When illogic triumphs

So, this happened earlier in the game session

>playing DnD 3.5
>I'm playing the party face.
>wizard player asks me to obtain costly spell components because we're all skinflints and my character is the best bargainer
>among other things, he wants ruby dust to cast forcecage.
>ok, I can do that
>bargain the price down with diplo
>GM warns that this will not enable a casting, since you need 1,500 go worth
>remembering a year's old OOTS with this exact stupid joke, only Owen is clearly serious.
>offer to buy a speck of ruby dust for 1500.
>yeah, that'll work.

Yep. That's how 3.5 works. It's only simulationist when you're not talking about wizards, then it's purely gameist.

>That's how 3.5 works
Wrong, Father of Lies. The DM's a tard and so are (You).

Just buy a small but from the merchant for as cheap as you can, then sell the specks 1 by 1 to the wizard for 1500, and gift him the gold back later

>when illogic triumphs
>playing DnD 3.5
Stopped reading there, game’s dumb it’s fans are rabid fans of a bad rulesset and every session I have ever played of it resulted in a stupid rule interaction.

>Buy a full sack of ruby dust (say 1000 GP worth of).
>sell a speck to your wizard at 1500 GP
>this will allow him to cast the spell because to him it was worth 1500 GP

bonus steps:
>buy some random trinket off your wizard for 1500 GP
>sell him another speck of ruby dust for 1500 GP

Badwrongfun

This is the proper solution.

What's the point of ripping off your own party members though?

Why not go further! A small rock the wizard picks up that you value at 150000 GP possibly contains trace amounts of ruby so that rock is good for 100 castings!

>this won't work, you need 1,500gp worth
>offer to buy a speck for 1,500

ahh shit there go my sides


That's not how it works, obviously. The 1,500 is just a number based on the actual measurement needed for the spell.

Example:
Tommy needs a pound of pigshit to cast Animate Pigshit.
The market value of pigshit is 3gp per pound.
Tommy writes in his book that he needs at least 3gp worth of pigshit to cast his spell.

Why is it done this way?

Because going by pounds, ounces, teaspoons and cuntfuls isn't fun. Going by the gp amount is, in itself, a form of measurement. The only backside is when you have a DM like in OPs story. (AKA a dude who can't use the basest form of logic to realize that doesn't make any goddamn sense.)

The fuck would you do if the ingredients went on sale?

tl;dr
>implying buying something for an amount automatically makes it worth that amount

What a very on-topic retort.

>comes into thread about wizard logic
>doesn't even read the thread
>masturbates to his own self-affirmed ideals and cums in his own mouth, patting himself on the back, knowing that he is a true intellectual

If you're looking for an argument, just know that you're obviously much fucking stupider than you think.

>wizard logic
Except it's not about "wzard logic", it's about OP's DM being pants-on-head retarded.

>3.5
You stopped using logic a long time ago user.

So, is the joke here that the author doesn't understand how spellbooks work and just completely disregards the mystical equations and theories that go into that ONE. WORD?

Because if I wanted to laugh at idiots being idiots, I'd watch Seinfeld.

Why didn't one of you but a spec of ruby for dirt and then trade it about among each other for a multiple of 1500 gold?

Ask your DM this: if you found a giant-ass ruby in a treasure chest - or better yet, if you mined it yourself - and we're talking the biggest ruby ever; would you be able to use it, or is it worthless because you didn't pay for it?

It's the value of the object. It doesn't matter if you bought it, or found it, if it has a value of 1500 gold it is able to be used for a spell that requires a cost of 1500 gold

Yes, the joke is written because Rich Burlew doesn't actually the magic in DnD.

Nothing has an objective value in gold pieces except for gold pieces.

If you made a bad deal and the npc charged you 3000, would you get two castings?

So, how does this work with spell components? Is there an emotional weight that they go off of?

>all these 3.5 haters screeching because someone mentioned it
Fucking retards, this has nothing to do with the system. It's just a retarded DM who failed to understand the what something's worth and what it costs aren't the same thing.

That requires the wizard to have 1500 gold in the first place. Here's a better plan:
> Wizard picks up a rock.
> Other player offers to buy the rock from the wizard
> Wizard says he wants 1500 for it.
> Helpful player agrees that it's a fair price, but says he can't buy it right now.
> Time passes
> Wizard asks to buy ruby dust from helpful player
> Helpful player asks for 1500 gold
> Wizard says "I can't afford that. But I do have this 1500 gold rock"
> They trade ruby dust for rock. Both valued at 1500 gold.

*I* know that. But OP's DM needs help getting there.

Of course not, if the DM has his head screwed on right.

In my homebrew setting, it actually does work like this. Emotional/psychic investment in the components matters more than what you're actually using. It makes sense in-setting but it's also a lazy way to keep track of spell components - e.g. casting Raise Dead literally just costs 5000 gp, and we assume the character stocked up on various relevant spell components.
But this is explicitly a house rule and I recognize it doesn't represent RAW. OP's DM is obviously just missing the point, not houseruling anything.

Come on now, most people are complaining about stupid logic. You'd get the same conversation playing 5e. No need to turn everything into edition wars.

>You'd get the same conversation playing 5e

You can get the same level of stupidity in a lot of games. We just hear about it more from D&D because D&D has way more players.

Sure, you won't get this exact stupidity. But you'll get other things that aren't any better. I've got into an argument with a player over if he could use his natural weapons (claws and teeth) while in a vacuum, through a spacesuit, without any downside.

Sure. I wasn't claiming stupidity is exclusive to D&D, just that the spell-component cost deal would happen in more than just 3rd edition (in fact, it would happen in all but 4th).