DMs: What would you allow your PCs to buy?

[ThoughtBubble]

My responses were "MW" or "anything".

It depends on the where and when. At mid to high level chargen, that's not really money they're throwing around as it is the accumulation of their past expierences put into an easily measured form. So they can have that as they will.

But buying items isn't just cash. I mean, you can get a suit of MW plate, you know, provided that the smith thinks your worth his time.

Wizards, and them holy folk are notoriously less pragmatic than smiths. So it takes more work. Not that it's impossible, just that there are other investments to consider as well as cash.

 

[the Jester]

I'm not quite sure how to answer this. I guess if you mean, what could they buy anywhere in the multiverse, I'd have to say just about anything. I'm not sure if you mean something more like, What could they buy in their home town? or home country? Or even home plane?

I guess I just don't know exactly how broad of a view you want me to take on this...

 

[Li Shenron]

The first three. There will never, ever be +5 items in any of my games.

As for the method of acquiring said full plate:

normal: can be bought in select armorer's shops
mwk: commissioned work
mithral: only as a quest reward or something similar.

Why? What's the difference between a +4 and a +5 item?

I like the methods in your post instead, as they keep something flavorful in certain items, such as the ones made with rare materials.

What I usually do is the following:

- at character creation I allow the players to buy anything they can afford; the general idea is that PCs are always at least 20yrs old, so they already had plenty of occasions to find those items (which may also be heirloom)

- after that, I usually write up shops quite randomly, without using the DMG suggestion that everything under a price limit (depending on town size) should be available

Others of us are very easy-going when they DM, and they let PCs buy anything they can afford.

 

[Wild Gazebo]

I replied to all of the above simply because of the open-endedness of the question. All items are potential merchandise in a monetary system; though, anything magical or severely beyond the norm is stagerringly difficult to find and or purchase. Just because a character can find said item (or said crafter) doesn't mean it is for sale (or willing to be made). Items that are cherrished as cultural icons or religious artifacts won't be sold--but may be sold by an individual who 'acquired' it and is without the social stigmas. So, my answer is: potentially anything but in practice mostly mundane items.

 

[Turanil]

My two next heroic-fantasy campaign (if i ever run them someday...) will be either Grim Tales / Old World (Warhammer), or D&D / Dragonlance. In both cases it is medieval, even if legendary-mythis-fantasy medieval. As such, this is NOT a consumerist society with malls around. While PCs will be able to buy mundane stuff (the type commoners do buy daily: a rope, a lamp, food, clothing, simple weapons, etc.), everything costly and rare (such as a plate armor) will have to be comissioned. Likewise, you don't find artisans able to craft a full plate armor in any village you go to (unless maybe it is a village of dwarves). A simple blacksmith can be found in any village, but he is unable to craft a set of plate-mail which requires an expert weaponsmith (and not all of them are expert enough to create a set of MW full plate).

 

[Flyspeck23]

Anything can be purchased, within reason. If my players want to buy a high-level magic item (anything above a +2 mod, for example), they need to find a NPC who can craft it (in both of my current campaigns (homemade and Eberron), that won't be an easy task).

Unless it's Eberron, the max I'd allow to "buy" would be MW Full Plate. Eberron's Sharn actually has existing Magic Shops, with Artificers being numerous. I could easily see Magic Armor being buyable in a place like Sharn.

Still, high-level NPCs are extremely rare, even in Sharn. So while magic items are on sale there, a set of +5 armor would still be very hard to acquire - if at all.

 

[Darkness]

If something won't hurt my campaign, whether due to rules problems or setting problems, I see little reason not to allow a PC to commission it if they can find someone who can build it (or, for common items, simply buy it).


So... I theoretically allow all of these options, except for non-magical +5 full plate, which I can't make sense of.

The following guidelines apply:

• What you can buy in a settlement depends on its size/resources. (See DMG and modify as necessary due to setting considerations.)
• The more powerful (or more unusual) an item is, the less likely it is readily available. This goes especially for items whose use or creation is restricted to a certain class, alignment or race. (Except in locations where this class/alignment/race is plentiful, of course.) Something like a holy avenger will likely have to be commissioned almost everywhere and will often be unavailable in any case. (And not just because it costs more than 100,000 gp, that is.) If nobody in a settlement can create an item, nor can contact someone who can, you obviously can't commission it. Also, not every spellcaster of sufficient level will also have the appropriate Item Creation feat or know all required spells. This goes especially for non-Wizards. Nor will they always have enough XP to spare. Even if they fulfill all requirements, not every spellcaster will build items for just anyone.
• The price may or may not vary somewhat from the PHB/DMG prices.
• If an item illegal or otherwise restricted or frowned upon in the settlement, it will be either unavailable or more expensive.
• Likewise, if you are wanted by the law or a second-class citizen or have some other social stigma (e.g., gnoll in Menzoberranzan, cleric of Ilmater in Zhentil Keep), expect higher prices and other difficulties.
• If you can't commission, or can't afford, a certain item, it's still possible to use skills, spells or bardic lore (or pay someone to do it for you) to find out who might have such an item (or at least a similar item). Maybe you're in luck and a certain troll chieftain is reputed to have one, or a paladin known to wield a holy avenger went missing in a certain crypt three generations ago. Of course, such methods aren't always precise (or correct at all) and often enough, you will learn of an important detail (that the holy avenger is actually a short sword, say) only when you finally come across the item.

Since I'm playing in the FR, even a +5 heavy fortification mithral full plate (110,500 gp) is available in sufficiently large and magically powerful settlements if you're wealthy enough. You'll likely need to have it commissioned, possibly even separately for each property, and thus wait for it for a long time but them's the breaks.

Whether my PCs have enough money in the first place is an entirely different question, of course.

 

[Gez]

Adventuring gear (including magic items or special materials) up to 5 000 gp can be found, if looking well enough (may require Gather Information checks), in the biggest cities.

Anything above that price must be commissioned. There's a rough limit at 15 000 gp magic items -- no matter which NPC you ask, no one will ever accept to make an item costing more than that (outside of convenient plot devices). For non-magical items, which does not require the creator to invest part of his lifeforce, the cap is higher -- but the raw material may have to be provided by the PC. While a (super-duper wealthy) smith may have enough adamantine to create a sword or an axehead, if what you want is a full plate armor from adamantine, he'll tell you he needs more and send you to seek it in Wooden Forest...

 

[Lord Pendragon]

I voted "+5 full plate" only because I'm not quite sure I'd actually allow "anything the players want." Pretty close, yes. But there are theoretically items out there I wouldn't allow. Most of these would be items that do not actually exist in the DMG, but are based on the DMG pricing guidelines in some broken way, or 3rd-party items that I find broken.

 

[Keeper of Secrets]

I voted for the first two. Those are the two that - in my opinion - would be available for purchase, just sitting around some kind of store. The others, while my players might be able to get, are not the kinds of things that would be at a store, I would think. Action Comics #1 is valued at over 50,000 USD. However, does that mean that one is available for purchase? Very rarely. My players might be able to find that as treasure in some area but I doubt it would be something they would have to end up spending money on.