D&D (2024) Uncommon items - actually common?

[Micah Sweet]

And then list the price of those components on another table, adding an extra step and no decision points.

See my suggestions on how to develop a better fantasy economy above.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I just disagree. Could they come up with some sort of system? Not really, not one that would work for every campaign. For an RPG with a lot of strict built in assumptions? I guess. But D&D can be any technology from ancient Greece to noir magi-tech early 20th century and everything in between.

Telling me as a DM that you need 10 ounces of ruby dust for continual flame is completely meaningless. I have no idea how much that should cost in the real world much less in my bespoke campaign world that only bears a passing resemblance to early Renaissance technology.

You create an economic base that works most of the time, and make adjustments to it to suit the needs of your campaign. Again, it can and has been done. If you don't want to, just say that, but it is in no way an insurmountable goal.

 

[pemerton]

The price of, say, diamond dust is not going to be the same from place to place or from time to time. Therefore, logic suggests that current market value should not be used to determine quantity of a special component needed.

The price of swords or horses might fluctuate too. Presumably a GM who has a chart or system for tracking fluctuations in the price of horses can use the same system to calculate the actual cost to purchase ruby dust that will satisfy the requirement for an amount of dust worth 50 "objective" gold pieces.

In my experience, the systems that do this sort of thing track price variations in percentages (I'm thinking of Rolemaster, Classic Traveller, and - at least as I recall it - an article back in the 80s in Dragon Magazine for buying horses). The same sort of percentage adjustment can easily be made to the base cost of 50 gp.

 

[Oofta]

You create an economic base that works most of the time, and make adjustments to it to suit the needs of your campaign. Again, it can and has been done. If you don't want to, just say that, but it is in no way an insurmountable goal.

How. Seriously. Every campaign is unique and I don't want to come up with a system of an economy that would tell me how much ruby dust costs per ounce. I wouldn't even know where to begin, much less why it would add any perceivable value.

 

[tetrasodium]

You create an economic base that works most of the time, and make adjustments to it to suit the needs of your campaign. Again, it can and has been done. If you don't want to, just say that, but it is in no way an insurmountable goal.

It wouldn't even be that hard to accomplish or set some new precident to stop doing it in the most round about way possible. When was the last time anyone saw a recipe calling for something like $4.43 worth of hamburger & $0.0002 of garlic powder? d&d has for decades even had a section capable of listing the cost of a hypothetical standardized spell components in pounds if you look at the trade goods list. Doing so might require a few updates likechangimg from $jokeComponent worth ###gp to $jokeComponent & N pounds of $standarizedComponentC but the benefits are significant in allowing a GM to make players excited about getting a component they know is likely to be useful just by being on the list

 

[Crimson Longinus]

The price of swords or horses might fluctuate too. Presumably a GM who has a chart or system for tracking fluctuations in the price of horses can use the same system to calculate the actual cost to purchase ruby dust that will satisfy the requirement for an amount of dust worth 50 "objective" gold pieces.

In my experience, the systems that do this sort of thing track price variations in percentages (I'm thinking of Rolemaster, Classic Traveller, and - at least as I recall it - an article back in the 80s in Dragon Magazine for buying horses). The same sort of percentage adjustment can easily be made to the base cost of 50 gp.

Exactly this. That the books list "default" prices for things do not mean they must always cost that much in every circumstance. For example recently in my campaign the characters did try to find healing potions in a city preparing to a war. They finally found some at an underground market, and the seller demanded four times the usual price, though the characters managed to negotiate it down to just twice the usual price. Same can easily be done with spell components.

 

[Micah Sweet]

The price of swords or horses might fluctuate too. Presumably a GM who has a chart or system for tracking fluctuations in the price of horses can use the same system to calculate the actual cost to purchase ruby dust that will satisfy the requirement for an amount of dust worth 50 "objective" gold pieces.

In my experience, the systems that do this sort of thing track price variations in percentages (I'm thinking of Rolemaster, Classic Traveller, and - at least as I recall it - an article back in the 80s in Dragon Magazine for buying horses). The same sort of percentage adjustment can easily be made to the base cost of 50 gp.

It could, but it makes more sense to me for the amount to stay the same and the price to change. Why would the price be the deciding factor in the use of spell components?

 

[Micah Sweet]

How. Seriously. Every campaign is unique and I don't want to come up with a system of an economy that would tell me how much ruby dust costs per ounce. I wouldn't even know where to begin, much less why it would add any perceivable value.

So you don't want to make or use an economic system. Fair enough. That's why I said you should just say so if that's your opinion.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

It could, but it makes more sense to me for the amount to stay the same and the price to change. Why would the price be the deciding factor in the use of spell components?

The amount stays the same! The price is just the default price for the needed amount!

 

[Micah Sweet]

Exactly this. That the books list "default" prices for things do not mean they must always cost that much in every circumstance. For example recently in my campaign the characters did try to find healing potions in a city preparing to a war. They finally found some at an underground market, and the seller demanded four times the usual price, though the characters managed to negotiate it down to just twice the usual price. Same can easily be done with spell components.

And when they fluctuate, you're getting more or less product for them same price. You're already on your way to that fantasy economics that apparently never existed.