Magic shop: building and shopkeeper

[CalamaroJoe]

Hi,
I'm not sure about my feelings about magic marts: on one side I think that they are somewhat silly and take out the magic from magic items; on the other side I feel it's time I develop a more modern view and renounce to some of my old school love :smalltongue:

Anyway, I'm going to use one or more shops in my cities. And here comes the question: what are the features that a magic shop should have? And what can be a typical build of the shopkeeper?

For the building, I'm thinking of
anti-magic fields
lots of auto-resetting traps
strict policies for customers (leave everything outside, be prepared to be attacked at any sign of suspicious activity, ...

and what else?
For the shopkeeper, some kind of arcane caster seems obvious. But what more?

[Der_DWSage]

One of the best things you can do is have your shopkeeper be able to cast Divination, and have a few of them team up with their divinations, always asking 'Will I be robbed or cheated within the next week?' If yes, then they start narrowing down.

If a few team up, they double-check each others' work to negate that silly failure chance.

[CalamaroJoe]

'Will I be robbed or cheated within the next week?' If yes, then they start narrowing down.

This is smart :smallbiggrin:

[N. Jolly]

For me personally, none of the magic item shops in my games actually have ANYTHING in them, really just descriptions of items and models. The actual items are kept off site in a secure location with damn better security than some jerk in a thatch hut could provide. Players look around (or in books out of game) for what they want, ask the shop keeper for it, and he orders it in so that the party can pick it up as soon as it's in. I'll admit this really only works for towns or larger, but those are going to be the ones that have a decent trade in magic items, so I don't mind if the party has to wait anywhere between an hour and a few days for their item.

In my shops, you put down a 10% deposit on the item, and are given a magical notice for when your item hits the shop which is activated when the shop keeper gets in the supply. I'll admit it's a little high magic (I like Eberron and Golarion myself), but it keeps the party from thinking they can just go into a magic shop, cast X spell, and walk out with a damn armory.

[Red Fel]

Given that D&D is traditionally an image of medieval high fantasy, and that in the medieval period there were often trade guilds that banded together for security and mutual benefit, why not guild the magic shops?

All magic shops that are members of and pay dues to the guild can purchase supplies through the guild, including wares and extradimensional safe storage. They can also purchase store security precautions, such as AMFs and divinations.

This first means that players can be assured of a certain degree of quality and consistency when dealing with guilded magic shops (thus justifying a slightly greater degree of "magic mart" if you're going in that direction). It also justifies a wariness on the part of the characters when dealing with non-guilded shops in small towns.

It also creates an option for players interested in that route - becoming shop-guilded, or becoming a "procurer" for the guild (i.e. getting special treatment at guilded shops in exchange for providing magic goods to the guild for distribution to shops).

I would suggest, rather than "leave everything outside," an antechamber in the doorway, with lockers where customers can safely store their belongings before entering, along with a resetting Detect Magic trap on the doorway between the antechamber and the store. (Magical metal detector much?)

In the store, things should be neatly organized on racks, individually labeled with prices. For goods not present in the store, there should be a description of the good and a date of availability (or simply a price, if it can be acquired through extradimensional storage via the guild). Storekeepers may vary, but if guilded, should be expected to display some prominent image of the guild seal, and likely some aspects of a uniform.

The shopkeeper himself need not have PC classes; NPC classes that make him a merchant are sufficient. For smaller shops, he may have levels in a class that allows him to craft some of his own items, but big shops in big cities are profitable enough that they don't need to make their own goods; they simply buy them through the guild.

Higher-end stores may operate more like high-end jewelry stores in the modern day, open only by appointment, allowing entrance only to those who have one; the doors are secured while customers are inside, preventing a grab-and-run.

This, of course, assumes you want your shops to run like streamlined, legitimate businesses, and not elaborate cons seeking to rip off, trick, and curse every customer.

[BowStreetRunner]

On the one hand, you have a powerful red dragon sitting on a hoard of loot somewhere deep within the deadliest mountain range in the world. Your chances of survival are slim, but together with your band of adventurers you believe you may have a chance to come away with the treasure.

On the other hand, you have an average shopkeeper sitting on top of what would amount to a hoard that would make any dragon in the world envious. Why go adventuring at all, let's all go knock off the corner magic mart instead. What's that you say? Smaug is already on his way to the magic mart himself, drawn by the sheer volume of concentrated wealth in the form of magic items for sale? We'd better hurry!

In all seriousness however, it always seemed odd to me that these shops would be set up quite the way you see them in most games. You can't build one of these and sit there hoping a PC will come adventuring to support you, so each one would have to be intended primarily to support the NPC demand in the area. The choice of items would likely be extremely limited, and expensive items very rare.

A more reasonable model for a magic mart is the Catalog sales model. In the 1800s in America, many General Stores kept on-hand the merchandise that was likely to be bought locally and for everything else you had catalogs. Once you make your selection, they would order it for you and you could pick it up when it was ready. Seems to me that most of your magic marts in a fantasy realm would work like this. They would have on-hand just what the local populace would be likely to buy (and you would actually find NPCs around town using these things) and for everything else there would be a catalog. For the cost of NPC spellcasting of Sending plus Teleport Object, you can even expedite the shipment to get it the same day.

[unseenmage]

On the one hand, you have a powerful red dragon sitting on a hoard of loot somewhere deep within the deadliest mountain range in the world. Your chances of survival are slim, but together with your band of adventurers you believe you may have a chance to come away with the treasure.

On the other hand, you have an average shopkeeper sitting on top of what would amount to a hoard that would make any dragon in the world envious. Why go adventuring at all, let's all go knock off the corner magic mart instead. What's that you say? Smaug is already on his way to the magic mart himself, drawn by the sheer volume of concentrated wealth in the form of magic items for sale? We'd better hurry!

In all seriousness however, it always seemed odd to me that these shops would be set up quite the way you see them in most games. You can't build one of these and sit there hoping a PC will come adventuring to support you, so each one would have to be intended primarily to support the NPC demand in the area. The choice of items would likely be extremely limited, and expensive items very rare.

A more reasonable model for a magic mart is the Catalog sales model. In the 1800s in America, many General Stores kept on-hand the merchandise that was likely to be bought locally and for everything else you had catalogs. Once you make your selection, they would order it for you and you could pick it up when it was ready. Seems to me that most of your magic marts in a fantasy realm would work like this. They would have on-hand just what the local populace would be likely to buy (and you would actually find NPCs around town using these things) and for everything else there would be a catalog. For the cost of NPC spellcasting of Sending plus Teleport Object, you can even expedite the shipment to get it the same day.

For a more medieval era feel items are just made when you order them. Means more downtime and isn't ideal for those pressure cooker style games where every second counts but asking the local craftsmen to make what you need is definitely more realistic.

Too bad Wish makes Magic Items on demand.
Though that's not necessarily a bad thing. Magic Shops become the front end for an extraplanar business of buying wishes from higher power beings. I can't remember the name off hand but there's a extraplanar race that deals in just this manner.

[jjcrpntr]

I just started dming a game and while my skills are incredibly basic at putting things together I really don't like the magic mart thing. When I'm playing I love it. But when I dm i tell the players they can buy basic potions and will occasionally find a magic item in the market, but in general any magic item they find will be during an adventure.

I've set this up in the backstory of the world that the ability to create truly magical items has been, for the most part, lost. A few powerful wizards may be convinced to give a basic +1 enchantment but anything really special you have to just hope you get lucky. So far it's working well. The other day they found a pearl of power and our cleric got super excited about it. I think having the items be not readily available makes it much more exciting when they show up.

[shylocke]

Have the shopkeep store all his stuff in nondescript chests linked to his amulet so he always knows where it is. DC 30 to spot the chest and DC 30 to remember to loot it iirc.