Official ICE Forums
Systems & Settings => Rolemaster => Topic started by: Tywyll on March 05, 2017, 06:11:20 PM
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So I know there are charts for figuring out your typical +X weapon or xY Multiplier, but have there ever been price lists for the generic magic items from Creatures and Treasures? Like the Potent, Most Potent, etc items? Many of them don't seem to follow the crafting rules so figuring out their value is...difficult if not impossible.
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In Treasure Companion there is a chart for the base retail price of basic items. I don't have the page number at hand right now.
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I can't recall any lists of base prices for Potent/Most Potent etc. I think those were just general guidelines (though someone please correct me if I am wrong).
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RM2 and RMC have rather low costs for magic items. The multipliers are way off with things like +15 magic clubs selling for 200 cp (or 2 sp). One of the companions added costs for abilities .
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Treasure Companion RMSS has what you seek.
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My general observation is this, if you have to ask about the price you can't afford it. And if you have some magical stuff to sell, target the nobility or the top tier merchants. No one else will have the necessary means...
But yes, treasure companion will help in figure out retail price for magic items. :)
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In my opinion, the first rule of finding the cost is one of economics. What can people actually charge and/or pay?
What is the price of skilled labor, and then magical skilled labor?
If the PC's sell a magic sword, will they get (1/4 of the price) paid in a pile of coins (unlikely in my game), or will they get "war bonds", acreage of land or partial owner of an inn with servants? If the value is low, then perhaps a fixer-upper warehouse that might be of value if they put more money into it..
The Treasure Co does a good job at beginning this discussion. :)
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Magic item costs are definitely a weak link in RM(2). I've made up formulas for the costs of having spells cast, in the various economic regions of my campaign world. They're based on local economics, including access to mages/alchemists. I agree with an earlier commenter, though, that a lot of the RM magic items seem to exist outside the fabrication spells for alchemists. In my campaign, those items fall in the "if you have to ask, you can't afford it" category.
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Magic item costs are definitely a weak link in RM(2). I've made up formulas for the costs of having spells cast, in the various economic regions of my campaign world.
You might want to post them in the Downloads section of the forums; they could be helpful to other players.
I seem to remember a general rule that spell cost = spell level squared. That might have just been a houserule though.
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You might want to post them in the Downloads section of the forums; they could be helpful to other players.
I seem to remember a general rule that spell cost = spell level squared. That might have just been a houserule though.
That's pretty much what most of mine turn into, with scaling factors for economy. Sometimes I've split that into caster level * spell level, and then applied an offset to one or the other (e.g., (CL-2)*SL). I always assume the CL is the level necessary to cast ALL spells needed each day to create the item.
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As a GM, you must make that decision. I have a couple of world settings.
In one, +5 magic items are dirt cheap and plentiful. This setting has an abundance of magic that settles into crystal shards, which are fairly easy to find and manufacture magical items from. Figure 10 copper for a +5 magic club in that setting. Why? Because most characters can make them at a very low level (e.g. second level...)
In another world setting, magic items require quite a lot of preparation. As a result, magical items are rare and rather expensive. In that world, a +5 magic club might run 250 silver pieces and powerful items nearly impossible to purchase or sell.
It is purely a GM decision.
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In my opinion, the first rule of finding the cost is one of economics. What can people actually charge and/or pay?
What is the price of skilled labor, and then magical skilled labor?
This is also how we base prices as best as possible. Smaller towns/hamlets, won't have the coinage available to buy really good magical items. If no one in town has 500gp , it could just as well cost 10000 Platinum, it won't matter since no one can afford it anyway. In our little world, Dwarfs mine gold and to them it's rather commonplace therefore you really need a good amount of gold to impress a dwarf. Elves (being the snooty snobs they are) prefer silver or Mithril as exchange and have natural disdain for "dirty human money" (copper, platinum). The gnome groups prefer gems to metals as payment. In the largest trade city we have in the world, prices vary as does the currency preference as it is such a hub of commerce and underworld societies also have been rumoured to exist (or not) in that city.
The important thing to consider though... how generous is your GM in handing out coinage for treasure or reward? If the players themselves have low gold, mostly silver and copper, then he needs to consider what will impact the balance of the game. If the magic item is rather powerful and could possibly throw off game balance, price the item just outside the range of the players and make them really work hard to earn the coinage for it or reward more coinage in treasure, but will that give the players too much extra money to purchase other items such as healing herbs and potions that could throw off game balance?