Where does the gold go?

[Philip]

I have always wondered where the gold goes when you create magic items, golems etc. I imagine you have to spent that much gold to get the right equipment, materials and ingredients to create your masterpiece.

But if it is spent that way, the gold goes back into the local economy, right? What kind of impact does that have when a wizard secludes himself near a small village to start working on that robe of eyes? Do the villagers get rich overnight?

Considering how much magical items are made, is there some kind of underground market driven by magic items creation we just never see?

 

[Wormwood]

I always assumed that the gold was eaten by the Game Balance Gods.

 

[Hardhead]

I have always wondered where the gold goes when you create magic items, golems etc. I imagine you have to spent that much gold to get the right equipment, materials and ingredients to create your masterpiece.

But if it is spent that way, the gold goes back into the local economy, right? What kind of impact does that have when a wizard secludes himself near a small village to start working on that robe of eyes? Do the villagers get rich overnight?

Considering how much magical items are made, is there some kind of underground market driven by magic items creation we just never see?

It helps explain the absurd D&D "economy," at least.

I always found it funny that the comment "worth it's weight in gold," is an expression meaning absurdly high value in the real world. In D&D, such a saying would probably mean something like "reasonably priced." A belt pouch is one gp. An empty chest (no lock) is 2 gp. So is a barrel and a backpack. Ink is worth *far* more than it's weight in gold 1 oz per 8 gp. A halfling's climbers kit costs 80 gp and weighs less than 4 pounds.

So, sure, a 60,000 gold coin infusion from a wizard making a Robe of Eyes might sound like a lot, but when you think of it as "everyone in the village can almost afford to buy a horse and saddle" it's not that much.

 

[psyronin]

A village is not going to have the materials needed to make a robe of eyes.

Somewhere in the DMG I think is a chart that shows what the most expensive item in terms of gold pieces that can be found for sale in the various settlement sizes (village, town, city, etc). You can easily use that same chart as a limit on the magical items that can be created without having to resort to buying a portion of the components elsewhere.

Even without that chart, villagers will not get rich overnight. For that to happen you would have to figure out exactly what the components required are. And unless the components are mundane the villagers simply will not have them. Actually, even if the components were mundane, like wool, the gold amounts involved mean quantities that a single village cannot provide. There may be a trader in that village with the right components, and you may make him insanely rich, but the villagers' wealth will remain the same.

 

[dcollins]

But if it is spent that way, the gold goes back into the local economy, right? What kind of impact does that have when a wizard secludes himself near a small village to start working on that robe of eyes? Do the villagers get rich overnight?

I would definitely not think so. The components of magic items are presumably rare, exotic, and special, and therefore not part of the of a rural "small village" peasant economy. Examples:

* Gems, powdered -- The local gem merchant makes a standard bit of profit, but the gem commodity is in turn destroyed.
* Rare woods or spices -- Not part of local fauna, maybe a travelling merchant makes a good sale price and then travels away with his gold.
* Masterwork equipment -- Requires a master-level expert craftsman, making his normal wage, who probably couldn't be hired by village peasants anyway.
* Monstrous anatomies -- Possibly gold paid to hire adventurers, definitely not something the village serfs could accomplish.

In short, I can't think of any way for village peasants to be providing magic item components, unless somehow huge quantities of wheat, cheese, or sheepskins were involved.

 

[Philip]

In short, I can't think of any way for village peasants to be providing magic item components, unless somehow huge quantities of wheat, cheese, or sheepskins were involved.

Maybe, I was just trying to image where the thousands of gold pieces would end up. Now I have an image of merchants, adventurers etc. coming and going at the door of the wizards tower.

 

[Philip]

A village is not going to have the materials needed to make a robe of eyes.

Does this mean that idea of a wizard creating is powerful magic items and mighty constructs in his secluded tower far from civilization is nonsensical? Or does he pay for all his expenses in advance?

Does anybody know if you need to pay in advance when creating a magic item, or are you just spending about 500 gp. a day?

 

[AuraSeer]

I assume the money goes toward buying magical reagents and components. Newbie adventurers are always being sent on quests by powerful wizards-- you know, "I'll pay you 5000 gp to fetch me the left eye of an albino black dragon hatchling"? This time you're on the paying end, not the dragon-slaying end.

 

[Philip]

I assume the money goes toward buying magical reagents and components. Newbie adventurers are always being sent on quests by powerful wizards-- you know, "I'll pay you 5000 gp to fetch me the left eye of an albino black dragon hatchling"? This time you're on the paying end, not the dragon-slaying end.

Well, at least that makes a lot of sense. It does mean that 'adventuring-types' have their own little private economy going:

Need dragon parts to create magic items -> hire adventurers to kill dragon -> adventurers get reward -> adventurers use reward to get magic items -> dragon parts are needed create the magic items they need -> etc.

 

[psyronin]

Does this mean that idea of a wizard creating is powerful magic items and mighty constructs in his secluded tower far from civilization is nonsensical? Or does he pay for all his expenses in advance?

Either way works, but paying in advance makes the most sense. If you were to paint a house, would you buy one gallon of paint and then go back to the store every time you ran out, or would you buy all the paint you needed at once?
So a wizard can create a magical item anywhere, as long as the gold was spent beforehand in acquiring the components for that particular item.