Kid Charlemagne
I am the Very Model of a Modern Moderator
There are two things that I find often are left out of discussions about this subject - the first is demographics. How many wizards are there in the world and of what level? In my games, there may be 10 wizards per 1,000 people (actually in my world its 1 wizard per 357 people), and even fewer of higher levels (in my world there is 1 7th level or higher wizard per roughly 9,600 people). The other is how long has magic been at the "current day" level of development. Lots of discussions of this assume that magic of this level has been around for years, and people have adapted to it - and that's a valid point of view. It doesn't have to be that way, however. High level magic could be a relatively recent development that folks haven't really figured out how to commoditize yet.
Lastly, keep in mind that while you can buy an everlasting torch (in 3.5) for 110 gp, you could buy 11,000 candles for that same amount, or 1,100 lamps.
Lastly, keep in mind that while you can buy an everlasting torch (in 3.5) for 110 gp, you could buy 11,000 candles for that same amount, or 1,100 lamps.
