this post was submitted on 31 Oct 2025
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Would you like an online tool to generate magic items by category WITH associated exact prices (lemmy.world)
submitted 2 weeks ago by Kevo@lemmy.world to c/dnd@lemmy.world
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As a DM, my biggest complaint about the magic item shop generators online is the lack of exact price. Most come with a rarity, but I personally feel like the vast range in prices is too great for me to just plug and play. For example: I feel like a cloak of displacement is much more valuable than say a Berserker's Axe, even though they're both "Rare". So I felt like when players asked for a shop, I had to take time and read up on the item and then assign a price.

Would you use an online tool that was free (with like Google ads on side panels or something) that had associated exact prices (randomized between 75% and 125% and assigned value) that had a sliding scale based on something everyone probably has figured out for their world, like the price of a potion of Healing?

I've made a python script for my own personal use, and I'm thinking about turning it into a full web application. But I wanted to get your opinions on if this a tool you would like?

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[–] modernangel@sh.itjust.works 5 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I didn't question the trope of magic item shops back in the 1E/2E days. I wouldn't run it that way now. For anything more wondrous than healing potions and +1 weapons/armor, the characters have to network through patrons, quest givers, guildmasters, mentors.

This isn't a big problem in less experienced/more casual groups, but some players (myself included) do like to pore over articles like "most powerful wondrous items for bards". I don't think it's good for the game to feed an expectation that characters can acquire any item they can name if they just save up enough coin and search enough magic shops.

[–] Kevo@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Totally valid! I personally run a very high magic world where enchanted items are fairly common. Mind you most things above Uncommon in rarity are very expensive or quest rewards. I like the feeling of magic being a constant in my world, so I like to pepper in items that I wouldn't normally know about because I haven't read all of them.

But I think for DM's who run worlds closer to yours, I'll probably add a filter so you can exclude anything of a certain rarity or base price out. Thanks for the feedback!

[–] modernangel@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

To address your original question more squarely - I might use such a resource if it was free. First because the rarity tiers are poorly thought out and second because even if characters are networking through factor/dealers instead of browsing a shopkeeper's dispaly case - you still have to assign a price.

The 1st Edition DM's Guide gave every wondrous item its own specific gold piece value. The relative valuations weren't perfect but I was shocked when I came back to D&D in 5E to find per-item valuation was abandoned. If I was going to tackle the problem myself, I'd refer to the 1E DMG valuations as a starting point for consumables like potions and scrolls, then consult a few of the most popular "magic item tier guide" articles to supplement 5E's overly broad and internally flawed valuation by arbitrary rarity tags.

Classic example, the merely "Uncommon" Weapon of Warning is arguably a keeper all the way to endgame. Many DMs even nerf away its party-wide benefits entirely, because making the whole group reliably immune to surprise is game-breaking. You could gain the same personal benefit, and free up the attunement slot, by spending a precious Feat slot to take the Alert feat - but even that doesn't compare with also making all allies within 30' immune to surprise.

If you survey the 1E magic item valuations, it helps to be aware that a) attunement slots weren;t a thing - you could equip a lot more magic! Also, b) wands in general and many other "spend a charge" items did not regain X number of charges every day. A Wand of Fireballs with 50 charges was worth about 50 Scrolls of Fireball - and when you spent the last charge, it was just a nonmagical stick again.

[–] Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I like the idea of the sliding scale. Every campaign's economy is a little different, so if healing potions typically cost 10gp in your campaign, setting other prices on that scale keeps things from getting ridiculous.

[–] Kevo@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah, that's the plan! I personally like high magic campaigns, and I tend to hand out gold and items generously. But I've played in campaigns where by level 4 you've made like 100 gold total.

[–] nocturne@slrpnk.net 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

One thing (of many) I am liking about Pathfinder is there are prices associated with Magic items.

[–] Kevo@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

I know I'm part of the problem because I'm bad at trying new systems. I'm a creature of habit, and I've started with 5E dnd, so thats where my knowledge is. But to be fair, thats the largest player base (I think), and has the most support and tools. I should look into Pathfinder more, though! Especially because I don't trust Hasbro and WOTC to not pull more corporate bullshit to get more money... like they ever stopped

[–] jcr@jlai.lu 3 points 2 weeks ago

You can read the Pathfinder book and just use the tables associated with equipment ... Pen & Paper RPG is wonderful because you are not limited to one book/system, you can pick what pleases you from different sources, it does not matter for the "not metagaming" playersx

[–] nocturne@slrpnk.net 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Check out the Pathfinder starter box. It comes with a 2 level adventure (my group is probably going to get 4 sessions from it, not counting session 0). It has 4 premade characters as well as rules to create your own.

It took me so long to try Pathfinder because I started with d&d (not ad&d second edition) and have been playing 1st and 2nd edition since the 80s. But I am so glad I made the jump. I am getting ready to run another 5e campaign for some friends that started playing d&d because of Baldur's Gate.

[–] Kevo@lemmy.world 0 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Thanks! I'll give it a try!

[–] nocturne@slrpnk.net 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Check out !pathfinder@ttrpg.network too very helpful group in there.

[–] pmw@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

If it was useful I'd use it. Every magic item price list I've seen has outlandish prices I would never use, so they are only useful as rough starting points. It's not clear what you are planning to do better than what is out there. You say the prices are exact but they are also randomized? What does that mean? Am I seeing randomly different prices every time I use the tool? And what do you mean by sliding scale? Like a UI slider widget that scales all the prices in the tool?

What I really need is a comprehensive guide to creating a gold economy for my players, along with well thought out price ranges for all magic items that fit into that economy. That's what the DMG should have.

[–] Kevo@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Great points! Sorry for any confusion. So with my current personal script, I just went in and assessed and assigned prices to everything. When I generate the shop, I take that price, add anything relevant (like armor or weapons price because i had base types for things like +1 armor), and then assign it a random value between 0.75 * base to 1.25 * base.

I agree, the prices would still be very arbitrary and based solely on my opinions. I would like to explore options on getting feedback or even allowing individual "overrides", but that would require like user accounts and stuff that I don't want to manage and most people don't want to make.

I hoped to help that with a sliding scale that would be a UI slider, so you could scale it to your world's magic item prices. So say in your world a potion of healing is 5 gold, or maybe its 500 gold. The slider would scale all the prices. Like for instance, base price of a potion of Healing is 50 gp. So if you put it down to 10 gp, everything is reduced down to 20% base price.

[–] kusttra@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

If you wanted to allow customization but without user accounts, you could just store all that data in a cookie on the user's machine. Just make sure you put clear warnings about how the data is stored and what will be gone if they delete the cookie

[–] Kevo@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

Ooh, yeah! I don't have much experience writing cookies, but that's a really good idea!

[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

5e (at least 2014 edition) fumbled magic items so hard.

  • Magic items aren't needed! You should be able to play without them.
  • Magic items are fun and players want them.
  • Magic items are too difficult to price!
  • Actually has a price for them but they're hidden on different tables and inaccessible.
  • Buy and selling magic items should be difficult! It requires a lot of work.
  • DM just rolls and rolls on a table until the shop has anything actually relevant to the players that's actually useful but then it's way too overpriced.

I just want +1 items. That's it. Why are those so impossible to get? Why do we have to go through this whole song and dance for the sake of realism when d&d flat out admits that other items are priced for balance and not simulating an economy?

The only way to really do them "right" is to sort of give your DM a wishlist of items and then lo and behold they show up as loot in a dungeon. But why??? Whyyyyyy??? Just let me shop for them. I don't care. I'm not going to raid the shop. I'm not going to arm the pesants with stolen +3 gear to lead an assault. I will suspend my disbelief if you just let me fucking buy and sell magic items in a way that isn't totally bullshit!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHH!!!

[–] Kevo@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Fair! I'm hearing that a lot in this thread, so maybe there's not as much of a desire for this as I thought. I think I must run a more high magic world than most people. Those are all super valid complaints, and I'm hoping that having an actual suggested price point will help that. Ya know, buybat this price, sell it like 50% - 80% that price. Do you mind if I ask if you think this website would help you? Or would you just consider it more useless blpat to the process? L

[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Any tool that lists magic items with the price is strictly more useful than ones that don't. So yes.

My personal opinion on it is to list the prices RAW, whatever the formula is. Or the range of prices. Rather than trying to homebrew some rules and use those in the site. I only say that because you seem very interested in making a useful tool moreso than useful rules and most people play the rules as they are in the book (generally). Or at least, there isn't really a rule that isn't in the books that a majority of players use.

[–] Kevo@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Oh yeah, I've already gotten a list of items and prices, and I generally followed the price guidelines listed in the DMG (uncommon 100 - 500 gp, rare 500 - 5,000 gp, etc). There were some outliers, but yeah. My biggest worry is that my arbitrary opinions on prices will not vibe with what ither people think. I'm floating ideas of possibly trying to crowd source this to the internet somehow to get people's opinions. Thanks for the feedback!

[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I think the crowd sourcing prices sounds like a good follow-up project. Because there are definitely issues. One that comes to mind is a potion of flying costs significantly more than a broom of flying.

[–] Kevo@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

Absolutely! I agree that the potion should be a little more expensive. Its just a flat 60 feet no stipulations or concentration. Where the broom is 60 feet, 30 if its carrying over 200 lbs, and you could get knocked off. I also do variants of a lot of potions where they last until a long rest for things like resistance and stat bonuses. For reference, my broom of flying is 125 gp, and my long rest potion of flying is 500 gp.

[–] Kevo@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

Also, if there are any online tools for ttrpgs you wish existed, please share them! I'm taking a "sabbatical" from my software engineering job to reassess my career and work on personal projects, so I'm looking for inspiration! This all came from what I considered a gap that I wanted to fill for my own games, and turned into something I'm hoping to use as a live portfolio for interviews. And if it makes a couple bucks on the side passively, which I'm doubtful, that'd be great!