Economic Unbalance with gems:
I don't see unbalance cerated by crafting gems:
Noble hoards, dragon hoards, crown jeweles, sunken pirate treasures, hidden liche's hoards, and consumption by various spells and magic item creation processes necessitate a demand for such items, and a limited and shrinking supply.
Where there exists demand, there exists market forces...and market forces in a fantasy world have potential:
So your party mage wants to craft 25gp onyx gems...a nearby ancient gold dragon is not cool with that idea, and he buys up all the available supply at a premium price just to keep them out of circulation...then he places a geas on you when he meets you. An order of Paladins gets very interested in your "business" venture...oh, and they are on really good terms with local lords...read tax authorities. An unscupulous mine-owners sells "impure" raw onyx such that the stones you sell to that lich don't actually work, and the lich is none-to-pleased (as though liches are ever happy!)
My point is, this can be done not only with any gem but with any material.
I have a group in the shackles on an island that strangely resembles the Isle of Dread trying to run a logging business exporting exotic hardwoods. Pirates, competing merchants, pee'd off druids, sea monsters, dinosaurs, and a consortium of tree-hugging elves are proving problematic.
If business is what your players want, show them that you mean business...muwaaaahahaaahaahahaha </end diabolical laughter>
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I use this skill for a character based in Korvosa who crafted stones to sell to wizards to use for ioun stones. Since crating a genuine ioun stone requires one to be flawlessly cut, you bet it would bring the character profit, but would still be fairly rare and require a great deal of skill and time to make.
My character uses this as a way to make money when not adventuring so, while the wealth she accumulates is slightly higher than average during down-time, it evens out during adventures when supplies need to be bought, arrows replaced, weapons mended, etc. I guess it just depends on how you run the campaign and the flavor you tend to use in your role-playing.
Cheesy? Meh who cares, as a DM I smell opportunity.
[Pardon good sir but it has come to his majesty's attention that you are engaging in commerce without proffering the necessary taxes on said commerce.
I also believe Guild Master Langworth would like to have words with you concerning the manner of your commerce.]
Everyone loves a visit from the tax man.
Guilds love outsiders undercutting them.
As a GM, I'd allow it for raw gems, but I'd make sure to limit their supply.
As a Player, I probably wouldn't use this, but use the time to make my own items.
Well... massmanufacture did take over the world since 1800 or so real world. Completely outcompeting any kind of old world artisans.
Now fabricate is even infinately better than real world industrialism. It offer top quality, and takes zero other resources than that fabricate spell and rawmaterials. Time, power, standardification(!), raw amterial qiuality and labour become total non-issues. By the toe of Asmodeus... make a fabricate at will item...! Now your wealth multiplication ability is truly infinite. It makes the proletariat class completely useless even. No factories will ever be created in this world. Just wizard towers that churn out endless piles of goods. Look forward to 99% unemployment ;)
And you know, its not just gems. Its EVERYTHING. Longswords, meals, armor, ships, rope, statues, paintings, sofas, books, furniture. glassware, cloth. The list is truly endless.
Find a forest and fabricate it into a fleet of ships. Fabricate a beach into concrete flats and glassware, turn spruces into alchemical bombs, silk and paper. A field of flowers into fracking paintings.. frame, canvas and colors!
With int ~30 and a modest +1 in a specific crafting skill, masterwork tools, take 10 and the masterwork goods of the world are yours!
make a fabricate at will item...! Now your wealth multiplication ability is truly infinite. It makes the proletariat class completely useless even.
No, it makes them more useful. Why should the wizard bother with all those middling craft skills when the common man can? Just hand around the Fabricate widget to the craft masters of your town. Regardless, expect to destroy the economy.
Theres even plastic. Well, the old version of plastic.
In short milk+vinegar -> hard plastic-like substance.
Milk im sure can be manufactured from hay and vinegar shouldnt require more than sugars. Once more a field of hay and flowers should work :p
Craft alchemy and knowledge nature should cover that.
make a fabricate at will item...! Now your wealth multiplication ability is truly infinite. It makes the proletariat class completely useless even.No, it makes them more useful. Why should the wizard bother with all those middling craft skills when the common man can? Just hand around the Fabricate widget to the craft masters of your town. Regardless, expect to destroy the economy.
Except im sure the 9th level (never mind 15th..) wizard with a single skillpoint is probly the better crafter than your average expert 3-5.. sadly enough.
I'd sure hope a 9th level anything is better than a 5th level NPC class or there's something wrong there.
Except im sure the 9th level (never mind 15th..) wizard with a single skillpoint is probly the better crafter than your average expert 3-5.. sadly enough.
Well, assuming Mr Wizard fully minmaxed you're probably looking at INT 26 (Int 22, +4 Item) at 9th level, for +8 INT bonus, +1 Rank, +3 Class = +12 bonus (optimized).
A 3rd level Expert with INT 12 will have +1 INT bonus, +3 Ranks, +3 Skill Focus and +3 Class Skill = +10 bonus (low-balled).
A little less minmaxed wizard or a little better optimized expert and the balance changes.
However, these guys are common as dirt, where 9th level Wizards are not. Why drop one valuable rank into something when you could just hand a Fabricate widget to any one of a hundred craftsmen available in a decent sized town?
Now, if the wizard is going to just cast Fabricate himself (as opposed to making a widget), then the skill tax makes sense to do.
Mass fabricate won't wreck the economy, no more than technology does. There are jobs beyond just manufacturing, and these industries will grow. Also, mass fabricated items will drop the prices down to almost material costs, so people won't need as much in wages to subsist.
I keep meaning to write a sourcebook on Economics and D&D...
Mass fabricate won't wreck the economy, no more than technology does. There are jobs beyond just manufacturing, and these industries will grow. Also, mass fabricated items will drop the prices down to almost material costs, so people won't need as much in wages to subsist.
I keep meaning to write a sourcebook on Economics and D&D...
Keeping in mind that industrialization didn't take place overnight. People had time to adjust, and often it wasn't pretty. Industrialization did cause social upheaval, population migrations and other 'fun' things.
Keeping in mind that industrialization didn't take place overnight. People had time to adjust, and often it wasn't pretty. Industrialization did cause social upheaval, population migrations and other 'fun' things.Mass fabricate won't wreck the economy, no more than technology does. There are jobs beyond just manufacturing, and these industries will grow. Also, mass fabricated items will drop the prices down to almost material costs, so people won't need as much in wages to subsist.
I keep meaning to write a sourcebook on Economics and D&D...
I'm not saying there wouldn't be social change, sometimes painful change. But I would also say that it would NOT cause the massive irreparable damage people upthread are saying it would.
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The funniest thing about this whole thread is that Raving Dork just posts an obviously inflammatory idea for the masses to look at, which then explodes into a war of "game-breaking....BAN IT!!" and "it's RAW so it's good" posts.
Then he rarely responds to the thread, only sitting back to watch his puppets dance....dance for the master, puppets.
Stop falling into his verbal pitfalls and search the OP for the trap.
The funniest thing about this whole thread is that Raving Dork just posts an obviously inflammatory idea for the masses to look at, which then explodes into a war of "game-breaking....BAN IT!!" and "it's RAW so it's good" posts.
Then he rarely responds to the thread, only sitting back to watch his puppets dance....dance for the master, puppets.Stop falling into his verbal pitfalls and search the OP for the trap.
So what you are saying is, everyone failed their Reflex save for RD's Create Verbal Pit? :)
But I would also say that it would NOT cause the massive irreparable damage people upthread are saying it would.
Well, for starters if you had a Fabricate item all you'd need was one guy from each Craft profession. Every other one is pretty much out of business, given that you can make items for a touch more than raw materials cost and still make a profit. Assuming you don't get lynched or driven out of town ASAP, which is the most likely outcome.
I mean, sure, people want cheap goods, but trade guilds will want to protect their interests. Also, people out of work don't pay much taxes, so the nobility would probably be on their side too. Rural economy would be fine, as Fabricate doesn't do much for growing food (until somebody invents the tractor and makes it with Fabricate, anyhow).
One limiter on the scheme is the availability of raw materials. That's where the majority of the skilled trades people would have to go, into resource gathering. You can't increase consumption without additional supply, after all. Expect raw materials prices to spike heavily as demand outstrips supply, at least in the near term.
But I would also say that it would NOT cause the massive irreparable damage people upthread are saying it would.Well, for starters if you had a Fabricate item all you'd need was one guy from each Craft profession. Every other one is pretty much out of business, given that you can make items for a touch more than raw materials cost and still make a profit. Assuming you don't get lynched or driven out of town ASAP, which is the most likely outcome.
I mean, sure, people want cheap goods, but trade guilds will want to protect their interests. Also, people out of work don't pay much taxes, so the nobility would probably be on their side too. Rural economy would be fine, as Fabricate doesn't do much for growing food (until somebody invents the tractor and makes it with Fabricate, anyhow).
One limiter on the scheme is the availability of raw materials. That's where the majority of the skilled trades people would have to go, into resource gathering. You can't increase consumption without additional supply, after all. Expect raw materials prices to spike heavily as demand outstrips supply, at least in the near term.
First off, as you correctly point out, rural economy wouldn't be affected very much... and that's exactly what the vast majority of people work in, in your average fantasy RPG setting. Second, the service sector would not be affected. Only the manufacturing sector would be. Even then, there are only so many 9+ level wizards around, and most aren't interested in things like this. You'd have to craft the magic items so that your minions could do the work, which is a more significant investment than specialized machines we have now.
So really, the people becoming unemployed are going to be craftsmen, who will probably turn to resource acquisition... which is where you got things dead wrong. Your demand for resources will not change, but with increased labor, the supply will increase. Increase in supply, with no change in demand, means that the price of raw material will *drop* instead of rise.
Net effect? You will see some unemployment in a small sector of the economy of the agrarian society, but not as much as you might expect, and meanwhile the prices of things will drop, leading to a higher standard of living overall.
You also need to consider how much actual game time is being taken up by this. If you are spending lots of time rolling craft checks and figuring out how much your gems are worth, and you are slowing down the game then it's imo a problem. If you are able to do it without wasting game time, then maybe it's not such a big deal.
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The funniest thing about this whole thread is that Raving Dork just posts an obviously inflammatory idea for the masses to look at, which then explodes into a war of "game-breaking....BAN IT!!" and "it's RAW so it's good" posts.
Then he rarely responds to the thread, only sitting back to watch his puppets dance....dance for the master, puppets.Stop falling into his verbal pitfalls and search the OP for the trap.
Generally I ask a question, which then spurts an off-topic debate which, being off-topic, cannot possibly be connected to any intent of my own.
In any case, the OP is outdated. The new Ultimate Equipment guide has clearly defined rules for how Craft (gemcutting) works. (Hint: They're nothing like I described in the OP.)
If a profit-minded wizard in your party wants to use fabricate as a method off mass-production, again, instead of going back and saying that the sky is falling and the game is over, I challenge you to put your DM hat on.
So a lvl 15 wizards wants to walk into a forest and zappo make a fleet of ships. Who said that that is game breaking? Maybe the local elves, druids, centaurs, gold dragon, green dragon, treats, giant eagles, and even the Gods themselves oppose such an idea. Maybe a rival nation opposes that action and the Kings Royal Assassins Guild summons from the depths of hell itself to stop the wizard of the rival nation.
Mass production causes 99% unemployment due to a wizard mass-producing? Wow, I think 99% of the people might be pretty p'd at some wizard for ruining their economy...and what do p'd off mobs do? Do I smell a wizardly alignment change coming for a wizard whose selfish actions lead to mass poverty, international conflict, or mass-starvation?
Anything a player does to so-called break the game only works with a weak-minded and weak-willed DM.
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The funniest thing about this whole thread is that Raving Dork just posts an obviously inflammatory idea for the masses to look at, which then explodes into a war of "game-breaking....BAN IT!!" and "it's RAW so it's good" posts.
Then he rarely responds to the thread, only sitting back to watch his puppets dance....dance for the master, puppets.Stop falling into his verbal pitfalls and search the OP for the trap.
Very much agreed and seconded.
Generally I ask a question, which then spurts an off-topic debate which, being off-topic, cannot possibly be connected to any intent of my own.In any case, the OP is outdated. The new Ultimate Equipment guide has clearly defined rules for how Craft (gemcutting) works. (Hint: They're nothing like I described in the OP.)
Until you once again scour the rules and start another doomsday catastrophizing theorycrafting style thread. About a subject that usually your the only one who worries let alone cares about. Theres a reason why your getting a reputation for doing this type of stuff on the boards.
*whistles obliviously*
I actaully dug up this old thread because it is very relevant to a character I have lined up to play, so not just theorycraft.
I think Fabricate-wealth has to be considered in 2 separate types -
1) The guy who is 10-20% above the wealth curve after he's blown a lot on parties. Quite rightly - who cares.
2) They guy who has 10-20 times the wealth he 'should' have. Reducing treasure just hurts the rest of the party (remember he doesn't have to share his fabricate wealth with them). Guilds and taxes are fine - but why not just pay them? When you've near infinite wealth giving 10% to the guilds and 10% to the lords is annoying but is only a small speed bump rather than a brake. Unless you're going to set the tax/fees so high no one would be able to stay in non-magical business.
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The funniest thing about this whole thread is that Raving Dork just posts an obviously inflammatory idea for the masses to look at, which then explodes into a war of "game-breaking....BAN IT!!" and "it's RAW so it's good" posts.
Then he rarely responds to the thread, only sitting back to watch his puppets dance....dance for the master, puppets.Stop falling into his verbal pitfalls and search the OP for the trap.
But it's an interesting question, and it amuses me. So what did I lose by "falling into the trap"?
aaaaanyway, to the "9th level wizard destroying the economy" thing: I say that any level 9 wizard that CAN'T disrupt a premodern nonmagical economy just has to be an absolute tosser.
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I actaully dug up this old thread because it is very relevant to a character I have lined up to play, so not just theorycraft.
I think Fabricate-wealth has to be considered in 2 separate types -
1) The guy who is 10-20% above the wealth curve after he's blown a lot on parties. Quite rightly - who cares.
2) They guy who has 10-20 times the wealth he 'should' have. Reducing treasure just hurts the rest of the party (remember he doesn't have to share his fabricate wealth with them). Guilds and taxes are fine - but why not just pay them? When you've near infinite wealth giving 10% to the guilds and 10% to the lords is annoying but is only a small speed bump rather than a brake. Unless you're going to set the tax/fees so high no one would be able to stay in non-magical business.
Case 2 you have some options.
If it amuses you, take this as the root for the next storyline, and somehow turn the collapse of the economy (or his attempts to do so) into an adventure. I mean, think about how NPCs would react when they see something like this happening. Some will embrace the new world order, others will try to prevent it. If you enjoy that sort of thing, there's an adventure there.
On the other hand, you can take the player aside and explain to him that although what he's doing is technically legal, it's not good for the game; you don't want ProductionQuest to hijack the campaign.
* If the core party motivation is wealth acquisition, tell him he should either retire his PC (since he no longer has a rational reason to adventure, already having enough wealth), or stop doing this.
* If the party is actually motivated by something else (like stopping demon lords from destroying the world), tell him that you'll tolerate being a bit more wealthy than normal WBL allows, but that he needs to restrain himself. Just because you can break the game doesn't mean you should. It's okay to have a bit more wealth, but agree on a limit; "You can earn up to an additional 10% of the WBL you should gain between current and next level through Fabricate, but no more. So for current level, you can generate an additional XXXX gp."
I advise just having an open discussion with the player about it. He's come up with something clever, you don't have to punish him for that. No passive-aggressive stuff either. But if it's not working with the game, negotiate some way to deal with it. He can keep something nice as a reward for being clever, but not so much that it's a problem.
On the issue of Fabricate...
I typically have
*craft/glassblowing
*craft/woodworking
*craft/weaving
when I'm playing a wizard. Sometimes /shipwright, though that's campaign-dependent.
Anyway.
Using Fabricate with those craft skills means I never have to go without my comfy chair, my stylish robes, or that ever-needful alchemists' lab.
Using it with craft/jeweler (which covers gemcutting and whitesmith work) still depends on decent ranks and good rolls, if you want to make anything of more value than that inherent in the materials.
The problem here isn't with Fabricate: it's with too much spell access on top of the per-level gains. If you were only getting a FEW spells aside from your level advancement research, choosing Fabricate would be a rough choice... and deserves some reward.
In my opinion.
But then, I tossed the WBL "rules" a long time ago, and have never been able to KEEP vast wealth.
I spend it, it gets stolen, I forget where I put it or just can't get TO where I put it...
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I think this is a specific case of a general thing; namely that (especially at higher levels), doing something that's reasonable IC, if executed with some rules mastery and taken to larger scale, can break the game.
And you can't make a complex game with many rules to enable tactical options, without that happening. The more complexity, the more ways to break it.
So you need to agree with the players as adults that you can be smart and profit from it, but not to the degree that you break the game. That's something people need to understand OOC; communicate.
The DM can push back a bit in-game, for example with guild taxes and such, but trying to make the player sorry for even trying isn't fair either; it's passive-aggressive and childish. If you do something clever, you can profit from it. Within reasonable limits.
Is it cheesy to have a highly intelligent PC wizard with the fabricate spell and ranks in Craft (gemcutting) to essentially triple the value of every gem they collect/buy?
I've actually seen this skill in published sources before, and the only possible use I can think of for it is to take an existing gem, and make a better gem out of it.
Say, I have a raw gem valued at 50gp. I use that as my 1/3 gp resources and spend a little time making my craft check. If I succeed, I end up with a gem or gems worth a total of 150gp (since it is now properly cut and beautiful). A bad cut (a bad check) might cost me some of these raw materials.
However, since I am a highly intelligent wizard, this never happens. Furthermore, since I have fabricate, this takes no time at all.
Does this strike you as cheesy? Or perfectly logical and within the rules/expectations of the game?
Say the party cleric obtains enough diamond to cast resurrection, or I obtain a large diamond with enough value for a wish spell. I could potentially get three resurrections or wishes out of it thanks to my personal resource investment (skill ranks, intelligence, and spell choice).
Again, cheesy or not?
Reminds me of the old forge coins rules. Perhaps a bit cheesy, especially if you try to turn one gem into many, but a bad cut should cost more than some materials, you ruin the gem, it isn't a sword you can melt down and re-forge.
And it is Craft(jewelry) not Craft(gemcutting).Craft (gemcutting) to cut an uncut gem and Craft (jewelry) to take the cut gem along with other materials to make nice jewelry.
Knowing how to cut a gem doesn't mean you know how to make an attractive brooch that someone will pay good gold for. Knowing how to smith silver into an attractive brooch doesn't mean you know how to cut the gem.
So in your games you require two skills to make bows? Carving and stringing? God forbid you make them take wood classes.
Grain into Gold: http://e23.sjgames.com/item.html?id=BEN3610
Well I'll tell ya at least as far as crafting magic items goes... So we're all in rise of the runelords, hangin out in sandpoint... earned a few bucks here and there fightin gobbies and rescuing some townies... typical hero stuff... so we've been asked to hang out a few days in town... keep up a presence for the locals and all that. Right?
So if i have craft wondrous item. A feat i chose instead of some sort of 'increase my blasty deathy potential' feat... Now I head on down to the tanner and purchase masterwork leather tools... I can only make 1000 worth of 'sale price progress' per day and even if i make something with a sale price of 1000, theres a small chance that someone in town will be able to afford it because sandpoint has an 800 individual item limit, and heck. with an 800 per item limit theres a good chance i can only score 800 worth of crafting materials and if i make a 1600 item its too exotic for anyone in town to afford.
So lets keep it down to 400 (380 for me since i'm a hedge magicians apprentice) in materials to make an 800 item... we'll call it oh, "belt of tumbling"... CL1+5, toss in an extra 5 to make it in half the time so i'm only crafting for 4 hours instead of 8... take 10 on the craft check, add 3 from spellcraft as a class skill, little int bonus... and poof. got me a belt that's cheap enough that i should have no trouble finding a buyer in town.
Yeah. I could do this once a day and create the tumbling belt industry in sandpoint for only 4 hours a day... but i'm only making 420 per day... which sounds nice, except you know... i gotta pay for spell research and spellbooks... researching 3 2nd level spells takes 9 hours so if i have one day where we're not being besieged by gobbos then i'm lucky enough to get in 9 hours of study and 4 hours of crafting and spend half my crafting profits on spell research... Good luck getting a day like that...
now lets say i'm in a bigger town where they can afford more than 800gp items... lets say im a high falootin' 16th level crafter. I can bend the power of reality itself to my will and i live in the best economy on the continent but none of it matters. I'm still only able to make 1000 sale price profits worth of progress on my crafting per day. Doesnt matter if i'm making protection rings or attribute books (which take 77 days each to write by the way) I'm still going to buy 1000 of material and sell it for 2000 when i'm done per day. Now I know that sounds like a lot. 1000gp per day in profit... Getting the WBL will take me how many days uninterrupted? Yeah. Crafting is not game breaking profits because how many days will your gm give you to just sit on your tuffet without something trying to burn the city down. It's still totally under their control and the way they control it isnt by shutting it down.
Its by keeping you busy enough to keep you away from your workbench. Come on you lazy GM's. Stop trying to kill the rule. Use your tools. Keep this town lively enough so they don't have time to craft... Or realize that there's no way i'm going to have 410 uninterrupted crafting days between now and level 17 to hit WBL and get over your stingy self ya dutchbaeg.
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I don't know if anyones mentioned this but I know in ultimate equipment they have extra rules built in so that found gem's have a 50% chance of being uncut and worth half the rolled value. Thing is a player with craft gemcutting can make a roll to cut it back into shape and get full value out of it.
And to answer Ascalaphus: our gm also shares a feeling that theres just too dang much gold in pathfinder... Buying a sword? pay some gold? Room for the night? pay some gold? Leather armor? Show me some gold!
Our GM is right...
Its raining effin gold here. And I understand... Staff of wonder is like what 200000gp? at 50 coins per pound when you go to buy your staff of wonder all you need to do is march your 2 SOLID TONS OF GOLD into the market... You know... A 1953 buick made of solid gold... Just you know... Roll it into town square... No big deal....
What the hell? Yeah... Here's the thing. I totally understand why we equate a copper piece with a penny. That totally makes sense... But then a gold piece is worth a dollar? Really? My job pays me 4 pounds of gold per day? I WISH my job paid me 4 pounds of gold per day...
So what we've done is we just pretend that any time the book says gp what they really mean is cp. Its a typo. Unless we're trying to buy something made of actual moneymetal... 30 pounds of gold for full plate? I dont think so. Try 1500 copper (15 gold pieces now)... Now gold is starting to seem like it's worth something for a change. On the other hand you want a silver dagger? Thats 40cp for the dagger and 50 silver pieces for the pound of silver that its made out of.
My gm said 'well encumbrance is supposed to be a wealth limiting thing and you're taking it away... My response is that my coinpurse had 7 platinum pieces in it... All of my worldly wealth. (an old system equivalent to 140 pounds of gold) and some limey cutpurse just stole it. Hows that for gms controlling the economy? He's got nothing to worry about and we're really liking how the new system feels, despite not really changing the actual economy of the game at all.
It doesnt really change the ratio of prices and loot so from a player standpoint it changes practically nothing, but from a 'flavor of the world' standpoint its no longer a monsoon of gold in every purse and behind every door. Pretty stylish.
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At high levels, in core, there is not a whole lot to do with overly excessive wealth. The GP limits in your core population centers are 16,000 gp in a metropolis, plus whatever is randomly generated (see Magic Items, Core Rulebook) unless your GM is using some sort of variant rules. Humorously, around the time where such money making opportunities arise the ability to abuse excessive wealth quickly falls within the system as you are forced to look into other avenues of gain like adventuring, planar travel, convincing NPCs to help you create stuff out of the ordinary, or crafting it yourself.
At this point, it's trivially easy to do a lot of very potent things with magic. Fabricate and any trade good (not just gemcutting) is a major money maker. It just cannot avoid being so. Pick any trade good, such as any art object (sculpting, painting, weaving, jeweling, or even weaponsmithing for artistic weaponry) and you can triple your investment for only a matter of time. Since fabricate removes the time process it becomes only a matter of investment. For example, if you decide you want to sculpt something like a very valuable statuette out of obsidian, you just need some obsidian equivalent to 1/3rd of the value of the final item. Fabricate. Done. It's that simple.
A wizard can produce a castle out of nothing in an extremely short period of time. Just as an example, a wizard can create a sentient construct with skills in Preform (string instruments). Cast wall of stone repeatedly (no material component, produces a crapton of non-magical non-dispellable non-vanishing 100% real stone) and hand his construct a lyre of building and have a castle built within a week or less. Out of thin air. On a hilltop, or a mountain, or underground if he likes. He can then use wall of iron to spread sheets of metal along the inner walls, so that common scrying spells won't penetrate it and bother him. You can produce tons of iron for about 50 gp with wall of iron. All you need to make some re-enforced walls on pocket change for such a wizard.
But at these levels money doesn't speak as readily as actions do. So it's either downtime to craft all your own gear or go out and find better gear than is in your local magic mart. Money does not magically produce a +3 or better weapon when a +2 weapon is the most expensive that you can reliably find in a metropolis. So it's back to crafting everything yourself, which is entirely reasonable in a sandbox world where you're not being pulled by a hook in the nose, but isn't always an option or something you want to do.
Due to the innate limits on what is readily available to actually spend GP on, it seems to me that there is a hidden balance here. About the time where you have so much money (or can have so much money) that it's silly, money just doesn't cut it alone. At that point, gold becomes more of a plot device. A tool for bribery, or for building a guild, or funding an army, or starting a city. All those +3 phat lewts aren't available in your local Magics R Us, so put it towards RP purposes and find/craft better gear yourself.
Reading through this I was thinking of a real world situation that is possibly enlightening here. Natural gems are worth more if they have no flaws or cracks. The larger the gem the more likely it is to have flaws or cracks. So it is common for people to uses different acryilics that fill in and bind with the gems they can turn a large flawed stone into one without flaws and now cut facets in a much larger stone than they could normally. Now if your caught using these fillers the stone drops dramatically. They actually have dogs that smell the stones that are trained to recognized the fillers.
I don't see how this is so cheesy. Is not like you run into a godzillion gems as you adventure. You save a lot more with a crafting feat than you'd earn with this trick.
D&D economics doesn't make sense, more news at 11.
Fabricate, Wall of Iron, Gate, Teleport Circles, Planar Binding, etc can all be used to wreck the average D&D economy.
Basically you have to decide what level of "realism" you are trying to simulate and at a certain point in time just trust your players not to break the system.
If people want to play a medieval economy simulator there are tons better games out there than D&D.
The real question is if I can take one sword and use it as raw material to craft three swords.
I think this reply really captures the spirit of the thread.