jmucchiello said:
Too much to reply to to actually go back and quote it all...
Item Creation Feats: Do you allow the players sufficient down time to make proper use of Item Creation? I have stopped getting item creation feats for my mages and clerics because most campaigns I play in ramp up to rollercoaster speed in a hurry and you just cannot stop for a week to make an item.
May campaigns are very reactive. If the players want to chill for a while, they have ample opportunity.
Mideval Times and the lack of Inventory: Someone put forth that the modern concept of Shops in general do not exist in a feudal world. If this was the world put forth by the rules, then all items, magical and mundane, would be listed with a price and a time. "I'd like to buy a grappling hook, good sir." "Smitty can probably make you one in about 2 weeks time. You should go ask him."
Yup, that's how I do things. I assume a smith has a small supply of daggers, shortswords, and whatever regional weapon is popular. Beyond that, you wait for it. Items often times sell for prices that differ from that in the PHB as well. As a rule of thumb, a regional weapon is cheaper, while an ordered item is more expensive. War-torn regions also have cheaper or (once they become extremely wartorn) more expensive weapons. Plate Armor is never bought off-the shelf (breastplate, full plate, etc.). Only very rarely would one find a masterwork item on the shelf (unless it is a regional thing; i.e. all bows sold in the Elven lands might be masterwork by default). The Craft skill gives you a time to make, though if you do this stuff all the time, as I do, you tend to ignore that for more reasonable numbers.
Questing for Item Components: The inherent flaw with this is by time I have quested for the item components, I'm 3 levels higher than when I started out and I no longer desire that item, but a more powerful item instead. And again, this puts the main plot on hold for long periods of time.
Why weren't you questing for the item you wanted to have in 3 levels? And not every adventure is part of some story arc. Maybe the last main BBEG was just taken care of and now the characters want to go out and do some personal questing. Players should create their own hooks and not rely on the DM to. Especially if they expect the DM to do things how they want.
Magic Item Shop: You see a nicely appointed room with a single desk in its center. There is a large, stuffed chair behind the desk and two smaller chairs on your side of the desk. In the far corners of the room are two finely carved statues of strong fighting men. A curtain blocks your view of the room off to the right. The middle-aged man behind the desk stands and greets you in the customary way. "How can I help you?" he asks.
The important fact here is that there are no magic items on display. Everything in the room can be commands to attack with a single word from the broker. His "stock" is located elsewhere in a place proof against detection and whose only means of entry is teleportation. There is also a similar room called the treasury. The stock room and the treasury are not connected. Behind the curtain is an empty room which he uses to teleport to the stock room. He casts teleport to get in and out of the stock room. He accepts payment up front and takes the payment to the treasury. Leaving it there for at least a week before moving it to his "bank" of money. If payment is not in gold, he takes the payment to the treasury, then goes to the stock room for the item. Thus trojan horse payments never arrive in the stock room. This is doable by a 10th-12th level wizard on his own. With a few partners and some ambition the number of shops can be very plentiful.
Never been a fan of teleportation myself. My players and I have an understanding that if they don't abuse it, I won't abuse it. My players can only do one of two things if they are attached to their characters. Piss me off or Make me abuse things. If they do both, they will lose. Ultimately, again, it boils down to the flavor you want for a campaign. If you want magic items for sale, there's nothing wrong with that. I don't. And there is no argument of logic that would make this decision wrong.
Purchasing Magic is a Video Game Idea: The 1e DMG has prices listed for magic items. Please reconcile these two contradictory concepts.
Prices on magic items are intended to rate one magic item against another. Not to relate them to GP. They chose GP because it is useful if you do want to have magic items and GP relate. IIRC, Monte Cook wrote about this. You could have just as easily rated them in Magic Item Value Units (MIVUs). The cost of creation could be based on the MIVUs rating and XP cost to create the item. This would have worked just as well, except those people who want to convert MIVUs to GP can save themselves a step by just using GP in the first place.
I've played in games where you could buy magic items in all editions of the game. It's just more commonplace in 3e.
Well, most video games are based on D&D, but with permutations different focus. But then D&D 3e is marketed towards a generation that grew up with video games. I'm not saying that selling magic items is a video game thing, but D&D 3e is a lot closer to all those video games based on 1e than 1e was.
Trading Rare Items: The Shroud of Turin is not for sale because it is unique, not rare. Individual paintings are unique, but Van Goth's paintings (on the whole) are merely rare. While each one is unique, any one of them could be on sale at any given time. How does one find out one is on sale? Any number of divinations would probably work.
If it's not for sale? There are still a very limited number of many items.
