How easy or hard is it for you to buy magic items or have an NPC craft them?

[dreaded_beast]

I was wondering how this is for your campaign.

Are you able to purchase magic items at the listed price in the DMG or are they always higher that what it states there?

If no one in your party has any Craft Feats, how hard is it for you to find an NPC to make a special magic item?

I was just wondering because in my campaign, I am a player, two of the elven Fighters wanted to have some elven magical chain mail made. They figured it would be pretty simple since they were already elves. They looked in the DMG at the price for some magical elven chain mail and saw that it was fairly cheap, this was a mid-level campaign. However, the DM nearly doubled the price in the DMG for the elven chain and has continued to do so for nearly every magic item in the DMG.

Now is this normal or do the prices in DMG assume that the DM will increase them?

I have limited understanding of Crafting feats, but if I understand correctly, it only takes half the magic items price in gold in the DMG to create the item. That being the case, the market price in the DMG is already twice of what it cost to create. I think it is unfair to increase the price that much more.

 

[Steverooo]

I was wondering how this is for your campaign.

Are you able to purchase magic items at the listed price in the DMG or are they always higher that what it states there?

If no one in your party has any Craft Feats, how hard is it for you to find an NPC to make a special magic item?

I was just wondering because in my campaign, I am a player, two of the elven Fighters wanted to have some elven magical chain mail made. They figured it would be pretty simple since they were already elves. They looked in the DMG at the price for some magical elven chain mail and saw that it was fairly cheap, this was a mid-level campaign. However, the DM nearly doubled the price in the DMG for the elven chain and has continued to do so for nearly every magic item in the DMG.

Now is this normal or do the prices in DMG assume that the DM will increase them?

I have limited understanding of Crafting feats, but if I understand correctly, it only takes half the magic items price in gold in the DMG to create the item. That being the case, the market price in the DMG is already twice of what it cost to create. I think it is unfair to increase the price that much more.

When I run a campaign, it is difficult to buy permanent magic items. They must be made-to-order, or found.

When I play, they are usually available for purchase, at the stated prices.

When I GM, having items made requires finding a spellcaster of the appropriate level, with the required prerequisite spells. This is usually nominal, but not problematical.

When I play, I find GMs vary widely, depending upon what they want in their campaigns... In one, my PC has a load of "magical weapon parts", which would enhance his weapons, IF he could find someone to put them ON for him... He doesn't have the ability to, and can't find anyone who does... In other campaigns, it is as easy as finding the nearest major city! It just depends upon the GM.

Your GMs' methods are not normal, no... but perhaps you guys have too much gold, and he is trying to drain some off? Or maybe mithril/mithral is limited, in his world, or just that area?

I agree with you that the price is too much... The creator should make a profit, but 400% is a bit much, IMHO. Ask if a PC can make a Diplomacy check to argue the price down, or something...

 

[Varianor Abroad]

I was wondering how this is for your campaign.

Are you able to purchase magic items at the listed price in the DMG or are they always higher that what it states there?

I play and DM in a shared world campaign. My cleric PC has several Craft feats, the party Wizard has almost all of them, and the druid and halfling sorcerer have a few themselves. We've always been able to purchase items at the DMG price, but that was a conscious decision by all the DMs to play the game as written. Ultimately, we ran up against a gp overage problem when we lowered XP awards but didn't reduce treasure, but even in the face of that we didn't raise or change Item Creation prices.

I also run two other games and magic items are available at the listed prices. The only limit is the gp value of where the PCs are. If the city they are in has a 3000 gp limit, they're not finding Cloaks of the Bat just lying around.

I was just wondering because in my campaign, I am a player, two of the elven Fighters wanted to have some elven magical chain mail made. They figured it would be pretty simple since they were already elves. They looked in the DMG at the price for some magical elven chain mail and saw that it was fairly cheap, this was a mid-level campaign. However, the DM nearly doubled the price in the DMG for the elven chain and has continued to do so for nearly every magic item in the DMG.

Now is this normal or do the prices in DMG assume that the DM will increase them?

I have limited understanding of Crafting feats, but if I understand correctly, it only takes half the magic items price in gold in the DMG to create the item. That being the case, the market price in the DMG is already twice of what it cost to create. I think it is unfair to increase the price that much more.

Did your DM explain why he's doing this? Is there some rationale?

If he's saying that you're in a sparsely populated wilderness, where the largest town has items worth no more than 1000 gp available, but he'll let you get more expensive ones for double, then that's understandable. Not so much fun for PCs, but understandeable.

However, it sounds like your DM just doesn't like items if he's doubled all the prices. That will actually skew your party's ability to handle monsters and give wizard's spells more of an advantage over the rest of the group. Monte and Skip Williams said at a talk at I-Con last year that giving fighters and rogues items were one of the ways that they could stay on a par with wizards and clerics. (This has been reiterated more than once on line I believe.)

Also, the defense and abilities of higher level monsters and foes are built with the assumption that you'll be able to deal with them. If your group never gets items and has to pay double to make them or buy them, you'll have half your treasure for your level. That will mean that you'll have difficulty with flying encounters, be underequipped for high-DR monsters, and not have the resources to deal with powerful spell-like abilities, items, poisons, etc.

 

[Nifft]

IMC, magic shops are generally rip-offs, but they have a wide selection of stuff.

You can get magic items from other sources, particularly rich organizations -- governments, churches, universities, noble families, etc. -- but only if you're working for them. They don't tend to rip you off, but they do tend to check up on your behavior and send you on deadly missions.

Want the good stuff? Get someone powerful to like you, or at least to respect you.

-- N