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<blockquote data-quote="Jay Verkuilen" data-source="post: 7768299" data-attributes="member: 6873517">Yes, absolutely. Not having some basis for exchange really feels bizarre and immersion-breaking, too. Exchange is very old---there are examples way back in human prehistory of what looks like trading routes, due to the fact that there is often stone tools found quite long distances from where the stone was sourced. It's just very natural for people to trade. I find WotC's rationalization for not putting any kind of prices as found in the PHB and DMG to be really weak sauce, a total cop-out to not do things they didn't want to do. The same thing happened for giving descriptions for skills (but that's another debate). Some players like a degree of haggling and buying can also be a good way to draw people into adventures. I like doing that quite a bit. You can have a possible seller say &quot;Well, sure, I can sell that to you, but you need to get XYZ for me....&quot; 100%. What I do in general is consider the magic item market as being much more like the market for bespoke clothing, or, maybe even better, antiques, vintage instruments, or art. You won't find much &quot;off the rack&quot; but there is a market for these items. It may involve barter of items for other items, as I already mentioned, or may involve exchange of gold. One source of such items, especially lower end things like Ye Olde +1 Sworde can be adventurers who are getting out of the business and want to start a bar! One thing I often do is have prices fluctuate around a level. So if the PCs want to buy, say, healing potions, I'll make some checks to see how the market's doing. It may be bad. If it is, the PCs may well wonder why and look into it, finding out that the source of healing potion materials has been compromised. These kinds of adventures are really good, too, because they get away from the &quot;save the world&quot; plot which is often a tired cliche. Even in a game that's focused on save the world things, they make for good side treks.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Jay Verkuilen, post: 7768299, member: 6873517"] Yes, absolutely. Not having some basis for exchange really feels bizarre and immersion-breaking, too. Exchange is very old---there are examples way back in human prehistory of what looks like trading routes, due to the fact that there is often stone tools found quite long distances from where the stone was sourced. It's just very natural for people to trade. I find WotC's rationalization for not putting any kind of prices as found in the PHB and DMG to be really weak sauce, a total cop-out to not do things they didn't want to do. The same thing happened for giving descriptions for skills (but that's another debate). Some players like a degree of haggling and buying can also be a good way to draw people into adventures. I like doing that quite a bit. You can have a possible seller say "Well, sure, I can sell that to you, but you need to get XYZ for me...." 100%. What I do in general is consider the magic item market as being much more like the market for bespoke clothing, or, maybe even better, antiques, vintage instruments, or art. You won't find much "off the rack" but there is a market for these items. It may involve barter of items for other items, as I already mentioned, or may involve exchange of gold. One source of such items, especially lower end things like Ye Olde +1 Sworde can be adventurers who are getting out of the business and want to start a bar! One thing I often do is have prices fluctuate around a level. So if the PCs want to buy, say, healing potions, I'll make some checks to see how the market's doing. It may be bad. If it is, the PCs may well wonder why and look into it, finding out that the source of healing potion materials has been compromised. These kinds of adventures are really good, too, because they get away from the "save the world" plot which is often a tired cliche. Even in a game that's focused on save the world things, they make for good side treks. [/QUOTE]

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