Hi Luke:

Awhile ago, this caught my eye:

https://3dprint.com/72234/aztec-scen...gn-techniques/

It was mentioned somewhere in the forums.

It seems to me that enough of what Aztec is about relates to what you might be interested in. In particular, as I recall, they use(d) relatively cheap printers, and focused a lot on the post-print finishing of items to a high degree of quality, perhaps somewhat akin to cosplay requirements. So..., perhaps it might be worth contacting them somehow to see if they will share any useful info w/ ya.

Your budget gives you a lot of wiggle room..., so the thought occurs to me, depending on the volume of pieces you plan to be making, that actually..., multiple less expensive printers might be more relevant than a single, higher quality printer. While I'm only really familiar w/ the Makerfarm line, I think there are several 12" printers out there that might be within your budget, and 10" might suffice for much of what you want to do. Of course, there are the SLA/resin based printers..., but they can get spendy real quick,

Good luck!