D&D 5E Selling jewelry
- Thread starter TennyZab
- Start date
Well they ditched the appraise skill for a reason. By the book valuables and trade are sold at full price, other items can be sold for half price.
Unless there's a compelling reason for an object to have difficulty selling, most parties would consider it bookkeeping and don't want to haggle over every silver.
But, if your party just found some absurdly giant gem from a dragons hoard, they might have to actually have a whole new quest just to find a buyer and get it to them.
Unless there's a compelling reason for an object to have difficulty selling, most parties would consider it bookkeeping and don't want to haggle over every silver.
But, if your party just found some absurdly giant gem from a dragons hoard, they might have to actually have a whole new quest just to find a buyer and get it to them.
Enevhar Aldarion
Hero
It all depends on how much fun you and your players would get out of trying to sell the stuff for the max possible value. Go to a pawn shop or black market? Get half value. Go to a moneychanger who needs to make a profit? Get 3/4 value. Go to a jeweler who can put the gem in a setting and make a profit? Probably get full value. Got some very valuable pieces? Set up an auction and get anywhere from half to one and half times value. Adjust as needed for the size of the town where you are trying to sell them. Or if no one want to play this out, just give them book value and move on.
But personally, and for others I have played with, small gems like that which are worth a couple hundred gold or less and much more desirable to keep, rather than convert to gold, because they take up less space and weight and do not jingle when you are trying to be stealthy.
But personally, and for others I have played with, small gems like that which are worth a couple hundred gold or less and much more desirable to keep, rather than convert to gold, because they take up less space and weight and do not jingle when you are trying to be stealthy.
Li Shenron
Legend
We used to have a very good house rule (or mini-module) for the Appraise skill in 3.0 to work for bargaining. But we only ever used for interesting objects i.e. magic items.
Gems are always kind of meant to work as very large currency, so that you can scale treasure by level without bothering with encumbrance (i.e. have the party find a 1000gp gem instead of 1000 gp).
Rolling resell value for treasure is not that different from rolling treasure in the first place, statistical minutias notwithstanding.
It depends on the type of game you (or your DM) want to run. In a simplified game (which seems very popular for 5E), it's just another type of coin with a straight up exchange rate. In a simulationist game, characters have to determine the value of the gem/jewelry and then haggle to get the best price. There are many steps in between, based on the desire of the DM.
As a DM I give gems, jewelry, and art objects a quality modifier (ranging from -90% to +400%, with most having no modifier). Characters can evaluate a number of items equal to twice their Int modifier (min 1) during a Short Rest (similar to identifying magic items). I also give the buyer an economic modifier (from -50% to +25%, with most having -10%). Except for large cities, there isn't more than one buyer in an area so there isn't any haggling. If there are multiple buyers, the seller can attempt to haggle (Cha/Persuasion check), but once this is made, the player cannot back out of the deal.
As a player, I try to keep as many gems & jewelry as I can. They are lighter than their coin equivalent, so they allow for more treasure to be carried. I like to keep art objects too, but this depends on the campaign. If we're travelers, the size and weight of the art object makes a big difference. If we have a base of operations I can keep my stuff, I like to decorate
As a DM I give gems, jewelry, and art objects a quality modifier (ranging from -90% to +400%, with most having no modifier). Characters can evaluate a number of items equal to twice their Int modifier (min 1) during a Short Rest (similar to identifying magic items). I also give the buyer an economic modifier (from -50% to +25%, with most having -10%). Except for large cities, there isn't more than one buyer in an area so there isn't any haggling. If there are multiple buyers, the seller can attempt to haggle (Cha/Persuasion check), but once this is made, the player cannot back out of the deal.
As a player, I try to keep as many gems & jewelry as I can. They are lighter than their coin equivalent, so they allow for more treasure to be carried. I like to keep art objects too, but this depends on the campaign. If we're travelers, the size and weight of the art object makes a big difference. If we have a base of operations I can keep my stuff, I like to decorate
CydKnight
Explorer
I think it depends on how much time the DM and players want to spend on haggling. If your party is heavy into the role playing aspect of the game, wheel and deal until their hearts content.
As a player, I like holding onto gems until the coins have been depleted. They weigh less at equal value. How much less depends on the size and rarity of that particular gem.
As a DM I allow the players in my current campaign to make purchases using the equivalent gem value of the asking price in gold without the haggling over the gems worth.
As a player, I like holding onto gems until the coins have been depleted. They weigh less at equal value. How much less depends on the size and rarity of that particular gem.
As a DM I allow the players in my current campaign to make purchases using the equivalent gem value of the asking price in gold without the haggling over the gems worth.
BookBarbarian
Expert Long Rester
I let my players take the coin value of any Treasure they find, unless it's a McGuffin. Haggling just isn't a fun part of the game for us. I also don't bother with non gold money. It's just too much book keeping. I just give them the equivalent value in gold coins.
Also, since carrying around a huge amount of gold coins stretches the imagination, I assume they aren't carrying around an exact amount of coin, but some mix off coins and precious gems of high value.
Basically I've abstracted the money system out so we don't worry about those details.
Also, since carrying around a huge amount of gold coins stretches the imagination, I assume they aren't carrying around an exact amount of coin, but some mix off coins and precious gems of high value.
Basically I've abstracted the money system out so we don't worry about those details.
Imaculata
Hero
Unless my players are trying to sell something very difficult (like that giant Megalon skeleton they currently have tethered to the side of their ship), I allow them to sell it without checks. Buying and selling are things I try to get over with quickly, so we can get back to the story. That is unless I have something the merchant want to tell the players, or if its a special store that I want to have some role playing in.
Eltab
Lord of the Hidden Layer
Once in a while I threw an Art Object into my Tiamat campaign. (Arauthator had a matched set of every size sword blade, all XYZ of Dragon-Slaying, in his lair. The set was in a very nice box which I took five minutes to describe.) The group didn't take the bait.
You might get some people who want to run a Merchant campaign, and will care; but then again they might not.
I would try this once - the PCs rescue a painting (say) and must auction it off to get GP - and if they aren't enthused, don't worry about it any more.
You might get some people who want to run a Merchant campaign, and will care; but then again they might not.
I would try this once - the PCs rescue a painting (say) and must auction it off to get GP - and if they aren't enthused, don't worry about it any more.
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