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Old 12-01-2017, 05:39 PM   #1
zuljita
 
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Default Selling unidentified loot

Suppose delvers find a tin of balm of regeneration, but lack any appropriate skills to tell what it is, or a bolt of spider silk, or a fancy book. Suppose they lug the strange unidentified objects back to town anyway. What kind of price can they get? Are there rules for finding a merchant who will tell you what you have before making an offer?

Is the correct solution to require them to go looking for a hireling for a day with the right skills? if yes, does that mean that hiring a bard for a day could wildly improve your final loot? Open to suggestions.
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Old 12-01-2017, 06:13 PM   #2
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Default Re: Selling unidentified loot

The unidentified tin of magic stuff sells as per a potion (Exploits p76). The book sells under Antiques and Objets d'ARt (p74), and the spider silk probably does the same. There don't seem to be rules for hiring an assessor (possibly built into the bonus from wealth) though realistically, doing so is a good idea.
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Old 12-01-2017, 06:31 PM   #3
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Default Re: Selling unidentified loot

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The unidentified tin of magic stuff sells as per a potion (Exploits p76). The book sells under Antiques and Objets d'ARt (p74), and the spider silk probably does the same. There don't seem to be rules for hiring an assessor (possibly built into the bonus from wealth) though realistically, doing so is a good idea.
The issue here is that my PCs completely lack the appropriate skills. They could attempt merchant at IQ-9 or so, but that seems pretty foolhardy.
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Old 12-01-2017, 07:41 PM   #4
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Default Re: Selling unidentified loot

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Originally Posted by zuljita View Post
The issue here is that my PCs completely lack the appropriate skills. They could attempt merchant at IQ-9 or so, but that seems pretty foolhardy.
Well, they don't attempt a roll at all. Per "Determining Value" p. 25, the GM makes a secret Merchant roll.

I would make this roll, and if they fail, adjust price down by 10% per point of failure. Critical failure means they assume it is worthless (fakes, junk, etc.)
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Old 12-01-2017, 08:02 PM   #5
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The issue here is that my PCs completely lack the appropriate skills. They could attempt merchant at IQ-9 or so, but that seems pretty foolhardy.
Then they get royally cheated and learn a valuable lesson :)
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Old 12-03-2017, 10:32 AM   #6
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Default Re: Selling unidentified loot

The way I play it is that they just don't know how much its worth. This means they can't make (as educated) a decision as to whether they should take or leave a 10 lb collection of books that they find in a dungeon, or if they should take the 10 lb copper figure instead.

That seems a bit lenient, but vexing; though by RAW, it feels like they are guaranteed a certain return for selling anything as long as they don't risk any reaction rolls or merchant quick contests. I might add the success/failure of a price evaluation as a complementary modifier for those rolls if they want to be chancy, meaning that in the end, for someone with absolutely no reaction modifiers, it improves their odds in the positive direction something like ~10 % (less if they have a high or low reaction to begin with) I guess, which is not nothing, and probably something like ~15% for the quick contest, where even a small difference in effective skill makes a big difference.
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Old 12-03-2017, 03:33 PM   #7
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Default Re: Selling unidentified loot

I suggested that the PCs hire a hireling with some useful IDing skills to appraise things. A bard hireling or whatever.
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Old 12-03-2017, 05:29 PM   #8
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Default Re: Selling unidentified loot

They leave themselves vulnerable to a secret reaction roll of whoever they sell it to, with the ability to protect themselves with Detect Lie when the merchant in town tells them it is almost worthless junk.
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Old 12-07-2017, 09:10 PM   #9
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Default Re: Selling unidentified loot

Barring something from Kromm what I went with for DoA is this:
Quote:
Bard and Thief need reasons to be needed and wealth should matter. After today, if you want to benefit from a hireling in selling goods, you need to take them to the dungeon and they need to survive.
Only the first level of wealth is available on hireling of even 125 points
62 Point hirelings may not provide wealth but they provide assessing skills.
Mostly because I didn't want wealth to become a trap that you should work around with a hireling and because I did want the cost for a hireling that can do lots of merchant and connoisseur rolls to be better than taking the skills every time. Saving $200 per week of dungeon runs for 3 ish points in assessment skills seems like a fair deal.
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