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Guest 6801328
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I'm dead set against magic shops.
In the thread(s) about copy spellbooks I argued that the rules would lead inevitably to a "market" for copying spells, and that the price per level in that market would be cheap. My point (generally not understood, from what I can tell) was not that this is a balance problem, but that it's a flavor problem: I like it being rare and cool and special and exciting when a spellbook is acquired and the players get to mine it for new spells. This happens even though they probably already have most of the spells they want and need. It's just fun to add to the toolbox.
Same thing for magic items. Given that magic items are relatively permanent and abundant (yes, even in 5e. Adventurers are common enough that it's a "profession", and adventurers tend to get a few magic items over a career; ergo there are oodles of magic items) one would expect, given the rules, that there would be a market...black or otherwise...for magic items.
And yet...I like my magic items to be only discovered, never "shopped for". I could see a magic item being offered for sale as part of the plot of an adventure, but I would never encourage or facilitate players saying, "I really want a Bag of Holding. I'm going to see if I can find somebody who has one for sale." Yes, given RAW and economic truths that's not an unreasonable thing to do or expect, and yet it defies everything I want to be true about magic items.
The only kind of magic shop I could see having, in a large city, would be one selling supplies to wizards: scroll paper, rare inks, material components for spells, etc. A shop like that might have a scroll or two, or some potions, hidden away for the right customers.
In the thread(s) about copy spellbooks I argued that the rules would lead inevitably to a "market" for copying spells, and that the price per level in that market would be cheap. My point (generally not understood, from what I can tell) was not that this is a balance problem, but that it's a flavor problem: I like it being rare and cool and special and exciting when a spellbook is acquired and the players get to mine it for new spells. This happens even though they probably already have most of the spells they want and need. It's just fun to add to the toolbox.
Same thing for magic items. Given that magic items are relatively permanent and abundant (yes, even in 5e. Adventurers are common enough that it's a "profession", and adventurers tend to get a few magic items over a career; ergo there are oodles of magic items) one would expect, given the rules, that there would be a market...black or otherwise...for magic items.
And yet...I like my magic items to be only discovered, never "shopped for". I could see a magic item being offered for sale as part of the plot of an adventure, but I would never encourage or facilitate players saying, "I really want a Bag of Holding. I'm going to see if I can find somebody who has one for sale." Yes, given RAW and economic truths that's not an unreasonable thing to do or expect, and yet it defies everything I want to be true about magic items.
The only kind of magic shop I could see having, in a large city, would be one selling supplies to wizards: scroll paper, rare inks, material components for spells, etc. A shop like that might have a scroll or two, or some potions, hidden away for the right customers.