Post/Author/DateTime	Post
JulesCARV 02-23-06, 11:00 AM	I'm just wondering: how much do you think is a fair price to rent unlimited-usage magical equipment, rather than buying it? I'm thinking in pragmatic, wide-magic worlds like Eberron. Naturally, given their high value, measures would have to be taken to avoid renters stealing such items. I'm not sure what they would be. Maybe putting some kind of low-level curse on them, so that they can't be kept longer than the contractual time, or if they are they make a big beeping sound or something that alerts everyone around? In the entertainment sector, someone take people in a sky-vehicle in Sharn, take them to a comparatively unbuilt area (say, over a park or something), and let them jump off if they rent Rings of Feather Fall: basically, the equivalent of sky-diving. More expensively, the effect might be achieved with airships. For people who are moving all of their stuff, Bags of Holding could be rented out, like U-Haul trucks. Either prostitutes of their johns could rent periapts of health, to avoid diseases. Helms of Comprehend Languages and Read Magic could be rented out at libraries in lieu of translators. Cloaks of charisma might be rentals for special occassions (like, making a bride seem at her very best and most radiant on her wedding day). Cloak of the Manta Ray is an interesting possibility. It would definitely be an experience far more interesting than renting SCUBA equipment. How 'bout this? Rent for One Year: 1/2 price Rent for One Month: 1/20th price Rent for One Week: 1/60th price Rent for One Day: 1/300th price Rent for One Hour: 1/1000th price Note: Renting something for a shorter time should be more expensive per time unit, because the business running the operation has higher overhead, needing more clerks, etc, to manage all of the customers. The condition is that things which reasonable governments would ban would probably not be available for rental. Kings have no real reason to keep people from wearing rings of feather fall or periapts of health, but they're not going to let people rent Medallions of Thoughts. Those will be exclusively for the royal secret police, thank you very much. Bags of Holding may be a bit dubious: they could make thefts much easier, but they're useful for many other things too. Things like Medallions of Thoughts might still be available for rentals on the black market, but at a much higher price relative to their value, because of the much higher overhead such black market businesses have (bribes, etc.). Thus, DMs keep players from renting things which really don't have much civilian use, like Bracers of Natural Armor.
tarkin 02-23-06, 11:23 AM	For one thing, renting like that incures a large risk of theft. And renting things out involves a set cost per transcation anyway so hourly rentals are silly. If I were to allow renting, I would insist on doing it this way: 1) Use your prices, but only if the person involved leaves a deposit for the ENTIRE cost of the item. OR 2) Demand a deposits in addition to the cost (equal to the cost), something to scry on you, and still have higher prices. As in: Upto 1 day: 1/10 value Upto one week Rentals: 1/6 value Upto 4 months: 1/3 value
Nobody_ 02-23-06, 12:42 PM	Double Post
Nobody_ 02-23-06, 12:42 PM	I have a better Idea. Safegaurd the Items. The most simple way would be to enchant every item with a spell of finding. I don't know exactly how that would work, but it should be easy to fudge. However, a better Idea for a safe gaurd comes from the Book of Vile Darkness which I started reading last night. MASTER RING: the wearer of this iron ring, emblazoned with the symbol of a brooding falcon, can deal 3d6 damage per round as a free action to anybody wearing a slave ring keyed to it. Furthermore, the wearer can exchange messages with the wearer of a slave ring three times per day. Typically, a master ring has ten slave rings keyed to it. Caster Level 7th, prerequisites: forge ring, shriveling(3rd level necromancy [evil]), sending Price:40,600 (does not include slave rings. see below) SLAVE RING: This iron ring, once put on, cannot be removed except by the wearer of the Master ring Keyed to it. All other effects as noted in the MASTER RING Caster Level 7th; Prerequisites: Forge Ring Market Price: 500 I am not suggesting this as an evil curse or anything. But think about it. They cannot be taken off (so no turning around and selling them to other people). Message three times per day can remind you when its time to pay come back to the shop, and if they try to run with it, 3d6 damage per round as a free action is an aweful good deterrant of crime. Then all you have to do is wait for some unlucky soul to find the adventurers dead body and put the ring on. Then start paging him and telling him where to go to remove the thing. If they won't, 3d6 warning shot, and if they still don't, well you get the idea. And it only costs an extra five hundred or so gold to add another ring to the master ring, so that once the first one is created, its all pretty simple from there. You can easily apply this to all sorts of other items such as pendants, robes, and anything else that you could stopthe wearer from removing...OR you could make the entire stock consist only of rings, and have those rings duplicate the effect of most any magical item around. Plus, Its a great plot hook if you ever do decide to make the shop owner evil. -Nobody
tarkin 02-23-06, 03:31 PM	Such an item would still entail a cost. Remember, there is the chance of the possesor dying, killed by an animal, and just leaving their body to rot. And you still have the per transaction costs. If I used this, I would: 1) Reduce the deposit to 1/2 the cost. 2) Charge a small extra fee for enchanting the item with the "protectecive" spell. 3) Still use the prices I listed. Transcations cost cost money. Keep in mind that a business is NOT attempting to be the 'low cost provider' and that Adventurers, being untrustworthy travellers, do NOT get preferred pricing. These businesses should be there to make money, and shold be just cheap enough to convince the player to use them instead of buying the item and selling it back.
Captn Blake 02-23-06, 04:16 PM	This concept reminds me a bit of real life, when renting things that are STUPIDLY out of your price range, like when my wife and I rented a historic mansion for our wedding. (or renting a Lotus in Vegas?) We needed insurance to cover $2 million, so we had to go through an insurance co who did a credit check on us, and made us sign this form saying "if we or any guests break or otherwise damage/destroy anything, you get EVERYTHING I've ever owned plus my first born child". Heh heh - maybe that truely should be in your contract. Anyway, I'm not sure if your world has the equivalent of a credit office, but insurance is easy to instigate. Just think of what a scheme insurance is! Lets say 1 in 1,000 renters damages the mansion in some form (spilling wine on the carpet). If I were an uber-wealthy guy, I'd be willing to pay the $ to fix the stain while I collect half of your life in return. As WELL as collecting all of the fees from the people who didn't damage the mansion. Man... $$ == $$++. Actually - I said something interesting "collecting half of your life..." The rental agency could be run from a temple or just aligned on the darker side of things where people who screw up ARE billed in life force, souls, etc. Then, even if they die, the insurance company can still collect - "Nope, you can't ressurrect, the insurace co. owns your soul." :)
zavin 02-24-06, 01:10 PM	use that Magical contract that once they sign they HAVE to abide by, I think it's called Neptha's Contract or something like that, I'll find the correct name and edit this post. Edit: It's called Contract of Nepthas, located on page 148 of the Complete Arcane.
irisheathen 03-07-06, 03:39 PM	enchant the rings with a bit of undeath magic that way if the wearer does die it can always return the item...if you dont mind keeping a few clerics around for those hard to solve problems that we all call zombies -bash
DaMullet 03-07-06, 05:37 PM	Well, if the shop owner is a wizard (or knows one well), he could use Dtawmij's Instant Summons after the loan has expired for x amount of time. More on this later (If I have the time).