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

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="maddman75" data-source="post: 923825" data-attributes="member: 2673">Nonsense.  This was the party line in AD&D, and it didn't make sense then either.The *player characters* often have items that they can't use, or can't make good use of.  Say they find a +1 flaming bastard sword.  A nice weapon - but if there's only two fighters in the party, one with TWF and the other who uses a shield, it isn't much use to them.  They'll likely want to sell it.  Down the street is another adventuring party who will want to buy it.  This is the basis for an economic system.  One person wants to buy, another wants to sell, and someone in the middle makes money.That isn't to say its completely open season.  Selling items can be problematic in that while the local hedge mage would be happy to buy their unwanted loot, he doesn't have enough coins to pay them for it.  They may end up bartering or trading for items they want or need.Another factor is time and availability.  When I place a hedge mage, I'll decide what level he is and what he can do.  The guy in one town might be able to brew potions and craft wonderous items, but you have to travel to the next city to find someone that can Craft Magical Arms and Armor or Craft Wands.  In addition, they aren't likely to simply have exactly what you want on hand.  They may have a few of the most common items on hand - healing potions, dagger or longsword +1, but that's about it.  Anything else will have to be custom crafted, and that takes time.  IMC the group can seldom afford to sit around town for a month while the local hedge mage makes new toys for them.There's really two types of items to me.  There's the regular items described above, and the special items.  Swords with a long history and unique ability, armor of long dead heroes, etc.  The mystery and magic of these items are not at all impacted by craft item feats.In my newest campaign, I am playing with a new mechanic, though.  There's a rare gem that is needed to create magic.  Only the dwarves still have active mines, and they guard them jealously.  However, you can extract the gem from an existing item to make a new one, converting 1/2 the value into components for a new item.  Mechanically, this is exactly the same as selling unwanted item A and using the money to buy weaker but more desired item B, except that half the total value MUST come from this source.  But it has more flavor and gives me free plot hooks.  Rumors of a new mine, stolen shipments, lost caches of the gem, etc.</blockquote>

Verification