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<blockquote data-quote="HeapThaumaturgist" data-source="post: 3652991" data-attributes="member: 12332">In my games (and I think we do this alot in the game I play in but am not running, now, even), in a large enough city I would assign a Luck check to any particular request, along with a time frame.&nbsp; I.E. &quot;It will take you three days to check your contacts and sellers, and ...&quot;&nbsp; then a roll to see if any particular thing they are looking for is available.If not, they tend to make heavy use of magical schools, friendly wizards, etc, to make custom items.&nbsp; Takes longer, but eventually gets them what they want.&nbsp; I additionally allow any character to donate the Vital Spark (I.E. XP component) to an item, which encourages in-group crafting (the Fighter can commission a sword and spend his own XP toward it).I've found that with balance in 3E being situated around an expected level of magical equipment, that it doesn't really pay to be stingy with the &quot;phat lewts&quot;.&nbsp; Essentially, the group finds A Magical Treasure.&nbsp; That Magical Treasure is not 'perfectly optimal' for the group, probably useful but maybe not EXACTLY what somebody wants or needs.If they sell the item, they get half-cost for it.&nbsp; If they sell items to buy Perfectly Optimal items, they're losing half the GP value ... I.E. they can have a not-optimal item (a cool magical sword when the fighter wanted an axe) or they can have HALF VALUE of optimal items ... And I find that half-value balances whatever additional punch being optimal gives them.&nbsp; I.E. if they have to sell something for half value, and then I jam them up in some way being &quot;realistic&quot; in the Magic Item Shop department, I'm reducing the expected balance (as well as frustrating the players).&nbsp; I might make it a little difficult, but only inasmuch as that ADDS to the fun and the verisimilitude of the game.&nbsp; If it starts getting unfun for the players, or they're unable to get things they want, or it is impacting the party balance or game balance, then I'll make sure things work out for them.One thing that I and others have found to be very frustrating is the urge some GMs have to make magic item aquisition a difficult and &quot;realistic&quot; process, to suite their own personal visions of how magic &quot;should&quot; be, etc etc.&nbsp; --fje</blockquote>

[QUOTE="HeapThaumaturgist, post: 3652991, member: 12332"] In my games (and I think we do this alot in the game I play in but am not running, now, even), in a large enough city I would assign a Luck check to any particular request, along with a time frame. I.E. "It will take you three days to check your contacts and sellers, and ..." then a roll to see if any particular thing they are looking for is available. If not, they tend to make heavy use of magical schools, friendly wizards, etc, to make custom items. Takes longer, but eventually gets them what they want. I additionally allow any character to donate the Vital Spark (I.E. XP component) to an item, which encourages in-group crafting (the Fighter can commission a sword and spend his own XP toward it). I've found that with balance in 3E being situated around an expected level of magical equipment, that it doesn't really pay to be stingy with the "phat lewts". Essentially, the group finds A Magical Treasure. That Magical Treasure is not 'perfectly optimal' for the group, probably useful but maybe not EXACTLY what somebody wants or needs. If they sell the item, they get half-cost for it. If they sell items to buy Perfectly Optimal items, they're losing half the GP value ... I.E. they can have a not-optimal item (a cool magical sword when the fighter wanted an axe) or they can have HALF VALUE of optimal items ... And I find that half-value balances whatever additional punch being optimal gives them. I.E. if they have to sell something for half value, and then I jam them up in some way being "realistic" in the Magic Item Shop department, I'm reducing the expected balance (as well as frustrating the players). I might make it a little difficult, but only inasmuch as that ADDS to the fun and the verisimilitude of the game. If it starts getting unfun for the players, or they're unable to get things they want, or it is impacting the party balance or game balance, then I'll make sure things work out for them. One thing that I and others have found to be very frustrating is the urge some GMs have to make magic item aquisition a difficult and "realistic" process, to suite their own personal visions of how magic "should" be, etc etc. --fje [/QUOTE]

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