D&D 5E No Magic Shops!

[Maxperson]

If every town has 10 axes that do an extra 1d6 damage to elves, fey, and plant monsters, then are those axes special?

How can an item have character if it has many duplicates? I still don't see how rarity is separate from specialness.


Why can't they have character?
And why do they have less character than other items?

Regardless of the item, the way they shape the PCs and the story is what makes them special.

Any item with any ability can be given a name and a backstory. None of that really exists unless it manifests in game. The story of the actual game is what is interesting.

I agree. The axe of Lord Hightower, who fought the light elves at the battle of the broke-tooth grove and is +1 has the same character as the one that did the d6. You can add character to any item. If you prefer one Axe of Lord Hightower over the other, it's not character you are preferring in this case, but rather one mechanic over another.

 

[Maxperson]

Yes, because while the town might have the ten, the party of PCs is unlikely to have more than one. What's more, that extra +1d6 damage will only come into effect infrequently, at which point the players get the "cool!" moment as they realise the extra effect.

I have one pencil in my house. For some reason I don't think it's special, though.

On a more serious note, I yawn at items that only come into effect infrequently. I might as well not be carrying it around. A magic item that is only magic once in a while isn't special to me at all. I'd much rather have that +1 sword.

 

[Warmaster Horus]

Cute.

Let me ask you then. For uptime campaigns, how would you make gold have use? How would you keep the gold-looting part of D&D meaningful for the party? I know you're not really concerned about it, and more power to you, but how would you go about it, keeping treasure worth something. Remember, no downtime

Not sure why you wouldn't have downtime. Downtime is a concept that is baked into 5e so it should be an option. If you're referring to the WotC hard cover adventures and their whirlwind of advancement, well, that's just a small part of the D&D experience. I recall a home game in 1st ed where I approached the DM and discussed what to do with my PC's accumulating treasure. After discussing it for a while we came up with a way that my PC could start developing webs of informants throughout the region, how that would work and how much it would cost per month, etc. Over time he established safe houses and cutouts for the party to utilize when journeying through most of the known lands, too. And it was expensive!

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

Cute.

Let me ask you then. For uptime campaigns, how would you make gold have use? How would you keep the gold-looting part of D&D meaningful for the party? I know you're not really concerned about it, and more power to you, but how would you go about it, keeping treasure worth something. Remember, no downtime

Several of my characters have just spent money on people, rather than things.

Its not going to improve the overall power of the party in general, but it can help in achieving party objectives. Whether bribery or otherwise influencing an NPC in a social situation, hiring mercenaries for an upcoming fight, or even setting up a trade caravan.

Spending money on causes that a character cares about can feel rewarding for a player even if there is no immediate benefit.

And if nothing else, there is rarely a downside to having spare healing potions.

 

[CapnZapp]

If you're referring to the WotC hard cover adventures and their whirlwind of advancement, well, that's just a small part of the D&D experience.

Choose:

Either admit to dismiss hardcover adventures as something other than the main experience for loads and loads of groups...

... or explain how you find time to construct wizard's towers et al, when your employer dies in 77 days, as is the main plot of the latest hardcover.

In either case, your stance is indefensible.

 

[Maxperson]

No, now you're conflating two different things.

The "treadmill", that is, the math "needs" heroes to have certain bonuses at a given level, is bad and I for one am glad it has disappeared.

But that's only one possible reason for having (or at least optionally supporting) utility-based magic item pricing. Here are a few from the top of my head...:

a) fun
b) something to spend all the gold on that D&D has - by default and in core - rained upon heroes in every edition
c) uptime alternative to downtime activities, which is actually much mote important than everybody seems to think, since most official hardcover adventures provide little or no downtime
d) a sorely needed crunch dimension. By this I mean 5e characters are significantly less complex than 3e ones. This is not to everybody's liking; if you WANT lots of crunch, the ability to customize your three attunement slots is a significant deepening of your character's mechanical complexity
e) you control your hero's loot yourself by shifting the emphasis from finding random (or not so random) items to finding gold instead. Even AL is moving in this direction!

Well, that's just a few that comes to mind. While not all of them may apply to you, I'm sure you can think of more.

Buying magic items is FUN!

Then sell them! You don't need a magic mart or pricing for that, though. If Lord Coolguy wants to sell his Ring of Djinni Summoning at auction, that's a great fun way to spend gold on a magic item. You as the DM can decide the value and how much the NPC parties are willing to spend and let the good times roll.

 

[delericho]

I have one pencil in my house. For some reason I don't think it's special, though.

Does it do +1d6 damage vs elves?

 

[Warmaster Horus]

Choose:

Either admit to dismiss hardcover adventures as something other than the main experience for loads and loads of groups...

... or explain how you find time to construct wizard's towers et al, when your employer dies in 77 days, as is the main plot of the latest hardcover.

In either case, your stance is indefensible.

I'll admit that for certain implementations, like AL, ToA is an express train that really gives you practically no options to use wealth (not that there's a ton of wealth in the book, or a ton of options to use wealth in AL...). But if you're not bound to the narrative of ToA (and it's 77 day limit, if that's the hook you use) a DM can easily modify the story to allow for building a wizard's tower, etc by not having a wasting element to the Death Curse, or whatever.

D&D should be a near-boundless tableau for a DM and their party to shape it how they want. I think that's the intent of the designers and any 'suggestions' they provide are just that.

 

[Maxperson]

Does it do +1d6 damage vs elves?

As soon as I see one, I'll stab it and let you know. It might! Being able to write with it all the time makes it a lot more useful, though.

 

[Matrix Sorcica]

Not sure why you wouldn't have downtime. Downtime is a concept that is baked into 5e so it should be an option. If you're referring to the WotC hard cover adventures and their whirlwind of advancement, well, that's just a small part of the D&D experience. I recall a home game in 1st ed where I approached the DM and discussed what to do with my PC's accumulating treasure. After discussing it for a while we came up with a way that my PC could start developing webs of informants throughout the region, how that would work and how much it would cost per month, etc. Over time he established safe houses and cutouts for the party to utilize when journeying through most of the known lands, too. And it was expensive!

Because I specifically asked about uptime only, since that is what my and others' beef is about. So I don't feel you answered my question.