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Message: <blockquote data-quote="coldpheasant" data-source="post: 4333658" data-attributes="member: 70947">I'm trying to visualize this portal-hopping trade society ^_^.A wealthy merchant in Latham hires a dozen sturdy porters to carry armfuls of magic item goods up the twisting passages of a wizard's tower to the "portal room".  The wizard stops what he was doing, takes the fifty gold for the ritual, does his 10-minute dance to open a linked portal to the temple of Kord in Azazuma and holds the portal open long enough for all of the porters to hurry through it... The group then walks several miles from the temple of Kord to the local market, they dump all the goods off on another merchant and hussle back to the temple of Kord where they flag down a priest and pay another 50g.  The priest does his little dance and the group piles through the portal back to Latham.This really wouldn't work in the default campaign world.Here's the meat of the issue: It is not possible to create a stable economic system that is realistic, because economics are not stable.  Prices fluctuate based on the laws of supply and demand.  Availability fluctuates.  Demand fluctuates.  One region of a world will have extremely different rates for the same goods and services.  Look at the world we live in!  For the price of a tiny apartment in New York, you could have a mansion and several servants in India.  A realistic economic system would be varied and unstable and entirely dependent on the details of the world that it is set in.In the default environment, components for making magic items are rare, the skill in creating magical items is rare, and already-created magical items are rare.  There is no magic-item emporium with a shelf full of "+4 flaming bastard sword- $19.95"  But just because supply is low does not mean demand is high!  Demand is not high for items of such luxury.  Demand is only high in a very small fringe market... wealthy individuals with lots of money and skills that make use of highly specialized tools.The clergy are not all "clerics" that rampage around killing goblins.  Most of them actually work in a temple and have no adventurer class.  They spend gold building temples and shrines and upgrading those temples and feeding the poor and whatnot.  The nobles are building walls and fortifications.  They have few great fighters to equip with overpriced equipment.  The nobles themselves and their high-ranking officers might spend some hard-earned cash on a special weapon with magical properties... but no noble is going to spend tons of gold on magical equipment for his barely-trained scrubs that might get ambushed by goblins during a patrol.  That would be a pretty bad investment, seeing how it ultimately results in your enemy walking around with YOUR flaming greatswords.Most folks don't need constant upgrades to their magic items either.  The nobleman doesn't ever need a new magic bow because the one that his father gave him is already magical.  It's been in the family for generations, and it never seems to miss.  The nobleman isn't constantly gaining new levels, so is not therefore constantly upgrading his tools.Finding a buyer for a specific magic item is not easy, but if you can find a buyer then you can make a lot of money.  Why would a PC sit in a shop all day trying to pawn the lvl 3 magic item he found when he could go explore more ancient ruins and find 20 times as many treasures during the time he would have wasted sitting in shop?  The merchant is not capable of exploring that ruin and making that much money.  The merchant IS capable of spending the time and effort to capitalize on a purchase.  It is therefore much more cost effective for a PC to dump off a magic item for 20% cost if they can't use it.  That 20% now is more useful to them then a potential 100% over the course of a year.  As far as disenchanting is concerned, it works the same.  When an item fails to turn over on the market, a merchant can break even by disenchanting it.  The residuum can be easily sold because it has the potential to become anything.Some items might be in higher demand.  If the PCs know an NPC that might especially be able to use a specific item that they find or if they meet such an NPC before they sell the item off, then there is no reason they would be unable to get full price for selling the item or even more than full price or slightly less than full price depending on the circumstances.  The rules cover the basic system for selling to merchants.  They make as much sense as any economic system, and they are balanced for PC power.</blockquote>

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