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Any D&D/D20

Shadowrun

World of Darkness

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[Criptfeind]

Why's it out of control? Magic items are like, super expensive in D&D. Even the cheap ones typically cost an order of magnitude more then the pearl. If you can afford to mess around with magic items, honestly the pearl cost involved is not so much. Anyone who can't afford to pour out pearls (or if they work for big organizations that have enough volume of magic items going though them have a custom magic item made to handle it) also can't afford to be in the magic item trade.

Edit: Sure, you might have like, shitty random peddler who's gotten his hands on some minor (or possible major, plooooot hook!) item, but it's probably okay that that type can't identify the item with 100% certainty anyway.

[Flying Dice]

Shopkeepers already undercut prices when you sell to them and overprice items that they sell to you, it's perfectly reasonable for them to fold the cost of identification into the sale.

Of course once they're dealing with stuff worth tens of thousands of gold, the price of a hundred identifications barely scratches the potential profit margin on a single one.

I also seem to recall a shopkeeper who sold magic items with only vague descriptions instead of identification, and also sold slightly overpriced pearls for Identify with an additional charge for him to do it if you couldn't cast the spell yourself.

[Neonivek]

There are quite a few fudges DMs commonly make for the sake of the game.

The Most prolific one is "free healing" which yeah even the most altruistic churches often would hold out until you donated its worth.

Identification at least makes sense in terms of being worth something to the shop keeper.

[Criptfeind]

Idk... Healing is one thing that might actually make sense for it to be free. At least in 3.5 clerics of good alignment can spontaneously swap out their spells for healing anyway, catch them at the end of the day and they might as well heal you, at that point it's use it or loose it. Although certainly in big cities or w/e there's probably more wounded people then clerics to heal them, but certainly some of the time, and especially from good aligned clerics, I could certainly see that being given away for free.

[Neonivek]

Idk... Healing is one thing that might actually make sense for it to be free. At least in 3.5 clerics of good alignment can spontaneously swap out their spells for healing anyway, catch them at the end of the day and they might as well heal you, at that point it's use it or loose it. Although certainly in big cities or w/e there's probably more wounded people then clerics to heal them, but certainly some of the time, and especially from good aligned clerics, I could certainly see that being given away for free.

It has a lot to do with you being considered capable of making the donation, after all you are not the unfortunate who could never hope to pay for healing, and the fact that the churches need donations to run anyway. Plus training Clerics isn't cheap.

[Criptfeind]

Well. Maybe? Certainly some churches would be like that. Probably depends on a God by God and GM by GM basis. Although not all players are swimming in the cash, especially at low levels.

[Jimmy]

Oldest trick in the book: Cast the Mount spell, sell the horse, book it out of town before the spell duration expires.

False. It's actually stated that the "horse" is spectral in form, and thus easily recognizable as not actually a horse.

Not in 3.5e it's not.

From the PHB text:

You summon a light horse or a pony (your choice) to serve you as a mount. The steed serves willingly and well. The mount comes with a bit and bridle and a riding saddle.

Material Component: A bit of horse hair.

You might be thinking of Phantom Steed, which is a better version of Mount that summons a quasi-real horselike creature. But short of DM fiat, nothing supports the Mount spell creating anything but a bog standard light horse or pony (equipped with bridle and saddle).

[Rolan7]

Ah, phantom steed.  Technically not shadow magic, but it feels similar.  One of my biggest DND regrets is that my bard character, who focused on shadow magic due to a mostly-undead campaign, died before he could really do anything.

I think that Shadow magic is, basically, a mix of illusion and conjuration.  Undead are immune to illusions, but shadow-things are just real enough to affect them.

[BlackFlyme]

Ever hit a snag where you want something for your character, but the only options are to either use unstable stop-gaps, go through hoops as fuck processes and hope the GM can't poke any holes in them/the wording isn't being misinterpreted, or completely rebuild your character?

I'm about there right now, with a few different things.

The first thing I want is to get my effective Sorcerer level to equal or surpass my character level for the sake of Eldritch Heritage. The only way to do this that I can see is to either grab Improved and Greater Eldritch Heritage, and hope it applies to Mythic Eldritch Heritage while lamenting my lack of feats; to rebuild my Mythic progression so that I take the Archmage instead of what I have now and grab Mythic Bloodline; or to grab an item such as the Robe of Arcane Heritage, which can be shut down by a mage with dispel and a half-decent roll.

Another thing I want is Damage Reduction. Wording has already foiled my initial plan for this. My Barbarian class and its archetype give me DR equal to half my level. By taking three Rage Powers I can increase this by another three. Or six, if I use the Unchained version of the Improved DR Power.

By taking the feats Endurance, Diehard, Combat Expertise, Stalwart, and Improved Stalwart, I can increase this by another ten at the expense of literally half my feats. Though I was hoping I can take Traits and Rage Powers that give me the equivalent of these feats, with the GM not deciding that they do not count towards this plan, even though they say that they are treated as though they were the respective feats. Numerous Traits and Racial Abilities are able to take the place of both Diehard and Endurance, though again, the GM may rule that they do not do what they say they do. It has happened in the past.

There's also taking the Guardian Path Ability, Impervious Body, that gives you DR/Epic. Though Epic is actually pretty simple to bypass, all considered. You need a +6 equivalent weapon. Not +6 enhancement, but a +6 effective total. So a +1 weapon with a bunch of miscellaneous enchantments on it can penetrate DR/Epic, even though other forms of DR demand that it be a specific enhancement bonus. Meaning that +1 Sword of Miscellaneous Uselessness can bypass DR/Epic, but not DR/Silver or Cold Iron, because it isn't +2.

There are three GMs for this campaign who switch in and out depending on who feels like DMing, and some can be rather harsh.

[Bohandas]

Coins can be broken down into fractionals, or even just melted down for the gold.

You can also shave down the edges a little bit and sell the gold then still use the coin

Why's it out of control? Magic items are like, super expensive in D&D. Even the cheap ones typically cost an order of magnitude more then the pearl.

Except for feather tokens which bottom out at 50 gp and the magic facepaints described in Dragon 337, which bottom out at 22 gp

Hey, that could be out next list! We'll come up with 101 ideas for cheap magic items!

I'll start:

1.) Feather Token (Blades): When activated the vane of the feather turns into a medium +1 shortsword and the shaft of the feather turns into a medium +1 dagger. After 1 hour they turn irrevocably back into pieces of feather. (Moderate conjuration; CL 12th; Craft Wondrous Item, major creation; Price somewhere between 70 and 350gp [price estimated based on the whip feather token which conjures a single +4 weapon for 1 hour and costs 500 gp; a +4 weapon costs about 7.5 times as much as two +1 weapons, but I don't think the price of the token should scale down directly])

2.) Belt of the Champion: grants a +1 enhancement bonus to grapple checks to pin an opponent or break a pin or damage an opponent (Faint transmutation; CL 3rd; Craft Wondrous Item, enlarge person; Price ~200 gp???)

3.) Ring of Blessed Health: +1 sacred bonus to fortitude saves to avoid contracting Demon Fever, Devil Chills, and Faceless Hate. Up to thrice per week it also applies this bonus to saves to avoid damage from one of these diseases, but only if the character succeeded on the previous day's save while wearing the ring. (Faint abjuration; CL 12th; Forge Ring, resistance, protection from evil; Price gp)

4.) Bag of Tricks (Sky Blue): As existing bags of tricks with the following list of possible animals: Bat 1-20, Raven 21-40, Robin (use raven stats) 41-60, Owl 61-80, Flying Squirrel [stats in Dragon 327; add 5 to the ranges for raven, robin, and owl if you don't have that issue] 81-95, Hawk 96-100. (Faint conjuration; CL 3rd; Craft Wondrous Item, summon nature's ally 1; Price <850 gp, prolly around 400-500)

EDIT:

5.) Overloading Wand: Cheaper shoddier version of regular wand. If used more than 2 times in the same 24 hour period the additional uses have the chance of a mishap similar to a scroll mishap (use the same rules) and burn an extra charge. It cannot be used more that 5 times in any given 24 hour period. (aura varies; cl varies; Craft wand, spell varies; Price 80% of price of a normal wand of the same spell)

[Neonivek]

Mind you a shopkeeper might assume certain items are what they say they are by appearance.

Feather tokens are distinct and aren't really confused for any other magic item.

[Flying Dice]

If you're going to make feather tokens, at least make them in the vein of the ones that inspire thoughts of "No, really, I'll find a situation to use this in one day and I'll remember that I have it, and it'll be really cool!" 

[Gentlefish]

I think it's token time, boys.

The boat and oak tokens are the most useful. Trust me. Two oak tokens are usually enough to block a standard dungeon hallway.

6) Feather Token (mugs)

• When set upon a table and the command word spoken, one mug per person at the table shall spawn, containing a drink determined by the creator of the spell. The mugs shall refill themselves for three hours before no longer working. (Faint conjuration; CL 6; Create food and water; Price: 250GP)

[Yoink]

Oak tokens? As in, summon a full-grown tree?
My old group used one of those to take out one of the Big Bads, simply by activating it in the cellar/basement beneath his wizardly tower.

[Bohandas]

7.) Figurine of Wondrous Power (Paper Tiger): When activated this paper-mache figurine becomes a tiger that prows around and defends a person or area designated by the user. It is only for show or intimidation however; it deals damage as a housecat, flees from water (rain or the brandishing of buckets at it cause it to automatically become panicked) and fire (will not come within 5 feet of an open flame; brandishing a torch at it or casting fire spells where it can see cause it to become panicked), and is returned to statue form and must stay that way for a full week if even a single point of damage is dealt to it (even nonlethal damage) or if it is immersed or drenched in water. It can stay in tiger form for no more than 2 hours per day and no more than 9 hours per week. (Moderate Transmutation; CL 9th; Craft Wondrous Item, animate objects OR fabricate + unseen servant + cat's grace; price 900??)

EDIT:

8.) Feather Token (Campfire): Creates a burning campfire wih enough firewood to burn for an hour. The fire is nonmagical, can be put out by normal means, and can burn for additional time if more fuel is added. (Moderate conjuration; CL 12th; Craft Wondrous Item, major creation; Price ~75-300 gp)

9.) Feather Token (grapnel): Conjures a grappling hook which shoots out and latches onto anything within 300 feet that's specified by the user (Moderate conjuration; CL 12th; Craft Wondrous Item, major creation; Price ~100-350 gp)