NGL, considering the DIY magic rules and D&D's dogshit "economy" (ie. ~~logic~~), it wouldn't take much more than a Remove Armor spell to flip the table on the entire setting. Though, "adventuring" parties down through the years have often enough side-hustled their way into drug trafficking, et al, as a means of hacking a campaign's rails. I guess that's what you get when you spawn a "game" from a pile of spreadsheets, eh?