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<blockquote data-quote="Rel" data-source="post: 1844595" data-attributes="member: 99">Or, worse yet, unfairly given an advantage in that the WHOLE STORY must revolve around his character's quest for power components.See, that to me is the problem that I perceive as the crux of all the Item Creation discussions.&nbsp; At either end of the spectrum you have one group going, &quot;I've got XP to burn and GP that I can spin into magic items!&nbsp; The Rules say I can do it so screw you, GM!&quot; and the other end says, &quot;Magic Items are only ever FOUND in my game (and then only rarely!).&nbsp; No crafting!&nbsp; And damn sure no BUYING!&quot;&nbsp; The problem with the first is that it lacks flavor.&nbsp; The problem with the second is that it lacks verisimilitude.The first house rule that I implemented with 3E was that you couldn't simply spin gold into magic items with the creation feats.&nbsp; You had to have components to do it.&nbsp; BUT then I (gasp) allowed the purchase of these components using the same general guidelines presented in the DMG for the buying and selling of stuff.&nbsp; In other words bit cities were places where it was easy to buy these components and little hamlets would likely have none for sale.The effect this had on my campaign was that I had just created a new kind of treasure.&nbsp; So now I was in the position to say things like:&quot;Amid the Wizard's belongings you find some Wyvern Blood, Ground Wyvern Stinger and some Manticore Quills.&nbsp; The first two are worth 200 GP toward crafting magical Wands and the Quills are worth 75 GP toward scribing Scrolls.&quot;&quot;You find some strange flakes of metal that radiate faint magic.&nbsp; You believe (Knowledge - Aracana check) that if disolved in acid these might provide you with some components for crafting Magical Arms and Armor.&nbsp; That would require some time and an Alchemy check however.&quot;&quot;A search of the magical oak grove reveals some magical mushrooms (Knowlege - Nature/Wilderness Lore for knowing about their possible presence and finding them).&nbsp; If they were ground and boiled in a bit of Holy Water (Alchemy or Craft Brewing check) then they would be worth 150 GP toward brewing any sort of healing potions.&quot;It would have required multiple pages of explanation and examples to add that kind of flavor in the PHB so it is (IMHO) better left out.&nbsp; But it isn't that hard to add it in and I think that a book giving these sorts of examples would be very useful for GM's old and new.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Rel, post: 1844595, member: 99"] Or, worse yet, unfairly given an advantage in that the WHOLE STORY must revolve around his character's quest for power components. See, that to me is the problem that I perceive as the crux of all the Item Creation discussions. At either end of the spectrum you have one group going, "I've got XP to burn and GP that I can spin into magic items! The Rules say I can do it so screw you, GM!" and the other end says, "Magic Items are only ever FOUND in my game (and then only rarely!). No crafting! And damn sure no BUYING!" The problem with the first is that it lacks flavor. The problem with the second is that it lacks verisimilitude. The first house rule that I implemented with 3E was that you couldn't simply spin gold into magic items with the creation feats. You had to have components to do it. BUT then I (gasp) allowed the purchase of these components using the same general guidelines presented in the DMG for the buying and selling of stuff. In other words bit cities were places where it was easy to buy these components and little hamlets would likely have none for sale. The effect this had on my campaign was that I had just created a new kind of treasure. So now I was in the position to say things like: "Amid the Wizard's belongings you find some Wyvern Blood, Ground Wyvern Stinger and some Manticore Quills. The first two are worth 200 GP toward crafting magical Wands and the Quills are worth 75 GP toward scribing Scrolls." "You find some strange flakes of metal that radiate faint magic. You believe (Knowledge - Aracana check) that if disolved in acid these might provide you with some components for crafting Magical Arms and Armor. That would require some time and an Alchemy check however." "A search of the magical oak grove reveals some magical mushrooms (Knowlege - Nature/Wilderness Lore for knowing about their possible presence and finding them). If they were ground and boiled in a bit of Holy Water (Alchemy or Craft Brewing check) then they would be worth 150 GP toward brewing any sort of healing potions." It would have required multiple pages of explanation and examples to add that kind of flavor in the PHB so it is (IMHO) better left out. But it isn't that hard to add it in and I think that a book giving these sorts of examples would be very useful for GM's old and new. [/QUOTE]

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