D&D 5E Gems, Jewelry, Art Objects value (Appraisal)

[Yardiff]

In your games do you use some type of appraisal role to know the value of 'found' gems, jewelry, and/or art objects the players come across or do you just hand wave it? (Its worth 67 gp says so on the bottom).

If you use appraisal role how do you go about it?

 

[KahlessNestor]

I imagine a straight Intelligence check. If it's gems or precious metal or stone I might give dwarves and svirfneblin Advantage.

 

[iserith]

I just tell the players the value of treasure. The Basic Rules suggest that estimating the value of a precious item is a factor of an Intelligence check, when doing so has an uncertain outcome.

 

[KahlessNestor]

How about DC 15. For each point you miss it by you're off by +/- 10%. Over 5 and you have no idea, or are wildly off. +1-3 bonuses or advantage if you have various aids (tools like scales, little monocle things, reference books, or an appropriate background).

 

[Azurewraith]

I personally just tell them a rough value based on what they guesstimate i would allow and int roll in the dungeon to figure it out or an investigation roll if in a town to ask around.Merchants will rarely pay full price though without some sort of negotiation though.

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

I just tell the players what the value of treasures they find are.

In the past I've required appraisal checks and had margins of error, and all it added to the game experience was additional book keeping to track what had been appraised and what hadn't, plus at what value and what the actual value was (in order for me to properly portray the reaction of NPCs being offered incorrect payment/trade offers) - plus a general disinterest on the part of players when it came to anything but treasures with obvious value (coins, and equipment that can be used by the party).

 

[BoldItalic]

I just quote the nominal value. If a PC has three 50gp gems in his pouch and finds two more, he now has five 50gp gems which are indistinguishable from each other and can be used as a convenient form of high-value currency. He can update his character sheet - erase '3' and write '5'. No book-keeping for me. Move on.

If a player shows an interest in using his PC's skills to haggle over the value of something when he tries to sell or barter it, that's fine - it adds to the role-playing. In that case, it is worth whatever he can get for it, which might be more or it might be less. But I don't insist they go through the motions of haggling on every possible occasion.

Also, I don't go with the idea that "traders always give you less than the nominal value". If I want to randomize the outcome of haggling, I use 1d20 x 10% of nominal value. On average, it will be close to nominal which is what nominal means. It means the value you would expect to get, on average, by trading the object with your average trader.

I don't have a rigid procedure for haggling. If I did, the players would do it every time and it would turn into a grind. But I can invent something on the fly if I need to. The last time it cropped up, after a fun bit of role-playing, I asked the player to make a Charisma(Persuasion) check against DC10 to try to get advantage on the d20 value roll. From memory, I think he got 1600gp for a silver goblet worth a nominal 1000gp. He was pleased, and the game was good.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

There should be tools that help you appraise gems and art objects. Other than that: int check, maybe investigation or history added depending on situation.

 

[pukunui]

Like Aaron above, I just tell them the value of gems and art objects because to do otherwise is too much of a hassle. If the PCs find a gold statuette in one adventure, but they don't get around to selling it until an adventure or two later, I have to go back and figure out where they found it so I can look up the value again (cos I ain't gonna remember a little detail like that).

I do like bolditalic's approach, though. Tell 'em what it's worth on average but let 'me try and haggle for more if they wish.

 

[Al2O3]

My group tends to be OK with individual characters trying to take an extra amount of treasure. Also, we are currently playing the Starter Set adventure and one PC considered the value of something they found as treasure compared to an item one NPC asked them to use as payment to another. In those cases I think I use Intelligence checks, possibly adding investigation or a relevant tool proficiency to get a ballpark figure of the value (once including something like "it's with 1d20 gp more than this other thing").

When it comes to using the value to split the loot evenly or just sell it I would just tell them the value.