D&D 5E The Case for a Magic Item Shop?

[aramis erak]

That's pretty good, but using stealth also takes an action.

So take 1 level of rogue to get Cunning Action.

 

[Mishihari Lord]

I think my main complaint was that *if there were a magic shop* I wouldn't have been in the situation, because I'd have been able to buy the goggles, or at least some scrolls before we went back into the cave from the city when someone was being raised.

I see. Well I really, really hate the idea of a magic WalMart, but if you have a city, there are a lot of other ways to sell or otherwise acquire a magic item

1. A general store. I wouldn't expect to see a magic shop in D&D any more than I'd expect to see a technology shop in RL, it's too general. But it wouldn't be too unreasonable to find a piece or two in a regular store. Maybe the merchant doesn't even know what he's got.
2. Commision one from the local wizard
3. Put an "order" in with the local theive's guild.
4. Buy/steal one from a museum
5. Ask around to see if any citizen had one they might part with
6. Talk to other travelers. A trade caravan in this region might have such a thing and might be willing to part with it for the right price.
7. Do a little research then engage in some grave robbing
8. See if the local temple of your faith has one they would loan out for a worthy cause.
9. Get a polymorph into a form with darkvision (if the duration's long enough)
10. Maybe the local government has one and it could be bought/stolen/borrowed or the person might be bribed.

If I were your DM and you wanted to do any of these, I'd make it a one session mini-adventure, and make other rewards available that would motivate the rest of the party to participate.

 

[DracoSuave]

Exactly. Since there is no natural light source of any kind, it means carry an artificial one, which basically is like trying to use stealth while singing a loud song about how stealthy you are while crashing symbols together. You carry a light source in pitch darkness, you auto-fail stealth checks; at least in this game.

I was thinking something along the line of using ambient light, being creative with the resources that you can find down there.

Yes, you're at a disadvantage when you're out of your element--this is a test of your creativity. I'd be looking for glowing lichen. In lieu of that, I'd be looking for ways to take advantage of the situation. Yeah, it's always dark, and that's rough for you. Also, it's ALWAYS DARK which is rough for anyone who finds you. Bringing a torch to a place that NEVER sees light is going to make some enemies blind.

This edition encourages this sort of play, rather than just 'We can't see a thing, stupid Fifth Edition having no magic shops.'

And for the record, neither did second edition. Or third, RAW.

 

[Paraxis]

I was thinking something along the line of using ambient light, being creative with the resources that you can find down there.
Yes, you're at a disadvantage when you're out of your element--this is a test of your creativity. I'd be looking for glowing lichen. In lieu of that, I'd be looking for ways to take advantage of the situation. Yeah, it's always dark, and that's rough for you.

Good advice, but any moving light source will give away his position.

Also, it's ALWAYS DARK which is rough for anyone who finds you. Bringing a torch to a place that NEVER sees light is going to make some enemies blind.

No, no it is not going to do that. If he had someway of having sunlight around him through magic, some creatures of the underdark would have a penalty to hit him sure, but that is not torch light.

This edition encourages this sort of play, rather than just 'We can't see a thing, stupid Fifth Edition having no magic shops.'

And for the record, neither did second edition. Or third, RAW.

Third edition most certainly had magic shops RAW, they might not have called them magic shops but every community had a gold piece availability amount and ANY item of that value or lower was available in the community to be purchased, right there in the DMG so it might not be one store but you could purchase anything you wanted to like holy avengers and belts of +4 strength in a large enough town like Waterdeep or Sharn.

 

[Paraxis]

I see. Well I really, really hate the idea of a magic WalMart, but if you have a city, there are a lot of other ways to sell or otherwise acquire a magic item

1. A general store. I wouldn't expect to see a magic shop in D&D any more than I'd expect to see a technology shop in RL, it's too general. But it wouldn't be too unreasonable to find a piece or two in a regular store. Maybe the merchant doesn't even know what he's got.
2. Commision one from the local wizard
3. Put an "order" in with the local theive's guild.
4. Buy/steal one from a museum
5. Ask around to see if any citizen had one they might part with
6. Talk to other travelers. A trade caravan in this region might have such a thing and might be willing to part with it for the right price.
7. Do a little research then engage in some grave robbing
8. See if the local temple of your faith has one they would loan out for a worthy cause.
9. Get a polymorph into a form with darkvision (if the duration's long enough)
10. Maybe the local government has one and it could be bought/stolen/borrowed or the person might be bribed.

If I were your DM and you wanted to do any of these, I'd make it a one session mini-adventure, and make other rewards available that would motivate the rest of the party to participate.

How is any of that different than just letting the player buy what he wants. Why go through the tediousness of all of that and talking to all the vendors, merchants, priests, thieves guilds and such, when you could just say "Deduct 1500 gp and you acquire Goggle of Night." Roleplaying through all the little interactions with pointless extras is what slows the game down to a crawl, subtract the gold and move on. It is like talking to your waitress about the roasted pheasant and the price of the local ale vs the imported ale, completely pointless to the overall storyline and makes everyone at the table roll their eyes at you.

 

[Kaychsea]

...Roleplaying through all the little interactions with pointless extras is what slows the game down to a crawl, subtract the gold and move on...

Yep, why let roleplaying ruin a roleplaying game...

 

[Kaychsea]

...If he had someway of having sunlight around him through magic, some creatures of the underdark would have a penalty to hit him sure, but that is not torch light.

Source? In RAW surely there is no distinction between bright light from a torch or daylight, apart from range? of course the issue is that light won't blind anything used to living in the dark with no light at all as they would be blind to light to begin with, using other senses to get around. Those used to dim light only would possibly be the ones to find sudden bright light a problem.

 

[Paraxis]

Yep, why let roleplaying ruin a roleplaying game...

Spending time talking to a random npc that didn't have a name before the PC walked into the shop and doesn't have any story hooks or any information to move the established story forward is just time consuming. Hand wave these little pointless interactions and move on to the role playing/social scenes that are apart of the ongoing story. Spending an hour shopping takes away time from the dinner party at the mansion and the opera later in the evening, where you are supposed to interact with the npcs that matter. Basically let the little people eat cake.

Source? In RAW surely there is no distinction between bright light from a torch or daylight, apart from range? of course the issue is that light won't blind anything used to living in the dark with no light at all as they would be blind to light to begin with, using other senses to get around. Those used to dim light only would possibly be the ones to find sudden bright light a problem.

Most underground/underdark creatures in fact most every creature in the game besides humans and halfling have either darkvision or blindsense, neither one of those abilities talk about being dazed or hampered by the appearance of a light source.
The only thing that comes close is the Sunlight Sensitivity trait some creatures like drow have that give penalties in sunlight, not other light sources.
Is that RAW enough for you?

 

[Kaychsea]

Spending time talking to a random npc that didn't have a name before the PC walked into the shop and doesn't have any story hooks or any information to move the established story forward is just time consuming. Hand wave these little pointless interactions and move on to the role playing/social scenes that are apart of the ongoing story. Spending an hour shopping takes away time from the dinner party at the mansion and the opera later in the evening, where you are supposed to interact with the npcs that matter. Basically let the little people eat cake.

A question of style perhaps? But going to the magic Walmart wouldn't fit most of the games I've played in. How do you tell which NPCs matter? Do they wear name badges? And some of the little people give good cake.

Most underground/underdark creatures in fact most every creature in the game besides humans and halfling have either darkvision or blindsense, neither one of those abilities talk about being dazed or hampered by the appearance of a light source.
The only thing that comes close is the Sunlight Sensitivity trait some creatures like drow have that give penalties in sunlight, not other light sources.

So pretty much what I said about creatures who never see the light (blindsense) or live in only dim light conditions (darkvision without "normal" vision). As the latter condition does not exist in the game although implied by drow and kobolds' Sunlight Sensitivity we end up in a position where creatures won't rear back from light thye feel is too bright because the rules don't reflect the situation. I think it could be ruled on by the DM on a case by case basis, YMMV.

Is that RAW enough for you?

Sensitive much?

 

[The_Gneech]

Spending time talking to a random npc that didn't have a name before the PC walked into the shop and doesn't have any story hooks or any information to move the established story forward is just time consuming. Hand wave these little pointless interactions and move on to the role playing/social scenes that are apart of the ongoing story. Spending an hour shopping takes away time from the dinner party at the mansion and the opera later in the evening, where you are supposed to interact with the npcs that matter. Basically let the little people eat cake.

How good to know I've been playing the game wrong all these years. Y'know, I like playing it wrong, I think I'll continue.

-The Gneech