So you can sell any loot you got at half price by the rules. But then - dogslicers and goblin armors are made of junk and are still considered to cost 8 and 10 respectively (halving it to 9gp per goblin at least). All well and good - but who will buy it? I mean who really needs it?
But it's getting even better - i kill a troglodyte cleric of Rovagug which has studded leather armor (25gp) and obsidian divine focus of Rovagug worth 50gp... Who will buy leather armor made for troglodyte? It is stinky as hell and is not going to be good for a human - troglodytes being humanoids still are too different for this armor to be comfortable (especially with stink). And who for the Calistria's virginity would buy the Rovagug divine focus? But you can sell it all and even get full price for divine focus as it is actually work of art/jevelry.
And now the best thing - who would buy armor of rune giant... who needs it? Or armor of an ogre?
I jsut don't get how it should work. Up until now i managed it like a town paying a bounty for those items for extermination of monsters... but it can't last forever.
Heard of melting the metal down for reuse?
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Melting down studded leather?
But yeah, I have the same problem. As a GM, I don't want to deny PCs the WBL they get from selling monster kit, but it breaks my suspension of disbelief.
What I did is borrow an idea from MMOs: that enchanted items (i.e. magical) have components which can be reused (or "disenchanted"). So, that +2 rune giant armour can be used as the material cost in crafting something else.
and who would buy medium troglodyte armor or dogslicers?:) I really doubt many goblins trade in Sandpoint... And i totally doubt many troglodytes go here searching for new armor or new Rovagug divine focus.
blacksmith
melting the iron, turn the leather in to straps, burn the wood bits
the iron or possibly steel itself would be worth a handful of coins so don't discount recycling
It is not really a problem... At least not compared to the size problem with equipment. It may even put them in the frame of mind that it's okay to leave the occasional brass doorknob in the dungeon.
They are not bad weapons so I figure someone would take them, and the larger(from large creatures) stuff is probably rare so from a flavor perspective I can see the appeal.
With that aside if sometimes I overlook verisimilitude for the sake of not giving the players a hard time. Of course I could say they can they can't sell the items, but then I would have to make up them another way. It is just easier to handwave it.
I've wondered this at times, as well. Even discounting the obscurity of Rune Giant armor and obsidian divine foci to horrible deities... who would buy 25 short swords?
Even at half price, that is a considerable amount of specialized inventory you would have to turn over (at least 13 before you began to make any profit). If they are masterwork, the cost skyrockets and the turn over rate probably tanks. If they are enchanted, it is very unlikely that a retail shop would even purchase them until and unless they had a buyer lined up.
I don't think there is a great way to handle this. Unless you are playing low-magic E6... You're just going to break the economy.
Generally, after first level, most parties I've seen start ignoring non-magical villain belongings, as they aren't worth the time and effort for what you get out of it.
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The game takes some liberties with the economics of buying and selling, but it doesn't bother me enough to worry about it.
I certainly don't find that any harder to understand than the fact that everything the players sell goes for 50% of it's value, but that everything they buy is at 100%. The players can't go up to another adventurer and buy an item off of him for 60% of it's value.
"Nope. No can do. I'd much rather sell it to that merchant over there for less..."
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and who would buy medium troglodyte armor or dogslicers?:) I really doubt many goblins trade in Sandpoint... And i totally doubt many troglodytes go here searching for new armor or new Rovagug divine focus.
Troglodytes may not walking in asking for the leather, but a Lizardfolk might, or similarly shaped buyer. Also, I would wager that a store owner might be willing to wheel and deal with a low level mage, cleric or acolyte to cast a spell that removes the stench. Prestidigiation comes to mind (since it's a catch all for all minor things)
Perhaps the owner of a gladitoral game pit may purchase several of these less than...desired items to toss in for their slaves to practice with rather than getting quality items. Or anyone looking to buy cheap weapons to do training with.
Could always be a local nutball that raises Rust Monsters. Dogslicers feed the Rust Monsters pretty well. (My hometown had two guys living next door to each other, one had tigers the other emus. People are strange.)
Maybe some guy comes in buys all the crap weapons turns around and sells them to goblins, torglodytes, orcs and what not, waits for adventures to kill his customers and repeats.
There are options, some good, some bad, some ugly.
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I think that the Rovagug divine focus could be sold for a number of reasons. I could see some churches devoted to good and lawful gods wanting it as a kind of bounty token ("oh, you took out one of their clerics? This healing is on the house")
The other possible use would be for 'examples.' As in, to train young clerics, inquisitors, and paladins on what the divine focuses of blasphemous gods look like. This helps them identify heretics, and let's admit... I would be wary if I was the local jeweler and the priest of my church asked me to make a Rovagug symbol. That is usually a tip off in most cases. Having actual divine focuses also makes it more realistic, rather than the artistic interpretation of a local artist.
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What about the tavern owner who want "trophys" on display, Or other similar customers? Not everyone interested in buying these exotic armors or weapons has to necessarily want to use them.
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In most cases, I think that buyers would not pay more than 10% of full non-magical cost. You might be able to get a bit more on trophy items that are magical (weapons, helms, gauntlets) and more still if the creature it came from is well known. "Yup, this here is the sword of Grognar the Wicked; had his head separated from his body a few years back by none other than Valeros the Strong."
Like others have said, the rest of the metal would likely be sold for scrap to a blacksmith to be melted down (if he is interested).
Large sets of leather armor might fetch a price from a leather worker who can cut and repurpose them.
Just got to mention, I don't think melting down weapons is a realistic economic proposition.
The economics of FRP is entirely fantasy, (there were some superb articles about this in some early White Dwarfs which worked on the "ale standard" of 1cp = one pint of beer for a hard working labourer). It's best not to think about it and just let the pcs sell whatever they like. In one group I'm in at the moment our last reverse-shopping trip we sold 18 +1 cloaks of protection. OK, I'm pretty sure we could have unloaded a couple, but who needs EIGHTEEN.
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Just got to mention, I don't think melting down weapons is a realistic economic proposition.
It depends on how you want to do your world. My understanding is that for a long time, blacksmiths actually did their own smelting to extract iron. Iron was also always in demand.
Now, I am certainly no expert on blacksmithing; so I don't know how realistic it is for weapons to be melted down and whether it would have been easier than smelting. I just think it's great to have an option so players can sell crap weapons and metal armor at early levels while keeping their wealth controlled.
So you can sell any loot you got at half price by the rules. But then - dogslicers and goblin armors are made of junk and are still considered to cost 8 and 10 respectively (halving it to 9gp per goblin at least). All well and good - but who will buy it? I mean who really needs it?
But it's getting even better - i kill a troglodyte cleric of Rovagug which has studded leather armor (25gp) and obsidian divine focus of Rovagug worth 50gp... Who will buy leather armor made for troglodyte? It is stinky as hell and is not going to be good for a human - troglodytes being humanoids still are too different for this armor to be comfortable (especially with stink). And who for the Calistria's virginity would buy the Rovagug divine focus? But you can sell it all and even get full price for divine focus as it is actually work of art/jevelry.
And now the best thing - who would buy armor of rune giant... who needs it? Or armor of an ogre?
I jsut don't get how it should work. Up until now i managed it like a town paying a bounty for those items for extermination of monsters... but it can't last forever.
Who need goblin armor = other goblins
Who needs Troglodyte armor = other troglodyteWho needs rune giant armor = other giants
Another way of looking at it is... Do you really think the armor and weapon YOU bought from the merchant was make Just for YOU. No, most likely they were not.
If the armor was damage, then it was repaired, and sold off to someone who could use it. A weapon, was picked up, and sold off to someone who wanted it.
In a Fantasy world, with trade merchant/thief guilds/& Adventures, i would think that there is a lot of trade going on. Between races
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Another way to think about it, back in 1491, before colombis "discovered", the america's. You had Eskimos trading with north american indians, who were trading with middle american indians, who were trading with south america indians.
At the same time, you had the english, trading with spain, greese, rome, arabia, which was trading with china & india.
You might fight today, war to tomorrow, but 90% of the time, you have merchant trying to make a buck and a living; saleing there stuff to any side who will buy it.
In one group I'm in at the moment our last reverse-shopping trip we sold 18 +1 cloaks of protection. OK, I'm pretty sure we could have unloaded a couple, but who needs EIGHTEEN.
Obviously somebody needed 18 cloaks, as they had them in the first place. Congrats on supplying the next BBEG with his minion upgrades. ^_^
You could probably treat trogolodyte armor with vinegar and tomato juice for the odor and refit it. But honestly, this is a situation where as a GM I tend to deal with things situationally. You probably can't sell non-magical trog armor for half price. Goblin gear? Sure. After a little spit and polish, it probably does good trade with halfling rogues.
i kill a troglodyte cleric of Rovagug which has studded leather armor (25gp) and obsidian divine focus of Rovagug worth 50gp... Who will buy leather armor made for troglodyte?
I’d totally let them sell it, then down the road have them meet a cranky NPC guard who’s always complaining about how his armor smells.
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For magical gear, I houserule (and this has been a rule of mine for a looong time) that weapons/armor/items can automatically resize to fit the creature in question. Large and Small items aren't an issue for parties full of Medium creatures.
For non-magical gear, it's generally not really something my players loot after level 2 or 3, because hauling around all that non-magical jun isn't worth their time or effort (especially when their might be a shiny +1 weapon that is worth more than all that mundane stuff).
-Skeld