Discussion: Selling Stuff to PCs
covaithe
Explorer
This amuses me, 'cause I'm always the guy being all skeptical and saying that we should conservative about balance and such, but I don't see any problem at all with PCs selling items to each other.
I mean, don't other DMs look at what a PC has before giving out treasure? Suppose Kama'zer reaches 12th level, gets a +3 sword of butt-kicking, and decides to sell his +2 sword of indifference to Noobicus, a level 3 player who just happens to have a load of cash lying around. Now there's a level 2 player running around with a level 8 item. So what? As long as at least some DMs and judges and fellow players are paying a little bit of attention, Noobicus will get the short end of the stick for a while, and by level 5 or so it will all be back to balanced again. It doesn't even matter what price K'am'a'zer gets; it still works itself out. (Now, admittedly, we'd have to keep an eye out for outright twinking. If K'''amazer gives his sword to Noobicus for free, then just happens to go on an adventure with Noobicus with his newly-created character, that's a situation where we might want to intervene.)
If DMs aren't paying attention, we have worse problems than hand-me-down loot.
I mean, don't other DMs look at what a PC has before giving out treasure? Suppose Kama'zer reaches 12th level, gets a +3 sword of butt-kicking, and decides to sell his +2 sword of indifference to Noobicus, a level 3 player who just happens to have a load of cash lying around. Now there's a level 2 player running around with a level 8 item. So what? As long as at least some DMs and judges and fellow players are paying a little bit of attention, Noobicus will get the short end of the stick for a while, and by level 5 or so it will all be back to balanced again. It doesn't even matter what price K'am'a'zer gets; it still works itself out. (Now, admittedly, we'd have to keep an eye out for outright twinking. If K'''amazer gives his sword to Noobicus for free, then just happens to go on an adventure with Noobicus with his newly-created character, that's a situation where we might want to intervene.)
If DMs aren't paying attention, we have worse problems than hand-me-down loot.
Ozymandias79
First Post
I fully agree with Covaithe
elecgraystone
First Post
LOL That was never the point. The fact is he lost wealth and that has to be more disruptive than someone's wealth staying the same.But it's hard to hit the enemy with 200 gold coins for 1d8 damage
Covaithe hit it on the nail for me. That was what I was trying to point out. If someone DOES end up more or less powerful in the short term, it all gets quickly sorted out once an adventure starts. If I trade a level 5 item for a level 3 item, that just means I can expect to get more/better stuff next adventure and the other guy can expect less/worse stuff.
Now personally, I'd put a limit on how far a trade could be apart in level and a minimum price so there wouldn't be any possible 'twinking'. Just say, as an example, trades have to be within +/-2 or 3 of the level and sales must be at least 1/5 or 1/4 the price. That stops trading a potion for a +2 sword worries and also stops the twink potential.
Mewness
First Post
I would say that having wealth sorted out by the end of an adventure isn't really good enough for me. I'd like for wealth to not be out of whack at the start of the adventure.
I don't really see that anything really valuable is being lost by not allowing PCs to sell items. They shouldn't be in the merchant business anyway. They're PCs. Yes, the economy is a giant and somewhat silly abstraction, but D&D abounds with giant, silly abstractions. The Hanged Man is a giant, silly abstraction. (I think it's entertaining and necessary, but it's nevertheless very silly.) We all manage to cope. (What, PCs come from all over the world to hang out there, and people come from all over the world to hire them here? Really?)
I don't really see that anything really valuable is being lost by not allowing PCs to sell items. They shouldn't be in the merchant business anyway. They're PCs. Yes, the economy is a giant and somewhat silly abstraction, but D&D abounds with giant, silly abstractions. The Hanged Man is a giant, silly abstraction. (I think it's entertaining and necessary, but it's nevertheless very silly.) We all manage to cope. (What, PCs come from all over the world to hang out there, and people come from all over the world to hire them here? Really?)
