Stocking up on cheap magic

[Coredump]

I wanted to get people's opinions and insights...

It really rubs be the wrong way when I hear about folks 'stocking up' on cheap magic. To me it breaks something to have a 12th level party go into town and buy 30 Cure Light wands, because they are 'more economical'.

Or the Cleric that memorizes the spell only once, since he has 8 pearls of Wisdom (level 1)

I dont' mind the party having a lot of healing potions, but when they try and buy CLW potions in a 'keg', it seems to be missing the point somewhat.

To me something gets lost when magic comes down to an excel spreadsheet for determining usefulness.

 

[Crothian]

If my players did this sort of thing, I would also not like it.

 

[IronWolf]

Who is to say there are 30 CLW wands available in said town? If the DM doesn't like that, then he can have reasons why they simply are not available in that quantity. Or maybe it will just take some time for them to come up with the items.

My parties tend to like to have some CLW wands at hand. It only makes sense, they know they exist, they know the job they do is hazardous, so it is only natural they want to have some with them. So far they have kept it in control, keeping two or three on hand when possible (though there are times they had to wait for them to be made, offer adventuring services in exchange for discounts, etc).

If they start wanting mass quantities of them I am sure they will run into supply and demand issues. Either they will be unavailable or the prices will skyrocket because of the increased demand. Or maybe they will just anger the church for some transgression and the church won't sell to them.

I think there are several ways a DM can balance it out into letting the party have access to some of the tools of adventuring without letting it spiral out of control.

 

[shilsen]

I'm perfectly fine with my players/PCs stocking up on cheap magic items. Unless you're using a very different set of rules to the core D&D ruleset, magic is a quantifiable and consumable resource. I know that bugs a lot of people but I'm just fine with it personally, and I expect characters who exist in a world where magic exists as such to use it intelligently.

That being said, magic and magic items can (depending on circumstances and local conditions) be difficult to access and obtain. Assuming that they are even available, 30 CLW wands would cost 22,500 gp using the base DMG value. Most PC parties are not going to be able to throw around that kind of money till they reach quite a decent level, and at that point, they usually have more important things to spend their money on.

 

[smootrk]

I agree. As DM it is easy enough to just say only one of any given wand (or other item) may be available at any given time.

As DM, I tend to disallow any selective purchasing, making the roleplay element much more important to locate and purchase (or otherwise trade, barter, steal, etc) a magic item. Characters make Gather Info skill checks to locate clues on items, diplomacy, appraise, bluffs, and all kinds of things that I can possibly think of to stem the tide of character purchases. I am fair when items are wanted, but I try to make the characters work diligently for items, rather than having the fully stocked magic shop approach.

It is much easier to unload the items found to the magic item brokers of the world than to locate 'just the right item' at 'just the right time'. I find it makes the players value the 'found' items all the more, and usually the found items are placed specifically to help the party ( after all, I do make the encounters that contain the items).

 

[philreed]

I would think that any party walking into town and asking for 30 cure light wounds wands would INSTANTLY become a target for every thief within 100 miles.

"Damn? They have that much coin to spend? I gotta get me some of that."

Word spreads quickly when people throw money around.

 

[drothgery]

I would think that any party walking into town and asking for 30 cure light wounds wands would INSTANTLY become a target for every thief within 100 miles.

"Damn? They have that much coin to spend? I gotta get me some of that."

Word spreads quickly when people throw money around.

Not necessarily. In a D&D world, if you rob someone with far more resources than you, the presense of divination magic (when the victim can easily afford it -- even if they can't cast it themselves and don't have friends who can manage it -- and the thief can't afford protections against it) pretty much guarantees that you'll be caught.

 

[VirgilCaine]

I have no problem with characters "stocking up", subject to supply and demand limits in the church or Guild that the PCs go to. In fact, if PCs don't carry around a potions and Quaal's Feather Tokens, I'd think probably something was wrong. Same goes for alchemical items and similar low-power, useful items.


Depending on the prereqs (NOT the caster level), some items will be rarer (I'm looking at you, Ring of Shooting Stars).

 

[NewLifeForm]

No such thing as "cheap" magic...

While I do have characters in my world that memorize low level spells numerous times, these are not usually PCs. As for magic items, certain ones that could be considered "low-powered" may exist (Detection Wands, Healing Potions, etc.), but most are weak and still quite expensive (that's why you hope to find them on adventures).

On the average, no wizard worth his mana on my world is going to waste his precious time, energy and gold creating crappy magic items. Most items were constructed for a reason, many commisioned for their purpose by wealthy nobles or the like. Each one is a work of art as much as a weapon.

Later Days,
NewLifeForm

 

[Zappo]

My characters can buy whatever they can find for sale. And no, there is no way that you can find 30 wands of anything in a shop. It would be implausible even in all but the most extremely magic-rich world.