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

[Jefe Bergenstein]

Quite the strawman there... We are talking about spells with a costly component needing to list a specific item instead of the current setup where they create problems by listing the price of an item.

Its. Magic. The god of trade sets the price. There we go.

Giving it in terms of ounces doesn't solve anything. Because then you need to know all that ruby dust grinding crap. And players are then trying to weasel out of paying the intended cost by using cruddy rubies. So now you need to know the price of crappy rubies, how many ounces of dust they produce, how long it takes to grind them, etc.

Its literally the give a mouse a cookie situation.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

Quite the strawman there... We are talking about spells with a costly component needing to list a specific item instead of the current setup where they create problems by listing the price of an item.

I still don't know what the problem is. Give me an actual concrete example of a situation that actually happened in a game where this was a problem.

 

[tetrasodium]

Frankly, it seems utterly absurd to handle any of this on the detail level where we are measuring the weights, volumes, and qualities of individual trade items. Like this sounds like an utter boredom inducing waste of time to me.

But I actually get the desire to have some system for handling this sort of thing, I just think it would be way more abstracted than what you're suggesting. This is not the sort of thing I want to spend more than few moments in an action adventure game, nor the sort of detail I want to focus on.

That's so weird, how does does your book differ?

 

[Crimson Longinus]

That's so weird, how does does your book differ?
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It could be there, I can't say for sure, I have never needed it. But you have it so what's your problem?

 

[Xetheral]

I think there should and could be some guidelines for crafting (aren't there?) but I don't think they need to be much more complex than just getting the stuff for half price or so if you just get the ingredients and spend the time of doing it yourself.

I do indeed use a rough estimate that raw materials cost half the finished product. I'm good with simple crafting systems.

But I thought you said in your games the difference in price between raw materials and finished products was extraneous detail? Did I misunderstand your post when you said that a diamond whose uncut value was 1000 GP would still sell for 1000 GP even after it was cut?

 

[Crimson Longinus]

I do indeed use a rough estimate that raw materials cost half the finished product. I'm good with simple crafting systems.

But I thought you said in your games the difference in price between raw materials and finished products was extraneous detail?

It has been thus far, yes.

Did I misunderstand your post when you said that a diamond whose uncut value was 1000 GP would still sell for 1000 GP even after it was cut?

No I didn't. I said the jeweller would resell it at some price we do not care about. Presumably more than 1000 gp, or they won't be in business for very long.

 

[jmartkdr2]

Quite the strawman there... We are talking about spells with a costly component needing to list a specific item instead of the current setup where they create problems by listing the price of an item.

I disagree; I can see the slippery slope here.

Sure, for the revivify spell they could have said “a 15-karat diamond that costs 300 gp”, but we’d still have the same argument (what if I can buy a 15-karat diamond that costs 295gp? Does it still work?”) and still have people asking for more detail (is that a cut diamond? Does the type of cut count? Or is weight the only factor?)) and even if you answer those questions, there will always be an audience for more details - a shrinking audience, but at some point you’re wasting book space appealing to a tiny niche.

And of course you’d have people arguing over whether the price makes sense and whether it should vary according to campaign and/or local economic conditions…

Not that a bit more detail would hurt, I just don’t think it would solve anything.

 

[Xetheral]

It has been thus far, yes.


No I didn't. I said the jeweller would resell it at some price we do not care about. Presumably more than 1000 gp, or they won't be in business for very long.

Ok, I think we crossed wires at some point.

@Maxperson is (assuming I'm understanding him correctly) treating the price listed in the book for cut gemstone treasure as excluding any value added from the cutting process. So my question for him was whether that means that cut gemstones found as treasure can be sold for more than their listed value in his campaign setting, or whether gemcutting doesn't add sale value in his campaign setting.

It sounds like you agree that gemcutting should increase the sale value of a rough, uncut gemstone, yes? So, assuming a 100% markup from raw material cost for finished products, a diamond that would be worth 1000 GP uncut can be sold for 2000 GP if successfully cut?

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

That's so weird, how does does your book differ?
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So the price of wheat, gold, etc is a universal constant?

 

[Crimson Longinus]

It sounds like you agree that gemcutting should increase the sale value of a rough, uncut gemstone, yes? So, assuming a 100% markup from raw material cost for finished products, a diamond that would be worth 1000 GP uncut can be sold for 2000 GP if successfully cut?

So the "half price" for material was just an example, and I would not necessarily run with that. Also, I am not sure if a rough gem is really a raw material and cut gem a finished product in this sense. Gems come in nature in various shapes and sizes, some requiring less cutting an polishing than others. People have and do use some rough gems as jewellery. And what about the rest of the jewellery process? When it is mounted on pendant or a ring etc? If cutting a rough gem increases its price by 100% can't that gem then be used again as raw material for a necklace, increasing its value (and those of other materials) by 100% again? So this would mean that a rough diamond valued at 1000 gp + 300 gp of gold could produce a necklace worth of 4600 gp....

It is just far too complicated, and I really don't care. This is the sort of thing that in my recollection has never come up in a game I've participated in any capacity.