Do Magic Item "Shops" wreck the spirit of D&D?

[Raven Crowking]

I think that's a gross oversimplification.

That was my point.

 

[diaglo]

Maybe I misunderstand how magic shops work, but how can players ask for items they don't know exist or faithfully purchase ones while clueless to their function?

Part of the faulty assumption comes from viewing DMG magic items as mass produced rather than once-made and unique in the world.

I think MerricB has it right. If fantasy is exploration, and finding and testing magic items is part of that discovery, the DM needs to alter or remove all aspects known to the players. That includes monsters, spells, and magic items.

ditto.

no opening up a book as a player and asking the DM to buy said item at ye olde (not even old) majicke shoppe

sure you can use the DMG for inspiration. but no demanding random shop x have the item. that's bullpuckey in my opinion.

 

[Piratecat]

I have a slightly different problem. With an epic level group, they can effectively make any item they want. At least with a magic store I could roleplay the crazy old shopkeeper!

I have no problem with item customization, actually. I just have dead enemies supply items that they would never have thought of themselves.

 

[francisca]

ditto.

no opening up a book as a player and asking the DM to buy said item at ye olde (not even old) majicke shoppe

sure you can use the DMG for inspiration. but no demanding random shop x have the item. that's bullpuckey in my opinion.

Yeah, I had a new player walk into a magic shop and ask for a longsword +3. There was about 10 seconds of stunned silence, before the laughter began. I guess the look of disdain on my face was pretty funny.

But again, he had different expectations from the rest of the group. I helped him acclimate.

 

[Anti-Sean]

But again, he had different expectations from the rest of the group. I helped him acclimate.

Did they ever find his body?

 

[Philotomy Jurament]

Maybe I misunderstand how magic shops work, but how can players ask for items they don't know exist or faithfully purchase ones while clueless to their function?

Part of the faulty assumption comes from viewing DMG magic items as mass produced rather than once-made and unique in the world.

In campaigns that I've seen where magic shops used, part of the reason behind that is usually because X number of wizards of the appropriate levels should exist, and since they exist, they can make items. Et cetera. That is, the whole idea "magic shops should exist just based on the makeup of the D&D world." If you accept that reasoning (I don't, but some people do), then it's not a great leap from "magic item market economy" to "magic items made-to-order."

I don't like that approach, but I've certainly seen it used.

 

[Someone]

How do characters ask for a +3 longsword, anyway?

 

[robberbaron]

Let me think....

No and yes.

I think that 'magic shops' of some sort are a reasonable product of crafting feats. Mages who are a bit tired of blasting monsters can sit down for a month or two, knock out 60kGp of items and sell them to people who do want to go duffing up monsters. Makes sense to me, anyway.

Twinking really &*%$s me off. That's one reason why my campaign is more-or-less core - I seriously don't want my players to get into a 'my class combination is more kickass than your class combination' competition and I don't want to have to read every ridiculously unbalanced class/PrC/spell/power/feat/whatever that players have found buried in a third-party book.

 

[Rolzup]

Sure.

It is in the spirit of the game for the players to have fun. If sub machine guns, tactical nukes, and starships make the game fun, then they're in the spirit of the game. If some people find that submachine guns, tactical nukes, and starships make the game fun, and other people find that sub machine guns, tactical nukes, and starships don't make the game fun, then DMs should choose whether to allow them or not based on what their players want.

RC

Pretty much, yeah.

Ptolus has guns. Including semi-automatic weapons, as I recall.

Starships? Seems that Spelljammers still has a pretty good following, from what I've seen. And Expedition to the Barrier Peaks is pretty fondly remembered as well.

Tactical nukes...well, that's your typical high-level mage right there. (Anyone remember Wizardry? The spell Tiltowait?) But, hell, given a setting like Eberron a magical equivalent of a tacnuke wouldn't be at all out of place. Trying to find it, hidden somewhere in Sharn, before it detonates? Sounds like a fun evening to me.

Hell, I'm playing in a game right now in which we've seen magical artillery shells, submarines, and powered armor...see my sig. And it's a freakin' great game, too.

My lord, people! Is it that horrible that other people have preferences that differ from yours? Hurting Bad Fun, at its very worst....

The point is, indeed, to have fun. Not everyone enjoys the same thing. Nothing wrong with that, one hopes. If the players are having fun, and if I'm having fun as well, then my job is being done, and done well.

Nothing else matters.

 

[scriven]

I have an honest question for those who like the idea of players being able to choose specific items from the books and then have their characters buy them. If that's how the game's supposed to be played -- if it's the by-the-book norm under the current rules -- why would any PC ever bother with the crafting feats? Why spend XP to create an item when you can simply buy it?

I don't mean to be inflammatory. This is something that honestly puzzled me in the game I mentioned earlier in the thread. I'd thought that the XP cost of item creation was a clever bit of game design: it balanced a great benefit (the opportunity to choose specific items from the books) with a steep cost that players would really feel (XP).