Does your campaign have a shop that sells magic items?

[Forrester]

As I said in the other post, only the highest level merchants will be able to easily defend against Charms, Suggestion, Gaseous Form, Dimension Door, Teleportation, or high-level thugs just tracking him down and beating the crap out of him.

And please note how many of those spells are low level. Charm Person is a lousy 1st level spell, and one successful casting can completely ruin a merchant's day. Suggestion is a 2nd level bard spell. Gaseous Form is incredibly good for theft, and it's a lousy 3rd level spell.

A Large Town (2,000-5,000) sells items up to 3,000gp in value. According to the DMG, just about ANYTHING that's under 3000gp in value can be found in a Large Town, which is of course ridiculous.

A Small City (5,000-12,000) sells items up to 12,000gp in value.

Now, let's look at the DMG recommended highest-level-NPCs for settlements of those sizes.

Large Towns: d8+3 for fighters, d4+3 for wizards, d8+3 for rogues, d6+3 for clerics.

Small Cities: d8+6 for fighters, d4+6 for wizards, d8+6 for rogues, d6+6 for clerics.

I don't know about you, but this seems awfully damn low to me. If I'm a party of evil 10th level adventurers, walking in to the nearest Large Town, killing all the higher-ups, and taking the tens of thousands of gp worth of magic seems to me to be one HELL of a deal.

And if I'm a party of 15th level adventurers, walking into the town and butting heads with the (max) 12th level wizard, and 14th level fighter who is probably mayor/king/lead general, so I can get out with a hundred or two hundred thousand gold worth of equipment seems to me to be, again, one HELL of a deal.

Something is very, very wrong here. To even have a prayer, a Magic Shoppe owner in a Large Town or Small City would have to employ the very, very highest level folks that are supposedly around. Not realistic.

That's why I use the "broker"/middleman system in my game. You want something, talk to the guy who teleports into town every month and order something. He'll be back next month with it . . . and charge one helluva commission. Ditto if you plan on selling stuff.

Well, I haven't actually used it *yet*. The PCs haven't gotten to a city yet. They've been fighting their way through the wilderness without a friend in sight. But they're about to . . . I'll let you know how it goes .

 

[Black Omega]

It's fairly campaign specific but for my Rokugan-in-FR game there is only one shop in the Empire. The Red Wizards have set up a place selling potions and wands of Cure Lt. Wounds. They aren't even being very friendly about selling so aren't getting much business except from the PC wizard who needs to buy scrolls so he can add spells to his spellbook.

Aside from that, there are no magic shops. But then I also use the Magic of Rokuigan system for awakened magic items, so there is little need to buy items, and most items taken off someone else won't work for just anyone else.

 

[I'm A Banana]

I have a magic shop *chain*

I even call it McMagic's. It's run by leprechauns.

I'd say that having magic shoppes being stolen from has never been a problem...and I've had evil PC's, mind you, with all their gusto toward it.

Basically, only the larg-ish towns have them, and by that size they usually have a few high-ish level people. Many of these people have been on adventures, collected lots of magic, and are willing to sell off their surplus for a tidy little profit.

I usually use the following principles:

a) The keeper of a magic shop is going to know how to defend his stuff from those around him...not nessecarily high-level teleporting PC's, mind you, but at the least he'll place an Alarm spell and hire a few thugs.

b) The owners of magic shops are probably some of the richest guys in town -- they've got the richest dudes around (adventurers) giving them gold like nobody's business. They're going to be able to afford some powerful protection.

c) The sellers of magic know their trade, just like anyone. They know how to use every item in their shops, and I don't think they'd hesitate to do it, given the motivation.

d) Think of all the mages making money off of this thing, if they're selling stuff here. Loosing a source of this much income is a matter of great importance to the higher-up rich folk in the land, and thy're going to make darn well sure it stays secure.

So, basically, a McMagic is a lot like a bank, in forms of security and reinforcement. It ain't exactly shabby, and it's probably one of the more potent structures around.

 

[Numion]

I do usually allow my players to buy magic items. It's a balancing factor between non-spellcasters and spellcasters. If fighters weren't allowed to buy magic items, they'd be at disadvantage.

 

[Tsyr]

Regarding theives:

Any large city has wizards on the payroll to guard against magical theivery.

Any smaller shop outside of a city is run by a magic user of some power (10th-ish level), who has probably gone to some lengths to assure his home is very safe, even in his abscense.

As for those "relic" dealers I mentioned... never know what one of them has up his sleeve.

Regarding having magic items MADE on request, yes. You CAN generaly do that... on some things. In a big city. For the right price. It's not cheap, I assure you

How do I keep balance between fighters and magic users? I don't use standard vancian magic... the magic system(s) I do use are designed around a somewhat lower magic setting in the first place. Besides, party wizards still can (and do) make certain items.

 

[Mok]

Since unlimited Magic Item trade helped trash my last game, I'm *severely* restricting it next time.

 

[Garmorn]

I treat magic shops just like art store here in Austin. You can buy any thing you want from cheap art an nearly any where (0 and maybe 1st level scrolls/potions) to the works of the great masters. You just need to learn where and how to buy what you want.

As for the level of NPC's in towns. I think the designers where stuck in 2nd Ed. Using the improved you advance for over coming challanges system now in place, the average level for most people is going to be around 3rd to 5th level and the highest level is going to be at least 5 to 10 levels higher then listed in the book.

 

[S'mon]

IMC potions of cure light wounds are available at some temples, occasionally more powerful potions also. A few (pregenerated) scrolls and potions may be available from wizards, and permanent items can occasionally be acquired through a broker (for an item of greater power, typically - eg get +2 spear in exchange for +3 greatsword), or made to order, a PC once had their masterwork katana enchanted to +1 by a wizard.

 

[Hand of Evil]

In my world the wizard guild controls what magics are available for use and the items have to be approved. They also keep records of who buys what and who is selling (this goes back to my world myth to the time of the wizard wars).

You don't see very powerful items for sell.

 

[warcabbit]

Technically, yes, the campaign I play in has one. On the other hand, the treasure is so low, and the prices are so high, nothing has been bought from it, except a few scrolls.

You want a naked PC? 13th level sorcerer/rogue. +1 quarterstaff, +1 leather, Cloak of resistance +1. And slippers of spider climb. Oh, and two CLW potions for emergencies.


It's not that bad, really. Requires inventive teamwork and creative spell use. Except when the demons pop up. DR and SR combined tend to cause great problems.