So, merchants have magical antimatter inventories.

[ShadowDragon8685]

I just killed a merchant. I had good story reasons for doing so, and he attacked me first anyway.

But his inventory is missing. I only got a few pathetic ducs from his corpse and his clothes. Where was all the medium-end armor he was selling a few minutes ago?

Welp, just gonna have to use a console to add that stuff (or just a huge whack of cash) to my inventory, because it's absurd and stupid that I can't take his store inventory if I can take the literal clothes off his literal back.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

It's not "absurd or stupid" and certainly no more absurd than The Stash. It's an obvious penalty you deserve for killing a merchant who is there to help you with some shopping options for various stuff.

Also remember, merchants sell to you exclusively. There are no wealthy NPCs that might be faster than you and would buy a great item before you. Usually they also have endless supplies of gold to buy from you.

What would you prefer? The merchant to be a high-level capable warrior who causes your party problems? The merchant to hire a group of capable guards? The merchant to be invulnerable? If you don't need the merchants, kill them. Just like you can kill those gold plated passive backer NPCs to get a bit of equipment. The game is not about that however, but about completing quests and surviving attacks. And what about game-breaking design, such as selling lots of enchanted items to the merchant, then killing the merchant to get back all gold and all the items? That won't work.

[ShadowDragon8685]

D'amarr, how about doing it exactly how Arcanum: of Steamworks and Magick Obscura did it.

Merchant's inventories exist in the world, usually not upon their persons. They also have a set amount of money to work with, so they cannot buy more of your goods than they have liquid cash to work with, unless you're willing to take their goods in trade.

If you kill them, sure, you can get it all at once. If you get away with it, you can even do so without turning a whole town hostile. But you've also cut off any hope of ever earning a profit by selling stuff to them again, or buying new stuff from them.

And if you rob them, without turning them hostile (such as by stealth,) congratulations! You're using thievery and stealth skills wisely invested-in to good effect. Of course, if you make a habit of doing this, they're going to go broke, the quality of their inventory will plummet, and their cash on-hand will nosedive.

As for protections, try "what makes sense in-game." A merchant is probably not a powerful warrior, but he can probably afford to keep a few beefy guys with heavy weapons and decent armor on-hand, and his inventory should be secured with a good lock and a trap. If you can take them all out and not get seen doing it, congratulations - you're using combat and stealth skills wisely invested-in to good effect!

[TaurusBully]

To make that not game breaking in Pillars, a game where to farm you have to go through lots of dungeons and enemies to afford a piece or two of equipement (and some of the best ones are found in those sellers), there would have to be city guards that blew you to smithereens.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Originally posted by ShadowDragon8685:

A merchant is probably not a powerful warrior

And yet retired adventurers have opened up a shop in quite some other games. They may be many levels higher than you and your party of rookies.

You look for something in PoE, which this game is not about.

Much in these games has been simplified a lot. It's not an open world with sheer endless options. It's not realistic in many other areas either. When you talk to NPCs, you almost never can talk about what interests you, but only what the game makes possible. You never stumble into another party that's exploring the same dungeon as you - well, unless it's a scripted sequence - and fetches the loot before you. NPC companions are so damned friendly in this game, they stay with you forever, even if that means they wait at the pathetic stronghold without joining the party ever again. If you think the very basic trading could be changed, there are many other things that could be changed as well.

The game is finished. It won't be changed anymore. I'm sure the developers have thought long about what to offer in this game.

[TaurusBully]

Also, limited money on vendors was one of the first things I've moded in the Witcher 3.

[Maggie]

OP may consider playing Arcanum.

[ShadowDragon8685]

Originally posted by Hot, passionate hatred:

OP may consider playing Arcanum.

If it wasn't ten thousand years old and basically impossible to run, I would.

There should be a steady march of progress in video games. When a ten thousand year old game gets many things manifestly better than a later game, which was obviously influenced by the former game, there is a problem somewhere.

Merchants should not have antimatter inventories. Their goods should exist.
Either they should not be selling things that would "break" the game if the player successfully stole from them, or the game's makers should accept that successfully stealing from a merchant is a perfectly valid way to get otherwise difficult-to-acquire goods.

Frankly, the concept of "if they get it, it's too OP in their hands, they should have to grind and grind and grind for it" is absurd. Just let be what makes sense; you probably won't find Fine+ gear in backwater merchant's inventories, and they probably won't have armed footmen standing around to guard their wares. If the player manages to do something clever, sneak off to the high-end realms, and steal some high-end gear "before they should," then good for them! They earned it.