Generating a shop

[anest1s]

Well, basically I think every shop would have many minor items that would be easy to sell, and fewer costly ones.

A shop with 50k gp worth of items isn't a shop that would have moderate wondrous items in its inventory, simply because the shopkeeper wouldn't be able to find the right buyers for his 4 items.

So there should be an analogy like:
1 expensive item
2 items half that prize
4 1/4 that prize
8 1/8 that prize
etc etc
(minimum 250gp for the last category)

So a shop with a 50k worth of items would have 50.000/250=200
So there are the following options:

1. 200 (*250gp)
2. 100 (*250gp)+50(*500gp)
3. 66,6(*250gp)+33,3(*500gp)+16,6(*1000gp)
4. 50(*250gp)+27(*500gp)+12(*1000gp)+6(2000gp)
5. 40(*250gp)+20(*500gp)+12(*1000gp)+5 (2000gp)+ 2(*4000gp)
6. 33.3(*250gp)+16,65(*500gp)+8,325(*1000gp)
   +4,1625(2000gp)+2,08125(*4000gp)+1,040625(*8000gp)

I would go for the 5th option as it makes sense that a shopkeeper wouldn't have 1/6th of his shop invested on a single item.

So my list would be like this: (I filled only the first one because of lack of time, maybe Ill edit later)

0-250gp items: (40)

02 Feather token, anchor 50 gp
07 Universal solvent 50 gp
02 Elixir of love 150 gp
02 Unguent of timelessness 150 gp
02 Feather token, fan 200 gp
02 Dust of tracelessness 250 gp
03 Elixir of hiding 250 gp
03 Elixir of sneaking 250 gp
02 Elixir of swimming 250 gp
03 Elixir of vision 250 gp
02 Silversheen 250 gp
25 Cure light wounds (potion) 50 gp
04 Endure elements (potion) 50 gp
04 Hide from animals (potion) 50 gp
04 Hide from undead (potion) 50 gp
05 Jump (potion) 50 gp
10 Mage armor (potion) 50 gp
02 Magic fang (potion) 50 gp
02 Magic stone (oil) 50 gp
05 Magic weapon (oil) 50 gp
05 Pass without trace (potion) 50 gp
10 Protection from (alignment) (potion) 50 gp
10 Remove fear (potion) 50 gp
03 Sanctuary (potion) 50 gp
05 Shield of faith +2 (potion) 50 gp
02 Shillelagh (oil) 50 gp
05 Bless weapon (oil) 100 gp
05 Enlarge person (potion) 250 gp
02 Reduce person (potion) 250 gp


250-500gp items: (20)

500-1000gp items (12) (remove 2 from here and make it 10*)

1000-2000gp items (5) (remove 1 from here and make it 4*)

2000-4000gp items (2)

*Special notice: Any customer who wants to buy scrolls or items worth under 4000gp can order them


(Special note- In my campaign I just let them buy whatever they want, after all I don't roll to see if my NPCs were able to find the equipment I gave them)

 

[Theone0581]

Awesome! I am going to consider what you put down and see how I can add the mechanics to my game. Thanks a lot

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

This is an interesting point you bring up, because many players forget [what I like in a] D&D game.

Fixed that for you.

Just because you don't like it, or think it detracts, does not make it a universal truth.

And, in any case, you've completely missed the point: this isn't a PC trying to run a shop; this is a DM trying to set up a shop with which his PCs can interact.

Awesome job on being actually helpful, [MENTION=94230]anest1s[/MENTION].

 

[iamtheend]

Player inquires whats in the shop.

Shop Keeper tells what is in stock.

Player inquires if all his items could be bought from him and at what price.

Shop Keeper says how much Gold he can spend to buy players items.

Player kills shop keeper and takes all the items mentioned having and the amount of gold said to have.

My DM doesn't keep too many items on hand and has us wait for items to be made. Lesson learned from abuse of other players when we were younger.

 

[anest1s]

Player inquires whats in the shop.

Shop Keeper tells what is in stock.

Player inquires if all his items could be bought from him and at what price.

Shop Keeper says how much Gold he can spend to buy players items.

Player kills shop keeper and takes all the items mentioned having and the amount of gold said to have.

My DM doesn't keep too many items on hand and has us wait for items to be made. Lesson learned from abuse of other players when we were younger.

You just check what encounter level would give the PCs the wealth they are about to get, then make that encounter happen. In this case a 15sh level encounter.

 

[Ettin]

Player kills shop keeper and takes all the items mentioned having and the amount of gold said to have.

If it's the kind of magic shop wealthy enough to stock items, the shopkeeper can at least afford some basic protection, or even hire spells, guards or constructs if he can afford it.

If he's part of a merchant's guild (or a magic guild, depending) the guild would probably move to stop that sort of thing. And that's assuming there's no police after the player!


It probably won't come up but if it does, that is at least more interesting than nerfing shops.

 

[ExploderWizard]

For my 3E game some time ago I made some availability tables based on gp value of the item and the population of village/town/city where the shop was located. Instead of keeping track of specific inventory, the players requested a specific item and it was rolled for.

If the item was not available then there was a range of time that needed to pass before availability could be checked again. For a small town it might be weeks or months while a busy city might get the item within days.

With each gp range of item there was also a # in stock variable which also depended on the value of the item and population.

For example, just because a town has 1000gp item limit doesn't mean there are an infinite number of 50gp healing potions in stock.