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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pming" data-source="post: 6546248" data-attributes="member: 45197">Hiya!  If you are going to go through the time and effort of creating an entire campaign world set in the "golden age of magic", then jotting down at least a page or two of notes on how common it is for people to own and buy magic items is something you're going to be doing anyway. Just go a step further and come up with base formula's for how and what types of items you want available. How is "creating prices for magic items" and more difficult than "creating the history and social norms of nine different countries"? Both would take you're brain to imagine it and write it down.  I really don't see the problem you are seeing. DM'ing is all about "whims"; that's the whole "using your imagination to help weave a fun and exciting fantasy adventure". There isn't a rule for determining how many kids the town miller has. If you just blurt out "You see the miller, a look of hopelessness on his face. Around him are 11 of his 15 children, screaming, running, chasing squirrels and mice. His eye brighten up as he sees you approaching". You just decided all that "on a whim". And yes, it could EASILY affect the game as much as the price of a Ring of Water Walking. I've seen entire campaigns go off on some weird and totally unexpected tangent that the players latched onto for Asmodeus-knows what reason. Like the time we started an Aliens campaign...at the end of the first session we were no longer colonial marines; we were owner/operators of a space-transport company with the tag line of "It's on our way...". Why? The DM decided something "on a whim" to add flavour to the setting description and someone in the group latched on, then another, then another. Poof! Our "Aliens" game turned into "Space Merchants". All because of a whim.  This was one of the most memorable and fun campaigns of any game we have ever played. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Dude, you do realize that deciding to move the rest of the campaign into the underdark is a "whim", right? When you decide to do that, or they decide to, you (I'm going to say "you" when it could be "them", as appropriate to whomever decided to go into the underdark)... should also be thinking of the logistics and what is likely to be needed (from your point of view, the DM's I'm assuming). I mean, are there rules for air quality? What about temperature? How about how hard it is to forage for edible food like mushrooms or insects? Small rodents? Large rodents only found in the underdark? What about fishing in streams? How about how to determine if water is drinkable? There are no "rules" for those either. I'm assuming you've thought of how you are going to handle them. I'm also pretty sure that the rules you come up for surviving in the "wilderness" of the underdark will be FAR more a determining factor for feel of the campaign as well as PC survival than "accidentally deciding that Goggles of Darkvision are too expensive". If you seriously think the scout in the underdark is going to get screwed because of everything...just give him some frickin' Goggle of Darkvision already. It's not rocket science. Maybe one of the parties contacts says "I hear you are heading down into the underdark. Nasty place, that. Had to live down there for over a month. Worst month of my life. Here, take these Goggles of Darkvision. If you get out alive, maybe you can bring them back to me and tell me of your adventures down there over cold pint of brew."  The problem with magic item shops is the inevitability of ridiculous power creep and optimization. If you think "winging" prices for magic item is bad...wait until your fully decked out party of 5th level PC's are cleaning up on CR 15 monsters six times a day. You'll be "winging" power buffs, templates, extra attacks, higher hp's, better saves, etc. all day long. ... You're much better off "winging" a few magic item prices on a case by case basis, I'd wager... <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />^_^Paul L. Ming</blockquote>

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