Buying a Magic Item
Purchasing a magic item requires time and money to seek out and contact people willing to sell items. Even then, there is no guarantee a seller will have the items a character desires.
Resources. Finding magic items to purchase requires at least one workweek of effort and 100 gp in expenses. Spending more time and money increases your chance of finding a high-quality item.
Resolution. A character seeking to buy a magic item makes a Charisma (Persuasion) check to determine the quality of the seller found. The character gains a +1 bonus on the check for every workweek beyond the first that is spent seeking a seller and a +1 bonus for every additional 100 gp spent on the search, up to a maximum bonus of +10. The monetary cost includes a wealthy lifestyle, for a buyer must impress potential business partners.
As shown on the Buying Magic Items table, the total of the check dictates which table in the Dungeon Master’s Guide to roll on to determine which items are on the market. Or you can roll for items from any table associated with a lower total on the Buying Magic Items table. As a further option to reflect the availability of items in your campaign, you can apply a −10 penalty for low magic campaigns or a +10 bonus for high magic campaigns. Furthermore, you can double magic item costs in low magic campaigns.
Using the Magic Item Price table, you then assign prices to the available items, based on their rarity. Halve the price of any consumable item, such as a potion or a scroll, when using the table to determine an asking price.
You have final say in determining which items are for sale and their final price, no matter what the tables say.
If the characters seek a specific magic item, first decide if it’s an item you want to allow in your game. If so, include the desired item among the items for sale on a check total of 10 or higher if the item is common, 15 or higher if it is uncommon, 20 or higher if it is rare, 25 or higher if it is very rare, and 30 or higher if it is legendary.
Buying Magic Items
| Check Total | Items Acquired |
|---|
| 1–5 | Roll 1d6 times on Magic Item Table A. |
| 6–10 | Roll 1d4 times on Magic Item Table B. |
| 11–15 | Roll 1d4 times on Magic Item Table C. |
| 16–20 | Roll 1d4 times on Magic Item Table D. |
| 21–25 | Roll 1d4 times on Magic Item Table E. |
| 26–30 | Roll 1d4 times on Magic Item Table F. |
| 31–35 | Roll 1d4 times on Magic Item Table G. |
| 36–40 | Roll 1d4 times on Magic Item Table H. |
| 41+ | Roll 1d4 times on Magic Item Table I. |
Magic Item Price
| Rarity | Asking Price* |
|---|
| Common | (1d6 + 1) × 10 gp |
| Uncommon | 1d6 × 100 gp |
| Rare | 2d10 × 1,000 gp |
| Very rare | (1d4 + 1) × 10,000 gp |
| Legendary | 2d6 × 25,000 gp |
*Halved for a consumable item like a potion or scroll
Complications. The magic item trade is fraught with peril. The large sums of money involved and the power offered by magic items attract thieves, con artists, and other villains. If you want to make things more interesting for the characters, roll on the Magic Item Purchase Complications table or invent your own complication.
Magic Item Purchase Complications
| d12 | Complication |
|---|
| 1 | The item is a fake, planted by an enemy.* |
| 2 | The item is stolen by the party’s enemies.* |
| 3 | The item is cursed by a god. |
| 4 | The item’s original owner will kill to reclaim it; the party’s enemies spread news of its sale.* |
| 5 | The item is at the center of a dark prophecy. |
| 6 | The seller is murdered before the sale.* |
| 7 | The seller is a devil looking to make a bargain. |
| 8 | The item is the key to freeing an evil entity. |
| 9 | A third party bids on the item, doubling its price.* |
| 10 | The item is an enslaved, intelligent entity. |
| 11 | The item is tied to a cult. |
| 12 | The party’s enemies spread rumors that the item is an artifact of evil.* |
Selling Magic Items
Few people can afford to buy a magic item, and fewer still know how to find one. Adventurers are exceptional in this regard due to the nature of their profession.
A character who comes into possession of a common, uncommon, rare, or very rare magic item that he or she wants to sell can spend downtime searching for a buyer. This downtime activity can be performed only in a city or another location where one can find wealthy individuals interested in buying magic items. Legendary magic items and priceless artifacts can’t be sold during downtime. Finding someone to buy such an item can be the substance of an adventure or quest.
For each salable item, the character makes a DC 20 Intelligence (Investigation) check to find buyers. Another character can use his or her downtime to assist with the search, granting advantage on the checks. On a failed check, no buyer for the item is found after a search that lasts 10 days. On a successful check, a buyer for the item is found after a number of days based on the item’s rarity, as shown in the Salable Magic Item table.
A character can attempt to find buyers for multiple magic items at once. Although this requires multiple Intelligence (Investigation) checks, the searches are occurring simultaneously, and the results of multiple failures or successes aren’t added together. For example, if the character finds a buyer for a common magic item in 2 days and a buyer for an uncommon item in 5 days, but fails to find a buyer for a rare item up for grabs, the entire search takes 10 days.
For each item a character wishes to sell, the player rolls percentile dice and consults the Selling a Magic Item table, applying a modifier based on the item’s rarity, as shown in the Salable Magic Items table. The character also makes a Charisma (Persuasion) check and adds that check’s total to the roll. The subsequent total determines what a buyer offers to pay for the item.
You determine a buyer’s identity. Buyers sometimes procure rare and very rare items through proxies to ensure that their identities remain unknown. If the buyer is shady, it’s up to you whether the sale creates legal complications for the party later.
Salable Magic Items
| Rarity | Base Price | Days to Find Buyer | d100 Roll Modifier* |
|---|
| Common | 100 gp | 1d4 | +10 |
| Uncommon | 500 gp | 1d6 | +0 |
| Rare | 5,000 gp | 1d8 | −10 |
| Very rare | 50,000 gp | 1d10 | −20 |
* Apply this modifier to rolls on the Selling a Magic Item table.
Selling a Magic Item
| d100 + Mod. | You Find … |
|---|
| 20 or lower | A buyer offering a tenth of the base price |
| 21–40 | A buyer offering a quarter of the base price, and a shady buyer offering half the base price |
| 41–80 | A buyer offering half the base price, and a shady buyer offering the full base price |
| 81–90 | A buyer offering the full base price |
| 91 or higher | A shady buyer offering one and a half times the base price, no questions asked |
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