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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lurker37" data-source="post: 4004096" data-attributes="member: 9522">I voted 'other'.Apologies in advance for the length of this post.I guess my main problem with the prices for magical items is the ridiculous number of coins that would have to be physically conveyed to a vendor to purchase something.In these days of paper notes, bank cheques and electronic transactions, we are able to conduct transactions in thousands and even millions of dollars. That was simply not possible prior to the invention of paper currencies like the pound note.Consider the size and weight of a gold dubloon. Now look at how many of those you need for a vanilla plus 3 item. Let's also assume that moneychangers don't typically handle coins in wagonload-bulk, simply because they don't have a Scrooge McDuck Moneybin-type edifice out the back of their shop.Assuming a lack of a handbag of TARDIS-dimensions or a ritual capable of teleporting tonnes and tonnes of metal, how on earth are the players going to get several oxen-cart-loads of coinage from dungeon to vendor? (Who, presumably, is set up comfortably in a major city, wizard academy or private estate, and not in a shack right outside the lair of the terrifying beast with a well-deserved reputation to be A Clear And Present Danger and Too Big Too Mess With). Anyone naive enough to assume that a convey of wagons transporting this coin over several miles is going to even make it halfway without being fallen upon by every currency-using sentient within a hundred leagues deserves the disappointment of being left sitting on the vendor's front step at 3am, wondering where all that money went. Even if the bandits and ogres don't get the money, then the veritable sea of paupers and beggars that would swarm to the convoy certainly would.Gold coins were big and heavy, yes, but a single chest of them could hold a king's ransom. They were not used in everyday trade.By the same logic, any coins of more valuable metals should be so rare as be virtually legendary in their own right, probably named individually the same way unusually large diamonds are.There's a reason we have the word 'priceless' in our vocabulary - it was possible for an item to be so expensive that no feasible amount of currency could purchase it. It's my opinion that magical items should be priceless, and not sold for coin - at least, not in full. There would still a coinage cost - they have to maintain living costs, after all, but these are but a fraction of the full price charged. Instead, you would either have to provide a similarly priceless item in exchange, like an exceptional gem, or else you would first have to go to great lengths to secure the esoteric materials required to craft these items. The dangers and difficulty involved would, of course, equate to a level-appropriate adventure. (Conversely, such a material could be found in a treasure trove in lieu of an item, allowing the player to use it to barter for an item.)Continuing that train of thought, prior to the advent of mass-production items beyond the quality used by the common citizenry were not generally produced in quantity and then set out on a shelf or in a window in the hopes of attracting a buyer. Instead, due to the time and materials required, they were generally made on commission. At most there would be a handful of display pieces to demonstrate that the craftsman had the skill required to fulfill commissions. In other words, my preferred way of handling a magical item economy is a far cry from the Magi-mart assumption in 3E, and neither requires nor benefits from the availability of thousands and thousands of coins.</blockquote>

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