky old wizards named Edward live in dilapidated old houses on the bad side of the tracks ... and have basements full of "junk" that turns out to be minor magical items of some sort. "Eh ... I know I've got that sword down here summare ... hrm ... nope, that's a bone from St. Peter's finger ... hrm ... ahhhh, flaming scimitar? (scimitar in a Cher costume)... no no, oh, yes, this one."

Make them obvious ... the +1 Magical Short Sword looks like a plastic kids' toy. The potion of Cure Light Wounds is an absolutely FOUL concoction they had to buy from a backwoods Loozianer cajun vodoun ... (and used to be a Cure Moderate Wounds potion before he cut it with Southern Comfort to make it palatable).

--fje