Magic for sale?

[JiffyPopTart]

Do you also have similar exciting backstory for every potion/scroll/wand/tanglefoot bag as well?

Granted a highly enchanted item SHOULD have an interesting story to go with it, but for every one of those there are 10,000 +1 swords cranked out by low level magesmiths. I don't even consider a +1 sword to be something that Johnny Farmhand would get worked up over. To him its just a well made sword.

DS


edited to add a missing "e" in tanglefoot

 

[Gothmog]

Do you also have similar exciting backstory for every potion/scroll/wand/tanglefoot bag as well?

Granted a highly enchanted item SHOULD have an interesting story to go with it, but for every one of those there are 10,000 +1 swords cranked out by low level magesmiths. I don't even consider a +1 sword to be something that Johnny Farmhand would get worked up over. To him its just a well made sword.

DS


edited to add a missing "e" in tanglefoot

For wands, or any +1 item or more- yes, there is a backstory. For potions and scrolls- nope, although there has to be a good reason why the potion or scroll is present. Very rarely, an alchemist will sell a minor potion (1st-2nd level spell equivalent). Most potions and scrolls are either found, gifted, or made by party members. I don't use tanglefoot bags, thunderstones, etc- they are just silly.

I run a low-magic world, so there has to be a reason why an item was created. There are no generic +1 swords in my world- they all have minor abilities and drawbacks that make them unique. The group has NEVER sold a magic item in the 11+ years we have been gaming, although they did trade an item for another item with some dwarves once. The group was 4th level before they found their first magic weapon, and each character is probably 11th level now, with ~6 magic items each. It all depends on how you play the game, but for me, buying magic items is ultra-cheesy.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

I recommend getting away from the image of the "friendly neighborhood magic item retailer".

For many types of magic items, especially the offensive ones that player characters seem to crave, a better model would be modern-day arms dealers.

So if the PCs want to buy these kinds of items, they will have to get involved with quite a few sordid people with powerful friends and without a sense of humor...

 

[Oni]

My personal attitude toward buying items is that most magic items beyond perhaps low level scrolls and potions should be treated like exquisite pieces of art. Traded, bought, sold, and more likely commissioned with frame of reference in mind.

 

[Olive]

Here's what Sep does:

"I never allow such things to be purchased on the open market, and generally insist that they are either made by the characters (as time permits), or are exchanged for like items. It tends to effectively limit items in circulation."

Makes sense to me! As my party gets to 8th level or so, I am finding that the number of magic items I am giving out is making them kinda dull. So I need to start making fewer, probably more powerful and more varied magic items. More special items too (mithral shirts and the like...)

Anyway, I said very rarely.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

For buying a generic magic item, you're right, there generally isn't a lot of flavor or backstory. (OTOH, maybe that's appropriate. I don't necessarily want a separate backstory for my character's boots, cloak, headband, three wands, shield, armor, primary weapon, backup weapon, tertiary weapon, ranged weapon, and three different sets of ammunition--much better (IMO) to have a good backstory for three or four items and let the rest just be items; too much detail ruins a story through lack of focus just as surely as too little ruins it through lack of interest). Not necessarily though. The blandness comes from the "generic magic item" phrase rather than from the idea of buying it. There's nothing saying that the sword your fighter bought from the merchant Cordwellyn doesn't have a story behind it. Perhaps it was once the blade of a Centurion in the Capernaen legions or perhaps it was the weapon of an orc-chief who attacked his caravan on its way through the cursed lands. For every +1 flaming sword with no history whatsoever that an unnamed merchant sells the party, there's a +1 flaming sword with no history whatsoever that an adventurer found in the horde of an unnamed manticore that had no plot significance and simply attacked the PCs because it was hungry and they looked tasty.

On the subject of commissioning items, however, I couldn't agree with you less. Such items come with an automatic story. On any crafted or commissioned item, one can say "This weapon was forged by the Master Smith Elebac, enchanted with frost by the mighty wizard Tarhelion and blessed with the power of the gods by the Heironean bishop of Rel Mord for the use of Sir Valorek Greymantle in the battle against the traitor, Prince Sewarndt and his allies in Rauxes." It's pretty hard to comission an item without getting at least that much flavor and history. And that's more meaningful history than "this sword was crafted by NPC X for NPC Y to deal with threat Z that the PCs have never met, encountered, or cared about." As the Expedia commercial says, who wants to listen to the windbag at the inn explain the history of your sword when you could be that very windbag?

And as for strange quirks, I think that the game is generally better off without them. If every sword glows red in the presence of gnomes, or is cursed with the affliction Y or has drawback Z, the whole business becomes rather tiresome. And if you want the occasional gimmick, it's just as possible to introduce it through purchased or commissioned items as it is through found ones. (Maybe that's why the owner was so eager to sell it and maybe the sword forged for Sir Greymantle took upon itself the purpose of its forging and can only be wielded by one who has sword fealty to the true king of Nyrond).

My main problem with buying magic items is it takes all the interest and fun out of the item in the process. The items in my campaign all have a history, a reason for being created, and some interesting background or quirks surrounding them. Buying a generic magic item in a shop or having it commissioned seems so, well...dull. Where is the fun, mystery, and excitement in that? I guarantee it is more exciting and memorable for a character to uncover the lost Crown of Agleros in the hoard of a dragon, than to buy it from the local wizards guild. Buying magic items just seems to me like its continuing the video game and power-ups trend D&D has become more afflicted with since 3E.

 

[arwink]

I'm among the absolutely's, and haven't really had significant problems with the idea of magic item sales. There are very few things PC's can buy or have made assuming their willing to put in the time and/or money to find what they're looking for - and I put in place plot-related "Mage-merchants" to fill in that role in the campaign (be they extra-planar, an obscure offshoot of the elves, or simply a wizards guild that trades items).

I kind of like the option of putting magic items the players want to use in their hands, without needing to guess about it. It also means I don't feel the need to include obscure magic weapons just because the fighter's decided he wants to wonder around with a dire scythe

 

[drothgery]

I voted 'most of the time', because I'm not quite in the "if it's within the gp limit, then you can buy it" camp. But low-level potions and scrolls are available in any civilized town (and all but the smallest hamlets or most agressively anti-magic barbarian tribes will have at least one adept who can crank out a potion of healing). For more powerful stuff, I do a quick calculation based on how common an item is to see if they can find one, they can find something similar, or they have to commision it (or commision someone to look for one). I guess I figure if there are powerful magic-users around, some of them are going to have a mercantile bent and a gift for item-making.

 

[Steverooo]

I think it's important to make a distinction between permanent and limited-use magic items, here...

Potions, scrolls, dusts, powders, philters, oils, etc., even wands, are all limited use items. These are pretty commonly available. The permanent stuff, however, I don't allow to be sold, generally. PCs might occasionally find some magical arrows, or a few +1 weapons, but there are no "Magic Shoppes", and such items will be for sale in auctions,or privately.

As a GM, I see magic items as mine to hand out, and it is my job to make sure the PCs have as much as they need to be up to their level. The idea of shops that can be robbed just doesn't sit with me...

As for where items come from, I generally use a LotR approach. Many wars fought in the past, the swords forged in ancient Gondolin found in the trolls' hoard, the blades of Westernese found in the barrow downs, etc.

John Grigsby's article on "Keeping Magic Magical" makes some good points about magic items... Buying a +3 Longsword just isn't as neat as defeating a troll and finding a clear-bladed longsword in a rotted sheath lying in its hoard, carrying it for many moons, and then, one night in the dead of winter, seeing it suddenly glow with blue light, and realizing that it's an ancient Frostbrand, then hieing thee to yon Bard to learn that it was the last magic item made by the Silver Mage, for his apprentice, before his murder!

 

[S'mon]

PCs can often buy items in my current campaign - more accurately, they can commission the manufacture of items, or the upgrade of existing items. Occasionally they can acquire an existing item via a broker. This takes time, and of course unless the PCs are friendly with the local item-makers they will usually have to pay well over DMG 'market price'. They can sell items too - usually for at least half market price, unless the item is particularly exotic & expensive - eg there may not be a market for a Staff of the Woodlands in an urban area. I haven't encountered any problem with this.

What there certainly isn't IMC is the 'magic item shop' with a million gp of inventory sitting on the shelves.