Merchant class (GAZ11)

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

GAZ 11: The Republic of Darokin finally became available (again) on RPGNow/DriveThruRPG today and I realized I've never heard any discussion of how well (or not) the Merchant class works.

Obviously, there's a question of who actually wants to play a merchant in lieu of, say, an archmage, but let's say there were such people. Is the class well-designed? Is it just a thief with different abilities? Does it work solely in urban/roleplaying adventures or can they stand even a brief chance in other milieu?

 

[Crothian]

I can't say I ever knew that was in there. I had to go get my copy of it but luckily I have a physical copy of the Gazetteers.

It's odd. It doesn't seem to be a class of its own. I would call it more like a Template that gains levels then an additional class. The merchant does not gain merchant levels through normal XP, only through Merchant XP. That is gained based on the profit of any transaction as a merchant. But only what is gained and sold through merchant activities. If you explore a dungeon and find a magic sword and sell it then that is XP for the whatever other class you have. It was not gained through merchant activity so does not count as merchant XP. I can honestly say I understand why I never heard of this.

To be a merchant one has to be part of the guild. The guild costs 1000gp to join and takes a half percent on all transactions as a merchant. Gaining levels in the merchant class gives on a title so a 10th level in this class can be called a true Merchant. The class gains spells but only if he is a Darokin. Foreigners can never learn these spells, teaching them to a foreigner is automatic expulsion and possible worse from the guild. In fact they don't even want anyone outside the Guild to know about their magic. It gives them a unique edge in their dealings. Spells are never automatically learned. A character has to seek out another member and learn from him. It takes one week per spell level to learn a spell. Most of the spells are unique to the class.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Wow. That sounds ... worse than useless. Thanks for saving me the expense. (I've always been interested in Darokin, but without the lure of seeing the Merchant class, it's lower on my list of things to get.)

 

[Crothian]

The class only works if you are going to do merchant type things. They might have done it this way so it can work in basic D&D, and first and second edition AD&D. The cover does specify that it is compatible with all that.

 

[Nellisir]

There's a merchant class in Dragon #(somethingsomethingsomething)

 

[ephemeron]

There's a merchant class in Dragon #(somethingsomethingsomething)

Dragon #136, pp. 22-26. Written for 1e AD&D and intended for NPCs only, but I understand people seeing the latest "NPC class" and begging to play one was a cliche of the era.

(If anybody reading this didn't already know about the DragonDex, it's a complete index to every Dragon Magazine article and makes this sort of thing easy to find.)

 

[Nellisir]

Dragon #136, pp. 22-26. Written for 1e AD&D and intended for NPCs only, but I understand people seeing the latest "NPC class" and begging to play one was a cliche of the era.

(If anybody reading this didn't already know about the DragonDex, it's a complete index to every Dragon Magazine article and makes this sort of thing easy to find.)

I knew if I left the issue blank, someone else would fill it in.

(and hey look, there I am in DragonDex! )