D&D 5E Barter / Sell Treasure Items

[Guyanthalas]

My group is running Phandelver, and they have accumulated quite a bit of wealth. They want to liquidate said wealth, and I'm happy to allow them to do so. However, I'm not keen on just selling it for face value.

I've got a nice little system in the works, but my fear is it involves a lot of rolling (Figure out what you think the treasure is worth, find someone to sell it too, haggle on price). I have developed a Gygaxian style chart to help with some of this, and I think its clever as hell but haven't tested it yet in game. The biggest drawback would be that selling items is tedious, and could be a grind after some time.

So asking the community. How do you guys deal with treasure bits? IE Pearl, (2) Malachites, or Gold Frog with Ruby Eyes. Thanks!

 

[pming]

Hiya!

Pearl (50gpv), Malachites x2 (25gpve), Gold Frog with Ruby Eyes (150gpv). <-- I just made up those values, I'm not sure if you have actual values assigned for yours or not. If you don't, well, uh, that's how I do it. I just make it up based on how much I figure they would be worth in my campaign world. Now the fun part. PC's trying to sell them. First, they have to be in a position to actually do so. With the above, I'd figure any old jeweler/gemcutter would do...there isn't anything really out there or overly expensive. Now, I have the player make a roll on whatever he has that will help him, or CHA (e.g., if the player says "I'm a dwarf, and I have Appraise as a proficient skill", he can make a CHA check with his characters Appraise skill bonus, with Advantage; if he wasn't a dwarf, no Advantage; if the jeweler/gemcutter was also a dwarf, no Advantage). Next, I would multiply the roll by 5. If the total is 100% or greater, they get the value listed. If it is lower, that is the percentage they get for the total...if they want it. If the PC balks at that (say his roll equaled 12, so 12 x5 gives 60% of the 250gpv total; or, 150gp for the lot). At this point, we roleplay. I role play up reasons for the lower value...."Well, this Malachite has a fault-crack...when it's cut, it will break into several small ones, hardly worth the full 25gpv. The Pearl is ok, but it has discoloring here...and it isn't all that round; Yaniss, a friend of mine from the cost, visits every couple months and brings me lots of pearls that are better quality than this sad little one here. The Frog is cute and all, but, well, I just don't see it selling anytime soon in all honesty. Hmmm...no, sorry; I'll give you 150gp for the lot and not a copper more. What do you say?"

And that's how I do it. If a player rolls REALLY well (like high 20's), and then also roleplays why he should get more for them, and his roleplaying makes it seem advantageous to the buyer, I will let them get more. Not a LOT more, but definitely more (maybe up to about !20% to 150% at an absolute maximum). But in that case, next time the PC's have to deal with the NPC he may make his displeasure known about how he was "ripped off by the fast-talking shysters" and whatnot.

Of course, that all assumes a smallish town with only one jeweler/gemcutter. If they were in a large city, I usually just say "You get the value after spending a full day shopping around". If the PC's only want to be "in town for an hour or two at most"...then we roll, as above. Basically, if the PC's have the time to try and find the best buyer, they can usually get 100% of the value...but it will take at least a full day.

^_^

Paul L. Ming

 

[Paraxis]

Buying and selling happen off camera if it were. Deduct gold for what you want to purchase, prices listed in PHB, sell loot for half cost if it is gear full value if it is gems/jewels/art.

Simple.

I also don't honestly ever keep track of it, shhh don't tell my players. I could care less about that whole part of the game I find it tedious and boring.

 

[Gilladian]

I tell our record keeper the value of items when they get them. If a pc wants a particular item such as a dwarves tankard, that player will declare it as part of their share and write it down. But otherwise, they can sell it for the value I gave them. That's the point of giving them a value.

 

[Shiroiken]

Normal gear is just half value and done off camera. This doesn't come up that often, as we take size into consideration as well (so armor is a pain to carry around while not wearing it). Usually players just look for things they might use immediately, such as a spare weapon or something for an NPC.

Gems and Art, however, are done IC with the jeweler, who offers them a price. Players can try to figure out the values on their own by rolling Int, but they know it's all just a ballpark figure anyway. Normally they sell for 70% + 2d4x5% of the listed value, but dishonest ones will cheat the characters greatly if the opportunity exists.

 

[SirAntoine]

15-30% of the list price is better for selling items and treasure.

 

[Lanefan]

I tell our record keeper the value of items when they get them. If a pc wants a particular item such as a dwarves tankard, that player will declare it as part of their share and write it down. But otherwise, they can sell it for the value I gave them. That's the point of giving them a value.

Same here for non-magic items, except they don't get the value until they get back to town at which point I just assume they'll take their stuff somewhere and get it evaluated.

For magic items, they also get values so characters can fairly claim them as part of their shares; anything unclaimed gets sold for the same value. (we used to use a two-value system a long time ago with the high value being the cost to buy an item or have it built, and the low value being what you could sell it for - claimed items were assigned the high value, sold items the low; more realistic, yes, but it made treasury division a complete bitch as every time someone claimed an item (or dropped a claim) everybody's share value changed.)

Lanefan

 

[Cernor]

I'm of the opinion that characters get full value for selling gems. My reasoning is that if you sell it to a jeweler they can make it into something and turn a tidy profit (your 50gp gem set in 50gp worth of gold sells for 500gp!), or if a shopkeeper buys it they can use it in place of gold in a transaction ("Sure I could give you a 1lb. bag of gold for this shipment, but I'm sure you'd much rather carry around this small 2oz gem that's worth the same amount.").

The value of art objects depends on who you're selling it to. Most vendors in larger communities will give you a fair price, because if they undercut you'll simply take your business to their competitor and give them a bad reputation. In smaller communities you would be more likely to be offered less-- not only because shady dealers could get away with it because there'd be nobody else to sell to, but even reputable merchants might have less money on hand to pay you for it. Collectors will pay more for rare objects, and so on.

 

[Scorpio616]

Unless you really want a complex system for it, treasure, jewelry and trade goods are best sold for full value. They are kinda there AS treasure.

On the other hand I do agree with 4E's Mundane goods sell for 1/5th if at all.

 

[nomotog]

The simple way is to just say they get half price or full price for whatever they are selling, but I think you want to do things more complicated.

When it comes to complex systems, you are more or less OK so long as players are making choices they care about. So make it optional for one. Next would be to avoid any rolls that isn't influenced by a choice the player is making.

I would kind of try to play the haggling like real life. The player would show the item to a buyer and then the buyer might rattle off a list of concerns with it. "I don't like the color, I don't want to carry it across town, Are these goods stolen?" Then the players need to think about how they can address the concerns. Like they might try and convince the buyer that blue is the new "It" color, or offer free delivery (Might need to pass a hard con check to carry that heavy thing.), One int check latter and nice forged document can assure the buyer they are honest goods.

Proficiency can come from skills, but you could also let it come in from professions. Like if your selling artifacts and your a sage add your proficiency. You can also throw out advantages and disadvantages. Selling a dwarf waraxe to a dwarf warrior, that is easy. Selling ice to a ice mage, well that is hard.