[RPG] the cost for the upkeep of gear

dnd-3.5e

Our campaign setting is money poor, the cost of a master work weapon is far out of the commoner's reach. When players need to purchase things they certainly think it through. NPC crafters do not have access to things that the players need to repair magic, or near magic quality, gear. I send PC on quests to gather items to complete the fixes on their items.

My question is, what is the cost of those repairs?

The coin value is very high, so I can't charge an arm and a leg for the repairs but I do not want them to think that such weapons do not take damage and that pavilion tents and bulls eye lanterns are so plentiful that one doesn't repair them but simply replaces them.

Best Answer

You can use the Craft skill to perform repairs on your items. The relevant rule (which describes the cost) is the following:

Repairing Items

Generally, you can repair an item by making checks against the same DC that it took to make the item in the first place. The cost of repairing an item is one-fifth of the item’s price.

The system does, however, not provide much in the way of rules telling you when repairs are needed, you're going to have to decide that on your own.