Most people take the list price of magic items as a given, but I’m thinking of making a fundamental change to magic items in my world which changes their respective costs.
Economically speaking, when humanoids are going to have magic items made, they are going to go for the best value for their money, and go for the cheapest price, which means that according to most economic theories, most if not all magic items are made with just one restriction regarding (Race, Class, or Alignment) to gain the 30% discount.
New Campaign Rule I’m Considering:
“The ‘Norm’ is for magic items to be created with use restrictions. Over 90% of all magical items created are limited in one fashion or another. The most common restriction (90%) is race.”
It seems to me that the most common restriction that allows the 'most' people to use an item is 'race' unless an area is very metropolitan or mixed.
This way PCs who find magic items have a chance to not only find items they can’t use, but it may require them to actually ‘upgrade’ an item before it can be used.
Many people complain about the 30% discount for items which are ‘restricted’ to use by certain race/alignments/classes. Some argue this is an ‘addition’ to a magic item, while others argue that it is that the item isn’t fully formed. The RAW is the latter interpretation.
But what percentages?
Wondrous Items: Mostly race, but a few would be class specific.
Armor: Mostly class, but light armor probably race
Weapons: Depends upon if Martial weapon or Monk weapon
Wands: Mostly Class or race
Scrolls: Mostly Class or race
Potions: Mostly race.
The downside of this change to my campaign is additional tracking and calculations, but I think the ‘reality’ is that most magic items would be restricted in one way or another, while those that can be used by everyone might be nicknamed ‘Greater Masterwork’ magic items. ;-)
Any thoughts on this change? It is a not so subtle shift in the underlying economics of the world for most players who are not used to it.
To what end?
The problem with this is twofold: First, your players would have a harder time finding and selling equipment. Second, it would unnecessarily reduce the price of equipment. This is something that should be considered with care as it will have very little actual penalty to many players. Example: I am crafting items and in your world Ill just constantly add a restriction to reduce the cost. Even without the crafting side of it itll have a major effect on the expected WBL balance of your PCs.
- Gauss
@Gauss
Players will not have a that much harder time finding and selling equipment since the 'magic item' economy is already built this way. It should actually balance out considering:
1) Most items on the market will be for items that 'most' people in that region can use.
2) Some items in shops will already have been upgraded.
3) Items that are 'close' to what they want can always be 'upgraded' for the additional 30%.
4) UMD becomes a more important skill.
This means I can vary my treasure throwing in 'cheaper' more powerful items where those with high UMD can intermittently use them. This gives a sorcerer a more flexible role.
Its your world so its up to you. :) However, UMD is already an awesome skill. Making it an even more important skill is a bit much imo but as I said, its your world. - Gauss