So, here's my problem. It seems to me that I'm missing something with respect to generating items available inside a settlement for sale, and I'd like to describe what I do to fix that problem, and I'd love some feedback and to know what other people do.
The Situation
Sandpoint (for example)has 3d4 Minor Items and 1d3 Medium Items for sale according to the Settlement Stat Block. What items are they?
The magic item type table in the GMG is the only table I can find between the GMG and UE that lets me determine the type of item itself, and the first 70 numbers rolled on %ile dice for a Minor Item are mundane and masterwork items.
Fix: I roll on this table and reroll anything that isn't magical.
Then, I go to the tables in UE to determine what each item is. The problem here is that there are different categories of Minor, Medium, and Major items - each of these being subdivided into Greater and Lesser.
Fix: I give it a 50% chance to be Lesser vs. Greater and make the additional roll.
Am I missing something? Is there another table in one of the books I haven't been able to find? Is the 50% Greater/Lesser split fair? Should I be allowing for the mundane equipment rolls and just not counting those slots as containing magical items? (That is, each Minor Item slot has a 70% to just not be there?) Thoughts in general?
Bump for being noticed again. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
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I think the simplest way to do this would be to hand pick the items based on the usefulness to your players. Just roll the number available and then pick out a few items you think the party could use. If you roll high, throw in an oddball item that might pique someone's interest. Maybe somebody in your group has always wanted to play around with some Marvelous Pigments?
The most labor intensive way to do this, would be to sit down and figure out what magic items the people of Sandpoint can actually produce based on their class levels and resources. For this, you've got to know what spells the NPCs can cast and what crafting feats they have spread throughout the town. You've also got to figure out what NPCs are willing to work together to craft items they can't make alone. I've done this. It's a pain in the butt, but it produces a "realistic" selection of what the PCs can purchase.
