How to handle "shopping"?

[roguerouge]

"How can I make a more reasonable shopping experience without boring the crap out of the whole table?"

Email.

 

[Lord Xtheth]

My shops have a constant "your level +2" limit on items. The magic stuff so far is balanced enough that nothing the PCs can buy will greatly change my game at all.
I also do NOT let my players shop for eachother.

I also look at the size of the town. a couple hundred to a couple thousand people wouldn't warrant a magic item shop. Great cities (Like Silverymoon, or Baldur's gate) however have item shops (referred to as 7-11 by my players) on every 2nd street corner.

 

[Jasperak]

Is it too late to say make it a skill challenge?

 

[Runestar]

Ebay. Or the fantasy equivalent.

 

[Hejdun]

I don't know why nobody has brought this up yet, but Enchant Magic Item is a level 4 ritual which creates any magic item of the caster's level or lower, using residuum of value equal to the item's market price. Conveniently, the level 6 ritual Disenchant Magic Item converts an item into residuum with value 1/5th market price - exactly what the sell value is.

Your players don't need to buy magic items. They can make them. There's no financial difference.

Technically that's not true. Disenchant Magic Item has a component cost of 25gp, which doesn't sound like much, but starts to add up once you consider you're only getting 1/5 the value of the magic item. If you Disenchant a 5th level item, for instance, it's eating over 10% of your return. Sure, at paragon and higher it starts to become trivial, but it's not nothing and it's not exactly what the sell value is.

 

[Campbell]

One of the things I've had a measure of luck with is the idea of brokerage agents who serve the adventuring classes. They sort of serve the same purpose as fences do in Shadowrun.

• They perform the legwork neccesarry to find the items that PCs need and buyers for items wish to sell.
• They make arrangements for the transfer of goods, services, and currency that go along with equipment market.
• In cases where more than a simple exchange is required they can arrange for meetings between the interested parties and act as arbiters.
• They're presence provides an in-game rationale for not spending tons of times on gear shopping.
• Sometimes certain brokers might not be able to perform the task PCs are asking for, so they might have to deal with several brokers.
• They make useful contacts for PCs due to the information they learn performing their duties.
• They can serve to ground PCs further in the game's setting as recurring NPCs.
• They're a source of adventure hooks.

 

[enworldatemylogin]

I think you have to consider what kind a "shoppe" you want to have available to the players.

Having a magic shop or whatever, with an NPC who you have named and thought a little about, is probably something likely to generate player interest and interaction than just saying "You bought you stuff, mark off the gold".

Maybe the town midwife also makes potions.

Perhaps the blacksmith did some adventuring so knows a little about magic weapons.

Maybe the wizard in his tower has an apprentice who needs to learn the ropes of finding spell components, etc.

All these give opportunities for roleplaying, or enhancing the game session, not simply being table dressing.

Of course it also relies on player cooperation, but you know your players better than we do.