How do wandering merchants survive?

[Stoat]

The merchants aren't human.

A cabal of devils (perhaps in disguise) buy and sell magic for their own nefarious purposes.

A gang of Duergar have goods from the underdark to trade.

A semi-civilized Titan carries a little tent full of goodies on his back.

In my 3E campaign, I've used devilish merchants more than once. It's entertaining for me when the players look over their new purchases and say, "Wait, did this come from Hell?"

 

[Fiendish Dire Weasel]

Wait, I haven't been following this 4e business very closely, but wasn't one of the purposes of the game to get rid of the XMas tree effect? Shouldn't the Wandering Merchants of WalMart be infrequent BECAUSE the game mechanics are supposed to make magic items rares again, rather than a necessity? (In short, I'm probably wrong on this, but isn't this supposed to be a 3e concern? Help me out here.)

If you look how the treasure is distrubuted I think this is going to still be true. Besides the fact that there are less item slots and almost 0 stacking of item bonuses (no +1 Deflection to AC, +1 Natural Armor to AC and +1 Luck bonus to AC, etc) I believe this is still maintained. It seems players will have less funds to buy magic items and the GM will have greater control over what they get, outside of what they desire to make themselves with this system.

The travelling merchant isn't supposed to have a large stock of items on hand, just the chance to have 1-2 things of +1 to -3 or so levels from the characters that may interest them. At least as importantly they are there for the players to sell stuff to.

Also, due to the travelling merchant travelling, it isn't always there to buy/sell from them. Unless maybe they do some social interaction with them (gasp) and persuade the merchant to hang around an extra day or two while they run to the nearest dungeon.

I think this eliminates a lot of the 3.x loot issues without making it totally impossible for the players to buy/sell stuff. Mainly it does this by giving an excuse for more GM control.

 

[Mallus]

The merchants aren't human.

A cabal of devils (perhaps in disguise) buy and sell magic for their own nefarious purposes.

I was going to say that lone merchants in dangerous lands have all made pacts with the Devil/demons...

 

[Brown Jenkin]

There aren't hundreds of wandering merchants, there might only be one. But just like combat the players are using their narrative control to say when that merchant is in town. Just like that daily attack power can be tried all day long, it is the characters deciding that this is the time it hits. So that merchant who only comes around once every year or 5 years just happens to be in town at the right time, just like in the movies.

 

[jaelis]

There aren't hundreds of wandering merchants, there might only be one. But just like combat the players are using their narrative control to say when that merchant is in town. Just like that daily attack power can be tried all day long, it is the characters deciding that this is the time it hits. So that merchant who only comes around once every year or 5 years just happens to be in town at the right time, just like in the movies.

I agree with this, though perhaps a bit less extreme. The point is that wandering merchants might be pretty rare, but they tend to be where you need them for the purpose of the game.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Some merchants really get eaten, or how do you think the treasure is brought back into the woods where noob adventurers can find it...

seriously: merchants selling up to LVL 10 items should at least be level 15... They will have one or two items of up to Level 20 but these are their personal goods... They should have guards which are level 10 each... and then they usually should not carry more than 5 magical items with them or so...

never forget: their mission is usually to buy magical items from the adventurers, not to sell them everything they want...

 

[Kahoots]

I was going to say that lone merchants in dangerous lands have all made pacts with the Devil/demons...

Traveling Merchants = Warlocks!

 

[Mallus]

Traveling Merchants = Warlocks!

That actually works out pretty well. It gives new meaning to the term 'fly-by-night' business...

 

[Scrollreader]

I think it's worth noting that not alot of items will likely be /bought/ from merchants. Sold to? Absolutely. But given the treasure tables, and the way cash seems to be doled out, I'd expect /buying/ magic items to be fairly infrequent. Remember, there's no XP cost to make magic items anymore, and no massive investment to be able to make your stuff. (How many bonus feats did they have to give the artificer, again?) So the only time you'd go looking to /buy/ magic items, are if there's an item you can't make (above your level), but you /can/ afford (so not too far above your level) that you haven't found & looted during your adventures. As well, given a 40% markup, it had better be damn well near irreplaceable. Basically, the merchants will be happy to take your valuable and practically priceless items for a fraction of their worth. But actually getting something like this from them ... is not, IMO, going to be terribly common, unless the DM goes out of his way to make it so.

That being said, this gives me a /great/ idea for an NPC factor, who sits safely in a city somewhere and buys all the magic items that the wandering merchants bring in, guaranteed, and then identifies them, and sells them for that 40% markup. He might even end up /not/ being infernal ... though I wouldn't count on that. Magic items are like family jewelry, or famous art. Selling them is easy, and they're almost always worth something. Buying them is more difficult, and more expensive.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Merchant are moving targets. They can be attacked by laying ambushes, but many monsters just don't lay ambushes. Animals and magical beasts have little reason to attack a merchant that has guards that can fight back, and possibly doesn't even carry stuff it can use.

A threat are all kinds of humanoids or barely civilized creatures. But these threats usually are also threatened by the presence of guards. Attacks are risky. It can be a a lot easier to just ask for a little (or a little more) money and goods for safe passage. The merchant's prices will just increase a little bit with each ambush he walks into.

There is a also a possibility to minimize risks by following established trade routes with a lot of settlements along the road. Traveling this way ensures relative safety. But if you ever have to leave the path, venture a little further into the woods, you run into hostile monsters that will kill and eat you if you don't outrun or outfight them.

The risk is - what happens if a few of the PoL settlements along the road are taken out by the darkness? Your road stops, and you need to send soldiers or adventurers to "repair" the road. Or both. (But remember, soldiers are expensive, and you might prefer to keep them for your own safety...)