Fantasy economics and other planes... unworkable?

[Umbran]

Flooding the market with gold would require a mind-bogglingly huge amount of gold, hitting the market all at once (as in the Aztec example mentioned earlier).

Flooding the modern market would require a mind-boggling amount of gold. But that's because we trade gold on a global scale, so your flood must be on a global scale. Heck, frequently the ownership of gold changes hands, but the gold just sits in one place. You frequently trade ownership of the commodity, not the commodity itself.

In a pseudo-medieval fantasy world, things are different. For the most part a given commodity is traded by trading the actual item. And the stuff flows at a finite speed. You can thus flood a local market - the stuff will only leak out of the local area as fast as traders enter and leave the place.

 

[VirgilCaine]

In the real world, what do you think happens if you start challenging DeBeers?

You get DeBeaten by DeBoys.

 

[Umbran]

Yeah, but every single casting of the spell for a moderate amount of cash means more gratitude to the church and possibly more people wishing to become priests, if only for the power to heal.

That's fine if the church is particularly looking for gratitude. Most fo the time, D&D priests should have bigger fish to fry.

Attracting followers is probably a more important duty than killing monsters and taking their stuff.

Not for Pelor. Nor for St Cuthbert. These are gods with missions in life beyond filling pews.

Until he stops doing it. With a flick of his wrist every day, he's now controlling the steel market.

You only control the market if you actually eliminate the other suppliers. The miners and other spellcasters are still there if he's not flickig his wrists that day.

They cut you a deal?

Have you forgotten that you're playing a fantasy adventure game here? That's a pretty boring choice by the DM, when others are easily available.

Far less risky than trying to send hitmen after someone who's a high-level spellcaster.

Risky? What risk? It isn't like John Law is going to come after them. And if hired hitmen die, what loss is that?

Which doesn't change a thing if you were prepared for it, and had very little precious metals floating around yourself.

Unless you're playing in Dragonlance or something, your own coinage is precious metals, and you had a working economy in your own lands before trying this trick. Being prepared for it means that it can be handled, yes. But it does lower the overal profit you can make. Why take over an economic ruin if you can find a way to take it over while it is economically healthy instead? A high-level spellcaster has many options at his disposal. This doesn't soudn like one of the better ones.