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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Felix" data-source="post: 3607451" data-attributes="member: 3929">Reading this thread is like watching two singles tennis players have a match on two different courts. MidnightSun and his proponents keep saying, "There are no Magic Wal-marts; they don't make sense!" Quasqueton and his supporters keep saying, "There are no Magic Wal-marts, we just don't roleplay tracking down Ummba-Chula the Mysterious who is reputed to collect famous fantastical swords of heroes when we want to buy a +1 flaming sword."Oddly, both sides are saying the same bloody thing. Quit banging your heads against the wall.---The question of how many magic items are available in a city is something else. But ask yourself, why would someone continuously craft magic items? Certainly Wizards have the most cost intensive career: that 13th level Wizard needs 700gp worth of stuff to scribe one 7th level spell in his spellbook. Where does he get 700gp? Well, possibly he knows the lower-level wizards or is their master, so he could easily get 700gp by scribing some lower-level spells for them and their spellbooks. So now you've got Wizards scribing stuff: scrolls become available on the market.Why would potions be available? The government is interested in keeping their troops alive, and the 13th level cleric is interested in spreading the word of Dog. The government gets their cure-lights for the platoon's medic, and the cleric makes his 3rd level novices and 6th level apprentices brew a few potions.Why would armor be available? In this mideval fantasy, you'll likely have some kind of a feudal  feudal system so let's assume that. Cavalry was fairly important in warfare, and it took a lot of money to keep a knight in full kit. So it isn't a stretch to say that knight will be fairly wealthy on the whole, and that some of them will be very wealthy indeed. You'll have knights interested in armor that offers them better protection, and this will give incentives to money-seeking casters to create a Craft Magic Arms and Armor commissioning system.The same will be the case for weapons, wands, rods, rings and sundry. Folks who have the ability to craft but don't have money will meet up with people who have the money but can't craft, and by the exchange both will come off better off.Does this mean that NPCs will be spending XP making things? Yes. And they'll make that XP back the same way they did the first time. But unless you spend time every session updating the group as to the adventuring successes of all your NPCs, this story isn't about them: it's about the PCs. Does this mean that it's likely that many things won't be available immediately? Yes. Neither are sailing ships, as Quasqueton keeps pointing out.Does this mean that it's possible to find people who collect +1 Can-openers of Speed who would be willing to part with one for a price? Yes. It may take a long time to locate them without the convienience of EBay, but that's why we have a Gather Information skill. Do players enjoy role-playing the search for Ummba-Chula, the tension-fraught negotiations, and the satisfaction found in spending an hour of real-time coming away with a potion of Cure Light Wounds? *shrug* I don't. Do you?</blockquote>

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