So I've been running Rise of the Runelords for a while now. The group is nearly ready to head to a larger city. The way I've been running Sandpoints shops feels off. The book says once a month roll for minor, medium, and major items. then just rolling for items etc.
Is the set value for Minor, Medium, and Major a per shop? or for the entire town? And if it's for the Town/city is there a way to decide which shop has which minor medium and major items?
Also, can it be assumed that in a large city the inventory turns over quicker and therefor they have new items more frequently?
Any general tips are appreciated for running a city.
The value is for the whole city.
Indeed a big city has got merchants and they bring new stuff, it also has crafters that will pretty much do anything the PCs want, for a price and some time to complete it. that's what i recommend you.
I roleplay each shop encounter. because i like scams, and if PCs are not clever enough they might find their purses being sieged. Or it can happen otherwise and they can buy stuff with less price.
A few suggestions:
- Griswald's Weapon Shop isn't Amazon.com; don't let the players just pick up a book and start picking out random gear. It sounds like a good idea at first, but then you've got each character loaded down with cure wounds wands, magic missle wands, wondrous-item-#2156-that-negates-every-encounter-you've-planned-so-far, etc.
- try to emphasize mundane (non-magical) items and later reward characters for making creative choices (i.e. the cleric's anointing oil used as a distraction to stealth past some guards)
- If something's going to disrupt the campaign, don't allow it--a GM's best tool is "NO". A brief bit of frustration for the player is better than a session devoid of challenge thanks to a metagaming purchase.
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Don't forget to look at how the rules work for the base value and purchase limit of cities. This will help you figure out what can and cannot be bought or sold.
The Base value is for figureing out if an item is available. There is a 75% chance that an item of that price value or lower is available. Any items more expensive than that are more than likely not available. The exception is when you roll to see what items are always available for that month, or what minor, medium, and major items are available in a kingdom if you are using those rules.
Purchase limit is the most money any one store can pay out when the party is selling items. Anything beyond that will need special services to sell.
I do allow certain items to pretty much always be available in larger settlements. Things like potions, scrolls, and wands of 1st or 2nd level, for example. I also have better chances of finding common items, like rings of protection or cloaks of resistence, depending on the bonus they give. A ring of protection +1, for example, would have a very high chance of being available, with the chances decreasing as the bonus got higher.
I do allow players to seek item crafting serveces. The cost is the same as regular retail but they also need to wait the needed amount of time for it to be crafted. This really isn't a problem though, as they either have enough down time to wait or I place an item in treasure that is close to what they want.
I do not believe in telling a player "no" straight out. That can cause a different kind of issue. Instead I tell them, "Let me think about that and find a way to work with you." In that case, they feel like they have been heard and that they are not being shut down completely. I don't let them walk all over me either. I take the whole game into consideration and look to find someway to keep them engaged in it. If that means placing a more personalized piece of gear into the treasure they are looting, all the better.
Different philosophies huh? I'm not a big fan of the checklist approach to magic items myself. For low powered items I usually stick with the "No more than 75% chance except for with potions, scrolls, low level wands". However if you want an item crafted, it is 150% of the base price.
Far as I can tell, if there is a 65% chance that an item is available in a town, but there is a 100% chance that somebody can craft it but "They will need a few days" then there is a 100% chance that item is available. Unless the GM is going out of his way to punish players for crafting (in which case why is he allowing crafting in that form?) wait a few days just means "Okay, I wait a few days." and then the time passes and its a few days later. Takes 45 seconds of game time tops. As a result, in my games, requesting a specific item costs more. Otherwise, you can wait until it shows up in a shop or shows up in loot. Or, you know, pick up another item.
But I'm an older school GM and I don't like the amazon.com approach to magic items. So I might be the wrong person to be putting input in on the matter.
Remember though, the 75% availability for items under the settlement price is for the entire settlement. Don't roll for each shop. That roll is for the blacksmith and the apothecary, the wizard's personal stash he's willing to sell and the heirloom from the barmaid who just can't justify keeping ahold of her grandfathers whatever when she needs to make rent and her son could use a restoration spell to get his leg back up and working, something she can't do on a 6 gold a month budget.
Beware of allowing too many magic items for sale, even in large cities. Item bloat is, IMHO, one of the surest ways to get bored with a campaign over the long term, simply because the players no longer have anything to look forward to or dream about.
If PCs are high enough level to craft their own magic items, all well and good. Though you might still require research, arcane or divine guidance, or a model to allow crafting funky items with uncommon special abilities.
If PCs can favorably influence a mid- to high-level NPC spellcaster/crafter, that could be another good way to obtain magic items for gold, provided they can convince this NPC to devote his valuable time to their request.
I prefer to have "magic shops" deal only in low-powered items, or generate a list of available items using one of the treasure-generating websites out there, like http://pathfinder-treasure-generator.com/
For example, use this random treasure for a shop:
Treasure Quantity[Triple], Magic Level[Standard], Residual Value[0%], Jewels VS Coins[50%/50%]
Show items details [+]
1) Masterwork Chain Shirt : 250gp [+]
2) Banded mail Armor 250 gp [84%, Low Quality] : 210gp [+]
3) Longbow 75 gp [116%, High Quality] : 87gp [+]
4) Lock, Average 40 gp [105%, High Quality] : 42gp [+]
5) Cold-weather outfit 8 gp [75%, Cheap Quality] : 6gp [+]
6) Potion of Remove curse {3rd/5th} : 750gp [+]
7) Potion of Cure light wounds {1st/1st} : 50gp [+]
8) Potion of Rage {3rd/5th} : 750gp [+]
9) Divine Scroll, Death ward {4th/7th}, Command plants {4th/7th} : 1400gp [+]
10) Arcane Scroll, Minor image {2nd/3rd} : 150gp [+]
11) Longspear +1 : 2305gp [+]
This one is nice too, I like the "salvage" category. Makes the shop feel suitably grubby or, if used for treasure, makes the PCs think about what they really want to carry.
http://donjon.bin.sh/pathfinder/treasure/