Hi guys,
I have some unsolved questions regarding magic items and their the chance to buy them in cities/towns:
1. I just read about the settlement sizes and saw the table about minor/medium/major items.
So does it mean that if the group is in a metropolis (largest community), all minor magic items are available in the local shops, 4d4 medium and 3d4 major items? Will the stock items change or does a town stick with their rolled items?
2. Does the availability restriction only apply to wondrous items, rings and other stuff or also magic weapons and armor? And what about scrolls and potions?
3. There is a 75% chance that a specific item within the town's base value is available. If I fail to find the item I want, can I go and look for a sorcerer in town to let him craft it instead? I know that there is a settlement-dependant table about spellcasting prices in towns, but are there any rules about ordering items instead of buying stock items?
4. Can I upgrade my magic items (for example Longbow +1 to +2) in town?
5. How do you handle the item availability in pathfinder?
1 - Yes. Stock changes when the GM feels like it. Maybe after each major adventuring trip? Or weekly? Or maybe add a bit of a randomness to the duration for each item before it is replaced.
2 - All magical equipment; items, rings, armor, weapons, wands, scrolls, potions, etc.
3 - In theory. Of course, it takes time for the item to be made (1 day per 1000g, or 1 day per 2000g if they rush it). I usually charge 10% to custom order something. There is still the spell caster limits, so you probably want to limit magic item creation availability to feats that meet the town's spell caster level. So a place with only level 1 spell casters can't craft any magical items, for example.
4 - See above.
5 - Per the rules? I spend a fair bit of time with random number generators and the Ultimate Equipment book tables to generate the items. I also fiddle with the lists to ensure there's some stuff in town that is at least vaguely of interest to my players. The biggest problem is that stuff in the Major Item category are way outside the price range of most characters, so why even roll it? For example, I rolled a Staff of Power for a party of level 6 or so characters. Other than making the Wizard very sad, it meant nothing.
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http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/other-rules/settlements
Base Value and Purchase Limit This section lists the community's base value for available magic items in gp (see Table: Available Magic Items). There is a 75% chance that any item of this value or lower can be found for sale in the community with little effort. If an item is not available, a new check to determine if the item has become available can be made in 1 week.
For every week, if the players are hanging around, I roll anew on http://archivesofnethys.com/RandomItemGenerator.aspx: a very handy website.