My players are selling all their magic items they come across that aren't +1 weapons for only 50 gp no questions asked. I can kind of see the reason for selling a wand of pyrotechnics or a cloak of billowing. But they sold even their clockwork amulet and their hat of wizardry. I just don't see why that would be a good idea. You hoard gold so you can get magic items not the other way around. Shouldn't players hold onto their magic items.
They say they are selling them because their is really not a lot you can do with them. But i think that is the purpose of magical items like that. You have to find ways to use them.
But I think things like the clockwork amulet don't even fall into that category that is a truly useful item.
Also curious why is cloak of billowing the best item ever? I can think of a lot of funny things that can lead to and some uses. But why is it the best item ever?
Also curious why is cloak of billowing the best item ever? I can think of a lot of funny things that can lead to and some uses. But why is it the best item ever?
Because sarcasm exists?
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If you are being disingenuous and rude, consider this your only response.
Honestly, it could be that they're looking at the carry capacity and worrying about going over. It could be that they just don't see how these items could ever be useful. Wand of Pyrotechnics isn't all that good an item.
Loot in general is an under-explained aspect of the Dungeon Master's Guide. I do tend to work out what types of challenges might exist in the future of the world and drop magic items that have a chance of helping the party overcome those challenges. A Drift Globe is a great item if you are likely to have caves to explore, or mines to defend, or dungeons to delve in the adventure ahead. Dropping something you as a GM think is cool, doesn't guarantee that your players will feel that way. However, if you drop items that have clear utility, they'll hang onto them.
Also, as a rule I personally do not allow magic item shops. There are no such things in my adventure settings unless players decide to try and start them up. Average merchants don't in my worlds want the risk and costs associated with having an entire shop of magic items where a thief could ruin their livelihoods. It I do drop an arcane trader, it's a shadowy figure in an alleyway that disappears once you look away. Or it's a shop that was mysteriously not there yesterday, and won't be there after the sun goes down. All the items within would carry a glyph of cursing that if stolen will enact the curse. On purchase the trader removes the glyph so there's no risk of cursing. My personal take, and I know many GMs disagree here, is that Magic Item shops are just boring. A magic item to me should feel rare and special. It shouldn't feel mundane enough to be purchased from that shop in the village. When you work your way through an encounter location and find a mysterious pair of boots that seem to make you faster, or an armour that is wreathed in flames and provides a resistance to fire damage...that should feel cool and like a true discovery. Maybe there will be a collector who would be willing to purchase the item, but by and large I would never personally allow a big-standard merchant to be able to buy a magic item. You quest and loot for magic items - not for the gold to buy magic items - at least that's the way it works in my adventure settings.
There is a great Curiosities trader in Waterdeep: Dragonheist that I use as a template for magic shops. 99% of what he sells is snake oil level quackery, but once in a blue moon something he CLAIMS is magically... actually is.
I also gave him a skull with diamonds set in the eyes that he swears will kill anyone who looks directly into it.
And a snow globe with that allegedly has the spirit of a witch trapped in it. She will answer yes and no questions once per minute if you shake it and watch the snow form a response inside the globe. She only has her own personal knowledge and the ability to observe around the globe so she's not 100% reliable. I rather liked that item. Until the party cleric just smashed it to the ground and released the spirit within....
Also curious why is cloak of billowing the best item ever? I can think of a lot of funny things that can lead to and some uses. But why is it the best item ever?
Because sarcasm exists?
Nope. I'm sincere, although being hyperbolic for humorous effect.
It is legitimately a great low-level magic item that is likely to keep being used throughout a character's career.
Thanks guys. So you would still allow an occasional random item to pop up shrouded in mystery. And you would still allow the characters to go hunt down magic items during downtime.
They say they are selling them because their is really not a lot you can do with them.
I have an NPC in my homebrew world who is a rogue pretending to be a spellcaster, and all their "spells" come from magic items. They aren't even an Arcane Trickster; they have no casting ability at all, just a lot of toys
You could introduce a character like that as a way to show them just how useful the items they're selling off can be
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
They say they are selling them because their is really not a lot you can do with them.
I have an NPC in my homebrew world who is a rogue pretending to be a spellcaster, and all their "spells" come from magic items. They aren't even an Arcane Trickster; they have no casting ability at all, just a lot of toys
You could introduce a character like that as a way to show them just how useful the items they're selling off can be
That is a great idea thank you! That should really show them how useful the items are.
I don't know what promts them to want gold over priceless magic items. Besides the town council only is willing to pay 50 gp no matter what item so they would be better off keeping them.
I don't know what promts them to want gold over priceless magic items. Besides the town council only is willing to pay 50 gp no matter what item so they would be better off keeping them.
Most likely, they just don't think they're more useful than 50 gold.
It suggests to me that they're overly focused on combat effectiveness. Of all the items you've mentioned, only the clockwork amulet has any real combat use, and it's easy to overlook the value of "one guaranteed hit" when it's not presented that way. They don't seem to value utility (the hat), misdirection (the wand), or pure roleplay (the cloak).
I don't know if this makes sense in the context of your game, or if it's just a blind spot. How often do they have problems to solve that aren't solvable by hitting things?
Players vary. I've had players be overjoyed to find a magic quill that never runs out of ink. They were a wizard, so it's obviously useful to the character, even though it produces no mechanical advantage.
One thing to remember is that as GM, you are free to declare that vendors don't want these items or that they won't give the PCs the price they want for them.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Your players sound like min-maxers they aren't going to care about any magic items that aren't a straight boost to their combat effectiveness. That's just how some players are - they want to play a hack-and-slash and don't really care about anything else. Sure those items could be useful if they used their creativity to come up with solutions but they don't want to do that, and thus they instead are "clutter" on their character sheets. It's not your fault, it's their lack of curiosity and creativity. Sure you can try to make them play the way you think they should but usually that just makes everyone frustrated. So my advice is instead of trying to make the game what you want it to be, choose to enjoy the fact that your players are having fun and let them play however they want to.
It sounds to me like the players aren't into the role playing aspects of the game very much.
Most common magic items don't do much except add some style or some chaos. Even ones like the Clockwork Amulet are of limited usefulness since it REPLACES your roll with a 10. In many cases, any interesting result, requires a roll greater than 10 - sometimes a lot higher. Replacing a d20 with a less than average value (10.5 is average) is pretty much equivalent to a passive attack.
In addition, when used on an attack roll, it means that the character can't roll a critical hit. Not only that, using it and discovering that a 10 is a miss just means a wasted attack. Of course, if used in later rounds of combat when the party knows that a 10 will hit or miss - it might be more useful but when combats are typically short and this can be used once/day it is probably something that will get forgotten in the few situations when it might be useful.
Even a wand of pyrotechnics ... unless you want to try entertaining a crowd for less than a minute with 6 flashes of light and popping sounds ... it doesn't do much. Even a suggestion to use it to distract guards is based on an assumption that the guards haven't seen the effects of a wand of pyrotechnics a hundred times already, instantly recognize it, and would not find it to be even the smallest distraction.
So, if the characters have other things to spend gold on ... save up to buy that breastplate, half plate or plate armor ... pick up a long bow or great sword ... buy a climbers kit, caltrops, food, dungeoneering supplies ... or even give 50gp to the local orphanage ... then I can easily see them giving up these "useless" magic items for a bit of gold.
On the other hand, a bunch of players into role playing might enjoy a cloak of billowing when they walk into a bar, even though everyone there knows what it is, or might enjoy entertaining some children with their wand of pyrotechnics or blowing animal shapes with smoke from a pipe ... but that is on the players and the type of characters they are playing. A lot of characters (and player) might have little interest in those types of flourishes to their activities.
P.S. Depending on how you have built your world .. 50gp could be a huge amount of money to commoners who wouldn't want to buy something that can't help them. Wealthier patrons might prefer to purchase "real" magic items instead of toys assuming you are even going to have a market for magic items. So, it is entirely up to you whether there is even anyone who would want to or could afford to buy these for 50gp. However, if you don't let them be sold, be prepared for the characters to toss them at the bottom of a pack or leave them behind if they get too heavy.
Having taken some time to consider your original post I do have another suggestion. It's based on something that I personally, as a GM do not like, but might be helpful in your situation.
I once had a player come to me with effectively a shopping list of magic items that they wanted for their player character. Now this kind of approach is one that I'm not a fan of. It tends to come from the sort of player who plans out their character's progression from levels 1-20 before they've ever actually played a session. However, there's no wrong way to play the game and it could well be that your players would relish the opportunity to say 'hey here's the type of magic items we'd love to see'. This might help you better plan the types of magic items that you drop. So instead of items you think are cool, you're giving the players items that they think are cool.
Having taken some time to consider your original post I do have another suggestion. It's based on something that I personally, as a GM do not like, but might be helpful in your situation.
I once had a player come to me with effectively a shopping list of magic items that they wanted for their player character. Now this kind of approach is one that I'm not a fan of. It tends to come from the sort of player who plans out their character's progression from levels 1-20 before they've ever actually played a session. However, there's no wrong way to play the game and it could well be that your players would relish the opportunity to say 'hey here's the type of magic items we'd love to see'. This might help you better plan the types of magic items that you drop. So instead of items you think are cool, you're giving the players items that they think are cool.
For what it's worth, I'm not a fan either of "I want my character to have item X at level Y".
However, there is an aspect of collaborative story telling where knowing what players will find interesting can really help. One easy way is to ask them for a "wish list" and then use that some random tables and other things to flesh out what you want to offer in your game as Loot or as Sales Items.
It doesn't have to be exactly what they want but it can give you some direction.
My players are selling all their magic items they come across that aren't +1 weapons for only 50 gp no questions asked. I can kind of see the reason for selling a wand of pyrotechnics or a cloak of billowing. But they sold even their clockwork amulet and their hat of wizardry. I just don't see why that would be a good idea. You hoard gold so you can get magic items not the other way around. Shouldn't players hold onto their magic items.
Have you asked them why they're doing it?
Also, cloak of billowing is the best item ever.
They may sell these common magic items to buy rarer and more powerful ones.
Only one way to find out, as jl8e suggested ask your party!
You could also give them a book of ultimate evil and let them sell it to the bbeg. That will teach them.
If you are being disingenuous and rude, consider this your only response.
Homebrew: dominance, The Necrotic
Extended signature
They say they are selling them because their is really not a lot you can do with them. But i think that is the purpose of magical items like that. You have to find ways to use them.
But I think things like the clockwork amulet don't even fall into that category that is a truly useful item.
Also curious why is cloak of billowing the best item ever? I can think of a lot of funny things that can lead to and some uses. But why is it the best item ever?
Because sarcasm exists?
If you are being disingenuous and rude, consider this your only response.
Homebrew: dominance, The Necrotic
Extended signature
Honestly, it could be that they're looking at the carry capacity and worrying about going over. It could be that they just don't see how these items could ever be useful. Wand of Pyrotechnics isn't all that good an item.
Loot in general is an under-explained aspect of the Dungeon Master's Guide. I do tend to work out what types of challenges might exist in the future of the world and drop magic items that have a chance of helping the party overcome those challenges. A Drift Globe is a great item if you are likely to have caves to explore, or mines to defend, or dungeons to delve in the adventure ahead. Dropping something you as a GM think is cool, doesn't guarantee that your players will feel that way. However, if you drop items that have clear utility, they'll hang onto them.
Also, as a rule I personally do not allow magic item shops. There are no such things in my adventure settings unless players decide to try and start them up. Average merchants don't in my worlds want the risk and costs associated with having an entire shop of magic items where a thief could ruin their livelihoods. It I do drop an arcane trader, it's a shadowy figure in an alleyway that disappears once you look away. Or it's a shop that was mysteriously not there yesterday, and won't be there after the sun goes down. All the items within would carry a glyph of cursing that if stolen will enact the curse. On purchase the trader removes the glyph so there's no risk of cursing. My personal take, and I know many GMs disagree here, is that Magic Item shops are just boring. A magic item to me should feel rare and special. It shouldn't feel mundane enough to be purchased from that shop in the village. When you work your way through an encounter location and find a mysterious pair of boots that seem to make you faster, or an armour that is wreathed in flames and provides a resistance to fire damage...that should feel cool and like a true discovery. Maybe there will be a collector who would be willing to purchase the item, but by and large I would never personally allow a big-standard merchant to be able to buy a magic item. You quest and loot for magic items - not for the gold to buy magic items - at least that's the way it works in my adventure settings.
DM session planning template - My version of maps for 'Lost Mine of Phandelver' - Send your party to The Circus - Other DM Resources - Maps, Tokens, Quests - 'Better' Player Character Injury Tables?
Actor, Writer, Director & Teacher by day - GM/DM in my off hours.
There is a great Curiosities trader in Waterdeep: Dragonheist that I use as a template for magic shops. 99% of what he sells is snake oil level quackery, but once in a blue moon something he CLAIMS is magically... actually is.
I also gave him a skull with diamonds set in the eyes that he swears will kill anyone who looks directly into it.
And a snow globe with that allegedly has the spirit of a witch trapped in it. She will answer yes and no questions once per minute if you shake it and watch the snow form a response inside the globe. She only has her own personal knowledge and the ability to observe around the globe so she's not 100% reliable. I rather liked that item. Until the party cleric just smashed it to the ground and released the spirit within....
"Teller of tales, dreamer of dreams"
Tips, Tricks, Maps: Lantern Noir Presents
**Streams hosted at at twitch.tv/LaternNoir
Nope. I'm sincere, although being hyperbolic for humorous effect.
It is legitimately a great low-level magic item that is likely to keep being used throughout a character's career.
Thanks guys. So you would still allow an occasional random item to pop up shrouded in mystery. And you would still allow the characters to go hunt down magic items during downtime.
I have an NPC in my homebrew world who is a rogue pretending to be a spellcaster, and all their "spells" come from magic items. They aren't even an Arcane Trickster; they have no casting ability at all, just a lot of toys
You could introduce a character like that as a way to show them just how useful the items they're selling off can be
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
That is a great idea thank you! That should really show them how useful the items are.
I don't know what promts them to want gold over priceless magic items. Besides the town council only is willing to pay 50 gp no matter what item so they would be better off keeping them.
Most likely, they just don't think they're more useful than 50 gold.
It suggests to me that they're overly focused on combat effectiveness. Of all the items you've mentioned, only the clockwork amulet has any real combat use, and it's easy to overlook the value of "one guaranteed hit" when it's not presented that way. They don't seem to value utility (the hat), misdirection (the wand), or pure roleplay (the cloak).
I don't know if this makes sense in the context of your game, or if it's just a blind spot. How often do they have problems to solve that aren't solvable by hitting things?
Players vary. I've had players be overjoyed to find a magic quill that never runs out of ink. They were a wizard, so it's obviously useful to the character, even though it produces no mechanical advantage.
Not often in Dragon of Icespire peak. But often enough.
One thing to remember is that as GM, you are free to declare that vendors don't want these items or that they won't give the PCs the price they want for them.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
That's a good point thanks.
Your players sound like min-maxers they aren't going to care about any magic items that aren't a straight boost to their combat effectiveness. That's just how some players are - they want to play a hack-and-slash and don't really care about anything else. Sure those items could be useful if they used their creativity to come up with solutions but they don't want to do that, and thus they instead are "clutter" on their character sheets. It's not your fault, it's their lack of curiosity and creativity. Sure you can try to make them play the way you think they should but usually that just makes everyone frustrated. So my advice is instead of trying to make the game what you want it to be, choose to enjoy the fact that your players are having fun and let them play however they want to.
It sounds to me like the players aren't into the role playing aspects of the game very much.
Most common magic items don't do much except add some style or some chaos. Even ones like the Clockwork Amulet are of limited usefulness since it REPLACES your roll with a 10. In many cases, any interesting result, requires a roll greater than 10 - sometimes a lot higher. Replacing a d20 with a less than average value (10.5 is average) is pretty much equivalent to a passive attack.
In addition, when used on an attack roll, it means that the character can't roll a critical hit. Not only that, using it and discovering that a 10 is a miss just means a wasted attack. Of course, if used in later rounds of combat when the party knows that a 10 will hit or miss - it might be more useful but when combats are typically short and this can be used once/day it is probably something that will get forgotten in the few situations when it might be useful.
Even a wand of pyrotechnics ... unless you want to try entertaining a crowd for less than a minute with 6 flashes of light and popping sounds ... it doesn't do much. Even a suggestion to use it to distract guards is based on an assumption that the guards haven't seen the effects of a wand of pyrotechnics a hundred times already, instantly recognize it, and would not find it to be even the smallest distraction.
So, if the characters have other things to spend gold on ... save up to buy that breastplate, half plate or plate armor ... pick up a long bow or great sword ... buy a climbers kit, caltrops, food, dungeoneering supplies ... or even give 50gp to the local orphanage ... then I can easily see them giving up these "useless" magic items for a bit of gold.
On the other hand, a bunch of players into role playing might enjoy a cloak of billowing when they walk into a bar, even though everyone there knows what it is, or might enjoy entertaining some children with their wand of pyrotechnics or blowing animal shapes with smoke from a pipe ... but that is on the players and the type of characters they are playing. A lot of characters (and player) might have little interest in those types of flourishes to their activities.
P.S. Depending on how you have built your world .. 50gp could be a huge amount of money to commoners who wouldn't want to buy something that can't help them. Wealthier patrons might prefer to purchase "real" magic items instead of toys assuming you are even going to have a market for magic items. So, it is entirely up to you whether there is even anyone who would want to or could afford to buy these for 50gp. However, if you don't let them be sold, be prepared for the characters to toss them at the bottom of a pack or leave them behind if they get too heavy.
Having taken some time to consider your original post I do have another suggestion. It's based on something that I personally, as a GM do not like, but might be helpful in your situation.
I once had a player come to me with effectively a shopping list of magic items that they wanted for their player character. Now this kind of approach is one that I'm not a fan of. It tends to come from the sort of player who plans out their character's progression from levels 1-20 before they've ever actually played a session. However, there's no wrong way to play the game and it could well be that your players would relish the opportunity to say 'hey here's the type of magic items we'd love to see'. This might help you better plan the types of magic items that you drop. So instead of items you think are cool, you're giving the players items that they think are cool.
DM session planning template - My version of maps for 'Lost Mine of Phandelver' - Send your party to The Circus - Other DM Resources - Maps, Tokens, Quests - 'Better' Player Character Injury Tables?
Actor, Writer, Director & Teacher by day - GM/DM in my off hours.
For what it's worth, I'm not a fan either of "I want my character to have item X at level Y".
However, there is an aspect of collaborative story telling where knowing what players will find interesting can really help. One easy way is to ask them for a "wish list" and then use that some random tables and other things to flesh out what you want to offer in your game as Loot or as Sales Items.
It doesn't have to be exactly what they want but it can give you some direction.
"Teller of tales, dreamer of dreams"
Tips, Tricks, Maps: Lantern Noir Presents
**Streams hosted at at twitch.tv/LaternNoir