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Bargaining

Source Ultimate Campaign pg. 138
An item is worth only what someone will pay for it. To an art collector, a canvas covered in daubs of random paint may be a masterpiece; a priestess might believe a weathered jawbone is a holy relic of a saint. The rules presented here offer you a way of playing through the process of selling off goods brought up from a crypt, liberated from a baron’s bedchamber, or plundered from a dragon’s vault. They also enable players to establish contacts with local fences, launderers, antiquarians, and obsessive collectors.

Valuation

Source Ultimate Campaign pg. 138
The Appraise skill allows a character to accurately value an object. However, the fine arts of the jeweler, antiquarian, and bibliophile are complex. Valuable paintings may be concealed by grime, and books of incredible rarity may be bound in tattered leather covers. Because failure means an inaccurate estimate, the GM should attempt this skill check in secret.

Bargaining Rules

Source Ultimate Campaign pg. 138
In general, a character can sell an item for half its listed price. This keeps players from getting bogged down in bargaining with NPCs over 10 gp on a 10,000 gp item, and maintains game balance by not allowing players to use bargaining to exceed the Wealth by Level guidelines by buying low and selling high. The “sell for half ” rule allows a fair price for standard items in normal circumstances.

For rare or unique items, or in certain cases, the GM might allow or encourage bargaining. Keep in mind that bargaining usually involves one PC talking with an NPC while the other players wait, and watching someone else bargain is rarely interesting. Bargaining should be infrequent, and should happen only when it’s important to the story.

By using the rules for bargaining, you give up some control over your PC’s decisions and accept the risk of the deal falling through to gain the chance of getting a better price.

Using Magic to Bargain

Source Ultimate Campaign pg. 139
An unscrupulous character may use magic to charm or dupe buyers into accepting inflated prices. Something as simple as charm person can alter the Diplomacy and Sense Motive DCs by 5 in the spellcaster’s favor for an entire negotiation, and a specific suggestion can alter the result on a single roll by 10 in the caster’s favor. If the buyer later realizes that magic influenced the negotiation, she may refuse to deal with the spellcaster and attempt to get her money back, or at least report the spellcaster to the local authorities.

Collector NPCs

Source Ultimate Campaign pg. 139
The GM can define a few NPCs as collectors, traders, or antiquarians interested in unusual items PCs collect after their adventures. If the PCs establish an amiable relationship with these collectors over time, the GM can reduce the base Undercut Percentage to 1% or even 0%, especially if the PCs’ offerings cater to the NPCs’ interests. Likewise, PCs may develop bad blood with one or more buyers; such buyers’ Undercut Percentage may rise to 5% or higher, or the buyers may refuse to bargain with the PCs at all.

Flooding the Market

Source Ultimate Campaign pg. 139
When PCs attempt to sell multiples of a durable good, the GM may lower the offered prices by 10% or more to reflect market saturation in that location. For example, a border town patrolled by guards with crossbows can always use more +1 bolts, but has limited use for a wagonload of masterwork spiked chains, so the Initial and Final Offers for the spiked chains would be 10% lower.

Trade Goods

Source Ultimate Campaign pg. 139
Trade goods are exempt from bargaining, even in extraordinary circumstances.

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