Magic Items and their resale value

[Grazzt]

On the other hand, the DMG actually recommends DMs to have players make wish lists, and to make sure every item found is one the players want.

A bit too much of a DM fiat for my taste.

Yeah. I saw that in the DMG. I just can't see myself ever doing that. Ever.

 

[DeusExMachina]

Well, maybe not with every single magic item, but I did it in 3.5e to a certain extent. I'd tailor certain items to go well with some of the classes in the group, so that they'd be more useful to them...

Also I don't understand why people get so hung up over the 20% resale value. It's there for game balance mostly, but there are some real life examples of stuff that resells for only 20% value as well. It doesn't make much more or less sense than 50%...

 

[Holy Bovine]

It definitely gives the PC's much more incentive to use the disenchanting/enchanting rules. And that's work's just fine by me.

The whole "buying magic items" situation is not a good story element I think. Having to disenchant/enchant items and maybe barter them should help make them more rare, wondrous and meaningful as they are intended to be. Dumping magic for gold is empty feeling and not special. Magic sold and bought too easily cheapens the experience that finding/making something magical should be.

There are so many ways a PC can get gold that it really shouldn't be an issue if you can't sell it at full price. It's much more fun do dispose of it in a creative, story related way than just selling it I think.

Egg-actly. The disenchant/enchant rules are going to see a lot of use, imo. And in my campaign too. Making it easier to rebuild an item into exactly what you want through this method is a helluva a lot better than selling your +2 Donkey Wacker so you can buy that +1 Pig Chucker.

 

[Holy Bovine]

Yeah. I saw that in the DMG. I just can't see myself ever doing that. Ever.

While I would not ensure every single item was something a player wanted it does make some sense to place useful items for the party to loot. I mean you can't always be making villains that use magic tridents and wear magic hide armour can you?

 

[reezel]

I know there's a older thread on this somewhere, but I don't have the search feature...

There are quite a few real life examples of this. My recent one is with used video games. I recently traded in a bunch of old games for store credit and one of the games netted me $2. It was an older Xbox 360 game that had the instruction book and case and played just fine. Not many used Xbox 360 games sell for under $10 at this location (some, but not many).

Now, I have no doubt that if I looked I could find someone to buy the game for more than $2. I simply didn't want to bother with tracking down said individual, and even when I did find some one interested who is to say they would trust me (a complete stranger) enough to pay an amount that made the effort of the search worthwhile?

Used Text Books are another prime example and don't even start to look into the pawn market or jewelry for trade ratios better than 20%.

There is nothing stopping the players from holding onto something for a better price. There is nothing stopping the DM from making said search into an adventure itself.

This is exactly the point I made the last time this topic flared up. This is a very obvious real world example of why you would get so little back. You don't need the item and you sell it to someone who has the time/resources to find a new buyer. It's just common sense really.

 

[malraux]

I think the balance is designed such that you can either have an item or two well above your level but not quite optimal plus a few items at or below level but optimal, or all items right around your level and always optimal. The ease of the disenchant ritual pretty much guarantees that you can get what you want, assuming you don't care much about the pluses.

And also remember that item level -5 is the same item, but with 1 lower plus, which, while important, isn't all that big a deal.

 

[KKDragonLord]

This is exactly the point I made the last time this topic flared up. This is a very obvious real world example of why you would get so little back. You don't need the item and you sell it to someone who has the time/resources to find a new buyer. It's just common sense really.

Are you guys really comparing magic items to Xbox titles?

i mean, Seriously?

 

[DeusExMachina]

Are you guys really comparing magic items to Xbox titles?

i mean, Seriously?

I'm pretty sure Hong's 3rd law goes into effect here...

 

[mattdm]

How the hell does a merchant protect his bajillions in coin and items? Seriously? Enquiring minds want to know!

Doesn't this consideration basically answer the core question?

Dealers in magic items are taking a huge amount of risk.

 

[reezel]

Are you guys really comparing magic items to Xbox titles?

i mean, Seriously?

Yes, I actually am. And to jewelry, weapons and anything else you can sell to a pawn/resell shop for a quick buck. If a magic item seller is not the exact same concept of a pawnbroker, I'm stumped. I would point to the beginning of Gremlins (I know, weird movie to pick) as a great starting point. Weird pawn store filled with all sorts of things, including a very valuable oddity or two.