So looking at making a +1 Vicious weapon for one of my players to have available to buy but not sure on what I should charge for it, a +1 weapon comes in about 1500 usually in my world, a vicious weapon about 500-700, but not sure if the 2 combined will be greater then the 2 parts?
It depends on where their buying it, who is selling it, how they got it, and whether they know it’s true value. I’d put it at least 2,500 and at most 5,000. Put some thought into the above questions, and that should help put a price on it. Keep in mind that there are very few situations where you can simply buy a magic item, most of the time you get it from a powerful enemy or from a dungeon, so if you could provide more context on how they’re getting this opportunity it’d be easier to put a price on it.
Refute the gold>power mechanic. Let the price of magic be a song, or moonlight, or a rare flower*, or a beloved childhood memory, or marrow from the bones of a race of dragon long gone to dust. Let gold be spent on hats and boots and a fancy home and a carriage.
* Like, not just the most expensive item at the flowershop - but some magic flower that only blooms once a century, at the peak of a solitary mountain on another plane.
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Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
It depends on where their buying it, who is selling it, how they got it, and whether they know it’s true value. I’d put it at least 2,500 and at most 5,000. Put some thought into the above questions, and that should help put a price on it. Keep in mind that there are very few situations where you can simply buy a magic item, most of the time you get it from a powerful enemy or from a dungeon, so if you could provide more context on how they’re getting this opportunity it’d be easier to put a price on it.
In my world there are magic shops, the city they are in now has 5 of them, I tend to use the sane magic item price guide for pricing.
It always makes me a little sad. I know the game is designed that way - and that players come to expect it - but to me, it becomes Wallmagic, where your mass produced, prepackaged magic item comes with a small prize*, and the option to purchase extended warranty in case of theft or damage.
My homebrew world has a brokerage. It has only 3 (known) cities, and the largest one is Madripore. Here, in a series of rooms behind a tea house, you can meet agents who will trade magic items ... for things. No gold (as already stated) is part of the transaction (well, except maybe for the agents fee). The agents are ... strange. I take special care to make sure they are never of any race any of the players has ever encountered. They ask for strange things.
Then, because I'm bad, I forget what those things are, and what sort of impact I meant for them to have in-game.
* I'm thinking maybe a toy lion that will roar when you squeeze it. Or a tiny magic fireworks that shoots colorful sparks.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
It always makes me a little sad. I know the game is designed that way - and that players come to expect it - but to me, it becomes Wallmagic, where your mass produced, prepackaged magic item comes with a small prize*, and the option to purchase extended warranty in case of theft or damage.
My homebrew world has a brokerage. It has only 3 (known) cities, and the largest one is Madripore. Here, in a series of rooms behind a tea house, you can meet agents who will trade magic items ... for things. No gold (as already stated) is part of the transaction (well, except maybe for the agents fee). The agents are ... strange. I take special care to make sure they are never of any race any of the players has ever encountered. They ask for strange things.
Then, because I'm bad, I forget what those things are, and what sort of impact I meant for them to have in-game.
* I'm thinking maybe a toy lion that will roar when you squeeze it. Or a tiny magic fireworks that shoots colorful sparks.
Not at all, there are no "mass produced" magic items, shops have unique items that they sell, and they buy from adventurers as well. The city they are in has 5 shops, none of these is a giant superstore, they are small antique dealerships quirky stores that have a small number of items in each one some things the players might want or need, others things they didn't even think of. So many people say magic shops ruin a campaign, they really don't and I always think logically, they would exist in the world. Wizards can make magic items, there would be many wizards who's whole form of revenue would be making those from the safety of their own home. Artificers as a class exist to make magic items (the one in my campaign has made his own +1 shield and is working on making his own suit of armour that he will then enchant). +1 weapons are held by commanders and officers in the armies and, in rich towns, some town guard commanders. There are still things that are one off's. Still items that are so rare they are mythical and to buy them would cost 100's of thousands of gold. One shop the party have not visited yet has one of these items, a holy avenger sword protected, on display, with a price tag of 250,000 gold.
In my world there are many adventuring parties, there are teams of Dwarves re discovering there lost holds and all the magic items they hold, there are elves creating and crafting magical wonders to trade and sell. There are magical flowers that bloom and give off scents unlike anything seen before made of glass or metal or ceramic, there are fountains that hold shimmering magical fish. My magic shops have as much of this mundane magic as they do items of adventure or battle.
Magic shops fail if you price based on the DMG or even Xanathars, if you take a far different view to the price of things based on there usefulness (sane magic item price guide is a great starting point for this) then you can put magic shops in your game and watch as your players drool while working out how they will afford that thing they want.
Another campaign I ran had 1 single magic shop, it existed on its own plane and had every magic item in the books stocked at the start of the campaign. Throughout the world in most towns and city's it had a shop front, on entry you where taken to a different plane and presented a shop front. The seller would appear, take your order and then go to the storage plane and get your item. It meant the players knew that every magic item in the game was available to them, they also knew that they would cost, it worked really well and again didn't break the game because I controlled what they could buy through controlling how much gold they acquired.
But I have decided on a price of 2900 for the +1 vicious crossbow.
Oh - sorry. I didn't mean to imply anything about your game or game world. I know nothing about it. I meant in the most general sense. And I'd like to point out that my 'broker' is just a magic item shop by another name. Frankly, I don't mean to comment on how anyone plays their game, there's no wrong way to RPG. And I realise my view of things is ... unusually restrictive =D
But it works for the game and world in question: Basically no one has class levels, mages are super rare (and for some reason, none of my players have chosen to be a mage), and so on. Also, it's E6. Which also means it's 3.5, it's been going on a while. I'm not sure how I'd do E6-equivalent in 5e.
Anyways, it all ties together: Inside of level 6, with very limited magic items, no character is every going to be immune to a unit of archers, and that means that the city guard is always a credible threat, and player characters are in no position to take over countries based on their personal power. I don't like magic shops, and that leads to worldbuilding that I enjoy =)
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Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
Oh - sorry. I didn't mean to imply anything about your game or game world. I know nothing about it. I meant in the most general sense. And I'd like to point out that my 'broker' is just a magic item shop by another name. Frankly, I don't mean to comment on how anyone plays their game, there's no wrong way to RPG. And I realise my view of things is ... unusually restrictive =D
But it works for the game and world in question: Basically no one has class levels, mages are super rare (and for some reason, none of my players have chosen to be a mage), and so on. Also, it's E6. Which also means it's 3.5, it's been going on a while. I'm not sure how I'd do E6-equivalent in 5e.
Anyways, it all ties together: Inside of level 6, with very limited magic items, no character is every going to be immune to a unit of archers, and that means that the city guard is always a credible threat, and player characters are in no position to take over countries based on their personal power. I don't like magic shops, and that leads to worldbuilding that I enjoy =)
Didn’t take offense and I understand some DMs don’t like the concept, I can also see how they can get really out of control without the DM controlling prices and ignoring RAW which a lot of new DMs understandably find hard to do which then breaks there games. This is something I hope the new rule book addresses for new DMs.
I think low magic campaigns can be fun, I have in the past run campaigns where I limited certain magic classes because they didn’t work in my world, and had a campaign where magic use was banned in world so the sorcerer had to keep his abilities secret personally though I find a smattering of magic shops or magic item sellers means I don’t have to think about the magic item for some reason I find it easier to populate a shop then a horde lol.
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So looking at making a +1 Vicious weapon for one of my players to have available to buy but not sure on what I should charge for it, a +1 weapon comes in about 1500 usually in my world, a vicious weapon about 500-700, but not sure if the 2 combined will be greater then the 2 parts?
It depends on where their buying it, who is selling it, how they got it, and whether they know it’s true value. I’d put it at least 2,500 and at most 5,000. Put some thought into the above questions, and that should help put a price on it. Keep in mind that there are very few situations where you can simply buy a magic item, most of the time you get it from a powerful enemy or from a dungeon, so if you could provide more context on how they’re getting this opportunity it’d be easier to put a price on it.
Refute the gold>power mechanic. Let the price of magic be a song, or moonlight, or a rare flower*, or a beloved childhood memory, or marrow from the bones of a race of dragon long gone to dust. Let gold be spent on hats and boots and a fancy home and a carriage.
* Like, not just the most expensive item at the flowershop - but some magic flower that only blooms once a century, at the peak of a solitary mountain on another plane.
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
To buy magic in my campaigns you have to spend magic. So there is a semi formalized barter system in place on the basis of rarity and utility
In my world there are magic shops, the city they are in now has 5 of them, I tend to use the sane magic item price guide for pricing.
It always makes me a little sad. I know the game is designed that way - and that players come to expect it - but to me, it becomes Wallmagic, where your mass produced, prepackaged magic item comes with a small prize*, and the option to purchase extended warranty in case of theft or damage.
My homebrew world has a brokerage. It has only 3 (known) cities, and the largest one is Madripore. Here, in a series of rooms behind a tea house, you can meet agents who will trade magic items ... for things. No gold (as already stated) is part of the transaction (well, except maybe for the agents fee). The agents are ... strange. I take special care to make sure they are never of any race any of the players has ever encountered. They ask for strange things.
Then, because I'm bad, I forget what those things are, and what sort of impact I meant for them to have in-game.
* I'm thinking maybe a toy lion that will roar when you squeeze it. Or a tiny magic fireworks that shoots colorful sparks.
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
Not at all, there are no "mass produced" magic items, shops have unique items that they sell, and they buy from adventurers as well. The city they are in has 5 shops, none of these is a giant superstore, they are small antique dealerships quirky stores that have a small number of items in each one some things the players might want or need, others things they didn't even think of. So many people say magic shops ruin a campaign, they really don't and I always think logically, they would exist in the world. Wizards can make magic items, there would be many wizards who's whole form of revenue would be making those from the safety of their own home. Artificers as a class exist to make magic items (the one in my campaign has made his own +1 shield and is working on making his own suit of armour that he will then enchant). +1 weapons are held by commanders and officers in the armies and, in rich towns, some town guard commanders. There are still things that are one off's. Still items that are so rare they are mythical and to buy them would cost 100's of thousands of gold. One shop the party have not visited yet has one of these items, a holy avenger sword protected, on display, with a price tag of 250,000 gold.
In my world there are many adventuring parties, there are teams of Dwarves re discovering there lost holds and all the magic items they hold, there are elves creating and crafting magical wonders to trade and sell. There are magical flowers that bloom and give off scents unlike anything seen before made of glass or metal or ceramic, there are fountains that hold shimmering magical fish. My magic shops have as much of this mundane magic as they do items of adventure or battle.
Magic shops fail if you price based on the DMG or even Xanathars, if you take a far different view to the price of things based on there usefulness (sane magic item price guide is a great starting point for this) then you can put magic shops in your game and watch as your players drool while working out how they will afford that thing they want.
Another campaign I ran had 1 single magic shop, it existed on its own plane and had every magic item in the books stocked at the start of the campaign. Throughout the world in most towns and city's it had a shop front, on entry you where taken to a different plane and presented a shop front. The seller would appear, take your order and then go to the storage plane and get your item. It meant the players knew that every magic item in the game was available to them, they also knew that they would cost, it worked really well and again didn't break the game because I controlled what they could buy through controlling how much gold they acquired.
But I have decided on a price of 2900 for the +1 vicious crossbow.
Oh - sorry. I didn't mean to imply anything about your game or game world. I know nothing about it. I meant in the most general sense. And I'd like to point out that my 'broker' is just a magic item shop by another name. Frankly, I don't mean to comment on how anyone plays their game, there's no wrong way to RPG. And I realise my view of things is ... unusually restrictive =D
But it works for the game and world in question: Basically no one has class levels, mages are super rare (and for some reason, none of my players have chosen to be a mage), and so on. Also, it's E6. Which also means it's 3.5, it's been going on a while. I'm not sure how I'd do E6-equivalent in 5e.
Anyways, it all ties together: Inside of level 6, with very limited magic items, no character is every going to be immune to a unit of archers, and that means that the city guard is always a credible threat, and player characters are in no position to take over countries based on their personal power. I don't like magic shops, and that leads to worldbuilding that I enjoy =)
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
Didn’t take offense and I understand some DMs don’t like the concept, I can also see how they can get really out of control without the DM controlling prices and ignoring RAW which a lot of new DMs understandably find hard to do which then breaks there games. This is something I hope the new rule book addresses for new DMs.
I think low magic campaigns can be fun, I have in the past run campaigns where I limited certain magic classes because they didn’t work in my world, and had a campaign where magic use was banned in world so the sorcerer had to keep his abilities secret personally though I find a smattering of magic shops or magic item sellers means I don’t have to think about the magic item for some reason I find it easier to populate a shop then a horde lol.