Stocking up on cheap magic

[dontpunkme]

Never had that problem since I instituted my new rule set for clerics. Clerical magic is based solely on how devout the cleric is and then the person to be healed's relationship w/ that diety. I don't prevent non-believers from being healed, but is this person working to further the aims of the diety. Additionally, clerics don't just merely pray and receive spells. Their spells are the gifts of their diety based on what they've done for the diety. Is the cleric spreading the good word and using his time to preach his religion to the masses. Healing is seldom done by an unknown cleric without the characters doing something for the church. Very few churches take gold in exchange for healing. Potions and wands of healing are extremely rare.

If this doesn't fit in your world, I would just make the supply extremely exhaustible. Doesn't the church and town have a need for these wands. Do adventurers, who typically tend to adventure and thus leave for extended periods of time seem like the best people to sell valuable magic that likely will be needed when the local goblin tribe or evil enemy army makes its annual raid. Are the clerics at this local church going to be finding new followers in town when people lose family members and friends who could have been saved had the church protected its flock rather than fill their coffers. Obviously, not every church is more concerned with the welfare of its populace than their own oppulence. And personally, I don't see most mages willing to part with a large portion of their own magic hoard for mere gold. As the DM you are the only one who can step in and stop players from abusing a fictional economy. And if the players have the excess gold to go buy 30 wands of CLW then its due past time to start hitting their coffers HARD. Personally, I've always wondered how PCs carry vast hoards of cash on their person.

 

[Blue Sky]

I think I go the exact opposite route of most people here. Instead of looking for ways to prevent my players from stocking up on cure light wands, I encourage it.

I do this for two reasons. One, the core rules make it a small matter to have a lot of cure light wands, for people like adventurers who have a lot of money. Two, I like to throw a few, really tough encounters at my players, as opposed to a lot of easy ones. They need the wands to heal up, in between.

 

[BullMarkOne]

I absolutely _despise_ the idea of magic being bought and sold like common merchandise. Magic is meant to be esoteric and arcane. CLW wands/potions/whatever cannot be just bought and sold. While magic can be bought in my world it requires alot of legwork, and not just a bunch of skill rolls. We're talking political or underworld kind of contacts. Magic, even priestly magic is seen as a dangerous force, that should not fall into the wrong hands. At the start of my campaign I explained to the pc's that this would be the case. Their sole attempt thus far has consisted of the kender walking into a temple of a primarily human god (which she was not a follower of) and asking the first priest she could find about buying healing potions. When the priest gave the kender the cold shoulder I think my pc's pretty much gave up on buying magic. They're more of the see monster, stomp monster type.

 

[Ace]

I am so tired of control freak DM's I won't even play with one who considers restricting magic items much beyond the RAW --

Magic in D&D is no more mysterious than batteries or gasoline -- its a technology and anyone with money and resources can buy it --

I can tolerate some limits and like a few of the people here I doubt even a metropolis has 30 +CLW wands for sale

OTOH in my game Constables and even regular commoners have acess to inexpensive magic items -- CLW wand subs in for EMT, Necklace of Missiles or grenades and so on-- this is balanced simply by the money supply and the supply of power components

 

[Coredump]

I am so tired of control freak DM's I won't even play with one who considers restricting magic items much beyond the RAW --

Does it ever occur to you that maybe, just maybe, there are reasons for curbing the magic items *besides* being a 'control freak DM'?? Would like to be referred to as a power-gaming munchkin, just because you like playing with magic being commonly available?


Besides, I can curb magic quite a bit, and still be within the RAW. It may not be how you would like it, but it would not be breaking any of the rules.

 

[BullMarkOne]

I am so tired of control freak DM's I won't even play with one who considers restricting magic items much beyond the RAW --

Magic in D&D is no more mysterious than batteries or gasoline -- its a technology and anyone with money and resources can buy it --

I'm no control freak, I let my pc's pretty much run amok in my world and I do pass out magic loot. I just expect my pc's to work for their magic goodies, whether through hard dungeoncrawl adventuring, or careful political maneuvering.

I don't seem to recall anything in the RAW that explicitly states that magic items are a common commodity. Even the entry on magic in your world on page 142 of the dmg uses the word might.

Part of the reason I play rpg's both as a dm and a player is to put a bit of the mystery back into life. Too much these days has an all too easy and simple explanation, I find this boring. For this campaign part of that mystery is the inscrutability and rarity of magic. It's also in the very nonstandard social/racial/political structures of my current world. One of the greatest things about d&d in general, and 3.x d&d in specific is the customisability. In my games, you never really know when a goblin is just a goblin, or just how much wheeling and dealing will be required to score that nifty magic longsword, or even just how powerful that nifty magic longsword that you just payed a kings ransom will turn out to be. /rant

**Edit** stupid second l

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Cure Light Wounds really isn't going to do all that great when you're hitting level 12. I don't really like the idea of players stocking up on things like that...potions would seem more reasonable than a handful of wands. But even then, they aren't going to be too much use.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Sure, they can go into town and comission 30 wands of cure light wounds, then wait while the cleric finds time to make them. Then he has to take the time to make them, one at a time. In my games most magic items are not bought 'off the shelf' in large quantities, and I pay attention to the amount of stuff that can be purchased using the handy dandy rules in the DMG.

I would use time as the limiting factor.

The Auld Grump, who has never had a player try this...

 

[drothgery]

Cure Light Wounds really isn't going to do all that great when you're hitting level 12. I don't really like the idea of players stocking up on things like that...potions would seem more reasonable than a handful of wands. But even then, they aren't going to be too much use.

Eh. Clerics, druids, bards, rangers, paladins, and anyone with a good Use Magic Device score can use a wand of cure spells, and they're cheaper than 50 potions by a fair margin. Why wouldn't they be fairly available (assuming people capable of making them aren't too uncommon)?

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Eh. Clerics, druids, bards, rangers, paladins, and anyone with a good Use Magic Device score can use a wand of cure spells, and they're cheaper than 50 potions by a fair margin. Why wouldn't they be fairly available (assuming people capable of making them aren't too uncommon)?

Well, it seems like potions are more universally useful. But yeah, it is a small thing.

Maybe its just a thing of what I'm used to seeing. PCs usually stock up on potions while hanging onto a wand or two. It may just be a genre convention(if there is such a thing with D&D) that potions feel like they should be more widely available if there's a market of any kind.