I think I've created a Monster!!!

[BobbyMac]

I recently bought A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe and agree with all the reviews that not only is this one of the best DM supplements around but also that the Economic Simulator in Chapter 5 is THE most elegant bit of rules crunchiness I have ever seen.

I am not going to try to explain this wonderful system here (support these folks and buy it!) but I am going to try to adapt it.

One of the cornerstones of the system is the concept of the Buy DC. Simply put you assign a Buy DC to an item representing its availability at any given time and place. You roll a d20 with various purchasing modifiers along with a buyer's modifier that he selects. If the roll is a failure you simply roll again with the next higher buyer's modifier till you either hit the ceiling (+6) or succeed. If you hit the ceiling the item is not available for purchase. If you succeed you multiply the corresponding purchase percentage with the Market Price of the item and that's what you pay for it.

It allows you to adjust for supply and demand, the economic effects of war, or anything else that could conceivably affect the price of an item or commodity.

The authors have done the hard part and supplied the Buy DC for every piece of equipment in the core rules and then some.

Two things caught my eye. One there are no Buy DCs for magic items and two they said that this system was easily adaptable to handle magic items.

Well I have tried to do just that.

It would be a monumental task to try to assign EVERY magic item a Buy DC ala a table plus I'm lazy so that plan was right out.

The following is my method of mechanically assigning a Buy DC to any particular magic item that the players might want to purchase.

Is it complicated? Oh yeah. Is it usable? Don't know. Is it fun? Well I had fun designing it. Yes I know that economics is not fun for lots of people and that most characters would rather be slicing trolls or stomping wererats so if you don't wanna use it don't.

So anyways if anybody is interested in critiquing it have at it!

 

[BobbyMac]

To set the Buy DC and Purchase Modifier for Magic Items use the following procedure:

Buy DC: Base DC + Item Caster Level + Item Price DC Modifier(see table)

Purchase Modifier: Community Size Purchase Modifier(see table) + Character Level

Roll 1d20 + Purchase Modifier + Buyers Modifier(see table) against Buy DC starting at the Buyers Modifier of the player’s choice.

Success means the item is available at the Market Price x the Price Modification Multiplier.

Failure means the item is not available at that price. The player may immediately try again at the next higher buyer’s modifier until the player rolls a success or until the Buyers Modifier reaches +6. A failure at +6 means the item is not available at all.

Don’t forget to observe the gp and ready cash limits.

Ready Cash Limit = 1/2 gp limit x 1/10 population

[B]Base DC[/B]

Type of Magic Item                                    Base DC
Scrolls	                                                  10
Potions, Minor Wondrous Items	                          13
Arms and Armor, Wands, Medium Wondrous Items	          15
Rods	                                                  19
Rings, Staffs, Major Wondrous Items	                  22

[B]Item Price DC Modifier[/B]

Purchase Item DC Modifier	Market Price of Item (gp)
-1	                                 <1
+0	                                 1-50
+1	                                 51-200
+2	                                 201-500
+3	                                 501-1000
+5	                                 1001-1500
+5	                                 1501-3000
+6	                                 3001-6000
+7	                                 6001-12,000
+8	                                 12,001-24,000
+9	                                 24,001-48,000
+10	                                 48,001-96,000
+11	                                 96,001-192,000
+12	                                 192,001-384,000

[B]Community Size Purchase Modifier[/B]

Community Size	          Purchase Modifier	           gp Limit
Thorp 20-80	                  -3	                    40 gp
Hamlet 81-400	                  -2	                    100 gp
Village 401-900	                  -1	                    200 gp
Small Town 901-2000	          +0	                    800 gp
Large Town 2001-5000	          +3                        3000 gp
Small City 5001-12000	          +6	                    15000 gp
Large City 12001-25000	          +9               	    40000 gp
Metropolis 25001 or more	  +12	                    100000 gp

[B]Buyer's Modifier[/B]

Buyer’s Modifier	Price Modification Multiplier
-24	                               0.70
-20	                               0.75
-16	                               0.80
-12	                               0.85
-8	                               0.90
-4	                               0.95
+1	                               1.25
+2	                               1.50
+3	                               1.75
+4	                               2.00
+5	                               3.00
+6	                               4.00

 

[Jesus_marley]

The only problem with the tables as they are written that I can see is that under ideal conditions, the most expensive item that could be purchased (using the -24 buyer modifier) would be about 142000 GP (adjusted to 99400 by the .7 modifier) based on the maximum GP value allowed of 100000 GP on any city over 25000 people.

Other than that, it looks interesting. The only downside to it is that <barbie> Math is Hard! </barbie>

 

[BobbyMac]

Yes that pesky gp limit from the DMG...


I guess it's a good thing that there are no Staffs of Power on the open market.

Although IMHO and as many others have stated, d20 economics and especially the magic item market weren't given the highest focus from a design standpoint.

As for Math being hard....I am working on an item availability spreadsheet that for inputs of community size, population, number of adepts/magewrights and other crafter types, and location and would output a subset of the magic items that should be available and that could be the basis of a magic shop (gasp!).

The Buy DC would already be calculated and the Purchase Modifier listed so that for any item available that a player may want all he would have to do would be to add up the Purchase Modifier, character level, and pick the Buyers Modifier he wants to start at.

Thanks for the feedback...