Magic sales and security

[Zappo]

Yesterday we played our usual saturday Warcraft game. One of the players wanted a +2 rapier. He found a shifty individual in a seedy tavern, promising that he would get him the weapon in two days, for a payment of 7000 gold - 1000 now and 6000 on delivery. I planned on having the man steal the item from somewhere and create a plot hook for future use.

The character paid the advance and waited for two days. After two days, he met the thief, cast hypnosis on him, and fled with the item and the money. Nice and clean.

This poses the question: sellers of magical stuff are basically trading items of incredible value and relatively small size. And they are trading them to people that tend to be very dangerous, generally more than most town guards can handle, with access to all sorts of mind control and teleportation spells. Unless the trader is a powerful character in his own right, what can he do? The thief above was rather naive and deserved what the PC did, but actual merchants should have some mean of protection. Even a 1st level character could do the trick I described, with some luck. What do your magic shop clerks have as anti-theft measures?

BTW, since the (5th level) PC has been so clever, I rewarded him by informing him, upon casting identify, that the rapier is actually a +4, worth about as much as the rest of the party's possessions combined. It also has the "JP" initials engraved on the hilt. And, a couple of days later, the party discovered that someone was scrying on them. I believe in rewarding cleverness, but I'm also a rat bastard.

 

[jonesy]

My magic shops tend to be extremely well hidden, are owned by retired high level mages, require insider access, and are usually so heavily trapped that the PCs no longer even try robbing them (last time one did, he ended up as an item himself).

 

[Zappo]

I didn't say what my magic merchants use. In the medium-magic Warcraft campaign, one where magic is common enough for items to be traded but not enough to have actual permanent shops, merchants mostly rely on lots of bodyguards and only trade in well-guarded public places. Items are kept under lock, and the chests are kept in the safest point of the cart, stall, ship or whatever, and trapped. Goblin merchants also have a notorious reputation for using massive amounts of explosives as traps, enough to leave the whole place as a large crater. They'd rather lose their wares and possibly get killed, if it means that the thief is very dead.

In the high-magic Planescape campaign, where there are plenty of magic shops, merchants employ guards as well, but these guards tend to be more diverse. Keen-eyed rogues to spot stealing fingers, muscle men to break them, and even wizards. To protect against fraud, there's a system of certification for magical items.

I'm thinking about introducing a guild specifically dedicated to the protection of magic shops from powerful attackers. The merchant would pay a (large) sum, and get a sending-enchanted item. If the item is activated, a fully armed high-level guild squad teleports in after one or two rounds. Of course, such a service would be ridiculously costly - but that's ok; margins on magic items trade are ridiculously high.

 

[jonesy]

I'm thinking about introducing a guild specifically dedicated to the protection of magic shops from powerful attackers. The merchant would pay a (large) sum, and get a sending-enchanted item. If the item is activated, a fully armed high-level guild squad teleports in after one or two rounds. Of course, such a service would be ridiculously costly - but that's ok; margins on magic items trade are ridiculously high.

Hmm. That's actually a very interesting idea. If the guild became famous (and notorious) enough, the mere knowledge of them protecting a trader might be enough to keep thieves away. And because of the remote alarm they could be used for protecting merchants who travel alone as well.

 

[Saeviomagy]

Yesterday we played our usual saturday Warcraft game. One of the players wanted a +2 rapier. He found a shifty individual in a seedy tavern, promising that he would get him the weapon in two days, for a payment of 7000 gold - 1000 now and 6000 on delivery. I planned on having the man steal the item from somewhere and create a plot hook for future use.

The character paid the advance and waited for two days. After two days, he met the thief, cast hypnosis on him, and fled with the item and the money. Nice and clean.

This poses the question: sellers of magical stuff are basically trading items of incredible value and relatively small size. And they are trading them to people that tend to be very dangerous, generally more than most town guards can handle, with access to all sorts of mind control and teleportation spells. Unless the trader is a powerful character in his own right, what can he do? The thief above was rather naive and deserved what the PC did, but actual merchants should have some mean of protection. Even a 1st level character could do the trick I described, with some luck. What do your magic shop clerks have as anti-theft measures?

BTW, since the (5th level) PC has been so clever, I rewarded him by informing him, upon casting identify, that the rapier is actually a +4, worth about as much as the rest of the party's possessions combined. It also has the "JP" initials engraved on the hilt. And, a couple of days later, the party discovered that someone was scrying on them. I believe in rewarding cleverness, but I'm also a rat bastard.

I think the key here is:
Someone had a +4 weapon. They therefore had an awful lot of money, or were a very martially-focussed person.

That means they either are very dangerous in their own right, or they have enough money to hire people who are very dangerous.

The question then has to be asked - how did the thief get the item without being powerful himself? If he was powerful, how did a simple hypnotism spell defeat him?

 

[jonesy]

The question then has to be asked - how did the thief get the item without being powerful himself? If he was powerful, how did a simple hypnotism spell defeat him?

Maybe he stumbled upon a situation where the owner of the sword was distracted (or dead), then got lucky and managed to swipe it.

 

[Thanee]

Isn't that what the game is all about? Kill monsters and take their stuff.
That merchant is just another encounter with nice treasure...

Heh.

Well... we actually tend to not think about this too much.

Either there simply are no ways to buy magic items, or only from extremely powerful individuals. Or magic items simply are not stolen (the guards are just there to remind you).

Hey, maybe there is some deity, which watches over fair trades and all that...

Bye
Thanee

 

[Thanee]

The question then has to be asked - how did the thief get the item without being powerful himself? If he was powerful, how did a simple hypnotism spell defeat him?

Hey, rogues have bad Will saves. Maybe he had a low wisdom, too. And forgot to also steal that cloak of resistance.

Bye
Thanee

 

[jonesy]

Maybe he had a low wisdom, too.

That's a given seeing as he sold a +4 as a +2. Or forgot to have it appraised.

 

[Thanee]

That's another "problem" with trading magic items...

You basically need to be able to identify the items, otherwise they could just sell you anything.

Bye
Thanee