Quote from: jadrax;794392In terms of simulation, it makes more sense to deal in trade goods at higher levels rather than coin. So you end up having to sell your +1 sword for a herd of cows or the like. Its only the really big trading cities that will have huge amounts of actual coin sitting around doing nothing.

In terms of price. 10,000 GP is the price of a sailing ship. If you think a +1 sword requires the same amount of manufacture and has about the same rarity as a sailing ship, then that is a good price. Otherwise, find an item you think does have the same amount of manufacture and rarity, and use the price of that instead.

For me and the world I'm running I'm trying to keep the amount of magic items pretty limited really.
5E  seems to push rarity of magic items more than other editions, or at least it seems that way to me.

Magic and magic items certainly exist, but it should be pretty difficult to acquire one, so the entry level for a magic item is pretty high.
Still, I should say I set the bar really high for the price in this village, as that +1 short sword was the trader's personal property and he WAS working for the bad guys as well. So he may as well stiff them for as much as he could.
 
If they went to a city where magic items were more common, I expect a +1 sword might have been half that price.

I think I might be answering my own questions here. I probably don't need an "official" price to work with as it's entirely circumstantial.

Quote from: S'mon;794393BECM had +1 swords costing 10000gp to make. 4e had +1 swords selling for 72gp, purchase price 360gp. There's no set reason for any particular value beyond what you'd expect from the rather minimal increase in actual combat power.

+1 to hit and damage is a fairly big step in 5E IMO. what with the limited range of ACs, HPs etc .
That and it'll hit creates that require magic items to be hit, which is a nice bonus.

Quote from: danskmacabre;794539For me and the world I'm running I'm trying to keep the amount of magic items pretty limited really.
5E  seems to push rarity of magic items more than other editions, or at least it seems that way to me.

If magic items are rare, people who buy and sell them might very well be rare as well. How many people in the average town know what a figurine of wondrous power is? Or what to do with a scroll of protection from elementals? Or has the gold just lying around if they do know the value?

Magic weapons have broader utility. But in a low-magic world, they may be regarded with suspicion. Why knows if sword recovered from an ancient crypt won't summon restless undead to slay the bearer? Or if that axe was crafted for a dwarven lord, whose descendants still lay claim to it. Your captain of the guard or swashbuckling privateer may thing twice about buying such an artifact from unsavoury tomb-robbers.

Quote from: Haffrung;794550If magic items are rare, people who buy and sell them might very well be rare as well. How many people in the average town know what a figurine of wondrous power is? Or what to do with a scroll of protection from elementals? Or has the gold just lying around if they do know the value?

I agree, I would never have allowed buying figurines of wondrous power etc in a town like Hommlett.
A +1 sword I allowed as in the scenario, the shop owner actually owned a +3 weapon and magic armor and a bunch of other stuff.
I reduced that down a lot as it was.
For me and in my campaign the rarity of magic items depends on where you are really.
In a remote place like Hommlett, they would certainly be rare and not really up for general sale. but given how much the character willing to sell his personal magic item.
Hell, given he knows a high level assassin will go after them, now they have confirmed their identity as the Cleric's killer, he might be able to recover it anyway after they're killed (unless the assassin gets it).

QuoteMagic weapons have broader utility. But in a low-magic world, they may be regarded with suspicion. Why knows if sword recovered from an ancient crypt won't summon restless undead to slay the bearer? Or if that axe was crafted for a dwarven lord, whose descendants still lay claim to it. Your captain of the guard or swashbuckling privateer may thing twice about buying such an artifact from unsavoury tomb-robbers.

Absolutely agree here as well. In this case, the sword was a very nice distinctive sword that is easier to hit and damage things with via magical properties.

If some mummy lord or whatever had a weapon, I may well add more of a storyline to it and possible other negative/positive effects, or not depending on how busy I was.

Quote from: Will;794371It doesn't have to be serious...

The Magic Sword of Poot
Can cast stinking cloud once per long rest.
Must make a loud rude sound when activated and once per round of combat.
Failure to do so makes your character disadvantaged at all actions due to bloating.

I would want to add such items as that as appropriate to the situation at hand.
but sure, it could be fun to do stuff like that.

Quote from: danskmacabre;794538You'd be right if he was just some faceless trader, but that trader is sort of spying for the elemental cult, so he's sticking around anyway.
They didn't hand over 10k in gold pieces anyway, they traded Lareth's seal of office (worth 5k) and some gems.
The trader handed over a very distinctive Short sword for the assassin to trace them with (they're fairly distinctive anyway mind).  So it's not quite as black and white as you portray.

That all sounds pretty reasonable to me, given that the "10,000gp" figure is purely nominal. Personally I tend to take a zero off the end of AD&D gem & jewelry treasure values (so eg Lareth's seal would be worth 500gp IMC), and divide the weight of gp by 10 (to 1/100gp), which would give your +1 sword a nominal exchange value of 1000gp in gems & jewelry, still a lot.

In AD&D a +1 sword is 2000gp. Which is actually cheaper than +1 chain.

+1 weapons and armour tend to be the most ubiquitous items in many fantasy campaigns. 5e so far is pushing much rarer magic items. But I suspect the good old +1 sword will still be pretty common. Compared to the rest.

In 5e I could see someone selling a +1 sword for a higher sum if they were not on a big city. Its very rare out there most likely. Also as a trap ploy jacking the price is a good idea as it tends to make the players less cautious than if the seller had tried to sell it cheap.

It really depends on two things:  the type of economy your setting is using, and the rarity of magic items in that setting.
Supply and demand in the free market, baby.

Anyways, that's why you can't just make up a universal rule that says "A +1 sword is worth X".

You could, in theory, have a setting where a +1 Sword is worth 100gp; or you might have one where a +1 sword is worth 10000gp.  
I tend to prefer the latter to the former.

Quote from: RPGPundit;795076Anyways, that's why you can't just make up a universal rule that says "A +1 sword is worth X".

Yeah I came to that conclusion about halfway through this thread.
I guess I wanted to see a sort of 5E standard to get an idea of value for items.
That probably stems from my ADnD 1st Ed days where the DMG had values attached to everything magical.

Quote from: RPGPundit;795076It really depends on two things:  the type of economy your setting is using, and the rarity of magic items in that setting.
Supply and demand in the free market, baby.

But one thing, the game you want, usually determines those things; magic items aren't for sale in my world because I expect the players to go look for them, or at least go on an adventure to find a buyer or seller.  If your economy and rarity are incompatible with the game you want, you end up with a game you don't want.

Quote from: rawma;795251But one thing, the game you want, usually determines those things; magic items aren't for sale in my world because I expect the players to go look for them, or at least go on an adventure to find a buyer or seller.  If your economy and rarity are incompatible with the game you want, you end up with a game you don't want.

Well yeah, obviously.

Quote from: danskmacabre;795220Yeah I came to that conclusion about halfway through this thread.
I guess I wanted to see a sort of 5E standard to get an idea of value for items.
That probably stems from my ADnD 1st Ed days where the DMG had values attached to everything magical.

I think we can assume those to have been Greyhawk-standard prices.