Who goes shopping for magic?

[Wombat]

In my last campaign, there are no magic shops. In my previous campaign, there were no magic shops. In my next campaign, there will be no magic shops.

I allow sale of Masterwork weapons and equipment, of course, but if a character wants a magical item they have to directly commission it from a wizard who is willing to create such an item (sometimes the wizard would want money, other times a mini-quest, sometimes willing to do so for "services previously rendered"). More often we have weapons (or armour) blessed in temples, which will give the weapon a +1 equivalent level, sometimes chosen by the player, sometimes predetermined by the deity involved.

Scrolls and potions are either created by the players or traded for with the same wizards and clerics, but rarely as a direct cash transaction.

Basically I can't imagine a powerful wizard just sitting around making items for other people, especially since the only way the wizards can become powerful in D&D is to go out and mix it up with monsters and classed characters.

 

[Nightfall]

The only thing I ever really let my players find/buy are potions and maybe scrolls, and even then it depends on the time of year (market time, traveling merchants visiting, etc) and city they happen to be in. Magic shops/Treasures-R-Us don't exist in my campaign.

I pretty much side with Scott on this. Scrolls, potions and probably wands are the only things I will not alter the base price and/or say will be able to buy in most places. The rest, hey you find it, you keep it.

 

[Arnwyn]

The option that I use "most of the time" is that magic is not available for sale anywhere. However, Grazzt's answer above is close to what I do the rest of the time.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

In Urbis, most low-power magic items are easily available, and even higher-power items can be quickly commissioned thanks the Nexus Towers (who are really useful for creating magic items).

Of course, the real question whether it is legal for you to buy the item - and in case of the usual shady adventurers that the PCs represent, the answer is usually "no" in case of the more interesting items...

 

[Iron Sheep]

In any settlement of town size or larger, one can find some simple potions for sale, such as cure light wounds. Now and then, a scroll for a 1st level arcane spell will show up too. That's about it. In smaller settlements, there are no magic items for sale or trade, period.

The party has been gifted with some minor items, like a wand of sleep with a small number of charges, etc. These have all been rewards, or tools given them to complete a task they were assigned by an NPC.

Interestingly, they seem unwilling to use any of their consumable magic items except for healing potions. So I'm not sure why I should continue to give them out.

I think you might find that the scarcity of magic that can be purchased and the unwillingness to use charged items are related. In a low-magic game, any consumable item that cannot be easily replaced or recharged becomes an extremely limited resource, and so people will naturally be reluctant to use it.

For example, a wand of sleep with a small number of charges will only be used if all of the caster's spells are gone and the front line fighters still need help, even if using the wand right at the start of an encounter might have been a more efficient use of resources. Since the charges on the wand can't be replaced, the natural response is to save them for "emergencies" or "when they are really needed." This sort of reasoning tends to lead to a situation where you have a 20th level mage who still has the wand of sleep because they eventually get to the point where they either they never need to use it, or its useless against whatever they are fighting, but they still hang on to it "just in case."

If charged items are easily replaced (like potions of cure light wounds are), then the players will use them much more freely: after all it's only money (plus a little for the inconvenience of replacing them).

This sort of reasoning may not be done at a conscious level, but I think it's the sort of thing that people do naturally when considering their options.

Both my current players have told me that they feel like this with charged items. My game is not low-magic by a long shot, but the players have found themselves in situations where the nearest place they can buy magic is a long way away or inconvenient to get to, or they simply have a time constraint which prevents a quick trip to get more magic. As a result, they've often expressed how much they prefer items without charges, because with charged items they continually have to justify to themselves whether or not they should be using them. They'd much rather have a bag of tricks than an equivalently valued wand of summon monster.

On the other hand, some people like having to make these decisions: the question of how you best overcome a given situation while using the least resources can be challenging and interesting.

So as I see it, your options are: (a) make low-level wands, scrolls, etc easier to buy or easier to recharge, so the players no longer value them as irreplaceable, (b) make them more common as rewards/treasure, for the same reason, (c) keep doing what you are doing but acknowledge that your players are going to be reluctant to use the items, making the items more special as rewards and playing up the question of whether they should be used, (d) stop giving them out, and give low-power non-consumable items as rewards instead, (e) encourage magic item creation by the player characters, or allow them to recharge items easily themselves, or (f) some other option which I haven't thought of.

Which path you take depends on what you and your players find most fun, and what fits best with the themes of your game. I've not run a low magic game since back in 1st and 2nd edition days, so I really don't know what will work best. Other people may have some ideas.

Regards,
Corran

 

[KB9JMQ]

Well before 3E nothing magic was ever for sale.
Now I let potions, scrolls and some wands end up in small towns a few more items in cities.
In villages only a potion if that is available for a hefty price.
Armor and weapons (magical) are never available but can be commissioned in a large city.

 

[Altamont Ravenard]

The games I run in FR, I usually let them find what they want. It might take some extra time, but that's about it. I sometimes have a tendency of letting them find what I want (depending on the situation). Most games I play in vary between those 2 poles.

AR

 

[MadBlue]

In a large size city or larger, characters can find minor potions and scrolls (and some minor wondrous items and wands) for sale. In a city they can commission magic items if they can find someone to craft them. Spellcasters aren't pumping out +1 swords and rings of protection, though. Most permanent magic items come from quests or defeating NPCs.

MadBlue

 

[Deadguy]

I work primarily on the commission approach. Items available are generally confined to what can reasonably be made by the resident clerics and wizards, though it's not hard for PCs to find out the range of feats and costs in a given locale. Pure mechanics suggests that anything outside simple potions and low-level scrolls are available only in larger cities.

Of the cheaper items like cure light wounds potions and wands, and lesser restoration scrolls, they are often available 'off-the-shelf', since their crafters know there is a ready market for such items. Then again (and this colours my answer) I don't assume that PCs are unique as adventurers. There are other individuals and groups pursuing exactly the same interests as the PCs, with similar requirements.

As a question for those who place pretty draconian restrictions on the availability of items: do you go to some lengths to 'tailor' the items they find in treasure to the needs of the PCs?

I am curious, because one of the things I am very happy with 3.X for is getting away from the idea that the only place magic items appear is in monster treasuries. Under earlier D&D versions I had to interfere with random determinations to 'serendipitously' include items relevant to the PCs. Otherwise the tendency was for magic items to be seen as 'just loot for selling'. The act of making magic items available for purchase seems to make the items more special, not less, in my campaigns!

 

[Gothmog]

As a question for those who place pretty draconian restrictions on the availability of items: do you go to some lengths to 'tailor' the items they find in treasure to the needs of the PCs?

I am curious, because one of the things I am very happy with 3.X for is getting away from the idea that the only place magic items appear is in monster treasuries. Under earlier D&D versions I had to interfere with random determinations to 'serendipitously' include items relevant to the PCs. Otherwise the tendency was for magic items to be seen as 'just loot for selling'. The act of making magic items available for purchase seems to make the items more special, not less, in my campaigns!

In my lower-magic games, most items are found by the party, although sometimes they can buy potions, elixers, or minor (1-3rd level) scrolls from an alchemist. The party wizard and witch (new homebrew class) have made a few minor items as well. But I don't allow the party to go out and just buy items or commission them. After all, most wizards have better things to do than make items for a group of people they don't really know well. Not to mention that most kingdoms and governments REALY frown on the buying and selling of magical items that can be used to undermine their authority (armor, weapons, items of mass destruction, or items that can compel or charm others). The party has watched an NPC wizard who was careless about who his clients were get executed for making a wand of lightning for a group of mercenaries who then killed a baron.

As far as the items my group finds, I mostly use a semi-random generation of items. For example, if I know a fighter in the group needs a magic weapon, I'll generate a weapon for him in the adventure, but it might not be his specialized weapon. Most items I generate though aren't geared to any certain person in the group, but instead I insert what I generate into the adventure, and give it a good reason for being there (whether as treasure or as equipment for an NPC). I find tailoring treasure specifically to the PCs needs a little jarring to believability, and it is kinda fun to see how the group decides to use some of the more unusual things I have thrown out there.