Ahh, well argued. I thought the '5gp per level' for something like Read Magic made no sense too. The crystal prism lists no cost, so I guess that makes it negligable. Pity - but ToEE has no glass-blower. Future mods won't make that mistake I'll be adding this to Brother Smythe, in any case, not Burne, since he has no spoken dialogue to support it.
Capitalism at it's best! Even in RPG's! It is a business after all. You're paying for the "experience" of the caster more than the spell itself. Hey, it's not right and it's not fair, but whatta ya gonna do? Take you're business elsewhere? Good luck pal, that's the only spell-seller in town!
I’m with E the C here (although not when he is riding down the middle of the street blasting people at random, my only prior knowledge of him). There isn’t really an argument to be made here; the DMG is explicit on the point: “Whatever the case, the higher her caster level, the more she can charge for spells.” Advanced casters charge accordingly, not selling spells for the same fee as lesser casters - it is their caster level in the formula, not the minimum for the spell.
Hmmm... the capitalism argument, eh? While that may be what the DMG says (and I don't want to introduce rule-breaking elements) there's a flip-side to the capitalist argument. In fact, there's several sides: Would Burne charge 25gp for something you could get elsewhere for 5gp, thus pricing himself out of the market? Would Burne waste time with such things at all, or would he charge a high price as a way of saying "don't waste my time" alternately, since cash-flow is the life-blood of a business, would Burne not recognise thats its the cantrips that pay the day to day bills while he waits for the occasional adventurer needing a high-level spell? and would the people of Hommlet really need high level stuff from any of their casters? CLW, Mending, Guidance when making an essential Craft or Profession check, Create Water, Purify Food and Drink, Detect Poison (albeit Nuetralise Poison and Remove Disease would be popular too) - these would be what peasants want day to day. Ergo even if Burne, Jaroo or Terjon thought themselves above such stuff, they would still need to cast them or they would be irrelevant to their communities, and they would need to price them at a level ordinary peasants could pay or again it would be pointless The answer, it seems to me, is that they would get their side-kicks - Calmert, Brother Smythe and Pishella respectively - to do it. Thus it would still be a case of only paying 5gp (or 10 at the most). So don't sweat it
Oh man, This is great! I meant my capitalism comment as a "tongue-in-cheek" dealie. Now we've got a very intelligent counter point leading to yet another thread de-railing discussion. :thumbsup:
I don't know that any of those guys would have much of a market for any of that stuff in Hommlet, honestly, except for maybe the healing-related items. But even then, how often would peasant types get injured? Once in a while, to be sure, but not every day. I always moreso thought that Burne had his scrolls available as a contingency should anybody happen along who actually wanted them, rather than as a day to day business. (It's not like he has a storefront, after all; he just shows you his stuff if you ask.) He and Rufus are presumably funded by Verbobonc for castle-related affairs and to be the overseers of the village, right? Plus, remember that Greyhawk is supposed to be magic-lite (or so I've heard).
Yes, how a caster relates to a community is an interesting topic, I agree. The DMG rule, though, is just for characters who go to a stranger and ask them to cast a spell. It does not imply that the caster charges their community that price, or indeed at all. It is an isolated transaction. Certainly, pcs will hire the cheapest caster they can find, and high level casters probably are seldom involved, unless they are the only ones available. In any event, they charge for their caster level.
Keep in mind that a spell caster need not cast his spells at maximum potency. That is why one could have a wand of magic missiles at caster level 3 even though the Craft Wand feat requires caster level 5.
