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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dausuul" data-source="post: 5153601" data-attributes="member: 58197">I think some people in this thread are coming from different places on some fundamental questions about the game world. Most of those questions boil down to how exceptional the PCs and their activities are.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Adventuring: Profession or Heroism? If adventuring is an established profession, then there may well be established taxes on the activity. If not, then any taxation will be imposed ad hoc by rulers eager for a cut of the PCs' cash.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Magic Items: Commodity or Mystery? If magic items are a commodity  like any other, with a small but functioning network of merchants  trading in them, then taxing them is feasible. If magic items are not  generally traded on any kind of market--too little supply, too little  demand, or the items themselves punish those who presume to buy and sell  them--then taxing them is, as Azgulor says, BS.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Player Characters Versus Authorities: Who Wins? Wise rulers tread carefully around powerful vassals. If the PCs are powerful enough to pose a serious threat to the authorities--and they often are--then they are certainly powerful enough to warrant special treatment. The authorities may still seek to tax them, but it will be a lot more negotiation than confiscation. Expect the tax to be dressed up with appeals to the PCs' patriotism, charity, egotism, desire for special legal perks, or whatever else can get them to part with their gold pieces and not raise hell.</li> </ul>Bear in mind that adventurers aren't like regular people, even regular nobles. Most player characters are rootless wanderers who choose of their own free will to face dangers that any sane person would run away from screaming. They're three-quarters of the way to being bandits already... and having a high-level group of adventurers go rogue in his or her territory is a monarch's worst nightmare. As such, they're best treated with kid gloves.</blockquote>

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