During the third module in the Skull and Shackles series, my players purchased a slightly damaged apothecary, and are making plans on converting it into an alchemy/magic shop where they hope to sell their treasure and magic items for full value, rather than half.
I don't know about all that, but I have agreed to let them start a business using the Downtime rules as a starting point.
The problem is, I'm having some difficulty wrapping my head around them. Could someone give me a hand with detailed examples and the like?
Or perhaps you could let me know if the following is correct?
From my understanding, they will end up with the following rooms:
1 Alchemy Lab
1 Bedroom
1 Furnishings (storefront)
1 Garden
1 Kitchen
1 Lavatory
1 Office
1 Reliquary
1 Sitting Room
1 Storage
1 Storefront
2 Vaults
These rooms collectively will allow the following modifiers to be applied to their checks made to gain capital:
gp +42 | Goods +32 | Influence +22 | Magic +15
Alternatively, they can perform other downtime activities or go on adventures while the shop earns capital on its own, using the above modifiers to do so (though they will have to deal with attrition).
Say that one of the players takes a break from pirating for 10 days to run her new business. Her highest appropriate skill for earning gp is Intimidate, with a +21 modifier. So she could take 10, getting a total of 73, or 7gp and 3sp each day--or 73gp for the entire period.
Intimidate can also be used to gain Goods or Influence, potentially netting her 6 Goods OR 5 Influence each day by taking 10.
But what happens if ALL of the players decide to do the same thing? Can they ALL benefit from the above modifiers simultaneously? Or will they have to make shops of their own?
What does this mean for their goal? What happens if they attempt to sell a 1,000gp magic item to their own shop? Can they get free magical and alchemical items from their shop by expending capitol for them?
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There is no need for the shop to provide extra mechanical benefits on top of what's described in the downtime rules for running a business just because it's selling magic items. They should not automatically be able to instantly sell things at full price just because they have a shop. It takes time to sell some expensive items, and in that time there are costs associated with the shop (which may include taxes, building repairs, staff wages, security, or thefts if you don't have security). The profit check accounts for these costs. If they want to put found items into their shop's stock, they can save on raw materials costs (immediately gaining a value of half the stocked item's value as if selling it) but the actual profit from eventually selling the item at full price is folded into the shop's regular profit checks. If you like, you can add a bonus to profit checks based on the items they've recently stocked, but that's optional.
If multiple characters are tending the shop at the same time I'd have most of them roll assist checks to help the most skilled shopkeeper. They then split the capital (or treat it as group capital).
I would allow them to use capital to buy items from their own shop, but they'd have to expend the item's full value in capital to do so (not half value).
Don't overlook the rules about untended operations. If no one is there for a long time, the profits start disappearing (theft, spoilage) and the shop might go rogue.
If more than one is trying to run the shop, you have the problem of too many running the show, and this can also hurt business. If instead they are there to relay the orders of a single person (the party's leader), this could go away. Likewise, if they use their skill to aid the business rather than run it, it would also not be an issue.
For selling at full price, I would suggest limiting it to the town's purchase limit per unit of time. Thus they can sell low value items for full price but not high value items unless they want to wait. Also, they put up the item for sail now but cannot get the sale price until time has passed. If you got to wait to get a better price, you would be less likely to try. Adventurers are notoriously wait adverse. :-)
As to using Intimidate to gain capital, remember "After the intimidate expires, the target treats you as unfriendly and may report you to local authorities." This can easily backfire, unless you only use it on people you expect to never come back. Much better to use Bluff or Diplomacy.
I think a minor money maker is fine, but full price for magic loot is way more than the shop can make. If you limit your players to the profit such a shop can make, then you should be OK.
/cevah