So, I am DMing Curse of the Crimson Throne, starting tonight. I have already rolled the city's random magic items for the session. My question to you guys is, for those of you who actually use random magic item generation or otherwise limit the amount of items that are available in a magic item shop, how much information about the items do you give your players?
I would like to do something less than just coming right out and telling them what the items are, but I don't want to give them so little information that they are forced to basically gamble with whether a magic item would be useful for them. I was thinking maybe give a good description of the item, and have the shop owner provide some hints to its use, but idk.
For the record, Korvosa, as a large city, has 4d4 minor magic items, 3d4 medium magic items, and 2d4 major magic items. In addition, any item costing 8000gp or less has a 75% chance of being readily available.
Thanks!
I would like to do something less than just coming right out and telling them what the items are, but I don't want to give them so little information that they are forced to basically gamble with whether a magic item would be useful for them. I was thinking maybe give a good description of the item, and have the shop owner provide some hints to its use, but idk.
How much game time do you actually want to devote to... shopping?
If everyone enjoys investigating available magic items, chatting with NPCs to determine their powers and value, and haggling over the final price, based on what is and isn't known about the item by various parties... sure, why not.
Or, you could just hand them a list of available items, and 10 minutes or less later, you're back to the campaign.
Personally, I hate the idea that every magic item in the CRB and in every supplement and splatbook known to man is 75% available. I don't want cool magic items to be treated like Kmart blue-light specials. So, what do I do? I pre-generate lists of magic shop inventory using a random shop generator and then modify or adjust to suit my whim (or my estimation of what I want my players to have). I also declare some items (like low-level healing potions and the like) always available at certain locations like temples.
Then when PCs go shopping, I can hand them a list of available items, and very little game time need be lost.
Then again, this "stingy" approach doesn't suit everyone.
Well, my players aren't exactly the types that are going to dig through books and every supplement to find super niche magical items. I don't think it is unreasonable that in a large city, you could fairly easily locate most varieties of up to +2 weapon or armor, +2 cloak of resistance, +2 stat item, etc. though. So I don't see that becoming a big issue. Plus, again, its only 8000gp, which, given, means that for the first few levels, they will basically be able to buy what they want. I think for a large city that is a reasonable gp limit for availability, but I can see where you are coming from.
Also, we are only playing with 3 PCs, so I think giving them a little extra advantage in being able to locate items in the early game is kinda fair.
What I will probably end up doing is giving them a plain list of most of the stuff, especially anything that is just a stat type item or weapons/armor, as well as scrolls and potions. But if there is a particularly expensive and cool item I might give them some good hints for it.
If they spend the whole day going around town and gearing up, I'll just give them the list, maybe hamming up an item if it's really interesting. I also like to have a sort of "bargain bin" in decent-sized cities where they can pick up some items cheaper than usual, but with . . . quirks.
Enough levels in and they'll have plane shift and teleport and can effectively shop anywhere in the multiverse given time and tuning forks. Makes for great adventure hooks.
/offer not valid if your five player party inexplicably doesn't have a full caster....
I find shopping boring and a competent pc can identify an item with a few easy dice rolls if it is level appropriate so I just tell them whats available , I may make an issue if time is a factor.
Also unless you tell them what an item is they are going to have trouble working out how much it is worth , unless you and your group are going to enjoy haggling over the value of an uncertain item and you are prepared for both screwing the party over by overhcarging them for a trinket and also the possibility of them making a great deal and paying a pittance for a powerful item I don't see what hiding information adds to the shopping experiece.
If you make getting basic useful items difficult it has one of 2 effects
1) The party is weaker than assumed.
2) They will just take crafting feats, break the economy and have every powerful item they want
Sounds neat, but also exhausting if the players do a lot of shopping. How do you balance the two?
Also unless you tell them what an item is they are going to have trouble working out how much it is worth , unless you and your group are going to enjoy haggling over the value of an uncertain item and you are prepared for both screwing the party over by overhcarging them for a trinket and also the possibility of them making a great deal and paying a pittance for a powerful item I don't see what hiding information adds to the shopping experiece.
I guess I should have mentioned it. Even if I decide to not tell them exactly what the item is, I am still going to let them know the market value, so with that plus the merchant giving some hints as to it's purpose I don't see anyone really getting screwed over or an unfair advantage. For example the shop might have a pair of boots which are priced at 12,000gp and if asked, the merchant might say something like "These boots are capable of giving you great bursts of speed".
If you make getting basic useful items difficult it has one of 2 effects
1) The party is weaker than assumed.
2) They will just take crafting feats, break the economy and have every powerful item they want
As we get higher into the game I intend to allow them a way to get basic useful items above the "readily available" gp limit. Things like weapons, armor, and the big 6 with bonuses appropriate to their level (with the standard +1 per 3 levels as a guideline) will not be difficult to come by.
Here's how I've done it (though with a home game and Town/Village sized settlements)
1. Roll the random items for the settlement
2. Embellish the item; give it a description or quirk that makes it somewhat interesting/noteworthy
3. Imagine an NPC/organization that might have such an item in their possession
4. Figure a reason the NPC/organization is willing to part with it
5. PCs roll skill checks to gather info about items; typically Diplomacy (Gather Info use) but depending on their build/RP they have also rolled Intimidate, Knowledge: Local, or Profession: Merchant
From there it's a bit of RP. For example one of my players wanted a +1 Battle Axe. The settlement was a Large Town with the Prosperous quality and I rolled up a +2 Weapon. Technically it was over the amount for the town but I decided to go with it.
I made it a +1 Vicious axe. Taking inspiration from old Diablo games I called it The Vicious axe of the Wyvern Sting. The device was crafted in part from the tail of a wyvern and every time the wielder used it the barb at the butt of the weapon would animate and injure them.
So I put the axe in the hands of a grizzled old dwarven warrior. He'd once managed a small mercenary troop but they'd been devastated by a reawakened dragon. The dwarf had fallen on hard times and could no longer wield the weapon, but he wasn't nearly so prideful as many of his more mountainous kinfolk. Instead the dwarf sought to be rid of the cursed weapon that had dealt him as much pain as he'd inflicted over the years. FYI; he was covered in scars.
So the barbarian PC used Intimidate to force a local barkeep to be Friendly. Said barkeep told him about a berserker mercenary dwarf who had liquidated his assets in town and was about to depart by horse cart towards the moors; said dwarf had one last treasure to sell.
The barbarian PC went to the dwarf. They arm wrestled and it was close but the barbarian beat the NPC. During the contest the PC saw all the scars on his arm. They drank a bit, the dwarf...
Im not going to lie. This is epic, but seems like it would get very exhausting if you do this for every item, and a lot of time would be used up "shopping".
I guess I should have mentioned it. Even if I decide to not tell them exactly what the item is, I am still going to let them know the market value, so with that plus the merchant giving some hints as to it's purpose I don't see anyone really getting screwed over or an unfair advantage. For example the shop might have a pair of boots which are priced at 12,000gp and if asked, the merchant might say something like "These boots are capable of giving you great bursts of speed".
The only way the seller is going to know that is by having identified them as boots of speed so may as well say casts Haste an in game spell known to everyone. Also of course any experienced player will just recognise the item and defeat the air of false mystery.
Even in the case of something like a +2 sword the character will be able to quantify the effects and tell what the item is and the description for the player is +2 sword.I don't understand why you just don't tell the players what the item is rather than providing information which 95% of the time will after they waste some gaming time guess what it is and the other 5% of the time discover they have bought something useless and be pissed off. You don't seem to be making it difficult and mysterious enough to add something to the experience for those inclined while making it just enough more complicated to waste time and annoy those people who want to keep it simple
But it's your game and you know your players.
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While it might be more "immersive" my group hates wasting time "shopping". You might view it as role play opportunities. And maybe with some particularly interesting items it could be fun. Especially if it's a plot point or McGuffin. But for routine shopping of every day items, it's not fun and it waste a lot of game time (IMO).
I don't do magic item 'shops', as in 'magic items already created out on shelves or in display cases'. Too tempting a target for thieves, too difficult to protect, and almost no demand for them. Most people can't afford them, and very few people need a magic weapon (and fewer still can even use a magic wand).
Rather, you might find someone capable of creating a magic item who will work on commission. You tell him what you want, and if he agrees to make it (or can make it in the first place), pay half up front, then half on completion.
I asked what they wanted to do when they got to a town. If they said they wanted to shop, I asked them for what they wanted. I assigned a price. They paid the price. They got what was on the list. Very few exceptions. Also, very little time spent wandering through a large city they've never seen, looking for items they don't know about in shops they don't know the location of. That is way too boring to even be fun, for anyone involved, no matter how much you enjoy role playing.