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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 9649584" data-attributes="member: 4937">Yes.  This is something Gygaxian D&D considered very little, and more recent versions of D&D didn't consider at all, with the result that if you take the magic in the setting seriously, then global economies should look radically different from what is portrayed in D&D source books.  The setting becomes really difficult to imagine as there are so many things magic just should be the answer for giving the claimed availability of magic in the setting. Yes, and it's important to note that such light sources are in fact cheap enough to obsolete all other ones.  In my 3e inspired game the limiting factor and the reason that magical light sources haven't completely replaced non-magical ones is the inability of wizards to continually pay the XP costs of production of such items.  There is a higher demand in most economies than can be provided for by the hedge wizards that make common magic items.   This has world building implications.  There is for example a particular city in my campaign world known for its plentiful magical lights where unbeknownst to the people in charge of the city, the lamp lighters are resorting to murdering vagrants and orphans to pay the XP costs necessary to upkeep the lights.  And this economic implications.  When selling an item, the maker must factor the XP costs into the costs of production when determining a sale price.  Items which can be produced more quickly than XP can be accumulated have to have their price increased when being sold to reflect the real cost to the artifacer.This has to be a recent edition problem because I can never remember this as a problem.  There were always two types of oil - lamp oil which was assumed to be some sort of vegetable oil or other liquid fat (and was relatively cheap, say about $10 a vial) and flaming oil which was assumed to be some sort of rare alchemical product or distillate ("Greek Fire") probably some sort of petroleum product and which was quite expensive (about $1875 a vial).So yes, in my game light is quite cheap and candles and lamps are primarily used in a ceremonial fashion or else by the very poor who horde them and tend to only use them in emergencies.  Torches are rarely used, and when they are used it's primarily in situations where fire is just as useful as light.  For example, "Rat Catchers" use torches commonly in their work because the sort of vermin their profession calls upon them to deal with can include all sorts of nasty "dungeon" creatures like green slime, yellow mold, rot grubs, and so forth where having a fire source handy is really important.  This wouldn't imply they don't also have a guy on the team using magical light to use as light for the value of light, but that the torches have more value that just being light.And yes, "Rat Catchers", "Undertakers", and "Lumberjacks" are notoriously tough individuals in my game, precisely because they are essentially mini-adventurers by profession.  Adventures don't get hired to kill the giant rats in the cellar because it's a common enough problem there is a profession for that.</blockquote>

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