DMs: What would you allow your PCs to buy?

[Goblyns Hoard]

Technically they can buy anything... in practicality it will depend on who and where they are, what they want, how quickly they want it, what they'll pay, and who they're asking. Most stuff will need to be comissioned - there are no magic production lines running anywhere. Some stuff might be available immediately if they find the right person.

 

[francisca]

All masterwork stuff was special order in my homebrew, and way more expensive than by-the-book pricing.

Mithral was only worked by dwarves and some select elves, and they didn't bother to make man-sized armor. Any elven or mithral armor that was around was the gift of elven/dwarven royalty.

 

[Ryltar]

Hey Li ,

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

I should have stated it more clearly . There won't be +4 items either.

To elaborate: I'm currently DM'ing a planescape campaign. PC stats were rolled, and rolled quite high - the characters are definitely stronger than they should be on average for their level. Adding in the fact that I will never ever continue a campaign up to epic level (it's just a mindset thingy, really ), I've ruled that the highest "+ rating" an item will be able to achieve will be +3. Now, there may be such items, or even items that are equivalent to +3 and higher - but all those are ranked at (minor) artefact level and therefore will be hard to find. I realize this is putting the party at a disadvantage against certain opponents, but exactly that is the effect I am trying to achieve - "challenging", tough encounters, not your run-of-the-mill-13-encounters-per-level thingy.

- 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)

No difference here, but then again, I never start campaigns at higher levels than 5th.

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

I'm handling this a little differently. Players tell me beforehand what equipment they'd like to get for their characters - and I take a look at it and then decide what will be available and what won't. I'm not much for actual RP item shopping - it's just a waste of time, and is thus handled OOC (save for a few select opportunities, like when they get to know a certain NPC who's also a merchant).

 

[Ibram]

all of the above have to be commisioned. for a suit of full plate (magical or otherwise) to fit it has to be custom made/modified to the customer. As such the master armor smiths who can make full plate work on commission only (there is usualy high enough demand for their work to keep them from just creating items to keep on a shelf).

a suit of full plate could be commisioned in any major city, though sometimes permission of the king is required.

armor smiths with the skill and resoruces to create MW plate could be found in maybe 12 cities IMC, and they wouldnt just make it for anyone who walked in off the street.

mithrael and andimantine are notoriously hard to work with materials, and require not only a master smith but special tools as well. as such there are perhapse 5-6 cities in the entire world where such armor could be made. In addition the supplies of ore are very limited, and usualy reserved ahead of time by governments.

Magic is far more complicated. First a smith has to be found who can create the armor, and has enough descression NOT to tell the Church that something illegal is going on (the ownership of magical items is restricted by law). Then a magic user powerful enough has to be found and convinced to help (gold in rarely ever all that is needed). Magic items need rare components to create, so getting that is often difficult (like needing steel kissed by three blind innocents or wood from a tree struck by lightning on the night of the full moon).

some of this can be mitigated by being on good terms with groups powerful enough to create and store magic items, but that has its own dangers.

 

[Aust Diamondew]

In the standard magic d&d game they could by what ever they want. Of course it takes alot of time to make a +5 suit of armor and to find enought andamantine to make it as well. You would also need to find a powerful enough spell caster as well as a very good blacksmith.

But in my current low magic game you'd be lucky to get +1 anything.

 

[azmodean]

One comment about the poll question itself, it should probably read something like, "Which of these items would you allow your PCs to purchase/commission?". A lot of people seem to respond to polls without reading that initial post for clarification, so you can end up with different people answering different questions.

It's a minor point, but non-MW full plate does not exist IMC. The masterwork cost is small compared to the cost of the full plate, so it does not seem resonable for a smith to ever make non-MW.

The option about non-magical +5 full plate bugs me, it's something I've seen several times. You present an option that is not allowed for or even suggested is possible in the rules, and then tell the poll-takers to assume it exists in their campaign world, which, in most cases it does not.

I'm pretty free with magic items IMC, which is very high magic. I generally stick with the gp limits for settlements, with a few exceptions. (scrolls, for instance, have a much higher cl requirement than their price would indicate) And I allow "magic shop" type purchasing, though the characters are actually hunting down individual craftsmen for each item. I just don't feel that situation is important enough to spend time on.

 

[DaveMage]

Similar to what others have said, my players can buy anything they want - if they can find where it is available or where to commission it.

 

[Hand of Evil]

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.

My thoughts run along this line, you have to go where the item is made, where the skill is at.

 

[Wombat]

Ordinary plate and masterwork plate only.

And the masterwork plate would take a loooooooooong time to get, as it would have to be built for the PC, including a lot of measuring and fittings.

The other items would have to be more or less created by the PCs themselves, or a very, very high level craftsman who would charge even more than is shown and would take even longer to make.

I run a tolerably low-magic/low level game and I'm happy with that.

 

[KB9JMQ]

Well #1 & #2 are available off the shelf if you can find the store that supplies it.
#3 Can be commissioned to be made.
I keep my players pretty cash strapped but just about any magic item is available as in rods, wands, staffs, rings, scrolls and potions.
Magic weapons and armor (lower level ones like +1 or +2) could be commissioned but I doubt my players could ever afford it.
If they really want a +3 or above weapon or armor I will work one into the game. Usually worn or weilded by a BBEG or very well guarded in the least.
Then it is up to them to go get it.