Excerpt: Economies [merged]

[WhatGravitas]

Yeah, I just can't help but notice the direct lifting of "disenchanting" from WOW. But, that's a good thing. The computer gaming industry has been taking a lot from the roleplaying game industry and vise versa lately. This is a good thing. It truly makes the overall gaming industry better.

Actually, it's more like convergent developments... the concept of breaking down items to produce them easier was in D&D in form of the artificer class, which was in the Eberron Campaign Setting (released June 04). WoW was released November 04.

In both cases, breaking down items to recycle them were seen as good idea. That 4E uses this, is just the logical continuation of the artificer principle, which soundness was proven over and over again with WoW. And endless fan houserules. So it's not a "direct lifting" - but I do not deny, that WoW has more than probably helped with the inclusion!

Cheers, LT.

 

[Crosswind]

Really? So it's out of line to play a character with the slightest bit of common sense?

Player: "...I can sell this item for 4000 gold, or do a little leg work and sell it for 20,000. Good god, is it worth my time to hang onto this until I find somebody to pay a better price!"

DM: "You're supposed to be heroic!"

Player: "Does that mandate being an idiot, too?"

-Cross

 

[jelmore]

Retain Essence (ecs 32) = Collect Residuum

I was thinking the exact same thing.

 

[Jedi_Solo]

But it's going to be tough to argue that, if the PCs find the barbarian, they can't get full price for that axe.

So let the PCs find that Barbarian who can afford to pay full price. That's an adventure in and of itself.

If I had found the person who would have been willing to pay $10 for that used game that I got $2 for I would have done so. I have no idea where I could have found said individual (he could have been right behind me in line for all I know). But finding the Barbarian can easily be an adventure in and of itself which in the end nets more XP and treasure.

So your party has sold the axe for full price. Now... about that magic sword...

 

[Crosswind]

If the barbarian has enough money to pay full price... he could also argue that he sold his last axe for one fifth of that and that it was an honest man and you will just trick him... he also can´t tell if its magical, so maybe he will only pay the normal price for an axe...

Your argument sort of catastrophically falls apart when you realize that that barbarian would have bought the axe from a merchant for full price.

Though I suspect you knew that, and just wanted to give an example of how a DM can cheerily come up with excuses to rationalize just about any craziness in rules on the part of WotC.

-Cross

 

[Mercule]

I hope there is something in the rules on how to deal with players who want to avoid the middleman and start raking in huge profit selling magic items directly.

Why?

If the players and the GM are of a mental disposition to enjoy dealing with the black/gray market, questing to find which noble/aristocrat/wizard/knight/etc. may want this particular item, or playing shop-keep and the community issues that go with it, I can't see an issue with it.

The main reason most PCs aren't going to try to end-around the middleman is the same reason most of us don't make our living on EBay (a few bucks, sure, but not a lifestyle altering amount). It's alternates between boring and difficult. Cutting out the middleman, especially when you have another job (adventuring), is much more complex than it sounds.

Personally, I hope the DMG talks about how to enable players who want to act as merchants, brokers, or archaeologists (so to speak). Including such guidance is actually probably the best way of deterring people from doing it for non-character related (i.e. scamming the system) reasons.

 

[EonEdge]

Player: "...I can sell this item for 4000 gold, or do a little leg work and sell it for 20,000. Good god, is it worth my time to hang onto this until I find somebody to pay a better price!"

-Cross

You mean 22,000 to 28,000 you forgot the 10-40 % mark-up

 

[Zweischneid]

Your argument sort of catastrophically falls apart when you realize that that barbarian would have bought the axe from a merchant for full price.

If he's buying things from merchants (and hence is integrated and knowledgable in the monetary economy), its not really a Barbarian in the first place...

 

[lightblade]

Merchants (at least the honest ones) have reputations for being trustworthy. If a merchant has been in business for any length of time, his reputation will probably be his most valuable asset. Adventurers a) don't have a reputation as salesmen b) move around a lot, so they'd be hard to track down if the axe or whatever was bad.

 

[Dizlag]

Lord Tirian: You are completely correct. I forgot about the Artificer in the Eberron Campaign setting. Thanks for reminding me!

And agreed that this is a nice evolution of the core of that class becoming daily rituals (Creating and Disenchanting magical items) within the power of any character once they've learned the rituals. Which in my understanding will be available as feats, right?

Dizlag