Despite Thoughts to the contrary Arkos is a low-magic setting.  At least it is in comparison to Pathfinder Standard.  On this world there is no trade in magical items here. This makes perfect economic sense to me, but it certainly flies in the face of PCs expectation to be able to trade, buy and make magical items and mundane gear to augment their characters. Let me be clear: I understand that augmentation of players isn’t an optional condition. The manner with which Pathfinder Advances DEPENDS on the PCs being able to punch their weight in combat. And, if the right modifiers aren't in place then the encounters will be too hard, players will die more often.
Dogs and cats will start living together.
Bad times.

The Money Supply
Everything in the Pathfinder game has a gold piece price tag. And, as characters adventure, they are expected to earn gold pieces (or items of equivalent gold piece value). They need to have earned a certain amount of wealth at any given experience level or they won’t have the items, or the purchasing power to gain items, necessary to enable them to succeed against level-appropriate challenges. The amount of wealth needed by level is explicitly shown on the Character Wealth by Level table. The same table that I've granted to advanced level PCs in the start of the game.

That may not be true for characters in 5th edition, but in Pathfinder it is simply the way things work. The rules tinkering that I do cannot permit the wholesale jiggery-pokery of the wealth system as too many OTHER systems are defined by it.

The power of magic items is measured in gold pieces, therefore a more expensive items are more appropriate for high-level characters. Crafting these items requires more outlay.  While I don’t really have a problem with PCs finding items of a higher power. I MUST have a problem with PC's buying (or making) the same items, because they'll need to outlay that level of cash on hand.  And that's when we run into problems. In those situations you have to envisage the PC as having that much gold in his pockets. And merchants to have sufficient gold in their tills to pay the correct rate for which ever special materials for sale.  That’s never going to be case because, frankly, there just aren’t enough gold pieces in existence to allow for this happen.

Let’s look at the wider economy. What’s the most expensive mundane thing you can think to purchase? Is it warship? A castle? In the Pathfinder rules a fully equipped warship costs 25,000 gp. If we refer back to the Stronghold Builders Guidebook then a normal keep will set you back about 70,000 gp.

Compare those prices to the cost of magic items. Setting aside potions and scrolls, the prices of magic items are astronomical. A lowly +1 longsword costs 2315 gp according to the rules. You could buy eleven of them, or your could buy a warship! A +5 holy avenger has a market price of 120,630 gp. A ring of regeneration costs 90,000 gp. A staff of power is 235,000 gp. Seriously… you could buy a staff of power or build three castles and still have enough money left over for a nice little hunting lodge with mountain views.

Our own history is replete with kings and rulers desperate to try and raise money for what they wanted to do...  be it defend their country from attack, or raise an army to wage war. Those rulers couldn’t raise enough in tribute and taxes to maintain a standing army, to have the freedom to build a navy, or to build defensive castles. They needed to beg, borrow and compromise to raise the cash. This is not your common man on the street having these cash flow issues: this is the king!

If kings need to go to such lengths to raise money for all their mundane expenses, then they certainly don’t have the cash to fritter it away on high priced magic items. A ring of regeneration is handy to have, but if there’s a choice between making that and outfitting a battalion then a wise monarch only has one choice. And if kings don’t have enough disposable cash, what would be the effect of a PC having it?

What happens when the PC with 300,000 gp in his pocket rides into town?
Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies? Rivers and seas boiling?!
Economic chaos!

So how do I build an item with 'less gold' without using less gold?  Well... if I really want a balanced magic low system, I need to create tool that allows the PCs to utilize the EXISTING system with an internal  mechanics OTHER THAN a global monetary unit. Something consistently WORTH this much gold on a one to one basis without actually BEING gold.


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