Selling spells = broken?

[aboyd]

Selling a single low level spell service for 50 gp? Oh My GAWD! That's more than some most people make in a year!!!!!

Reading your comments, I think even the stingy system I created is too generous. He'll make 500 gold a week, or so. In one week, he makes 10x what commoners make in a year. I think that's way too much. I'll have to tweak it more.

I can't believe you put in all that effort ot make a system. If it were me, I'd just ad hoc it and say, "Eh, you can sell about ~200 gp in spells this week."

Wish I had. Seeing all the work I've made for myself, I think I may switch to the "system" that someone else expressed in one sentence: "Figure out how much one of your highest level spells sells for, and that's what you make each week."

Didn't you just revently ask a similar question about a player in your group trying to make insane amounts of money via selling magic items and threatening to use teloprt to get around "saturating the market"?

Yep. Same player.

I smell a trend in that your players are seeking to make more money for some strange reason. Logic would say it is becasue of something particular about your game that causes them to seek to make more money, perhaps buying magic items is more accessible than it should be.

I don't understand it, myself. They each have more money than the DMG Wealth-by-level table suggests (not a lot more, but about 1000 gold over the amount suggested for level 6). So they're not hurting for cash.

At level 1, these players seriously proposed buying Wishes using the spell costs in the Equipment chapter of the PHB... until I noted that the XP cost would make the spell cost 25,000 gp extra. Hopes dashed. Genuine surprise all around the table.

"You mean we can't afford Wishes at first level?"

Maybe they're just munchkins.

Also what God is this cleric of?

Fharlanghn.

Your PC is only attempting this because he believes you won't try to RP it out. Do so.

Thanks for the idea. It would definitely be an added "cost." It's either that or select a system that is super-simple so I can have an open & shut case, no fiddling around.

 

[Dandu]

Sounds like its' time for a little run in wtih the Spellcasting Mafia.

 

[Vegepygmy]

As an aside, I have a question for y'all: why is it okay that PC's only get half price when they sell anything?

The real reason, I believe, is to give the players some reason to keep the items they find rather than swap them at the Magic Item Exchange.

It's also pretty justifiable, given that when I trade in a car (or sell it privately), I don't get anything like what a dealer does when he turns around and resells it.

 

[EroGaki]

The real reason, I believe, is to give the players some reason to keep the items they find rather than swap them at the Magic Item Exchange.

It's also pretty justifiable, given that when I trade in a car (or sell it privately), I don't get anything like what a dealer does when he turns around and resells it.

I could sort of see the logic in this. My issue with the rule is that most of the gear PC's get during adventures is redundant Big Six stuff; I can see little reason to keep the 20 +1 swords you loot, and I have had characters who used all the Cloaks of Resistance we found to make curtains and bedspreads. If they want the PC's to keep the stuff they loot, they should make it less redundant.

What are your thoughts on PC's crafting magic items and selling them. Not in mass, but on demand for npc's who desire and can afford them. Do the PC's get full price for selling the brand new item?

 

[Jhaelen]

If I let this stand, I can easily imagine the group saying, "To hell with adventuring, we all sit around casting spells. Fast forward us 5 years, and we'll pick back up at the point where everyone has 1,000,000 gold. OK? Thanks!"

Well, this will clearly depend on the campaign.

In my current campaign the world will end in about two months time if the pcs don't do anything to prevent it. Obviously, such a plan is therefore destined to fail. I'd recommend introducing a similar strict timeline. Elder Evils has some excellent ideas how to end a campaign world in style.

 

[Michael Silverbane]

Here's how I would handle the situation...

First, I would explain to the cleric's player that making 8,000 gp in two weeks by selling his spells while the rest of the party was off doing some adventure would be upsetting to the campaign's balance, and that I was going to come up with a more subdued method for him to make money (and much less of it) during his downtime.

Then I would have the cleric's player make a Spellcaster Level check, adding his Wisdom bonus, and gaining a +2 bonus from the aid of his cohort and a +2 circumstance bonus for using spellcasting. This would be used in place of a Profession check to determine how much money the cleric could make in one week by plying his trade, as per the description of that skill.

 

[Vegepygmy]

What are your thoughts on PC's crafting magic items and selling them. Not in mass, but on demand for npc's who desire and can afford them. Do the PC's get full price for selling the brand new item?

In my campaigns, no. (In fact, in my current campaign, PCs get only 20% market price for magic items. I do, however, make it a point to include interesting, non-redundant magic items when they find treasure.)

But even if I were running a by-the-book campaign, the PC could only sell a crafted magic item for 50% its market value...which is, of course, what it cost him to make it (plus XP). A PC who wants to make a profit would need ranks in a Craft or Profession.

 

[Veril]

This is covered under the rules as written. His selling of spells over a long time is working at a job. And that's exactly what the "profession" skill is all about.

Profession says: You can practice your trade and make a decent living, earning about half your Profession check result in gold pieces per week of dedicated work. You know how to use the tools of your trade, how to perform the profession’s daily tasks, how to supervise helpers, and how to handle common problems.

Selling spells is unusual, so I would let him use his spellcaster level as his profession skill in this instance. Normally Profession requires that you be trained at the skill. The one single dice roll abstracts everything out over the time, advertising, paying bribes, hiring premesis, debt collection etc.

Use the rules as written and make this as boring as possible for the player, make adventuring much more fun and interesting to do. He rolls 1D20, adds his spellcaster level, then gains half of that in GP's. That's his entire week done. Then move on and resolve interesting things with the other players.