Magic items for sale... how do you handle it?

[Arravis]

My players arrived in a large city (population: 43,000. It's Heliogabalus in Damara in my FR campaign) and one of the first things they asked me was what magic items are available for sale... how do you guys handle this?

I know there's a GP limit based on population in the DMG, but how do you figure which items are available and when they are available. I would think the more expensive the item, the longer it probably takes to get, create, find for sale, etc... and I'm not sure how to determine what is for sale.

Additionally, how do you guys handle the local Wizard's Guild making items for adventurer's etc...

I guess my issue is that I don't want to make it too easy to get magic items... but I don't want to make it difficult either.

 

[Gothmog]

Well, I don't allow PCs to walk into a store, peruse the magic item selection, and buy what they want. I try to consider several things when PCs want to buy/commission/trade magic items.

1) The attitude of the rulers towards magic item trade/sale. IMC, most rulers don't want offensive magic items sold to whoever comes along, so they restrict the trade of things like magic swords, wands of fireballs, etc. Some rulers will allow trade in potions, scrolls, utility or healing wands, and misc magic items that couldn't easily be used to disrupt social order.

2) If the PCs want to try to find an illegal item (weapons, some armors- mostly heavy, offensive magic), they have to go to a black market source. Usually this involves dealing with criminal underworld figures, and is risky.

3) PCs can occasionally trade magic items with those who have them (rulers, temples, wizards), but I don't outright allow them to BUY them with coinage, unless the NPC has a specific need for cash.

4) Commissioning magic items is also possible, but in this case the PCs will need to furnish the necessary components, special materials, and funds to make the item- the spellcaster simply goes through the process to enchant it. This is rarely done though, since most spellcasters have far better things to do that make magic items for a bunch of wahoo adventurers.

 

[Etan Moonstar]

Assuming your FR campaign resembles the standard 3E FR campaign, set it up so the only easy way to buy magic items in this town is at the local Red Wizard enclave. Of course, dealing with Red Wizards is going to have its own drawbacks, giving you the opportunity as DM to set up all sorts of nefarious schemes funded by the PCs' own money. If they wish to purchase magic items from other sources, I suggest setting up a Gather Information results table, with the DCs based on the gp value of the item. And of course if there are any items that you feel would be unbalancing to your game, just make them unavailable, period.