Does your campaign have a shop that sells magic items?

[Piratecat]

I'm a huge fan of the odd little shop off of the alley you never noticed before, the one with the stuffed crocodile hanging from the ceiling and the shelves and shelves of odds and ends... and that one, odd, gray-haired shopkeeper with the disturbing eyes and the knowing grin. You better buy things while you can, because you'll never find it again.

It's not about buying magic. It's about making the obtaining of magical items memorable. Do that, and you'll be fine. Don't do it, and I think you run the risk of McMagic shops, just like Scarab mentioned.

 

[jgbrowning]

value

"One question we might want to ask is how much a gold peice worth in terms we moderns can relate to. The answer is I think surprising. If 1 sp equates to a minimum daily wage, then a sp is somewhere around 40 dollars in the US. This means that 1 gp is worth about 400 dollars in 3 ed., or 800 dollars if you are using the more realistic 1:20 1st ed. exchange rate (a rate used through much of history). I like to round that to $1000 because it is easy to use. Therefore, a magic item, say a +1 sword, is worth around $2,000,000 in modern terms, say a million dollars if we use the official 1:10 exchange rate. For a second, we can leave aside what it really should be worth giving the effort that went into creating it. The point is, giving the obvious value of the sword, no one is going to invest in the production of one and then hope that a buyer comes along (before a thief does!). All high priced items like that will be custom ordered."

Thats assuming the dnd world has a standard of living like the USA. I've been to india and the yearly average in us is around 500$. I would assume the standard of living in a DnD world is somthing more like india than america.

In india me and my wife lived and ate better than the natives for 12-13$ a day.

joseph browning.

 

[LostSoul]

I have "potions" available for sale - but they aren't magic. Just herbs & roots (if you know what I mean).

 

[Tonguez]

Um None to Potions thats it

I don't have magic shops but I do have herbalist, apothecaries and even the odd-alchemist who will sell 'mundane' potions and salves (eg a salve to soothe wounds (converts real damage to subdual)) or the Bile gland of the Umber Hulk (which if eaten (a single bite is sufficient, 5 bites total) causes a +4 Str increase for 2+Con rounds IF the PC survives a Fort check DC 10. Failure = nausea)

At one point I also set up a Pawn-Broker who would arrange for Magic Items to be 'acquired' (ie he had 'contacts' and would make orders to the local College of Magic or arange contracts for adventurers to steal/recover items from wizard towers, the Church vaults or ancient dungeons) He also bought any spare items the PCs might want to sell (which was rare because I hardly ever give them anything they are willing to sell)

 

[Celebrim]

"Thats assuming the dnd world has a standard of living like the USA. I've been to india and the yearly average in us is around 500$. I would assume the standard of living in a DnD world is somthing more like india than america.

In india me and my wife lived and ate better than the natives for 12-13$ a day."

I'd certainly hope so, since you had at least ten times the buying power of the average native.

I'm aware of the whole standard of living aspect, and I'd agree: the standard of living in the average D&D world is much more like India than the US. I've lived in Jamaica, where the average income in US dollars is something like $2500. But that doesn't change my point. I'm only trying to put in perspective what sort of buying power 1 g.p. should have. You yourself make it clear that if the standard of living is lower, then for many basics, the buying power of individual dollars is much higher. Just because the wages in India translate to $400 dollars US, doesn't mean that a peasant in India has the same standard of living as a person in the US who consumes $400 dollars worth of products (and only $400 dollars) over the course of the year. Four hundred dollars is at least sufficient for subsistance in India (maybe even above that), but not sufficient in the high priced US. For instance, you can buy a hand tailored suit of clothing or hand crafted knife in India for a fraction of the cost (in absolute dollars) that you would pay for the same suit or knife in the US. On the other hand, a high standard item (like the latest computer or gasoline) probably costs more in India (in absolute dollars) than it does in the US.

The same synergy would be true of +1 magic swords from a D&D metropolis and ripe figs from a D&D countryside.

Whatever standard you use that you can relate to, the s.p. is worth one days wages for an unskilled laborer and buys what those one days wages buy.

PS: Tonguez, I like your ideas and will probably steal them at some point.

 

[Archangel]

Magic-R-Us

I remember the first group I played with (for about 3 years). Every settlement (regardless of size) had a "shop". In this "shop", everything from adventuring gear to displacer cloaks to staves of power (yes, that is plural) could be purchased if the dice were friendly (if you had seen the item in character there was a 10% chance of the shop having it in stock).

Oh, I could go on for days on that group (it was fun, but in more of a "can you believe we did this..." sort of way).

Anyway, my first experiences with DMing were also very Monte Haul, and the result of this is that I have withdrawn a lot. I do not have magic shops (there may be an item or two for sale in my world, but that is about it), and in fact a sigh and eye-roll is the best you can hope for if you inquire about one. My players complain that I hate magic, and I try to defend myself with a "magic is not as abundant in my world" argument (to no avail). But, when you are accustomed to the whole party having Bracers AC 2 (AD&D), Displacer Cloak, Boots of (Levitation, Elvenkind, Striding & Springing, etc.), a +3 weapon, Ring of Prot. +4, Ring of Fire Resist, Potions up the ying-yang, a Bag of Holding (to hold all of the magic items), and a wand of some sort (this was the average joe party member, not the exceptional ones)...

I guess my biggest pet peeve is when I feel that magic is being abused.

For the most part it seems as if those who ply the message boards are on the same page in regards to magic (as well as many other things), with some exceptions.

 

[Tsyr]

Would need an "other" option.

Generaly, potions, talismans, charms, etc are availble in any LARGE city, or sometimes from smaller ones if they are blessed with a semi-retired wizard or druid or something.

VERY large cities will have stores that will sell minor magical items... +1 weapons in a few common shapes (Longsword, shortsword, claymore, dagger, mace, warhammer, halberd, spear... anything more exotic, good luck...), a few minor rings, etc... But there are only 3 human cities of this size in my world.

Likewise, you can sometimes find "rare" or "exotic" item dealers that will deal with a random assortment of magic items in addition to their normal items. But it will be one or two items amongst a ton of junk... tons of "genuine" dragon bones, hoax cures, antiques, etc... and in the midst, someones grandfathers sword turns out to be a +3 Keen longsword, or that strange carved ring turns out to be a Ring of the Ram, etc.

 

[Nightfall]

Not sure I'd have SHOPS per-say but certainly the churches in the Scarred Lands would sell healing potions, some protective oils and some scrolls. A few minor wizard's guilds would certain exist, mostly in the larger cities. They might have a meduim item or two, but mostly sell minor magics. Forges...depends if there's a Forgemaster and/or an Iron Knight/Chapterhouse of Corean around. Most would probably see master worked armor/weapons.
That's about it. In villages, these would be VERY rare, but in city states like Hollowfaust, Mithril and even a few other places, they would probably be available. Still, the majority of the MAJOR things, would be hidden or lost.

Faerun, hey that's what Thayan Enclaves are FOR!

 

[kreynolds]

Yeah, I know it's crazy, stupid, immature, and shows a lack of creativity, but yes, I actually do have magic shops in my games. Some are big. Some are small. Some stock minor magic items (these shops are more common). Some stock major magic items (these are more rare). Heck, I even have a wandering extradimensional planar traveling caravan that stocks thousands of magic items, and can make almost anything you like, for a price. Granted, you never find it twice, and they don't stop their travel while they make your item, meaning you have to follow them, keep up with them, or find them later, but it's there.

I don't like low magic campaigns. If I wanted to run a game like that, I'd run a Conan game. To be honest, I even prefer FR over Greyhawk, mostly because I really dig the concept of magic.

 

[CWD]

Right now I'm running a Dragonstar game, and with whole planets that have magic and advanced communications technology, you can buy pretty much any magic item you want if you're willing to fly a few systems away.