I've been wondering for some time now about this, and decided that I should ask other players and game masters about their experiences.
- How "ye olde magic shoppes" operate in your campaigns ?
- How interested people learn about them ?
- What meets your eye inside such places ?
- Are the wares kept on wooden shelves or maybe suspended magically in midair ?
- How do you steal things from such store and what measures owners take to prevent theft ?
A typical hedge wizard's store:
"The store is shadowy with small barred windows and lit in the back by a flickering sooty oil lamp. A dusty counter divides the shop from a darkened storeroom beyond, which seems to contain mostly highly cluttered shelves contain jars, vials, flasks, boxes, and urns of every shape and material. On the counter is a brass bell hanging from an iron hook with a small hammer beside it. The shop smells like a rotten egg broke in a moldy ill-kept spice store. There is a cat licking itself in the corner. From somewhere in the back, you hear the faint sounds of gentle snoring."
The shop will contain for sale:
Material spell components for most spells up to third level, including those the Hedge Wizard does not know.
Potion ingredients for most 1st level spells and many spells up to third level.
Blank spellbooks and vellum scrolls.
Ink, including ingredients for scroll ink for many spells up to third level.
2-8 random potions
1-7 random scrolls with 1st level spells
0-2 wands of a random 0th level spells
The Hedge Wizard will be a 2nd-5th level wizard, with the feats Hedge Wizard, Brew Potion, Scribe Scroll and probably at least one other item creation feat. Most will be civilized non-combatants, have 14-17 Int, and no other stats above 12. About 20% will be female. About 20% will be married, and if married, there is a 50% chance their partner is also a Hedge Wizard of similar skill and is also their business partner. About 50% have an apprentice of 0th-1st level. Some will have as many as three such apprentices (more likely in a larger town). If married, the apprentices are probably their children or grandchildren.
The Hedge Wizard will offer to make (or have made) on commission pretty much anything that involves knowing only 0th and 1st level spells and he can make provided the PC's manage at least an indifferent relationship with him. He'll be on good relations with a master jeweler, master weaponsmith, master glassblower, master weaver if one is available and he cannot in fact perform such work himself (many are in fact highly skilled in at least 1 craft). There is only small chance he has a finished item of any sort in his possession, and it will not be for sale - having been sold to the owner prior even to having been made. He will have a few such items for his personal use, but they will not be for sale and will generally be kept on his person.
The Hedge Wizard almost certainly knows the spell Identify, and will be able to provide insight into any magical item the PC's acquire. He's possibly willing to buy such items if their use seems less than esoteric, it's not cursed, it's not dangerous, and he has sufficient funds, but does not sell such items himself. Instead, he by prior agreement resale's such items to an interested noble party he knows of, a more powerful wizard, or a church, or a dealer in magical curio's that passes through every few months. There is only a very small chance (~1%) he's got any such item in his possession at any time. He will generally be unwilling to reveal his contacts, and in any event, they won't be interested in selling items to the PC's. Magical item economies are generally one directional - from the less powerful to the more powerful. It's not possible to walk into a shop and find a large number of magical items for sale. Such places don't exist anywhere; it would be like a private individual expecting to walk into a shop and see a display of tanks and jet fighters. It is however possible upon obtaining friendly relations, proof of sufficient funds, and proof of sufficient social status and power, to become one of the hedge wizards contacts. If that happens, the PC will be expected to buy any item the Hedge Wizard obtains possession of and directs to him, but that will on average happen only every few years.
The Hedge Wizard can, if friendly relations are achieved, be convinced to sell knowledge of his spells and other magical secrets to another wizard.
The presence of a magic shop will means the player of a wizard will not need to track most components or justify acquiring ingredients for most potions or scrolls he'd wish to make.
Hedge Wizards generally take minimal precautions to prevent theft. They'll secure their store with a lock, and bar and bolt the door from the inside. Like most shop keepers, they tend to sleep in their store or in a room above it. A few may employ a guard to stand watch (or more likely sleep) inside the store at night and/or a watch dog if they live in a dangerous area, but most rely on their reputation as wizards and friendly relations with the local thieves guild (who could always find a use for a friendly wizard) to keep thieves away. Many will also have familiars as an extra set of eyes. Beyond that, it's non-trivial to appraise the contents of a magical or alchemists shop without specialized knowledge. Most wizards are relying on the diversity of things in the shop - eye of newt, pickled dog's tongue, tiger's bile, powdered wyvern scales, scorpion venom, jars of live spiders, etc. - to make looting the shop seem difficult and potentially dangerous. Finished potions will be hid by obscurity in some out of the way corner perhaps in a box labeled "Iron Pyrite", while there might be some other box that seems to contain potions named, "Rotten Eggs", but which actually is where the hedge mage stores potions that went bad in the making (and are now all poisonous or otherwise misfire).
Particularly paranoid Hedge Wizards may, if they have the skill, employ minimal magical protections (basically purpose built magical items), but most have neither the skill, the money, or the inclination for such things. A typical example might be a box which requires a Will save and a difficult search check to notice even when it is in plain sight, a container which has an illusion that makes it appear empty to casual observation, magical alarms, and traps designed to frighten or mislead (illusionary monsters or sounds, warning messages ostensibly from magical spirits, or even just a box containing an illusion of a large number of silver and gold coins). Dangerous traps will be avoided. If needed, the Hedge Wizard will defend their livelihood and lives by utilizing typical non-damaging low level spells like grease, sleep, glitter dust, and web. They may also have a scroll of monster summoning tucked away for such an emergency. Most would not fight to the death willingly, but as most are fairly fragile, such an outcome wouldn't be surprising.
Once you steal from the Hedge Wizard, fencing the items will be very difficult, as its only other Hedge Wizards that are likely buyers - and they'll likely frown on their colleague being robbed if only for fear they are next. The hedge wizard died, fencing such goods anywhere nearby will be virtually impossible. Even an otherwise dastardly and reliable fences will be unlikely to cooperate in such a sale. Transporting significant goods will also be difficult, as a wagon load of spell components looks like nothing else but a wagon load of spell components. Knights of the Road will be alerted to the theft and stop travelers looking for signs of stolen goods.
If Hedge Wizard is robbed, it's likely to draw the attention of several parties, particularly because the first assumption is that anyone who robs a wizard is likely to be an evil wizard of some sort. Society will generally assume some evil plot is underfoot and become quite terrified. To a large extent, this mistrust will unite groups that might otherwise be rivals, because the Hedge Wizard is generally a resource valuable to all and likewise the enemy will generally be perceived as a danger to all.
a) The town watch
b) Any local wizardly church, which will assign a team of investigators if it has the resources (generally a Champion, an Inquisitor, and 4 Templar fanatics)
c) The Hedge Wizards patron(s)
d) The local thieves guild
This will likely result in an ad hoc NPC party (or parties) tasked with finding the perpetrator and discovering their motives. With the suspicion that the perpetrator is an evil wizard or cultist, the groups will act with all the ruthlessness of medieval law (or cutthroats, as the case may be). None of this is likely to greatly inconvenience a high level party, but then again, it's not like there is a lot here to greatly interest a high level party either.
