Animal part value

[zuljita]

Anyone engaged with this to guess the value of things like bear/cave bear, giant snake or other critter parts are worth?
Electric jelly, dragons and even bugbear have valuable parts listed, shall we fill in the gaps?

[Anthony]

Unless a player decides to give a character Expert: Taxidermy, the expected value of monster parts is negligible, though you can always decide otherwise.

[Kalzazz]

Survival check, 1d6*Margin of Success*SM+1 (.5 If < 0)*10 moneys, weighs 1 lb per 10 moneys

[Kalzazz]

As a note, I specifically would prefer a formula that doesn't need weight as an input, so I can avoid pondering how much does a giant constrictor weigh?

[zuljita]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Unless a player decides to give a character Expert: Taxidermy, the expected value of monster parts is negligible

I'd agree with you in some respects, but Hides, furs and skins are often worth removing and hauling to town if you've done the work of killing the beasts.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by zuljita

I'd agree with you in some respects, but Hides, furs and skins are often worth removing and hauling to town if you've done the work of killing the beasts.

It really depends on the creature, but broadly speaking we're talking mystery meat and uncured hides. Neither of which are totally valueless, but their value is quite low relative to the effort required to prepare them and cart them back to town.

It's always possible to give specific monsters specific valuable parts -- magical ingredients, decorative furs, whatever -- but it should be done on a case by case basis, rather than trying to come up with a specific rule. Alternately, you can treat this as Scrap (Exploits p16-17).

[ArchonShiva]

I’d probably go with an appropriate skill roll, and give value based on SM+MoS on the speed/range table, modified up or down for the creature’s rarity (say, -4 for common, +0 for uncommon, +4 for rare, +8 for legendary).

Basically, a good roll will get you a valuable part from *this* creature, but doesn’t mean you’ll get as much from the next one, although larger and rarer creatures are generally worth more.

Add number of creatures to the SM roll rather than rolling for each. Failure on the skill roll yields nothing, and damages the creature enough to impose -4 on another try.

[Mister Negative]

The other difficulty, as noted, is that the valuable parts of many critters (such as pelts and hides) are obviously valuable, but the method that delvers use to acquire them may keep that value intact, or markedly decrease it.

That tiger killed with Deathtouch is gonna have a much nicer hide than the one slain with repeated Acid Jets.

Of course, the uncured hides would be less valuable than a preserved pelt, but intact, they are going to be something you should be able to sell in Town, or otherwise hunters and poachers wouldn't be going after those animals in the wild either!

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Unless a player decides to give a character Expert: Taxidermy, the expected value of monster parts is negligible, though you can always decide otherwise.

That is an amazing background for a DF patron. They want to display such rare monsters in a taxidermy menagerie.

"Yes, I know they're weak to fire, but that would ruin the hide!"

[Colarmel]

Naturalist or Survival would be the skills needed. The only saleable parts are likely hides on creatures without magic bits. For simplicity I'd run it at v * (sm+1) for creatures sm 0 or greater or / (-SM+1) for smaller critters.

v is a judgement call on value of the hide. Probably between 10 and 100 depending on creature DR and weather resistance.