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View Full Version : (3.5) Giving the players an opportunity to spend their money



DarkEternal
2010-06-17, 07:50 AM
It is sort of easy while in the middle of the campaign to not have them buy whatever they want if they have the moneyto do so. However, once the campaign is over, do you allow your players to buy whatever they want if they desire to go to a large city if they have the money necessary to do so? I predict that at the end of the current campaign each player will have 100+k of gold to spend so I wonder how to handle this. Is there some sort of rule, some random dice tossing what is there or what isn't there to buy?

I mean, if they go to Cormyr, Waterdeep or some other huge part, chances are that if they can't find something in one shop, they'll simply go to another one until they find it, or commission a high level wizard to make whatever they want. So, yeah, how to handle this by giving the players to spend their money?

kamikasei
2010-06-17, 07:55 AM
There are guidelines in the DMG as to how costly an item players can expect to be able to buy in a settlement of a given size. You can let them find artificers (the concept, not the class) who'll make more expensive items for them on order. And once they're high enough level, they can just plane shift to a planar metropolis where magic flows freely.

DarkEternal
2010-06-17, 08:16 AM
That's the thing. By the end of the campaign I expect them to be like level 17 or something so yeah, they can basically go wherever they want. Just don't know the mechanics or how to implement it, to give them every item they want as long as they can afford it or something.

Escheton
2010-06-17, 08:24 AM
Basically yeah. The more obscure ones might cost a bit more as they are more difficult to find or have a craft dc of casterlvl 7 and 2d6 sneak attack or something and the unseen seer that makes them knows that he is the only one for miles that can make it..

Also keep in mind that throwing that kinda cash around will get you robbed, at least once.

2xMachina
2010-06-17, 08:33 AM
Maybe Gather Info checks to find the people with the obscure requirements.

Snake-Aes
2010-06-17, 08:39 AM
Rare items or items way too expensive are quests on their own right to acquire. Lands require a talk with the royalty, rare products only exist in a certain places (or people), and so on.

While I find it better to let them buy whatever mundane that fits a city's bill(settlements, nonmagical wear and services) should be worth an automatic, while big stuff like magic gear/services, titles of nobility, and stuff on the lines of "the left astigmatic eye of a gay basilisk that is blind but with sight-capable eyes, poked through with the eyelash of a dead lamia whose last disguise was that of an armless gnome" should really require either a quest on its own right, or at least contacts with someone capable of finding it, plus the appropriate necessary time.

gbprime
2010-06-17, 08:58 AM
Indeed. One does not just port over to Sigil, walk in to the downtown Mage Mart, and plop down cash on an Iron Flask (or similar expensive item). Finding someone to MAKE one is more likely. And the guy will probably do it at book price, but is going to want a favor first (or later if he knows and trusts you). That's a good mini-adventure in itself.

jokey665
2010-06-17, 09:05 AM
Indeed. One does not just port over to Sigil, walk in to the downtown Mage Mart, and plop down cash on an Iron Flask (or similar expensive item). Finding someone to MAKE one is more likely. And the guy will probably do it at book price, but is going to want a favor first (or later if he knows and trusts you). That's a good mini-adventure in itself.

Sigil, maybe not. Union, on the other hand...

Snake-Aes
2010-06-17, 09:06 AM
Indeed. One does not just port over to Sigil, walk in to the downtown Mage Mart, and plop down cash on an Iron Flask (or similar expensive item). Finding someone to MAKE one is more likely. And the guy will probably do it at book price, but is going to want a favor first (or later if he knows and trusts you). That's a good mini-adventure in itself.

If such good is marketed, there's no reason to require quests just to make them. It's what I excuse as "You'll have to pay, but reaching the guy himself is not mundane". Planar travel and the like would be the special cost of the item.

Ravens_cry
2010-06-17, 09:22 AM
Make the NPC's they run into during their shopping trips characters in their own right. Like the magic shop owner, who, along with standard +1 swords and armour, has a few. . .experimental items lying around he may want you to try out.
Or a haughty herbalist who puts on all airs and is incredibly snooty and condescending to the PC's.
Or the back street potion seller, who may have a few other liquids, some to make you feel good, others to make others feel very, very bad, that he is willing to sell for a fair* price.
*jacked up

gbprime
2010-06-17, 09:26 AM
If such good is marketed, there's no reason to require quests just to make them. It's what I excuse as "You'll have to pay, but reaching the guy himself is not mundane". Planar travel and the like would be the special cost of the item.

If a place exists where someone can wander in with 6 figures in gold and walk out with an item, then that place will attract people who want to STEAL said 6 figures in gold. Very often the cost of wealth is... defending it. There's your mini adventure.

Snake-Aes
2010-06-17, 09:34 AM
If a place exists where someone can wander in with 6 figures in gold and walk out with an item, then that place will attract people who want to STEAL said 6 figures in gold. Very often the cost of wealth is... defending it. There's your mini adventure.

True. A truly rich person does have to protect his goods if he wants to stay rich. Fear alone doesn't usually solve everything, so to keep them from the average thief you have to build your own safe vault.

Keeping a low profile is also interesting for that purpose. Most don't enter into those details tho.

Runestar
2010-06-17, 10:25 AM
Just let them buy whatever they want, especially if they are not that into roleplaying the entire procedure. They earned the money (and the right to spend it, by extension). Just cross out the money, give them the gear, and start on your next campaign arc. :smallsmile:

gbprime
2010-06-17, 11:03 AM
Just let them buy whatever they want, especially if they are not that into roleplaying the entire procedure. They earned the money (and the right to spend it, by extension). Just cross out the money, give them the gear, and start on your next campaign arc. :smallsmile:

Ah, epic storytelling at it's finest. Your players will be retelling the tale of how they crossed off the gold and scribbled down a piece of equipment for years to come. :smallamused:

I kid.

Curmudgeon
2010-06-17, 11:21 AM
If it's standard items, or any of the "common item effects" listed in Magic Item Compendium, almost always. A few items, like Nightsticks, just aren't available without quests to the places where Libris Mortis monsters frequent.

If the characters want custom items, usually not unless they craft them personally. I don't include semi-custom boosters, like +5 to Hide items in that. But uncommon skill boosters (Autohypnosis, Iaijutsu Focus) will again take a quest to someone who knows how to build such things.

Now, I rarely have magic items above a +1 longsword just lying about in a shop's inventory. Typically buying more expensive items involves specifying what you want, they do a search (magically) among their sources, you come back the next day and they tell you if such an item is available. Then you pay half the money and come back the next day and check out the special order item; if you like it, you pay the other half and take home your purchase.

It doesn't make sense for a shop to have a lot of expensive items lying about waiting for a burglary. Plus the economics don't work out: one fully-stocked shop would hold half the land's wealth in its inventory. In a land of magic, next-day delivery isn't difficult.

DarkEternal
2010-06-17, 02:16 PM
Nightsticks are a banned item in my DM-ing so that's not an issue.

Just wanted to keep it somewhat balanced, at least this is the prospect of the game that I control, and not them. I gave them the ability to evolve their characters from any book for 3.5 and this is my way of keeping them in touch. After playing for almost a year now, I pumped up prices of various things to let them in some sort of order. However, if they have enough money now to buy +5 weapons with various stuff on them, that won't do.

Foryn Gilnith
2010-06-17, 02:26 PM
Just let them buy whatever. They're level 17; anything that might overpower them at that level might not be buyable with 100k-ish gold. You can make quests and NPCs and gather information checks, but IME those things are factored into the price. Because of your adventuring you know this guy who knows this guy who can make your uber-sword, but he needs some materials, but you can't go and get them because you have to be attuned to the sword, so you put up some bounties for the materials, and in the end you've spent X amount of time and Y amount of gold.

Plus, at the end of the campaign, going on random quests might break the flow. Pick one quest for them each to focus on during the downtime, possibly or possibly not related to their magic item purchases, and roll with that.

Fitz10019
2010-06-17, 03:05 PM
Just let them buy whatever they want, especially if they are not that into roleplaying the entire procedure. They earned the money (and the right to spend it, by extension). Just cross out the money, give them the gear, and start on your next campaign arc. :smallsmile:

This. If you want more RP detail to a shopping expedition, considering handling it by email or forum between sessions. This lets everyone have up-to-date character sheets at the beginning of the next real session. Time lost to shopping (especially debating/whining about what is or isn't available) can hurt the pacing and mood of a session.

DarkEternal
2010-06-17, 05:39 PM
Yeah, I probably will do that. Also a problem is that a few expect me to have a list of stuff that you can buy(since not everyone has the grasp of all the items there are) as if it's a computer game, and expect that list to change on a daily notice, every time with new stuff which is frankly, a bit cumbersome to do.

DragoonWraith
2010-06-17, 06:08 PM
Also note that the DMG explicitly and strongly suggests that players get any items as they can afford with WBL. If there's something you want to be a little more special than just in a shop (not at all unreasonable), you are supposed to sneak that into their loot in an upcoming battle, or have a side-quest appear in short order to get it. Players don't have to be able to buy whatever items they want, but they should be able to get whatever items they want.