D&D 5E Thoughts on spending gold ...

[Gecko85]

I went to buy a car, but it's so popular right now that stock at all the dealerships is pretty low. So, the dealers are charging more than the MSRP. I was pissed! I said "That's not fair! The system is broken! It's not balanced! You have published prices...it's right there on the window!"

</sarcasm>

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

I think a clever GM will present the party with magic item auctions just often enough to give them a reason to worry about all that gold. All it takes is a dozen or so hand-selected items, a couple of which you KNOW one or two PCs will want. Maybe they even have to go on a quest to get a patron to admit them to the auction.

Agreed. I think too many people argue a False Choice fallacy, as if gold is either only for castles & whores XOR we must have corner Magick Marts. There is a lot of territory in between those extremes. IME the better DMs saw dangling the possibility of buying that one item your PC covets by means of hoarding both cash and favors as a useful thing.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

Again , if you consider it so easy show us how it is done. Please show us a balanced list for all magic items in the DMG. Because it isn't so easy as to just come up with random prices and call it a day. The closest we can do is use the srd price list and hope it doesn't break.

The SRD prices are, frankly, not very well done. The interesting items, especially the multifunction ones, are vastly overpriced. That is my takeaway from the Big Six discussion.

The Magic Item Compendium shows how interesting stuff could be made available for less than sky high prices. Really 3e could use a complete price revamp, informed by the learning experiences of the MIC. (Obviously 4e is not a very good stand in for this effort.)

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

I went to buy a car, but it's so popular right now that stock at all the dealerships is pretty low. So, the dealers are charging more than the MSRP. I was pissed! I said "That's not fair! The system is broken! It's not balanced! You have published prices...it's right there on the window!"

</sarcasm>

Players rightly complain when the DM is always making lame excuses why the price is the price but it is much higher for you if you ever want to buy anything -- which is the course of action some seem to suggest. To use your analogy, often the dealer will accept a lower price than the sticker, if you do your research and are flexible about buying a different car.

 

[Gecko85]

Players rightly complain when the DM is always making lame excuses why the price is the price but it is much higher for you if you ever want to buy anything -- which is the course of action some seem to suggest. To use your analogy, often the dealer will accept a lower price than the sticker, if you do your research and are flexible about buying a different car.

The point I was trying to make is that some people seem to think it's OMG SO HARD! to create a range of values/prices for the dozen or so rare magic items they may be using in their campaign (or more, if they're so inclined) for fear the prices won't be consistent or balanced from one item to the next. To me, there's no such thing. The prices are what they are at any given moment. Supply and demand. Rarity. Availability. Mood of the DM. Whatever. They are what they are. Either the players want to pay the price or they don't. For some reason people want a set-in-stone written price bible...and there's simply no such thing.

 

[MoonSong]

The SRD prices are, frankly, not very well done. The interesting items, especially the multifunction ones, are vastly overpriced. That is my takeaway from the Big Six discussion.

The Magic Item Compendium shows how interesting stuff could be made available for less than sky high prices. Really 3e could use a complete price revamp, informed by the learning experiences of the MIC. (Obviously 4e is not a very good stand in for this effort.)

That's why I consider it an undesirable option. Not only it features an unbalanced pricing scheme that over favours the big six, it also was (poorly) done for an edition with different concerns than 5e. What is more precious offense or defense? (this is inverted between editions), when it's a good time to introduce certain items? how likely are players ot be able to spare 10,000 golds at a given level?

 

[Sailor Moon]

The only kind of balance you need to worry about is between the amount of gold you hand out, and how much you are going to charge for these items.

Why are you so worried about buying the items anyway? If it's so difficult for you, then why not hand out a lot less gold and make items available through favours, dungeons, and quests?

Do some favours for the dwarves? Now you have some made to order items.

 

[Sailor Moon]

I don't want another WBL.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

The point I was trying to make is that some people seem to think it's OMG SO HARD! to create a range of values/prices for the dozen or so rare magic items they may be using in their campaign (or more, if they're so inclined) for fear the prices won't be consistent or balanced from one item to the next. To me, there's no such thing. The prices are what they are at any given moment. Supply and demand. Rarity. Availability. Mood of the DM. Whatever. They are what they are. Either the players want to pay the price or they don't. For some reason people want a set-in-stone written price bible...and there's simply no such thing.

Exactly. Why should the market be the same everywhere? Especially in a medieval/Renaissance society?

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

The point I was trying to make is that some people seem to think it's OMG SO HARD! to create a range of values/prices for the dozen or so rare magic items they may be using in their campaign (or more, if they're so inclined) for fear the prices won't be consistent or balanced from one item to the next. To me, there's no such thing. The prices are what they are at any given moment. Supply and demand. Rarity. Availability. Mood of the DM. Whatever. They are what they are. Either the players want to pay the price or they don't. For some reason people want a set-in-stone written price bible...and there's simply no such thing.

From the POV of typical day to day running of a campaign, I agree with the thrust of your argument.

I think there is some value in price lists as an aid to the DM, because rarity is a very coarse measurement. It can be easier on the DM to have a finer measurement to lean on when s/he might want to make comparisons.