Do Artifacts have a market cost?

[TheLe]

I understand that Artifacts are powerful magical items. But do they ever have a market cost? Should they?

`Le

 

[billd91]

Giving an artifact a market price assumes there's a market for them. If any group of PCs had an artifact and wanted to sell it, I would handle it straight by role playing. Let them pick a price and try to get it.

 

[Jedi_Solo]

I understand that Artifacts are powerful magical items. But do they ever have a market cost? Should they?

`Le

If you don't mind me rephrasing the question slightly...

There should be a GP cost - but not a market cost. billd91 is correct in that if there is a "market" cost that means there is a market for them and for anything that is listed as an artifact there shouldn't be a market for them.

However...

One of the easiest ways for a DM to get an idea of how powerful an item is is the gp cost.

[insert people yelling that prices can easily be waaaaay off of what the item is worth]

Agreed - both 'too cheap' and 'too expensive'. But take an artifact weapon. Is the weapon really THAT much better than a "regular" +10 weapon? There are some artifacts that I have seen in books that don't look nearly as useful as some regular magic items I have seen. If I saw a gp value that stated 1.2 million or something I might then take a closer look and see if I missed something.

In short - have a gp value and state at the start of the section that the go value is given to help the DM in deciding if they want to place the artifact in game and that the items are NOT for sale.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

I imagine selling an artifact somewhat similar to the following scenario:

Someone announces in the worldwide criminal underworld that he has a surplus Sovjet-era nuclear weapon to sell.

And various governments and organisations become very interested in both the nuke and the person selling it.


Sure, if this person can pull it of, he has a chance of ending up very, very rich. On the other hand, if he makes even a minor mistake he could end up very, very dead.

The same is true for artifacts. Sure, there is a market for them in the sense that there are people willing to pay a lot of gold for them. But if it becomes known that you have an artifact you are willing to sell, then a lot of people will send you offers for it.

And most of these people will not take "No" for an answer.


Really, if you want to sell an artifact, your best bet is to identify a person or organzation that both has plenty to offer you in exchange for it, and is unlikely to just kill you outright for this item. Haggle with them as much as possible, but in the end accept their offer. Sure, you probably won't get as much as if you had auctioned it off and compared various offers, but at least you will live to enjoy it...

 

[Fieari]

The Immortal's Handbook (3rd party) has rules for pricing and creating artifacts. Of course, the market in question mostly involves deities, as few mortals can afford them, or have the power to make them. I suppose I could sit down and work out the costs for a couple of the SRD artifacts.

 

[Jdvn1]

Would you want to buy an artifact?

Imagine the people coming after you trying to get it. What a hassle! Having to fight off PCs all the time...

I'd think if you're rich/powerful/influential enough to buy one, you're rich/powerful/influential enough to take it by force.

 

[Delta]

I understand that Artifacts are powerful magical items. But do they ever have a market cost?

Yes in 1E. No in 3E.

 

[Chimera]

I'd think that an Artifact is more than just a rogue surplus nuke.

It is a Bad Attention Magnet.

Just possessing one is enough to draw the attention of every power figure and ambitious wannabe in the world, plus a few related planes.

It's not so much that you can sell it, it's more of a problem of maintaining ownership once it falls into your hands. In my mind, that would become pretty much the sole focus of the game, depending on how powerful the artifact was an how many people wanted to get their hands on it.

If you really want to sell it, to profit from it, the best bet is to find out which powers want it, decide which one is the least dangerous to sell it to and the most likely to use it for the right purpose, then attempt to contact them and negotiate.

While watching your back as both they and every one of their enemies and rivals circles you looking for weakness.

Bad Idea #1: You walk into the prospective buyer's Court, hold out the artifact and say "what will you give us for this?".

 

[BOZ]

your head on a pike!

 

[WhatGravitas]

Agreed - both 'too cheap' and 'too expensive'. But take an artifact weapon. Is the weapon really THAT much better than a "regular" +10 weapon? There are some artifacts that I have seen in books that don't look nearly as useful as some regular magic items I have seen. If I saw a gp value that stated 1.2 million or something I might then take a closer look and see if I missed something.

In short - have a gp value and state at the start of the section that the go value is given to help the DM in deciding if they want to place the artifact in game and that the items are NOT for sale.

Exactly. In D&D 3rd, GP = Power, and is therefore a gauge of power. As DM, I sometimes want to give out artifacts... but they're hard to judge - magic items are far easier to judge.

Personally, I'd like to see a "virtual GM-value" for each artifact. Why? While I inspect every artifact, before I'm giving it out, such a evaluation value could give me a clue, if I'm on the right track with my own evaluation of its power. Additionally, it could help balancing the PCs - the wealth charts don't go up to insane values for nothing! (because in 15+ level play, I'd rather see my characters with one or two artifacts and three trinkets, then the Glowing Magic Christmas Tree - using the wealth charts and "virtual value", I could gauge the power level better - within learning it in-game and then have to talk with the player about nerfing his stuff, just because I've screwed up).

As a market price? NO WAI!