I asked my players what they wanted to do when they get a day of downtime in the larger city they are currently in.
One of my players said he wanted to get a spyglass. So, I looked it up here on D&D Beyond and found it was 1000 Gold pieces to buy one but it doesn't state a specific in-game benefit for a player character, it merely states:
"Objects viewed through a spyglass are magnified to twice their size."
Why would someone buy this for 1000 Gold pieces? Is there a hidden use I don't know about or should I significantly lower the price? If so, what would be appropriate? The session will be tomorrow, i only just now got the pc's message.
The obvious is advantage on perception checks to notice things far away.
If the players are creative, they could also use it to start fires (which they probably can do with magic anyway), as a blunt (but fragile) weapon akin to an improvised club, or it can be traded with someone who needs it desperately.
They could also use it to find landmarks, giving them advantage on navigation (survival) checks
I wouldn't say advantage for seeing far away things, I'd say no disadvantage for seeing far away things. Just like weapons, vision has a range, and a spyglass extends that range.
A spyglass isn't super expensive because it's super useful, however, it's super expensive because it's a technology two centuries ahead of its time. Something like that is going to cost a ton.
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"Ignorance is bliss, and you look absolutely miserable."
Hand ground glass lenses and hand tooled casing and hand tooled specific screws that fit specific hand tooled holes and are not interchangeable (so do get them confused!!) are all very expensive.
I would say no disadvantage to distance viewing, and maybe to small item viewing as well. After all, a spyglass and a rudimentary microscope are none too dissimilar.
It should let you see things at twice the normal range you can -- which would be more useful if there were any actual rules for how far you can see things that don't involve darkvision (which won't be affected by this). If vision was given a short/long range (disadvantage at long range), it would double those ranges.
Hand ground glass lenses and hand tooled casing and hand tooled specific screws that fit specific hand tooled holes and are not interchangeable (so do get them confused!!) are all very expensive.
True, but any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology. It's crazy to pretend that anyone would hand grind lenses in a world where artificers, clerics, druids, and wizards can all just stone shape lenses out by the dozen. It's a complicated instrument, but unless the OP is committed to a low-magic, Renaissance level-technology world, the cost should be lowered by half, imo.
A x2 telescope doesn't require terribly advanced optics, but on reflection, it should probably just be a nonmagical Eyes of the Eagle. Which, coincidentally, as an Uncommon item, probably costs about 1,000 gp.
Hand ground glass lenses and hand tooled casing and hand tooled specific screws that fit specific hand tooled holes and are not interchangeable (so do get them confused!!) are all very expensive.
True, but any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology. It's crazy to pretend that anyone would hand grind lenses in a world where artificers, clerics, druids, and wizards can all just stone shape lenses out by the dozen. It's a complicated instrument, but unless the OP is committed to a low-magic, Renaissance level-technology world, the cost should be lowered by half, imo.
Value is not measured in cost to produce, it is set by what customers are willing to pay. Not to mention, why would any “sufficiently advanced” Wizard, Artificer, etc wasn’t their time creating something like lenses for mass production? They can make their own lenses cheap, normal people can make lenses for normal people. Wizards etc. make bags of holding, and rods of absorption.
Value is not measured in cost to produce, it is set by what customers are willing to pay. Not to mention, why would any “sufficiently advanced” Wizard, Artificer, etc wasn’t their time creating something like lenses for mass production? They can make their own lenses cheap, normal people can make lenses for normal people. Wizards etc. make bags of holding, and rods of absorption.
Value is determined by an equilibrium between demand and supply. Cost to produce is absolutely one factor in supply. Not to mention, possibly some spell caster thinks making 10s or 100s of thousands of gold in a year without being eaten by the Tarrasque is actually a pretty good deal. So they undercut the glass grinders by 1gp. Then another spellcaster undercuts them and so on and so on, until the market approaches equilibrium.
Anyway, it takes them 6 seconds to cast stone shape. They have the whole rest of the day to make bags of holding.
Value is determined by an equilibrium between demand and supply.
That is a fallacy. Any economist or salesperson can tell you that. Reality is not reality, perception is reality. If the perception by the target market is that a product, any product, is worth 1,000 gp, then that is the going sale price because that is what the market will bear. That product could cost 2 cp to make, but if you are the only one in town who can make it, and people in town are willing to pay you 1,000 gp for it, are you going to charge less simply because you can? No, you’re going to charge 1,000 gp for it because that’s what people are willing to pay for the product. Therefore, the value is 1,000 gp, regardless of cost to manufacture.
Look at it this way, the average D&D book only costs a few dollars to publish per copy. Hasborough spends about $4-$7/copy to publish a book. They sell to Amazon for $15/copy to double their money. What did you pay for your PHB?
Your average smartphone costs less than $50-$100 to manufacture. How much did you pay for your phone?
Why? Because that’s how much you were willing to spend, so that’s the value.
Value is determined by an equilibrium between demand and supply.
That is a fallacy. Any economist or salesperson can tell you that. Reality is not reality, perception is reality. If the perception by the target market is that a product, any product, is worth 1,000 gp, then that is the going sale price because that is what the market will bear. That product could cost 2 cp to make, but if you are the only one in town who can make it, and people in town are willing to pay you 1,000 gp for it, are you going to charge less simply because you can? No, you’re going to charge 1,000 gp for it because that’s what people are willing to pay for the product. Therefore, the value is 1,000 gp, regardless of cost to manufacture.
You are the person doing a fallacy. And he practically quoted one of the few things economists and salespeople actually agree on. Among other things you have misunderstood what Demand and Supply means. Demand refers to what the people are willing to pay and how many of them there are.
DEMAND: let's say there is ONE guy (the Duke) in the city willing to pay 1000 gp because he REALLY needs it. But 50 people (all his noble men) willing to pay 100 gp.
You have a choice - you can charge 1000 go and take in a total of 1000 gp. Or you can charge 100 gp and take in 5,000 gp.
What you do depends on how much it costs you to make it.
SUPPLY: If it costs you 200 gp to make the product, you price it at 1000 gp, with an 800 gp profit for the entire year.
If you 60 gp to make the product, you price it at 100 go, get 51 sales, earning 51*40gp profit = 2040 gp profit for the entire year.
2040 > 800, so if it costs you only 60 gp to make and there is demand at a price of 100 gp, you will never be selling it at 1000 gp. The best you might try to do is to make a "luxury' version that sells for 300 gp, while costing you an additional 60 go to make which only the Duke buys, adding an extra 180-40 = 140 gp profit for the entire year.
Value is determined by an equilibrium between demand and supply.
That is a fallacy. Any economist or salesperson can tell you that. Reality is not reality, perception is reality. If the perception by the target market is that a product, any product, is worth 1,000 gp, then that is the going sale price because that is what the market will bear. That product could cost 2 cp to make, but if you are the only one in town who can make it, and people in town are willing to pay you 1,000 gp for it, are you going to charge less simply because you can? No, you’re going to charge 1,000 gp for it because that’s what people are willing to pay for the product. Therefore, the value is 1,000 gp, regardless of cost to manufacture.
You are the person doing a fallacy. And he practically quoted one of the few things economists and salespeople actually agree on. Among other things you have misunderstood what Demand and Supply means. Demand refers to what the people are willing to pay and how many of them there are.
DEMAND: let's say there is ONE guy (the Duke) in the city willing to pay 1000 gp because he REALLY needs it. But 50 people (all his noble men) willing to pay 100 gp.
You have a choice - you can charge 1000 go and take in a total of 1000 gp. Or you can charge 100 gp and take in 5,000 gp.
What you do depends on how much it costs you to make it.
SUPPLY: If it costs you 200 gp to make the product, you price it at 1000 gp, with an 800 gp profit for the entire year.
If you 60 gp to make the product, you price it at 100 go, get 51 sales, earning 51*40gp profit = 2040 gp profit for the entire year.
2040 > 800, so if it costs you only 60 gp to make and there is demand at a price of 100 gp, you will never be selling it at 1000 gp. The best you might try to do is to make a "luxury' version that sells for 300 gp, while costing you an additional 60 go to make which only the Duke buys, adding an extra 180-40 = 140 gp profit for the entire year.
Except we already know what the market is willing to pay for a Spyglass: 1,000 gp. So if I am right, I have already explained why, and if you are right, then obviously either:
It must cost even a Wizard 200 gp to manufacture a Spyglass, or
They don’t bother to manufacture Spyglasses.
Also, I was a salesperson for a very long time. Trust me, I am aware that the perception of limited supply can drive demand, even if there is no shortage of supply, or if the supply is artificially restricted. Why do you think supermarkets put out sales saying “Limit 4 per customer!” Do they really want to limit it? No. Will they sell you as many as you want? Usually. You know why? Because the illusion that sign gives of a limited supply drives demand, therefore driving price.
Look at it this way, what is the state of supply for a digital D&D book from this website? ♾ That’s right. If you said infinite you are correct. What is the price? Why? Because that is what we are willing to pay. What is the supply state for subscriptions? Correct, also infinite. What is the price? Why? Again, because that is what we are willing to pay.
Supply is nowhere near as relevant as people think. Even perceived supply is irrelevant, I know the supply is infinite. Yet I have still payed $30/book, and $55+/year subscription. Why? Because I value the products and services highly enough to spend hundreds of dollars on this website. Therefore, those are the values.
I forget how we ended up with one in an earlier campaign, but the DM just gave anyone holding it advantage on perception checks outdoors while using it. Other than that it didn't get much use.
Glass is a liquid. Stone Shape will not do a thing to glass. It's a very slow moving liquid, but after a pretty crazy number of years a glass vase becomes terribly thin and fragile at the top, and notably thicker at the bottom. That's why the stuff in museums from centuries ago is so valuable, and is kept in heavy (glass!) cases. Or at least it used to be. Now I suspect they use plastic. (And for a laugh, consider that "plastic" is a term referring to the property glass has of moving slowly)
Glass is not made of Earth, Air, Fire, or Water. I don't know exactly what combination of spells would be used in its creation. You take sand (Earth) and you melt it. Now its a liquid. I guess this is as close as you get to water. You poke a tube into it, pull the tube back out, and blow into the tube (Air). You needed fire to melt the glass. The stuff would break if you tried to cool it with anything but air. So blown glass doesn't seem all that useful for making a precision ground lens does it? I don't know how those things are made.
I imagine a Spyglass as one of those contraptions used at sea. A series of tubes that collapses in on itself so a gizmo not much longer than your hand telescopes out to a couple feet long or more. A lens about the size of an old silver dollar. That would be difficult to produce, expensive, and fragile when extended. It could easily bend or break. For 1000 gold pieces, I'd certainly hope it has some useful in game effect. Advantage on Perception rolls at any range beyond about 30 feet seems fair.
I have a house rule that basically allows a player to act as a "spotter" for an ally making a ranged weapon attack at the weapon's long range. The spotter is able to grant advantage to the attack (canceling the disadvantage from attacking at long range) but must be holding a spyglass or similar item to be able to complete this task. So its effectively a item-dependent Help action for ranged attacks.
But again, this is just a house rule, nothing pertaining to any RAW applications for a spyglass
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I appreciate the great lengths folks will go to explain this, but really its just another of many wrinkles where Fantasy World D&D bumps into Medieval Times Simulator D&D.
Spyglasses are for the sim crowd, and their value reflects that aspect of the game rather than the actual value it may have for players. Artificers are for the Fantasy World crowd, and I would agree that any artificer's apprentice in a workshop would probably be able to whip up a spyglass in an hour or so. This kind of thing is one of the reasons the sim crowd tends to really dislike artificers.
D&D needs to be a lot of things to a lot of people, as such some of its parts don't fit together all too well. That's all it is.
In real life a telescope that magnifies x2 is worthless.
The first ones I know of were in in the early 1600's and was x3. Galilleo got it up to x23. They were first used for astronomy, not much use for adventurers.
I would allow you to use them to attempt to investigate things at a distance. Specifically, I would allow a perception check to see something far away, such as a ship or army in the distance, but with a telescope I would allow you to see their flag or other identifying materials.
I could also see allowing for magical telescopes to increase the range of or grant certain spells.
Value is determined by an equilibrium between demand and supply.
That is a fallacy. Any economist or salesperson can tell you that. Reality is not reality, perception is reality. If the perception by the target market is that a product, any product, is worth 1,000 gp, then that is the going sale price because that is what the market will bear. That product could cost 2 cp to make, but if you are the only one in town who can make it, and people in town are willing to pay you 1,000 gp for it, are you going to charge less simply because you can? No, you’re going to charge 1,000 gp for it because that’s what people are willing to pay for the product. Therefore, the value is 1,000 gp, regardless of cost to manufacture.
You are the person doing a fallacy. And he practically quoted one of the few things economists and salespeople actually agree on. Among other things you have misunderstood what Demand and Supply means. Demand refers to what the people are willing to pay and how many of them there are.
DEMAND: let's say there is ONE guy (the Duke) in the city willing to pay 1000 gp because he REALLY needs it. But 50 people (all his noble men) willing to pay 100 gp.
You have a choice - you can charge 1000 go and take in a total of 1000 gp. Or you can charge 100 gp and take in 5,000 gp.
What you do depends on how much it costs you to make it.
SUPPLY: If it costs you 200 gp to make the product, you price it at 1000 gp, with an 800 gp profit for the entire year.
If you 60 gp to make the product, you price it at 100 go, get 51 sales, earning 51*40gp profit = 2040 gp profit for the entire year.
2040 > 800, so if it costs you only 60 gp to make and there is demand at a price of 100 gp, you will never be selling it at 1000 gp. The best you might try to do is to make a "luxury' version that sells for 300 gp, while costing you an additional 60 go to make which only the Duke buys, adding an extra 180-40 = 140 gp profit for the entire year.
Except we already know what the market is willing to pay for a Spyglass: 1,000 gp. So if I am right, I have already explained why, and if you are right, then obviously either:
It must cost even a Wizard 200 gp to manufacture a Spyglass, or
They don’t bother to manufacture Spyglasses.
Also, I was a salesperson for a very long time. Trust me, I am aware that the perception of limited supply can drive demand, even if there is no shortage of supply, or if the supply is artificially restricted. Why do you think supermarkets put out sales saying “Limit 4 per customer!” Do they really want to limit it? No. Will they sell you as many as you want? Usually. You know why? Because the illusion that sign gives of a limited supply drives demand, therefore driving price.
Look at it this way, what is the state of supply for a digital D&D book from this website? ♾ That’s right. If you said infinite you are correct. What is the price? Why? Because that is what we are willing to pay. What is the supply state for subscriptions? Correct, also infinite. What is the price? Why? Again, because that is what we are willing to pay.
Supply is nowhere near as relevant as people think. Even perceived supply is irrelevant, I know the supply is infinite. Yet I have still payed $30/book, and $55+/year subscription. Why? Because I value the products and services highly enough to spend hundreds of dollars on this website. Therefore, those are the values.
So, to break this down: the entire premise of this argument balks at the idea of simply saying "1000 g spyglasses mean people are willing to buy 1000 g spyglasses". Especially since it doesn't take into account later source books which added abilities and classes designed around item creation. The question isn't "what are they worth" but "why?". And in a world where people can, why wouldn't they? It's a good source of income with not much work, to a spellcaster.
Meanwhile, you seem to miss the fact that those numbers were wholly arbitrary, and meant to serve a point in a numbers game. We could also assume that it costs 900 g for a wizard to make a spyglass, and it would be just as arbitrary of a claim. But, then, so is the idea that everyone else would only want to pay 100 g for a spyglass. They could also be willing to pay 500 g. Or 900 g.
And considering the power of spells such as Fabricate? Yeah, it's gonna be 10 minutes of work per lens, so long as (per the spell description) you have proficiency with tools used for making glass. If you can make a bridge out of stone, you can make a domed disc out out of sand/glass.
Meanwhile, the whole "perception of limited supply" example you used? That's normally based on SALES. As in, "we have lowered the price by some degree, buy a bunch of them while you can!" and yes, the drop in price DOES make demand go up. Just as Dracov pointed out. This example you gave goes against what you are arguing for.
Also, if you think we're paying for paper and ink, you're crazy. We're paying for access to the ideas, inside the book, and using them on a specific platform. And that? That's limited. It's limited to where it can be used (DnD Beyond), and how easily (manual or automatic entry for unpaid and paid, respectively), while also providing funds for the site to keep going, and keep our purchases viable. Just because you can't physically touch it doesn't mean it doesn't have value.
So, to break down the concept of supply and demand as being simply a matter of materials used in creation of a physical product is laughable. But it seems to be the strawman you keep building against anyone who disagrees with you that a spyglass shouldn't be 1000 g, in a world that now has Artificers, who can make a golem out of scrap metal and a dream.
Dear people of dndbeyond,
I asked my players what they wanted to do when they get a day of downtime in the larger city they are currently in.
One of my players said he wanted to get a spyglass. So, I looked it up here on D&D Beyond and found it was 1000 Gold pieces to buy one but it doesn't state a specific in-game benefit for a player character, it merely states:
"Objects viewed through a spyglass are magnified to twice their size."
Why would someone buy this for 1000 Gold pieces? Is there a hidden use I don't know about or should I significantly lower the price? If so, what would be appropriate?
The session will be tomorrow, i only just now got the pc's message.
- thanks!
The obvious is advantage on perception checks to notice things far away.
If the players are creative, they could also use it to start fires (which they probably can do with magic anyway), as a blunt (but fragile) weapon akin to an improvised club, or it can be traded with someone who needs it desperately.
They could also use it to find landmarks, giving them advantage on navigation (survival) checks
I wouldn't say advantage for seeing far away things, I'd say no disadvantage for seeing far away things. Just like weapons, vision has a range, and a spyglass extends that range.
A spyglass isn't super expensive because it's super useful, however, it's super expensive because it's a technology two centuries ahead of its time. Something like that is going to cost a ton.
"Ignorance is bliss, and you look absolutely miserable."
Hand ground glass lenses and hand tooled casing and hand tooled specific screws that fit specific hand tooled holes and are not interchangeable (so do get them confused!!) are all very expensive.
I would say no disadvantage to distance viewing, and maybe to small item viewing as well. After all, a spyglass and a rudimentary microscope are none too dissimilar.
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It should let you see things at twice the normal range you can -- which would be more useful if there were any actual rules for how far you can see things that don't involve darkvision (which won't be affected by this). If vision was given a short/long range (disadvantage at long range), it would double those ranges.
True, but any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology. It's crazy to pretend that anyone would hand grind lenses in a world where artificers, clerics, druids, and wizards can all just stone shape lenses out by the dozen. It's a complicated instrument, but unless the OP is committed to a low-magic, Renaissance level-technology world, the cost should be lowered by half, imo.
A x2 telescope doesn't require terribly advanced optics, but on reflection, it should probably just be a nonmagical Eyes of the Eagle. Which, coincidentally, as an Uncommon item, probably costs about 1,000 gp.
Value is not measured in cost to produce, it is set by what customers are willing to pay. Not to mention, why would any “sufficiently advanced” Wizard, Artificer, etc wasn’t their time creating something like lenses for mass production? They can make their own lenses cheap, normal people can make lenses for normal people. Wizards etc. make bags of holding, and rods of absorption.
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I like the 'no disadvantage' rule, especially as it allows for a Magical Spyglass that actually grants advantage.
Also known as Eyes of the Eagle
Value is determined by an equilibrium between demand and supply. Cost to produce is absolutely one factor in supply. Not to mention, possibly some spell caster thinks making 10s or 100s of thousands of gold in a year without being eaten by the Tarrasque is actually a pretty good deal. So they undercut the glass grinders by 1gp. Then another spellcaster undercuts them and so on and so on, until the market approaches equilibrium.
Anyway, it takes them 6 seconds to cast stone shape. They have the whole rest of the day to make bags of holding.
That is a fallacy. Any economist or salesperson can tell you that. Reality is not reality, perception is reality. If the perception by the target market is that a product, any product, is worth 1,000 gp, then that is the going sale price because that is what the market will bear. That product could cost 2 cp to make, but if you are the only one in town who can make it, and people in town are willing to pay you 1,000 gp for it, are you going to charge less simply because you can? No, you’re going to charge 1,000 gp for it because that’s what people are willing to pay for the product. Therefore, the value is 1,000 gp, regardless of cost to manufacture.
Look at it this way, the average D&D book only costs a few dollars to publish per copy. Hasborough spends about $4-$7/copy to publish a book. They sell to Amazon for $15/copy to double their money. What did you pay for your PHB?
Your average smartphone costs less than $50-$100 to manufacture. How much did you pay for your phone?
Why? Because that’s how much you were willing to spend, so that’s the value.
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You are the person doing a fallacy. And he practically quoted one of the few things economists and salespeople actually agree on. Among other things you have misunderstood what Demand and Supply means. Demand refers to what the people are willing to pay and how many of them there are.
DEMAND: let's say there is ONE guy (the Duke) in the city willing to pay 1000 gp because he REALLY needs it. But 50 people (all his noble men) willing to pay 100 gp.
You have a choice - you can charge 1000 go and take in a total of 1000 gp. Or you can charge 100 gp and take in 5,000 gp.
What you do depends on how much it costs you to make it.
SUPPLY: If it costs you 200 gp to make the product, you price it at 1000 gp, with an 800 gp profit for the entire year.
If you 60 gp to make the product, you price it at 100 go, get 51 sales, earning 51*40gp profit = 2040 gp profit for the entire year.
2040 > 800, so if it costs you only 60 gp to make and there is demand at a price of 100 gp, you will never be selling it at 1000 gp. The best you might try to do is to make a "luxury' version that sells for 300 gp, while costing you an additional 60 go to make which only the Duke buys, adding an extra 180-40 = 140 gp profit for the entire year.
Except we already know what the market is willing to pay for a Spyglass: 1,000 gp. So if I am right, I have already explained why, and if you are right, then obviously either:
Also, I was a salesperson for a very long time. Trust me, I am aware that the perception of limited supply can drive demand, even if there is no shortage of supply, or if the supply is artificially restricted. Why do you think supermarkets put out sales saying “Limit 4 per customer!” Do they really want to limit it? No. Will they sell you as many as you want? Usually. You know why? Because the illusion that sign gives of a limited supply drives demand, therefore driving price.
Look at it this way, what is the state of supply for a digital D&D book from this website? ♾ That’s right. If you said infinite you are correct. What is the price? Why? Because that is what we are willing to pay. What is the supply state for subscriptions? Correct, also infinite. What is the price? Why? Again, because that is what we are willing to pay.
Supply is nowhere near as relevant as people think. Even perceived supply is irrelevant, I know the supply is infinite. Yet I have still payed $30/book, and $55+/year subscription. Why? Because I value the products and services highly enough to spend hundreds of dollars on this website. Therefore, those are the values.
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cough cough uncommon items cost anywhere from 101-500gold cough cough
I forget how we ended up with one in an earlier campaign, but the DM just gave anyone holding it advantage on perception checks outdoors while using it. Other than that it didn't get much use.
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Glass is a liquid. Stone Shape will not do a thing to glass. It's a very slow moving liquid, but after a pretty crazy number of years a glass vase becomes terribly thin and fragile at the top, and notably thicker at the bottom. That's why the stuff in museums from centuries ago is so valuable, and is kept in heavy (glass!) cases. Or at least it used to be. Now I suspect they use plastic. (And for a laugh, consider that "plastic" is a term referring to the property glass has of moving slowly)
Glass is not made of Earth, Air, Fire, or Water. I don't know exactly what combination of spells would be used in its creation. You take sand (Earth) and you melt it. Now its a liquid. I guess this is as close as you get to water. You poke a tube into it, pull the tube back out, and blow into the tube (Air). You needed fire to melt the glass. The stuff would break if you tried to cool it with anything but air. So blown glass doesn't seem all that useful for making a precision ground lens does it? I don't know how those things are made.
I imagine a Spyglass as one of those contraptions used at sea. A series of tubes that collapses in on itself so a gizmo not much longer than your hand telescopes out to a couple feet long or more. A lens about the size of an old silver dollar. That would be difficult to produce, expensive, and fragile when extended. It could easily bend or break. For 1000 gold pieces, I'd certainly hope it has some useful in game effect. Advantage on Perception rolls at any range beyond about 30 feet seems fair.
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I have a house rule that basically allows a player to act as a "spotter" for an ally making a ranged weapon attack at the weapon's long range. The spotter is able to grant advantage to the attack (canceling the disadvantage from attacking at long range) but must be holding a spyglass or similar item to be able to complete this task. So its effectively a item-dependent Help action for ranged attacks.
But again, this is just a house rule, nothing pertaining to any RAW applications for a spyglass
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I appreciate the great lengths folks will go to explain this, but really its just another of many wrinkles where Fantasy World D&D bumps into Medieval Times Simulator D&D.
Spyglasses are for the sim crowd, and their value reflects that aspect of the game rather than the actual value it may have for players. Artificers are for the Fantasy World crowd, and I would agree that any artificer's apprentice in a workshop would probably be able to whip up a spyglass in an hour or so. This kind of thing is one of the reasons the sim crowd tends to really dislike artificers.
D&D needs to be a lot of things to a lot of people, as such some of its parts don't fit together all too well. That's all it is.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
In real life a telescope that magnifies x2 is worthless.
The first ones I know of were in in the early 1600's and was x3. Galilleo got it up to x23. They were first used for astronomy, not much use for adventurers.
I would allow you to use them to attempt to investigate things at a distance. Specifically, I would allow a perception check to see something far away, such as a ship or army in the distance, but with a telescope I would allow you to see their flag or other identifying materials.
I could also see allowing for magical telescopes to increase the range of or grant certain spells.
So, to break this down: the entire premise of this argument balks at the idea of simply saying "1000 g spyglasses mean people are willing to buy 1000 g spyglasses".
Especially since it doesn't take into account later source books which added abilities and classes designed around item creation. The question isn't "what are they worth" but "why?". And in a world where people can, why wouldn't they? It's a good source of income with not much work, to a spellcaster.
Meanwhile, you seem to miss the fact that those numbers were wholly arbitrary, and meant to serve a point in a numbers game. We could also assume that it costs 900 g for a wizard to make a spyglass, and it would be just as arbitrary of a claim. But, then, so is the idea that everyone else would only want to pay 100 g for a spyglass. They could also be willing to pay 500 g. Or 900 g.
And considering the power of spells such as Fabricate? Yeah, it's gonna be 10 minutes of work per lens, so long as (per the spell description) you have proficiency with tools used for making glass. If you can make a bridge out of stone, you can make a domed disc out out of sand/glass.
Meanwhile, the whole "perception of limited supply" example you used? That's normally based on SALES. As in, "we have lowered the price by some degree, buy a bunch of them while you can!" and yes, the drop in price DOES make demand go up. Just as Dracov pointed out. This example you gave goes against what you are arguing for.
Also, if you think we're paying for paper and ink, you're crazy. We're paying for access to the ideas, inside the book, and using them on a specific platform. And that? That's limited. It's limited to where it can be used (DnD Beyond), and how easily (manual or automatic entry for unpaid and paid, respectively), while also providing funds for the site to keep going, and keep our purchases viable. Just because you can't physically touch it doesn't mean it doesn't have value.
So, to break down the concept of supply and demand as being simply a matter of materials used in creation of a physical product is laughable. But it seems to be the strawman you keep building against anyone who disagrees with you that a spyglass shouldn't be 1000 g, in a world that now has Artificers, who can make a golem out of scrap metal and a dream.