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

[Storm Raven]

IME, it depends very much on who was running the game. I will certainly accept it was true in your games, however, if you say so.

No matter who was running the game. Magic in D&D has never been wondrous or mystical. The rules of the game simply make it not work that way. I suppose you could radically alter the way the rules of D&D work with respect to magic items, but then there isn't really a basis for discussion any more.

Not even giving magic items copious backstories makes them much more than well-made tools. A +1 sword is still pretty much a +1 sword even if it was carried by the reknowned elven paladin in the battle of endless night and severed the hand of the great orc king.

 

[Doug McCrae]

Maybe I'm forgetting, but I don't recall anything in the core that states that "shops" automatically exist.

DMG 3.5 page 142 -

The magic items described in Chapter 7 all have prices. The assumption is that, while they are rare, magic items can be bought or sold much as any other commodity can be. The prices given are far beyond the reach of almost everyone, but the very rich, including mid- to high- level PCs, can buy and sell these items or even have spellcasters make them to order. In very large cities, some shops might specialize in magic items if their clientele is very wealthy or includes a large number of adventurer [sic] (and such shops would have lots of magical protections to ward away thieves). Magic items might even be available in normal markets and shops occasionally. For example, a weaponsmith might have a few magic weapons for sale along with her normal wares.

 

[Faerl'Elghinn]

Personally, I really dislike the "Magic Item Shop" aspect of 3.x. The ability to simply purchase whatever you want tends to result in a series of "cookie cutter" characters who all have ability score buff items for all 6 scores which also double as ac bonuses and +3 keen, speed, vicious, holy spiked chains. Magic items have lost their magic... I really miss getting a cool item in a dungeon and actually keeping it instead of trading it in for something from munchkinland...

 

[Doug McCrae]

Although I'm 'pro-shop' I actually think Emirikol's approach, and that of others of a similar view, is perfectly reasonable. Most likely you all run good games, and I'd probably enjoy playing in them.

Different approaches are possible in D&D. Making magic items unbuyable, uncraftable and unsellable is quite viable. It makes them a lot more special and makes ownership both more significant and closer to fantasy novels.

On the other hand allowing the extreme character customisation of purchaseable items is also fun, of a different kind. To my way of thinking there's nothing wrong with the 'build mentality' per se. Personally I really enjoy putting together every aspect of a character, including the items. Constructing something that does what it's supposed to in-game and makes thematic sense is very pleasing to me.

To answer the original question in the thread topic - it doesn't matter. The spirit of D&D is irrelevant, all that matters is whether a given game is fun for the participants.

 

[Vocenoctum]

The story of the blade of the longdead Hero of Midora's Field would beg to differ.

at least in our campaigns we have always given backstory and such to every magic item. mechanically it may be a +1 sword. but you'd never know it in game.

No matter the backstory, that +1 longsword is still being tossed somewhere and not used once the Vorpal Blade is found. Stormbringer wasn't important because it had a backstory. It was important because of what it could do. I'm sure Elric was presented with many gifts of named +1 longswords, and they're all in some forgotten alcove next to the love letters from adoring fans.

I've been playing D&D since long before computer games, and frankly no edition has ever supported making the magic items rare and wondrous. It is certainly possible to make them so, but that applies equally well to all editions. It's based on the DM and setting, not the rules for how a +1 item works.

And, I often wonder, what about the other magic items such PC's had? When the +1 longsword has a rich and varied history, what does that mean for Armor? Did his mystic boots of swimming and climbing have a great story of helping Vladimir The Daft climb out of wells?


Besides that, as I've said before, 3e is the first edition, IMO, that actually encourages the players to take that +1 longsword and keep it forever. Sure you can sell it, but you can also enhance it later on, making it +2, +2 Flaming, +2 Flaming Keen, +3 Flaming Keen Can Opening...

You've got Craft Item feats, Ancestral Relic, Weapons of Legacy, the OA Samurai, the CW Kensai... there are a LOT of options for customizing a blade and using that same sword throughout your career.

 

[diaglo]

No matter the backstory, that +1 longsword is still being tossed somewhere and not used once the Vorpal Blade is found.

nope, it wasn't.

 

[Vocenoctum]

nope, it wasn't.

So, the 15th level fighter is using his +1 longsword, and surviving battles with creatures only hit by +2 or better weapons?

You run very strange games.

 

[diaglo]

You run very strange games.

OD&D(1974)

 

[Rothe]

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

Does the overcustomization and overtwinking of the game wreck the spirit of the game? Does it just become a Mario-Bro's game where you're just trying to get enough "coins?" Can you hear the blinging sound in your campaigns?

jh

Not at all. Yet if that is an implicit rules assumption it can certainly wreck your setting.

 

[shilsen]

OD&D(1974)

I think you just proved Vocenoctum's point