Simply passing these items on because we ( the higher level) no longer have need of it, or have found something better, is basically damaging the trade of the crafters who venture to these difficult places to gather said items, and spend hours upon hours garning Crafting XP so that they might make the said items.Although it might seem great to be able to pass a friend a really cool item that you know he is going to blink at and say "Oh yes! Brilliant! I want to have your kids!" , it is also damaging.The recipient is happy... because of course he just earned himself a new item for minimal work or cost.But the dozens of crafters who lost DT's in pursuit of Emeralds and Mithril, and who spent months honing their crafting skills to be capable of making fine weapons and rings...... now find their items sit uselessly in a chest with no buyers, because everyone simply "passes" things on.
As soon as the crafter sells the item, the item becomes competition to the crafter. A new customer can either get a new item from the crafter, or get an existing item from someone who doesn't want it anymore. This is why crafters have no customers.The "problem" is the item retains its value. The owner can charge just as much for the item as what they paid the crafter (because the item still does what the owner paid the crafter for), getting their original investment back. It essence, the owner loans the seller the money, then when they are done, they get their money back (obviously not from the original seller). Only the current owner has "paid for" the item, all the prior owners have had free use. This is why there is no money to be made in making items, the customer gets their money back.If my longsword lasts forever, I never need to buy one again. All the weaponsmiths would starve if this was the case. And this is the case. In a solo player game, this works, because the game itself is transitory, and you are not around long enough to see those effects. However, in a persistent world, you see the cracks.If my longsword lasts forever, the only reason to get a new one is to upgrade. This is the market in a persistent-world-based-on-a-solo-player game (which in turn leads to the Constantly Lifted Level Cap paradigm). This is why everyone is shelling out huge amounts for copper dragon armor; they're upgrading.If my longsword starts with ten charges, and I'm selling it, the buyer will see that, and pay in proportion to the remaining charges (probably a bit less). The buyer has the option of buying a used sword at a discount, or a new sword from the crafter; the crafter now has something unique to offer, a new sword. And at some point, the sword will run out of charges, and need to be replaced with a new one.You can't have an economy unless there is consumerism; viz the item is "consumed". Unfortunately, magic items are always envisaged as lasting through the ages, being passed from one generation to the next, in essence, being permanent. Maybe this is why Sauron only ever made twenty rings...
Agreed. I for one would like to see an entire accurate accounting for all those regenerating guards in Prantz immune to everything with huge glowing mithral gear ubiquotously attached to them. Do they have receipts? Have they paid their taxes? If the gear is general issue per standard Prantz army-man, fine... then point me to the recruiting office and tell me where to sign!And I hear that mithral is almost impossible to mine and yet there's a magic mountain where dead monsters explode into mithral weapons like candy pinatas. THAT is the source of your crafter's recession, my friend... not gift giving.And sure we could say "donate all your extra items to charity event X", but after 2 million plus of my own items to the Church of Dorand and nothing to show for it, not even a thank you card or statue, I have to parrot a million other voices here and ask, "What's the point?" You set a price tag of a million gold on a new temple... you donate 2 million worth, and are still a stranger to them.So while I agree with the spirit of the initial suggestion, seeing that mithral gear is being supersaturated at the top crew of lvl 20-30 characters, that all my midlevel characters are still broke as can be and scrounging every twig herb or mineral for another box of healing kits, and that about half the character populace is now related via blood or marraige, the practicality of the suggestion is much less than decreasing all mithral drops on candy island, and any other place where lenspriced goods clocking 60k+ drop at regular intervals. Hindring the craft learning curve actually goes the opposite diection from this goal, as adding tougher spawns and new components to the mix just further frustrate crafters and encourage teams of "drop-scavengers" who pay zero of their own coin. So in conclusion, if you want stimulus to the crafter's side of the economy, reduce production costs for the crafter in both risk aquiring CNR and buying trade market goods, decrease the amount of drops which cut off his market, and untie his hands with all these restrictions on what he can sell things for. Only then will you see this system of buddy-buddy mercantilism subside. As for those giving the gifts, we know who they are. Mithral neither mined nor smelted doesnt just pop up out of nowhere, but from a handful of spawns and those handful of people high enough level to hunt there. That's the focus group.As for me, I am happy to say I charge all my close friends and family members out the wazoo. As a hungry weapons obsessivist, Earl would buy at least another pair of iron sais, katars, doubleswords etc every month, but the problem is I hunt down these "starving crafters" to commision a custom job... and they're too busy! They offer to sell me the longswords, shortswords, axes and junk they FOUND, but when it comes to a good pair of cold sais, wee little exotic daggers that take all of 2-3 ingots and a single mold each, they dont have the time! They're too busy running off to Mithral Island and gathering their wares like everybody else... why bother mining? Seems to me that they starve more out of convenience than for hard work and determination's sake.
Personally, reffering to the posts below, weapons like Mithril armour/weapons should only be able to be mined....the drops should be incredibly rare, if at all if you want it balanced....
Just curious, if you do donate say, 1 million gp to your church, will there be any benefits, to you as a character? (to Dorganath)
on a totally random point...Don't we all share with our friends?If we have a case of really good beer don't we call our friends, invite then over and have a drink?If I have two of a really cool t shirt, wouldn't I give one to a friend?When I'm fly fishing and have the absolute best fly for the river wouldn't I share it?If I know the answers for a test... don't I tell my friends?Dunno... just food for thought.
For example, the whole "give a friend a beer" thing is not even remotely comparable to "giving a friend a set of mithril full plate." Using such an example to defend a point really doesn't do justice to a position because they're so different. Would you buy your buddy a house? Mithril costs more...heh.
They have no proper outlet for greed, and thus to clear their crates without wasting such nice items to the void, they resort to charity.
Certainly full plate armors should not be swapping races. It doesn't make any sense.
If you are a human giving your dagger to a halfling, maybe you should actually give them a short sword instead, because of the difference in a human-sized dagger and a halfling sized one.