Standard DM behavior?

[Timeboxer]

Is this normal practice? I've been gone from the game for some time and I'm relearning but I always remembered the DMs letting you use your gold as you wanted to - as long as it was legally acquired.

As I said to someone the other day: "It's probably possible to do it, but it's probably a bad idea to do it."

Theoretically, the DM can restrict whatever he wants -- it's his game. But practically speaking, he probably shouldn't. It reduces the investment you feel in character customization, and, to be honest, any gold that I can get my players to spend on non-combat items is gold I want them to spend.

(Actually the ideal situation for a DM is to give your players an amazingly powerful item that they are too afraid to use and want to get rid of. But I digress.)

 

[Herschel]

During the RPG segment, part of the DM's storyline was derailed because I had the headpiece that allows you to read any language. I had purchased this at the Adventurers Vault, with gold acquired from the campaigny. He was not happy.

Now, the 2 DM's have ruled that we can't buy any items from the Adventurer's vault, except consumables. Is this normal practice?

This all depends. Is The Adventurer's Vault the book you just decided to pick an item out of and "buy" without consulting them, or is it an actual shop in the game world they let your character frequent?

If it's the former, then yeah it's common. They have every right to be upset and ban the use of an item. They wrote/ran the adventure without the knowledge you had access to that item. You were flat-out wrong unless they consented to the practice. Even had they consented, you should let them know the items you purchase so they can better write/run adventures. Personally, I like the fact you purchased a non-combat item and would definitely write the potential use of it in to adventures.

If it's the latter, the issue is with them. There are times I'm disappointed when things get circumvented, but I roll with them.

 

[S'mon]

You lost me ont the 10-40% mark up bit. The component cost is the price of the item. So if the shop keeper makes the item, it cost him as much as he's selling it for in Residuum. Unless you're imposing a further 10-40% penalty on top of the listed price, which I'm fairly sure is not RAW.

No, 10-40% mark-up is RAW, it's in the PHB as an option, if PCs are allowed to buy items. It's also in the PHB as RAW that the GM may disallow item purchase.

IMC the PCs can buy items up to 10th level (they're 2nd), as that is the ritual caster level of the Wizard who makes items, but generally only PHB items, and it takes the Wizard typically a few days to get the components - if the item is a staff with a red gem, he needs a mundane staff and a red gem to work from. His base mark-up on the list price is 40%, the PCs can use Diplomacy to potentially bargain him down to ca 10%.

 

[Dannager]

Are you suggesting, an adventurer walks into the shop, flicks through a catalog, chooses the desired item and then the owner uses the enchant item ritual to whip up the desired item in front of his eyes?

and hence its so run of the mill a PC shouldn't bother even mentioning he's looking for such an item, because its such a given it can be easily and quickly attained? That must be a shop owner of some note, because you can only enchant items of your level or lower... what happens when you start wanting items around 10th level, or 20th... or higher... just not in the shops?

I'm not seeing the problem here.

Part of the point of being a paragon- or epic-tier adventurer is having access to wondrous locations that play host to cultures powerful enough to allow you to spend your money on useful things.

Sigil is a good example of a paragon-tier hub where you would have access to all these things. The City of Brass is probably a good example of an epic-tier hub.

 

[Jack99]

Hi. We're currently running a 4e campaign, with 7 players. We're up to level 8 now. We have 2 people that are DM'ing - swapping out every few rounds, and running as a player when they are not DM'ing.

We've had some issues with the DM's over items. During one encounter, we wiped a group fairly handily that the current DM thought should give us trouble. Encounters after that were much, much harder. During the RPG segment, part of the DM's storyline was derailed because I had the headpiece that allows you to read any language. I had purchased this at the Adventurers Vault, with gold acquired from the campaign. I was able to read a parchment he had introduced into our story. He was not happy.

Now, the 2 DM's have ruled that we can't buy any items from the Adventurer's vault, except consumables. Also, one of the DMs has indicated that when its his turn next, that probably no items will be allowed except that were actually found during the game. Even items you bought with gold you made during the game.

Is this normal practice? I've been gone from the game for some time and I'm relearning but I always remembered the DMs letting you use your gold as you wanted to - as long as it was legally acquired.

Thanks!

The whole I-can-buy-any-item-in-the-books is (as far as I am concerned) an abomination introduced with the previous edition. In my games, no matter the edition, this is never allowed.

I have however (for the first campaign) allowed players to buy create from the PHB. AV1 + AV2 are called candy-books and only the DM can give items from there. They can however upgrade an item they possess, no matter from which books it is.

 

[the Jester]

The whole I-can-buy-any-item-in-the-books is (as far as I am concerned) an abomination introduced with the previous edition.

I totally agree. Before 3e, I never saw pcs expect that they could buy magic items. Since then, not only do they expect to be able to, many feel entitled to do so.

 

[Dausuul]

I totally agree. Before 3e, I never saw pcs expect that they could buy magic items. Since then, not only do they expect to be able to, many feel entitled to do so.

Word. *sigh*

 

[maddman75]

(When I'm running Call of Cthulhu, OTOH, I make scenarios where I frankly have no idea how the PCs will get out of it. )

Did your players end up usually just freeing whatever Evil Menace was lurking about and run like hell as it gobbled up cultists and innocent passersby?

I lost count how many times a game ended like that.

 

[Obryn]

Did your players end up usually just freeing whatever Evil Menace was lurking about and run like hell as it gobbled up cultists and innocent passersby?

I lost count how many times a game ended like that.

Sometimes!!

In the most recent campaign, everyone is so focused on survival that they tend to ignore their actual goals. So far, this campaign, the party has...

(1) Failed to stop, or even check, a Deep One assault on a cathedral in Chicago. What's more, they let the former priest get away.

(2) Failed to deal with the Star Vampires which were summoned by a cult based in an abandoned asylum, instead choosing to run as soon as the last cultist was dead.

(3) Failed to bring back a horror novelist from a Pacific island, instead leaving him to be captured by the Mi-Go because they thought the cooler full of notebooks was his notes & memoirs (and thus everything they need) and instead found it to be the rough draft of his next novel (and thus nothing they need).

It's a comedy of errors right now, and part of it's my fault, but we're having so much fun I don't care.

-O

 

[Oryan77]

I totally agree. Before 3e, I never saw pcs expect that they could buy magic items. Since then, not only do they expect to be able to, many feel entitled to do so.

I was getting bummed out reading some of these posts and I was thinking this same exact thing right before I read your post. I was thinking that so many people must have an entitlement to buying magic items that if I ever played with new people, I'd look like a jerk DM if I shared my opinion with the new players.

As the years go on, I see my "playstyle" becoming less and less accepted. Oh well, at least in another 20 years I'll be legally allowed to buy a clone of myself. I'll just clone a D&D group and we'll have a blast playing together.