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Merchants of Thay - Balanor - 08-11-2010
Merchants in Thay have long memories, are not easily impressed (Thay is a land of magic after all), and are known to be rather stingy. When a player first talks to a merchant, a variety of factors are taken into consideration as the merchant sizes up the PC. The end result is a merchant’s buy and sell prices can widely vary between PCs and from merchant to merchant.
When new PCs to Thay speak with a merchant, it is likely the merchant will not be terribly impressed and have an unfavorable attitude toward them, which will result in poor(er) buying and selling prices. Therefore, it is encouraged you increase your Appraise skill at least some time during your character’s life to increase merchant’s reaction to that character.
Determining a Merchant’s Reaction to a PC
A merchant’s initial reaction to a PC is determined by taking the PC’s Appraise skill rolled vs. the merchant’s Appraise skill. The result of this check is persistently stored and will be used on subsequent visits to the merchant.
However; this check will be re-rolled if the PC’s base Appraise skill is increased. So if you don’t like your reaction to a merchant, place at least a point in Appraise and haggle with them again at another time. At worst the merchant’s reaction to you will increase only a little, but at best it could increase noticeably.
The following modifiers are taken into account when this appraise roll is made:
1. Low Intelligence is a negative modifier to this roll
2. Medium or High Charismas is a positive modifier to this roll
3. Low Charisma is a negative modifier to this roll
4. The PC’s notoriety is a positive modifier to this roll
Determining a Merchant’s Final Buy and Sell Prices for a PC
Most merchants in Thay buy items between 3%-25% (with the upper limit being very rare) of the item’s value, and sell items between 80%-125% of the item’s value. Then, depending on how successful (favorable) or unsuccessful (unfavorable) the PC’s Appraise roll was, the merchant’s buy or sell prices will increase or decrease up to an additional 20%.
Faction merchants typically have the better base percentages, and are willing to spend more coin to purchase an item than merchants in marketplaces. The faction members, ranked members, and faction leaders each receive an increasing positive percentage modifier per rank when dealing with their faction merchants.
A Closing Thought
Many PCs neglect the Appraise skill. A high appraise skill is particularly useful if your PC wants to own a PC Merchant as this will reduce the amount of taxes, bribes, etc that the PC will be required to pay.
An enterprising PC could be created and built up who could end up with very favorable reactions and excellent selling and buying prices from most merchants if their Appraise skill is increased as they level up. This PC in turn could own his own merchant and/or provide ‘personal shopper’ (buying and selling) services for other PCs which could turn them into a mercantile powerhouse...