Excerpt: Economies [merged]

[FireLance]

I really think the idea of selling an item at 20% to someone who is going to mark it up to 140% reeks of "Let's not use common sense with our game mechanics" :\

Have you compared the price of coffee beans to the price of a latte at Starbucks lately?

 

[ForbidenMaster]

I really think the idea of selling an item at 20% to someone who is going to mark it up to 140% reeks of "Let's not use common sense with our game mechanics" :\

Its supply and demand. There isnt much demand for magic items in the general world, so you arent going to get much for it. On the other hand if you can find someone who does want a magic item odds are they can pay, and therefor will pay a significant price for it. If the party can find someone who actually wants a magic item then they should be able to sell it just like a merchant. But if they cant they are only going to get what the next best price for it is, and thats 20% of the listed value.

 

[keterys]

The scary thing is that it's not that far off from real world product distribution of many products. 4 to 1 isn't that far off, and if we're talking something that is very difficult to sell and expensive to protect...

 

[pawsplay]

Have you compared the price of coffee beans to the price of a latte at Starbucks lately?

Ah, but there, you're paying for the subservience of an employee and the use of an espresso machine.

 

[Gloombunny]

I wouldn't be surprised if Streetwise/Diplomacy can be used as a Skill Challenge to either increase the amount the fence will pay for a item or lower the price he will sale a item.

Streetwise = Know the actual cost of the item on the street

Diplomacy = Bartering

I would also suggest Bluff, to convince the merchant that you have other people you can deal with and will walk away if he doesn't offer a better price.

Or Intimidate, of course.

 

[pawsplay]

Its supply and demand. There isnt much demand for magic items in the general world, so you arent going to get much for it.

What? And at the same time, magic items are incredibly rare and hard to acquire?

 

[MindWanderer]

Likes: Simplicity and excitingness--maybe. See below.

Dislike: Poor return on sales. If a DM gives you a lot of cash and wondrous items, and only gives you new slotted items when it's a significant boost for you, you end up with a lot of value as you progress in level. If the DM gives you lots of potions and slotted items (especially ones you have no interest in), you end up having to sell or expend more, and you end up with significantly less over time. DMs will still have to conduct wealth-by-level audits every once in a while to make sure that the players' buying and spending habits ended them up in the right place.

In fact, for a discerning player, this can even diminish the "exciting" factor. As in, "What, a +1 Frost Longsword? That's nice, but I just got a +1 Vicious Longsword last level. So long, longsword, I hardly knew ye, and now you're just 100 gp." Whereas an item that uses a different slot--best case would be an unfilled slot, but one that just hasn't been updated in a long time would be good, too--would end up being worth more.

I also dislike the "markup" mechanic. You save up money for three levels to buy the toy you really want... and at the next town, it has a 40% markup. If you can afford it at all at that price, is it better to go ahead and buy it, losing huge amounts of money in the process, or should you wait and try your luck in another town? Or can that markup be bargained down with skill checks, effectively making Diplomacy training worth cash? Or, you can disenchant your gear and use the energy to enchant something else, which is somehow less efficient than just selling it (which seems odd--why does the more difficult way of getting rid of loot also net you the inferior return?).

 

[Mouseferatu]

What? And at the same time, magic items are incredibly rare and hard to acquire?

There's no contradiction there. Think of a Rolls Royce. They're extremely expensive, and there's not much demand for them, partly because they're extremely expensive.

If something is so far outside Person X's price range that he couldn't even imagine paying for it, he has no measurable demand for it, no matter how much he might want it.

 

[Sir_Darien]

I really think the idea of selling an item at 20% to someone who is going to mark it up to 140% reeks of "Let's not use common sense with our game mechanics" :\

Agreed.

This is the first major problem I've had with the preview material. I don't know what I'm going to do when my players start becoming merchants.

I can see them stockpiling gear until they get to a metropolis. Then setting up a store to sell their magic items at 80% and undercutting local merchants. I can also see them sending messengers out to all towns in the vicinity letting other adventurers know about their goods.

They've done stuff like this before just to make 75% off items in 3.5 and I cannot realistically think of a way to keep it from working.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

What? And at the same time, magic items are incredibly rare and hard to acquire?

Thus why there isn't a demand. You go to a normal person, "say you know about the Sword of blah, blah, blah" "umm... no" "Would you want to buy it?" "Can it cure my son of his disease" "Well... No, but it can chop things up real nice!" "Then no sorry"

or

You go to a normal person, "say you know about the Sword of blah, blah, blah" "umm... no" "Would you want to buy it?" "What? Why would I want some weird swording sword, I can just buy one from the blacksmith" "But this thing shoots lightning!" "Right, bub, the asylum is that way"

Essentially, since they are rare the common person doesn't have a use for it, since there isn't knowledge/need to use one.