Does anyone know what the items in the trophy room are valued at, other than those found in the DMG? I know some of my players will want to sell this stuff. I'm curious about the following items, & have included my own guessitmates & who might buy them.
1. Black dragon head: I'm guessing Ret's taxidermy will buy this for around 250, but Miklos dare of the Black Dragon Inn will likely pay more.
2. Thorn-covered black metal cage: No idea--were more details cut for space?
3. The dagger: based on the value of similar items in the DMG, I'm thinking about 17,500 gp.
4. Kyton chains: Not sure--maybe 100-500 gp? Could possibly be sold at the Wizard's Guild or Maldin's shop.
5. Bronze griffon: Perhaps 2500 gp. Could possibly be sold to the Pit, the Free City Arena, or the Mercenaries' Guild (essentially it'd be a foe who never really dies)
6. Beholder eyestalks: Maybe 25-50 gp each? Ret might buy these, or Maldin or the Wizard's Guild.
7. Petrified pseudodragon. Perhaps 1000 gp? The Wizard's Guild or Maldin might buy this. I was considering having this be Edwina, Jallarzi's familiar, but I seriously doubt anyone possessing Edwina would be able to hide for long.
8. Voodoo doll w/ spiked devil pins. No idea. This could be a curiousity from Hepmonaland or the Amedio. The dollmaker Sen Thelamae might buy this.
9. Book of demon names. No idea. Maybe 100-200 gp? The Wizard's Guild or even the Great Library of Greyhawk could be interested.
10. Other stuff, such as the shrunken head: I'm guessing the combined value of everything else should be 100-500 gp.
Any thoughts, or something beyond speculation?
Creative Director
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Here's how I would price the stuff in the museum:
1. Black dragon head: This is little more than a curriosity: 100 gp
2. Thorn-covered black metal cage: This is a prototype soulcage from Shackled City. It's not made of adamantium, but some other strange metal and is probably worth 100 gp as a curriosity as well.
3. The cursed +2 unholy dagger: sold as a magic item without imparting knowledge of the curse it's worth the same as a normal +2 unholy dagger—32,302 gp. If the buyer is aware of the curse and still wants it, it's probably because he wants to give the dagger to an enemy in the guise of a gift and therefore it's actually worth more than its base value. If you assume that the "horrible misfortune" manifests as life-threatening accidents, I'd say that's about the same as having the dagger cast slay living at random points on the unsuspecting owner (but probably no more often than once a month). An item that casts slay living once a day is in theory worth about 18,000 gp; this effect should be less since it's less frequent and uncontrolled. I'd say that someone who wants the dagger and knows about its curse would probably pay about 40,000 to 45,000 gp for it (halved, of course, as is customary for selling all magic items, so the PCs would stand to make a profit of about 20,000 to 22,500 gp selling it). Of course, not only is selling this evil magic item an evil act... it also could have repurcussions on the seller if the victim ever finds out; he might come looking for the PCs, and he might be a powerful creature bent on revenge.
4. Kyton chains: Like the black dragon head, the twitching chains are a curriosity. 100 gp.
5. Bronze griffon: If sold as a normal bronze griffon figurine, as per the DMG. The optimal use for this item is as an assassination gift, similar to the cursed dagger; the one who knowingly buys this to use it as a means to kill a supposed friend or ally, it'd probably be worth about the same. 10,000 gp.
6. Beholder eyestalks: Curriosity—100 gp for the lot of them (or 25 gp apiece).
7. Petrified pseudodragon. Edwina certainly wouldn't remain petrified for long, since her mistress is pretty tough and would find out where she went right quick. It's probably worth 100 gp as a curriosity, since really, anyone who takes the Improved Familiar feat can simply choose to gain a pesudo dragon; they don't need to find one and convince it. This is a case of the flavor text for an object really not having much to do with game rules. IF on the other hand you house rule it so that a wizard DOES have to seek out an Improved Familiar, I could see a wizard paying several thousand for this statuette.
8. Voodoo doll w/ spiked devil pins. Curriosity: 100 gp.
9. Book of demon names. 16,360 gp. (Based on what it costs to cast animate objects and permanancy on an object.) If the demon names in the book serve as truenames or something unique to your campaign, this book might even go for much more; if the demons named are powerful, it might even be priceless.
10. Other stuff, such as the shrunken head: 100–500 gp in all sounds good.
Of course, if the PCs gather and sell all this stuff, they stand to make a LOT of money, more than an adventure of this length and challenge level should probably give out. If they do sell the cursed and evil items, you as the DM should make sure that there are social and other repurcussions for their trafficking in such evil magics.
Here's how I would price the stuff in the museum:
4. Kyton chains: Like the black dragon head, the twitching chains are a curriosity. 100 gp.
Or not...
The first group of PCs I ran through this adventure before their demise to Pitchblade in the Champion's Games were outright evil, so they elected not to sell many of these items. These items had interesting side effects that added interesting twists to the story.
The Kyton chains, however, deserve special mention -
Our resident power gamer was playing a frenzied berserker goliath with mountainous rage. He was also an exotic weapons master. And as you might imagine, he chose the spiked chain. When he saw the twitching Kyton chains, his eyes lit up like Christmas. At the time he wasn't quite evil just yet, but when he formed a "bond" with the chains, he became evil. The chains worked for him the way they would work for a Kyton, but they had their own will as well, and had to be satisfied with the blood of mortals nightly.
I am a DM who tends to bend the rules for story telling purposes - my advice would be to prepare for your PCs NOT to sell these unique items, but anticipate them tyring to use them or keep them as momentos/trophys, etc.
I would also treat the cursed dagger as placing this curse on "each owner" - if the PCs destroy it as a cursed item, they're fine, but if they keep it or if they sell it, they are placed under the curse. Instead of Slay Living, I'd have the curse manifest as Bestow Curse (-4 on attacks, saves, checks) at some appropriate moment when the PC in question is in a very dangerous situation. Of course, Remove Curse cast on each party member would end this threat, assuming they no longer have the dagger, but they probably won't realize it's necessary until one or more of them have experienced this effect...
I didn't catch the reference to the soul cage. When one of the PCs in my group handled the thorn-covered cage and stuck a couple fingers in to lift it up, I described a painful prickling feeling, like his fingers were being stuck by dozens of thorns, but he took no damage. They realized it was a torture device appropriate only for very small creatures, and it kind of ooked them out (grin). I never thought about it being a prototype - hmmm, where would be a good place in a later adventure to add a person-sized version of this cage?
I highly doubt that anyone would pay 16,000 gp for an animated book that attacks the person who opens it, even if they intended to give it to an enemy. Just because it costs a lot to create an object, it shouldn't mean that the object is neccesarily worth the same amount.
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Creative Director
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I highly doubt that anyone would pay 16,000 gp for an animated book that attacks the person who opens it, even if they intended to give it to an enemy. Just because it costs a lot to create an object, it shouldn't mean that the object is neccesarily worth the same amount.
I agree... but the fact remains that's how much it costs to create an animated book. One of the many cases where D&D economy breaks down, since there's no real reason someone would go through all this trouble to create an animated book using these spells (since he could just as easilly cast it on something larger and more dangerous).
Of course, an alternate way to look at the book's creation is that it was simply built by someone with the Craft Construct feat. This is probably a better way to look at it, in fact.
How about 500 gp?
The book is a security device. The owner knows to not open it.
Some members of the party wanted to use the voodoo doll on
enemies.
I told them they needed a spell to activate it.
The doll is effectively a spell focus.
500 gp sounds reasonable. I can imagine some eccentric wizard purchasing it, or perhaps the demonic names have *some* arcane value, even if they aren't truenames.
I am pretty sure demons and devils have
1: a summoning name.
2: a truename.
3: an everyday name.
4: any previous name before becoming a fiend is a pastlife name.
The new Tome of Magic has a class based on truenames.