Do you let players buy magic items?

[Protato]

I know one of the default assumptions 5e makes is that not everyone gets a magic item, or rather that they're rare, but I think they help to make characters stand out. As such I tend to let my party purchase or build magic items, or upgrade items into magic with a mix of casting and smithing. While possibly broken, I like to let my players do what they will most of time as long as they aren't argumentative with me or each other. With all that said, do DMs here let players buy magic items, and if so, why?

[Blood of Gaea]

It changes from campaign-to-campaign, but I'll usually allow each character to acquire at least one item before level 8 or so. Outside of a few rare circumstances, decent amounts of useful magic items are hard to purchase, though a capital city might have some, for example.

[Naanomi]

In my home campaign, potions, scrolls, and some other consumables are purchasable in major cities... but with few exceptions in specific locations no permanent magic items are for purchase in any meaningful sense

[Wryte]

The thing is, I would have absolutely no idea how to price them. I prefer to give them as quest rewards.

[Emay Ecks]

Usually no, and when I do I use something similar to what the downtime in the dmg suggests with you having to spend many weeks looking and usually don't get the best price. I don't mind letting players get the items they really want if they have their characters put in the effort to get them, be it travelling through a dungeon or trying to arrange a difficult sale.

The ramifications of shops selling magic items would be the fact that they are clearly the ideal targets to try to rob (though it will probably be difficult), NPCs will probably buy them (and could therefore solve their own problems or give the PCs a significant power bump when they kill bandits and take their +1 gear), and the power level of the realm just skyrockets into absurdity. My disbelief is very hard to suspend at that point.

[AvvyR]

I do, but not so simple as "When we're in town, I buy an Immovable Rod from the Immovable Rod shop" or whatever.

I like to turn it into its own mini-adventure. So, the player gets to town and starts asking around about if anyone in town might have magic items for sale, they make some checks, follow some leads, find a potential seller, get into imbittered negotiations, then it turns out, Oh no! someone overheard the sale was going down, and a bunch of thugs showed up planning to steal the item AND the money! Then in the end, they get the item.

It makes the process more engaging and rewarding, and makes them feel they earned it more.

[Legendairy]

It depends with me. In my current game I have allowed them to once, I had a list of items (I use the same magic item pdf). They were at a fair in a mid point after some epic and tragic RP sessions, so it was fun and a nice way to reward them and have them spend gold, they got to customize a bit and that was nice for them.

In most campaigns I allow consumables in main towns. Sometimes a market or auction may have one or two items for sale, this can also lead to fun hooks.

Usually, they get items as rewards and they sell them in a similar fashion, as I assume in the world they play in they aren’t the only adventurers with gear that they have a) outgrown or b) doesn’t suit them or c) need the gold for whatever reason, maybe even trying to Rez a fallen friend.

[History_buff]

Usually no, and when I do I use something similar to what the downtime in the dmg suggests with you having to spend many weeks looking and usually don't get the best price. I don't mind letting players get the items they really want if they have their characters put in the effort to get them, be it travelling through a dungeon or trying to arrange a difficult sale.

The ramifications of shops selling magic items would be the fact that they are clearly the ideal targets to try to rob (though it will probably be difficult), NPCs will probably buy them (and could therefore solve their own problems or give the PCs a significant power bump when they kill bandits and take their +1 gear), and the power level of the realm just skyrockets into absurdity. My disbelief is very hard to suspend at that point.

The implications of a magic item shop is that there are sufficient security measures in place to guard it well enough for it to be profitable. I imagine the best magic item shop has things like antimagic fields, hallow, mordenkainen’s private sanctum, golems (stone and iron), helmed horrors, glyphs of warding. The works. If they can pull that off they deserve the items.

[Emay Ecks]

The implications of a magic item shop is that there are sufficient security measures in place to guard it well enough for it to be profitable. I imagine the best magic item shop has things like antimagic fields, hallow, mordenkainen’s private sanctum, golems (stone and iron), helmed horrors, glyphs of warding. The works. If they can pull that off they deserve the items.

But then why isn't that guy running/protecting the shop solving the town's crisis? (S)he just dedicated several very powerful spells to protecting his/her shop. Why doesn't (s)he put that up all over town or at the very least vaporize the problem that people are making the enemy of my 3rd level PCs out to be? It's also very unlikely that this one shopkeeper is the only all powerful local, so why aren't the other ones solving the world's problems? At that point we're in Forgotten Realms where there are 3 dozen simultaneous world ending catastrophes keeping these individuals busy so my party can feel significant by defeating the nearby kobold tribe.

[Legendairy]

Cause he wants to turn a profit? Same reason people who own firearms don’t form their own militia and fight the war on drugs? Maybe they don’t want the risk of leaving their guarded sanctum, maybe they aren’t licensed to do that, maybe they consider the problems beneath them. Usually shops like this would be in a larger city anyway, so the problems may not be solved by one person or a few that make items, I mean even if they have 50items and golems they can still only attune to 3. Also marching on the enemies with golems may just cause them to flee and come back. Maybe the shop owner has a family and wants to support them and not be hunted. The adventuring life is a dangerous one, their buddy died on that last adventure so they don’t get involved anymore.

[Foxhound438]

me? no. Other DM's in my group? every town with a population of more than 10 people has a fully stocked up magi-mart.

[Angelalex242]

me? no. Other DM's in my group? every town with a population of more than 10 people has a fully stocked up magi-mart.

Well, in adventure league, you can buy specific items from whatever organization you're part of. Like, If you're Order of the Gauntlet, you can get a Cloak of Protection, a Ring of Warmth, and generic +1 swords/armor/shields.

Other organizations have different items.

[StoicLeaf]

I run a mid-high magic world.
Capital cities will generally have casters, most nobles can afford a wizard to pop by every year to renew a m.sanctum spell, etc.

As such, there's a adventurer's market where common rarity items are generally available, some uncommons, anything above rare will be rng.
I argue that any apprentice wishing to become a fully fledged wizard needs to demonstrate their capability in some fashion.
They'll either modify an existing spell to do something more/else or they can make a sword +1.
These pile up over the years and get sold off.

Furthermore, I don't think that every person capable of being an adventurer will do so.
The same way that not every engineer goes on to be an astronaut, there are many wizards out there who are perfectly content to "stay" at level 5 and just craft magical items for a living.
Depending on how your sanitation system works, the street lights, you're going to need people that understand magic to keep all of that running.

From a mechanical point of view, all you're doing is creating a bit more overhead for yourself as a DM.

[Unoriginal]

Depends. It's certainly possible that there are people who are willing to sell magic items for gold, but it's a case-by-case basis, not a "look in the DMG, you can buy whatever".

In ToA, you can buy a few +1 weapons or shield for around 500 gp each. But that's because the Merchant Princes who rule the place have the means to provide that kind of service.

[Ellisthion]

I sometimes have magic item shops... but they won't stock the magic items the players actually want. They'll stock whatever I think is interesting. And they might not ask for gold... my shops have been known to ask for favours, stories, memories... one proprietor tried to trade a Belt of Giant's Strength for the party's Genasi Sorcerer.

[Unoriginal]

I run a mid-high magic world.
Capital cities will generally have casters, most nobles can afford a wizard to pop by every year to renew a m.sanctum spell, etc.

As such, there's a adventurer's market where common rarity items are generally available, some uncommons, anything above rare will be rng.
I argue that any apprentice wishing to become a fully fledged wizard needs to demonstrate their capability in some fashion.
They'll either modify an existing spell to do something more/else or they can make a sword +1.
These pile up over the years and get sold off.

Furthermore, I don't think that every person capable of being an adventurer will do so.
The same way that not every engineer goes on to be an astronaut, there are many wizards out there who are perfectly content to "stay" at level 5 and just craft magical items for a living.
Depending on how your sanitation system works, the street lights, you're going to need people that understand magic to keep all of that running.

From a mechanical point of view, all you're doing is creating a bit more overhead for yourself as a DM.

Just to say, in 5e you don't need to be a caster or have access to any spells to craft magic items.

Tom the Blacksmith could be able to craft a Frostbrand while not even having a cantrip. He just need the fomula and the material/method/ingredients required by it.

[Afrodactyl]

The only items I have readily available in shops in my games are scrolls and potions. I do however have pair of recurring travelling merchant brothers named Othovir and Rathavir. They are very weird, very unhelpful and the party are convinced there's something up every time they talk to them.

Rathavir sells pets and animals, and Othovir sells magical doo-dahs. The doo-dahs are more in line with the common magic items from Xanathars, and he doesn't really tell the party what happens when you use them. He asks the person what they want from his magic, and he digs out an item from somewhere, gives a really vague description and then tries to rinse them for cash.

His most recent sell was three trollmeat sausages, that grant minor regeneration as long as they're prepared properly. Each link will grow back into a whole sausage as long as you don't eat/cook the whole thing, and if left to sit for long enough will grow back into a troll (I've not told them the part about the troll attacking them from inside their bag of holding).

[Asmotherion]

Yes, but only up to common magic items and consumable magic items.

I generally control what magic items are avalable to players. Non single-use or fluff magic items I consider rewards to the players for questlines they saw through. I would not give them away in a shop. I would allow crafting them during a long amound of dawntime though.

[Tetrasodium]

I know one of the default assumptions 5e makes is that not everyone gets a magic item, or rather that they're rare, but I think they help to make characters stand out. As such I tend to let my party purchase or build magic items, or upgrade items into magic with a mix of casting and smithing. While possibly broken, I like to let my players do what they will most of time as long as they aren't argumentative with me or each other. With all that said, do DMs here let players buy magic items, and if so, why?

Frequently yes, especially at lower levels where I will do things like let them find a dragonshard of some kind & use that to get someone to make something magic/fund their purchase of something nice, but NPC's tend to haggle over what they can do, or will do for a price to give the players a little more room to shape their items. At higher levels I like to make stuff more cool over just giving out new toys. I do the higher level stuff when possible by either adding enchantments to or unlocking extra powers of existing items when possible...

With that said though, I give out a lot of minor magic items.
some of those are

crossbow with a cantrip like firebolt/ray of frost/etc that uses dex, a pike that lets the wielder use thorn whip but lets them use strength with the cantrip, etc most never bothering to get a special name

random spells attached to single use trinkets. Sometimes those spells are as is like a trinket of tiny hut that lets the user cast tiny hut once or barely modified to things like a false tooth that lets the owner break it to trigger feign death as a reaction to taking damage. Other times they are very different like a black pearl with silver tracery & a palpable necrotic aura that ets the owner throw it to cast a necrotic fireball (dc whatever seems good when I give it)

In one of my games I had a non-darkvision having bbeg in with his darkvision having minions at like level 4ish & gave him an amulet that gives the attuned wearer darkvision out to 15'. the human pc that claimed it has since used a mabar shard & an artificer to add the false life spell to it (1/day?) and linked two different sets of armor with different defenses (flametouched iron/byeshk) that have the quick shed property or whatever it was that lets you shed it as a bonus action. The armor things were setup to let him equip the other as an action/bonus action to either spend a full turn swapping or rin into battle naked if the unexpected happens.

so on & so forth



The only real off the shelf stuff I have are health potions (50gp) & greater health potions (125-150gp?), but trinkets and such could theoretically be custom ordered regularly if I ever had a player express interest in doing so.

[nanoboy]

When I do, I roll a list of available items from the random magic item tables in the DMG. Common and some uncommon items usually show up, if there is an item shop of some sort.

[SociopathFriend]

I'll say this- I have been allowed to buy magic items twice in bulk in my 5e experience.

Once was in the campaign where the Demon Lords are escaping the Abyss, and once was when Tiamat was being freed by cultists.
In the Demon Lord campaign I had only enough gold for basically one or two items- so it wasn't a big deal.

In the Tiamat campaign on the other hand... it's a campaign where you are almost literally showered with gold if you manage to hunt down dragons. Once we were given complete freedom to buy items- we were never truly threatened again. We steamrolled through the rest of the campaign and oneshot the final boss-priest. I have absolutely no doubt we would've done the same to Tiamat had she actually been summoned.

[Angelalex242]

I'll say this- I have been allowed to buy magic items twice in bulk in my 5e experience.

Once was in the campaign where the Demon Lords are escaping the Abyss, and once was when Tiamat was being freed by cultists.
In the Demon Lord campaign I had only enough gold for basically one or two items- so it wasn't a big deal.

In the Tiamat campaign on the other hand... it's a campaign where you are almost literally showered with gold if you manage to hunt down dragons. Once we were given complete freedom to buy items- we were never truly threatened again. We steamrolled through the rest of the campaign and oneshot the final boss-priest. I have absolutely no doubt we would've done the same to Tiamat had she actually been summoned.

Tiamat at full power is CR 30. That will pwn you and all your magic items. She suffers some debuffs if you do it right, though, which knocks her down to CR 18.

[hymer]

I expected some of my players would have a hard transition from 3.5 in my current campaign, so I included some item buying (http://nanmehtar.wikispaces.com/Special%20Equipment). But I also made it linked to how well liked a character is by various factions or individuals, so it isn't just a matter of forking over as much gold as possible. The items are also not particularly powerful. But they do help make for a certain foundation for those who might not be so lucky in finding magical items, since it's a Westmarches-style campaign. This way they can plan towards things.

[SociopathFriend]

Tiamat at full power is CR 30. That will pwn you and all your magic items. She suffers some debuffs if you do it right, though, which knocks her down to CR 18.

Ah, I should've edited that to say I was quite sure we would DEFEAT Tiamat, not one-shot her. Considering all the priests were dead as hell IIRC that would be the debuffs you were talking about.

[BBQ Pork]

No one is going to want complete strangers in their personal treasure vault, let alone set it up as a storefront. I restrict it to either you gotta know somebody special, or they have to know you.

[Unoriginal]

Also, you have to consider that most people will wonder if the item is cursed or not.

Cursed items are a real risk, and not cheap to deal with.

[Vogie]

I like telling stories of the region through items that are available to them. There are no Magic-marts, but both wandering bandits and common folk will have access to common magic items, overwhelmingly of the non-combat variety.

A frontier town on the border may have a single Decanter of Endless Water, for example, but it wouldn't be for sale, and Goats of Travel would be fairly easy to access, but not the other figurines. In the same vein, a Port town may have Anchor Feather Tokens readily available, even though they're rare everywhere else.

I'll also take uncommon and rare items, and have toned-down, common versions of them, such as a Ring of Shooting Stars, but only giving the Light or Dancing Lights ability, not the rest of the effects... unless the PCs figure out how they can "level up" their items over the course of the campaign, allowing them to eventually become the full-powered items.

[Legendairy]

One way to look at it (IF you want to allow it in the first place) is to think of it like a person who owns a mechanic shop and fixes up classic cars and sells them. Not everyone can afford them, not even everyone wants them, but a select few sold sets you up nicely. The reason you don't keep them is because while they are nice you do not NEED them so why not sell them and turn a profit? If you have the means like a shop and the tools to do it, why not make them at cost and sell them for a lot more? That is just for new-ish items, another analogy could be like collectors but instead of fine art peices they collect magic items to use.

[QuickLyRaiNbow]

In campaigns starting below level 5, almost never. I do ask players for items they're interested in and give magic items as quest rewards. I especially like giving limited-use utility items well ahead of WBL to see what use the players make of them. I occasionally have random encounters with a pair of NPCs who operate a traveling magic item shop - both have semirandom inventories, neither will buy or sell if the party patronizes the other. Those two NPCs carry over between games and even campaign worlds at times.

In games that start at high levels, I run a high-magic game where magic marts and generic shopping are available, but those games are very few and very far between.

[Oramac]

In one of my current games, I allowed my players to buy a crap ton of magic items, and I admit I regret it.

In the future, I will most likely limit purchasing to consumables, and maybe 1-2 permanent magic items. Other than that, I'd be more likely to hand out the permanent stuff as quest rewards.

On the other hand, I like the players to feel like a particular item has real significance for their character, so involving them in the creation process as part of buying the item is also on the table.

[Lance Tankmen]

i do, but i also throw random encounters that are past the deadly threshhold every now and then so it balances out

[Breashios]

Generally no. I did allow the purchase of expendable items, mostly healing potions, for about double cost. These were purchased from merchant caravans carrying them because they knew there was a market in the direction they traveled.

The one time the group went to the Waterdeep equivalent city in the campaign, I made adventures out of their attempts for secure magic items with the immense wealth they had accumulated. One deal turned out to be a double cross (a fake item and an ambush to take the player's money). Another netted potions. The party wanted a +1 weapon they were proficient with. A wealthy noble was willing to part with one of his collection, a +1 mace, in exchange for a +1 trident AND the cost of the weapon in coin.

Needless to say the players appreciated their magic items as they accumulated them in play.

[Tetrasodium]

In one of my current games, I allowed my players to buy a crap ton of magic items, and I admit I regret it.

In the future, I will most likely limit purchasing to consumables, and maybe 1-2 permanent magic items. Other than that, I'd be more likely to hand out the permanent stuff as quest rewards.

On the other hand, I like the players to feel like a particular item has real significance for their character, so involving them in the creation process as part of buying the item is also on the table.

I find that it helps to introduce extra tiers of mundane & magic items. Eberron kinda did this with byeshk/flametouched iron/masterwork items/magecrafted items, but unfortunately WotC did not bother to include it in 5e

fiends & undead have blanket resistance to all damage from spells & weapons not made using a flametouched iron weapon or focus item. a Hypothetical undead ice elemental (for example sake is vulnerable to fire but if not flametouched iron focus item with a fireball has the resist/vulnerable cancel each other out for base damage)
Daelkyr & their creations (mostly aberrations & some monstrosities) have the same with damage not made with a byeshk weapon or focus item.
armor with metal in it (ie studded leather/chain shirt & up) can be made with one of those two metals. doing so costs extra based on the armor type Studded Leather with plates & studs made from iton costs an extra 250gp, Medium & heavy armor up to 14 ac (chain shirt, scale mail, chain shirt, ring mail) +500gp, All others, +750gp This introduces an interesting quandary where a player might have a suit of $bestType & get/buy a suit of $LessGoodType because of the advantages it gives the wearer
weapons can be made out of those metals too, all it does is bypass the resistance. The cost isvaries depending on the weapon: Light Simple weapons, +100gp, Ammunition +100gp/5 arows/darts/etc, Heavy Weapons +350gp, All other Martial Weapons +250gp. I've seen more than one fighter/barbarian type say things like "anyone mind if I take that +0 $metal dagger? I don't have any $metal weapons yet"
byeshk/flametouched iron armor grants the wearer advantage on saves against spells/spell like effects made against the appropriate creature types (a beholder's eye ray/lich's fireball yes... a balor's grapple... not so much)
masterwork weapons do not require attunement. They grant +1 damage, not +1 to hit.
Masterwork armor grants +1 to the dex cap of medium(max3)/heavy(max1) armor & just a flat +1 ac to light armor. It does not require attunement
Masterwork equipment costs 10x the cost, so a masterwork set of flametouched iron plate would be a coinpurse disintegrating 22,500gp (10x[1500+250]gp)
Magecrafted armor is +1 ac and +1 dex cap but does not require attunement, it costs 100x if you are so inclined
Magecrafted weapons are +1 to hit & damage. no attine needed 100x cost
End result?A player will look at a bunch of zombies or something coming over that hill, put away their flametongue greatsword (1d6 slash+1d6 fire) & pull out a +0 maybe masterwork flametouched iron weapon to deal all of slightly less damage instead of half of slightly more damage. Likewise with nifty armors

this gives you item tiers that are mundane, magecrafted/masterwork but mundane, special metal, magic, both metals, magic and metal, magic & both metals with magic ranging from minor useful effects like a player of mine who can burn a bonus action or an action to shed/equip his masterwork flametouched iron or byeshk plate armor assuming he is wearing it/not weearing armor (or a whole turn to do both) all the way up to extremely powerful effects like a barbarian with a masterwork breastplate that grants drw3/- in that same game but needs to think over if he wants to do things like wear flametouched iron armor to fight a lich.

It's a good mix & I recommend it :D

[KorvinStarmast]

No, I've never liked the "this many GP for magic item" as an idea going back to 1e. I can go to Sears IRL, I don't like my fantasy worlds being like that. Trading, on the other hand, is a whole different matter.

Healing Potions and Anti Venom excepted as a general rule.

If you have a magic item that you don't seem to have a use for, someone might need/want/like it, and they or someone else may offer you something else for it. The adventure, game wise, is finding whom/who and the interactions and story that comes out of trying to set up that trade ... or a three way trade etc.

Had a thief back in the day who wanted some +1 studded leather armor. That takes a bit of time and money to make, but there was a NPC smith/wizard who, if certain magical items and a few exotic spell components were offered in exchange, would make him one.

The adventure to do all that took a bit more time than the crafting, so it was ready when he got back. Good fun.

Played in a few monty haul campaigns where there were more Magic items, and we had to figure out how to stash/keep track of them. Also fun, but of a different kind.

[Honest Tiefling]

I like to turn it into its own mini-adventure. So, the player gets to town and starts asking around about if anyone in town might have magic items for sale, they make some checks, follow some leads, find a potential seller, get into imbittered negotiations, then it turns out, Oh no! someone overheard the sale was going down, and a bunch of thugs showed up planning to steal the item AND the money! Then in the end, they get the item.

I feel that this is the best way. It still makes for a limit of magic items so things don't get out of hand, and players earn their magic items instead of just popping to the shop to get some milk and feather tokens. Makes it more memorable (for me at least).


But then why isn't that guy running/protecting the shop solving the town's crisis? (S)he just dedicated several very powerful spells to protecting his/her shop. Why doesn't (s)he put that up all over town or at the very least vaporize the problem that people are making the enemy of my 3rd level PCs out to be? It's also very unlikely that this one shopkeeper is the only all powerful local, so why aren't the other ones solving the world's problems? At that point we're in Forgotten Realms where there are 3 dozen simultaneous world ending catastrophes keeping these individuals busy so my party can feel significant by defeating the nearby kobold tribe.

I believe wizards have been dumping wisdom since the days of 1e, but I'm not 100% certain. Either way, oblivious or short sighted wizards make for excellent allies as you probably shouldn't be inviting them to fight with you. Just because they are a caster doesn't mean they'd survive in combat. I prefer settings with acknowledgement of non-combat casters.

[Tetrasodium]

No, I've never liked the "this many GP for magic item" as an idea going back to 1e. I can go to Sears IRL, I don't like my fantasy worlds being like that. Trading, on the other hand, is a whole different matter.

Healing Potions and Anti Venom excepted as a general rule.

If you have a magic item that you don't seem to have a use for, someone might need/want/like it, and they or someone else may offer you something else for it. The adventure, game wise, is finding whom/who and the interactions and story that comes out of trying to set up that trade ... or a three way trade etc.

Had a thief back in the day who wanted some +1 studded leather armor. That takes a bit of time and money to make, but there was a NPC smith/wizard who, if certain magical items and a few exotic spell components were offered in exchange, would make him one.

The adventure to do all that took a bit more time than the crafting, so it was ready when he got back. Good fun.

Played in a few monty haul campaigns where there were more Magic items, and we had to figure out how to stash/keep track of them. Also fun, but of a different kind.

It depends largely on how the setting is setup/configured/whatever to operate. In a low magic setting like darksun, you are lucky if you can buy equipment at all let alone rare stuff like equipment made from superior materials (such as metal). In a high magic tippyverse type setting, the difficulty might more likely be obtaining a permit to posses the magic doodad you want than finding someone who could make you a magic doodad. In a "wide magic" setting where magic is almost treated as science & low powered magic is used in everything from a self prestidigitating clean toilet & self fire bolting oven to hiring an appropriate caster to cast plant growth & rain/water creating spells over your fields the difficulty is more "how long are you willing to wait & is your desired doodad minor enough for someone like House Canith (http://eberron.wikia.com/wiki/House_Cannith) to know how & care to make it for regular citizens or will you need to find & bankroll some artificer long enough for him to obtain materials & figure out how to make your doodad & to make it for you (assuming you can even afford that bankrolling).

[holywhippet]

In the campaign I'm playing in we visited a wizard academy which did sell magical items, but not everything was available. Common and uncommon level items were no problem, if we had the money we could have paid for something to be custom made though. The DM does throw a fair amount of random magical treasure our way though.

As a counterpoint, another player ran a one shot game and we were allowed to choose a variety of items - something like 1 very rare, 2 rare and 3 common/uncommon. We all played level 9 characters and we ripped through the final boss like he was nothing due to high mobility and damage output.

[Daithi]

I do, but not so simple as "When we're in town, I buy an Immovable Rod from the Immovable Rod shop" or whatever.

I like to turn it into its own mini-adventure. So, the player gets to town and starts asking around about if anyone in town might have magic items for sale, they make some checks, follow some leads, find a potential seller, get into imbittered negotiations, then it turns out, Oh no! someone overheard the sale was going down, and a bunch of thugs showed up planning to steal the item AND the money! Then in the end, they get the item.

It makes the process more engaging and rewarding, and makes them feel they earned it more.

In our games, we normally get magic items during normal game play, but on occasion for something specific, our DM has basically does this as well.

[EvilAnagram]

I haven't allowed my players to buy any magic items, thought I've let them commission them from master artisans in populous cities with large magic-wielding populations. It was a mini adventure finding the right people, and even then they needed to gather the materials (like a Displacer hide and dragonskin).

[strangebloke]

My next setting has a group of sellers known as the Consortium, but they're a secretive bunch that aren't easy to work with.

Basically, they connect buyers to sellers while maintaining security and anonymity. They always contact you, and the people you talk to are invariably know-nothing patsies. If you want to sell something, it might be a week or two before they find a buyer. Similarly, an item you're shopping for just may never become available.

Obviously, you can circumvent them and sell/buy directly... But then there's all sorts of complications.

This allows players to ask for items from the DM, and gives the DM time to think about if he wants the party to have that item or not. This also provides great side quest fodder. Also, because the buyer and seller are anonymous, it can turn out that they sold the necromancer's spell book back to him.

[Foxydono]

I allow the buying of magic items, but in moderation. In a big city there will be a x% chance of magic items being available. I usually roll a d4 for magic items and a d12 for scrolls and potions. Then I roll for the tables and items accordingly. I use Sanes pricing guide. I do not allow players to go in and out of towns just for magic items. If they adventure normally, every month there is a chance of new items being accessible and old items being bought. I roll this in advance and have it on an excell sheet.

Sometimes, when a very good item become available, it might come with a twist. Maybe it is on the Black market or perhaps it is in the hand of a Noble or a faction, which will make it harder to get. Or maybe they need to roll a successful investigation check to find out if there is a certain item and were it might be.

[Willie the Duck]

I look at it not so much as 'are magic items purchasable?' so much as 'is the central premise that magic items are acquired on adventures preserved?' So, if the PCs decide to try and find a specific magic item to purchase, it has to be an adventure roughly equivalent to finding out about the famed '____ of ____, that is rumored to be at the bottom of the dungeon _____,' and questing for it that way. This allows us to emphasize the social and discovery portion of the game in the same way that dungeoncrawling emphasizes the combat and discovery portion.

[Oramac]

I find that it helps to introduce extra tiers of mundane & magic items. Eberron kinda did this with byeshk/flametouched iron/masterwork items/magecrafted items, but unfortunately WotC did not bother to include it in 5e

snip

It's a good mix & I recommend it :D

That adds a ton of complexity to magic items. I can understand why WOTC would leave it out.

That being said, I do like the idea and might just use it in my next game.


I haven't allowed my players to buy any magic items, thought I've let them commission them from master artisans in populous cities with large magic-wielding populations. It was a mini adventure finding the right people, and even then they needed to gather the materials (like a Displacer hide and dragonskin).

Definitely like this as well. Especially the part about finding specific materials. You want a Flametongue Greatsword? Ok, gotta find a Candle of Everburning Flame and the hand of a Magmin. What? You mean they blow up when they die? Well, you're just going to have to figure that out ain't ya?


My next setting has a group of sellers known as the Consortium, but they're a secretive bunch that aren't easy to work with.

Basically, they connect buyers to sellers while maintaining security and anonymity. They always contact you, and the people you talk to are invariably know-nothing patsies. If you want to sell something, it might be a week or two before they find a buyer. Similarly, an item you're shopping for just may never become available.

Obviously, you can circumvent them and sell/buy directly... But then there's all sorts of complications.

This allows players to ask for items from the DM, and gives the DM time to think about if he wants the party to have that item or not. This also provides great side quest fodder. Also, because the buyer and seller are anonymous, it can turn out that they sold the necromancer's spell book back to him.

Another good idea. And one that plugs in even more story hooks as well.

Thanks y'all!

[Blacky the Blackball]

In my campaigns, characters can usually buy whatever magic items they want (in fact, I've toyed with converting the 4e Residuum rules to 5e, so characters don't even need to sell and buy items - they can just convert unwanted ones into raw magic dust and use it to make new ones - but that would be a big setting change so it might wait until my next campaign).

I don't like the idea of the "magic-mart", so in my campaigns it works very much like the fine art business.

Rich people (not just people, but also guilds and organisations) will buy magic items both to put in vaults as a convenient way to store large quantities of value and to display as signs of wealth - just like people and businesses buy expensive artworks in the real world.

There is a network of dealers (part of the Mage's Guild, so they have powerful backing) who organise the buying and selling of these items, and these are who the party will deal with.

So the party won't ever simply walk into a "magic shop" and look around at inventiory. Instead they'll ask a dealer to can get hold of a particular item for them (or sell a particular item for them) and the dealer will pass on the message through their contacts. The party will get their item from the dealer without ever coming into contact with the previous owner - who may even live on another continent (the Mage's Guild has Teleportation Circles in most cities around the world).

My rules for dealers fit very well with the guidelines in Xanathar's Guide - except I don't bother with the persuasion checks since we normally roleplay out social skills rather than rolling for them, with the result that none of the characters ever buy said skills.

Having said that, the party does still get most of their magic items from adventuring. Although they will buy items, the money to buy them with usually comes from selling items they've found during adventuring but don't want (or can't use).
Other than unusual circumstances (e.g. a dragon hoard), they don't usually acquire huge piles of cash. The process is usually:

1) Go adventuring.
2) Find items.
3) Keep the ones you want.
4) Sell the ones you don't want, and buy others with the proceeds.

The party will always prefer 3 to 4, since they usually lose around 50% of the value of the items when doing 4. But this is countered by the fact that by doing 4 they can get exactly the items they want.

[Arkhios]

I prefer not to, but that's mostly because I'm lazy enough to not bother figuring out their prices. Until more explicit prices are given by the designers, I'll stick to dropping pre-determined or random magic items, and let my players barter with magic items if they wish to part with them. Bartering is, of course, never absolute trade.

[KorvinStarmast]

I haven't allowed my players to buy any magic items, thought I've let them commission them from master artisans in populous cities with large magic-wielding populations. It was a mini adventure finding the right people, and even then they needed to gather the materials (like a Displacer hide and dragonskin). I like that style, it fits into a variety of fiction/pulps I read in the Swords and Sorcery genre before the D&D recursion happened. (The Phoenix and the Mirror and The Tritonian Ring were two great "find this stuff to make a magic item" stories/quests that I liked).

One of the best low level adventures we had in a OD&D game was to find the dreaded manticore, kill it, and bring its heart back to a wizard so that he could make a magic item that allowed him to fly. Our problem was that Manticores in OD&D tended to come in multiples, and to get there we had to brave the mountains and the random encounters in the mountains.

Our reward for bringing back the heart of the manticore was a Flaming sword for our Fighting Man. We only lost one character on that quest, but had found and earned enough gold to get her raised at a temple.

[bc56]

I do, but it takes work to find anything better than uncommon, and not every uncommon is available everywhere.