do you agree with purchasing magic items?

[Arnwyn]

IMC? No. (Okay - yes and no).

Generally, magic items are not for sale. If they want a magic item, they either can find it or make it themselves. When they do find magic items, they cheer, and are quite happy about their precious find.

With that said, it *is* possible to buy magic items. If they look carefully (usually in heavily populated cities) and make the appropriate gather information checks, they may be able to find someone who will be willing to make the item for them (much less likely, but still possible, they have the item itself and will sell it). If they get lucky, they may be able to buy the item they want, but usually for 5x or more of the listed market price.

In this way, the players covet magic items, and makes magic all that more wondrous. This style has worked for me and my players for years (it's been 10 years, and they still get giddy about a lot of magic items...).

(Interestingly enough, I DM a moderately-tweaked Forgotten Realms campaign, obviously lowering the magic level. Go figure.)

 

[Victim]

Well, I plan on having some magic items availible for sale. Some towns might have witches or hedge wizards that sell low level potions or scrolls. Red wizards will sell cheap expendable items and will probably be the only people to have lots of items in stock. Churches will often sell healing potions and scrolls to worshippers. Spell scrolls will be availible from wizard's guilds, probably along with enchanted spell books.

However, more serious magics are harder to come by. The Red Wizards might be willing to sell some standard adventuring magics, like Cloaks of resistence, boots of speed or S&S, etc. The sort of items that almost all adventurers will want. Brokers might be able find the item you want, but, aside from some showpiece items, they won't have anything in stock. Also, sometimes they might only be able to track an item to a dangerous dungeon, so there's a ready made adventure. Finally some brokers might be untrustworthy - except that they'll be both underhanded and very careful, because nobody who got screwed by such a man would let him live if they could help it.

Also, some churches sell powerful items at reduced prices to certain members of the faithful - semi retired priests of Lathander might make a few holy or disrupting maces every once in while. Wizard's guilds might have occasional auctions where a a now deceased member's items aer sold or someone sells an item that they can't use or have a better version of.

Finally, other adventurers might be willing to sell or swap items with you. However, adventurers are unpredictable and reckless and dealing with them might be dangerous. Some might just as soon kill you for your item as trade for it. Or they trade it to you, then use it as an object for scrying and track you down in the wilderness to kill you.

I can't really see there not being some trade in such valuable and wanted objects.

 

[kenjib]

If you don't allow player's to buy magic items, what do you do with regards to treasure gained from adventures? Do you lower the amounts? What do they spend it on in lieu of magic items?

 

[Ravellion]

If you don't allow player's to buy magic items, what do you do with regards to treasure gained from adventures? Do you lower the amounts? What do they spend it on in lieu of magic items?

Not only that, where/who do they sell their redundant stuff to, if there is no market? Or do they just never find anything they can't use...? that would really shatter suspension of disbelief IMO.

Rav

 

[Nightfall]

Well for my own online campaign the players CAN purchase some potions and scrolls (depending on the level and spell types) but mostly, they have to FIND such thing. Course if they find a cache of magic weapons, they'll probably keep it.

 

[Gothmog]

I allow only very limited purchase of magic items in my game. A city over 10,000 people would have available a few dozen potions, maybe some scrolls from local wizards of 1st-3rd level, and VERY rarely a wand or similar charged item. In any event, not item over 5000 gp in value. For the most part, I think magic items should be too precious to part with for most characters, and the local government would probably not look too highly on vendors hawking +3 shocking burst greataxes of speed. I have played in games where PCs can buy pretty much anything they like before, and I find it boring to be able to absolutely pick and choose items from a list that perfectly match your character concepts. It reduces magic to the level of a tool with no mystery or uncertainty to it.

Instead, PCs in my game find most of their items, and the ones they don't find are given to them as reward from major NPCs. In addition, I don't allow the Identify spell- PCs have to use trial and error to figure out what their items do, as well as researching legends about the item or item type. Also, I give all items a short history and a quirk- I have found it adds a lot if a player says he weilds the Smouldering Spear or Urich, which was used by Urich to drive back the hillmen invaders 350 years ago, but was lost during the battle of Heitterling Pass- as opposed to saying he has a +1 flaming shortspear.

Since I don't allow much in the way of buying and selling magic items, I have pruned back gp and wealth awards since they become superflous. What extra cash the PCs have is instead used to finance a business, arcane research, donated to temples, training apprentices, taxes, and routine upkeep of their home.

 

[Kaji]

As a DM, I usually handle it pretty much like Kamikazi Midget. The PC's are based in a fairly small town, but it has lots of passing merchant activity, so they can buy or sell pretty much anything up to 3000gp. After that, if they want something special, they will not find it in town, but can check with passing merchants to see if anyone has it. I make up a base percentage roughly based on how much the item costs. However, if these PC's were to travel to some of the major cities, I would greatly raise the money value on what they could find, and make it easier to find speciality individuals for higher level items. I've also done some things with the outer planes. Once characters are powerful enough to travel to some of the planes, they can visit the cities present and find lots of goodies not normally available on Prime. However, it should be clear that I'm running a pretty high magic campaign, which is purely a matter taste.

 

[ConcreteBuddha]

Sometimes I miss Earthdawn magic items... *pout*

 

[green slime]

I'm pretty liberal about the availability of magic items.

Running a GH campaign, and as long as you are in a major city, most things can be bought, if you have the cash. Problem for my players is, I'm stingy on the cash.

As cash is neccessary to purchase or make items...

Just stingy enough to keep them slim, trim and wanting more.

 

[S'mon]

My campaign is on the lowish-magic side by 3e standards. That said, the kind of items that high-level NPCs commonly have (+1 swords, +1 cloaks of resistance, +1 bracers, minor potions etc) can often be purchased by the PCs. Also, fighter PCs can take their weapons to the local Sage-Sorcerer, the highest level local item-maker, for magical upgrades ("laying of runes of enchantment upon the blade"): eg a fighter got his masterwork sword enchanted to +1 for 2000 gp, then upped to +2 for another 6000gp. The Sage-Sorcerer is 8th level, so +2 is his limit for weapons & armour (PCs are 9th, currently). They can try to get hold of more powerful stuff, but it would be difficult & expensive.