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In my Age of Worms campaign, the players have recently defeated Ilthane the black dragon (size category huge, though I've been using a gargantuan miniature for all scale references). Now, they know that certain dragon parts have value, and I've acknowledged to them that Ilthane's hide and various body parts can be worth a good amount of gold to the right buyer. But our next game is coming up and I haven't yet figured out a value for her various parts. Can you folks help me set a fair value? I don't want to cheat my players out of a prize, since I made the fight more difficult than it was written and they don't, after all, have any leads on how to find her lair. But neither do I want to be overly generous and encourage them to treat every slain monster as a treasure trove.
I could have sworn there was a Dragon Magazine article at some point in the game's history that discussed the value of dragon blood, fangs, eyes, scales, etc. Can anyone point me to an issue number, or any links on the web that might discuss it? (Google didn't turn up much for me on this subject.) Barring that, I wecome any thoughts that other DMs might have on the subject.
Incidentally, one player with some alchemy skill likes to save bottles of venoms and acids, and I know he's got his eye on any acid remaining in Ilthane's glands or ducts or gullet or whatever. Likewise, another player has leatherworking skill and wants to preserve Ilthane's scales and skin to make dragonhide armor, etc.
One thing I love about this community is the abundance of DMs with good advice on subjects like this; I welcome any ideas you folks might have. :)
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I would look at the treasure value per CR charts and see what the high and low values would be. Factor in what you gave them as treasure for defeating the dragon and let the corpse have a value that keeps them within the proper range. Next decide how many survival checks will be needed to harvest the organs,claws,hide,horns,etc. and let them make the checks to see if they succeed (Oops, you slipped and pierced the eye, it is now worthless!). That should allow you to keep them in the proper character wealth levels without stifling their creativity, but also making this a time consuming and semi-difficult ordeal will insure that they won't be leaving Umber hulks in a bathtub of ice at every opportunity.
If they start latching onto the idea of looting certain monsters' organs, make sure to start figuring this into the overall loot that a monster has.
Just some random thoughts.
FH
The Dragon issue is #332, "Cutting up the dragon", it has all kinds of info including using parts as power components when crafting items.
RPG Superstar 2011 Top 32
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FWIW - An average party might not be able to harvest an entire dragon (they're huge) before some of the good parts rot/spoil. If it looks like the whole carcass would be worth too much, you could have certain parts spoil or be damaged (as per Fake Healer's post).
Also, there might only be a market locally for certain parts, and the party has to spend valuable time assessing and finding out what the market will take - thus they have to make an executive decision as to what to harvest and preserve and what to let go of.
Just some thoughts on wealth control - but it looks like the others are steering you in the right direction.
Slightly off-topic.
In my campaign, during "The Prince of Redhand", the group managed to kill one of Ilthane's children (the others fled). They took the corpse to a taxidermist in Alhaster and had the thing stuffed, mounted, and polished up. The whole process cost them a couple thousand gold (partially because it was a rush job).
They then presented it, on its own pedestal, to Prince Zeech as a gift.
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RPG Superstar 2011 Top 32
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Slightly off-topic.
In my campaign, during "The Prince of Redhand", the group managed to kill one of Ilthane's children (the others fled). They took the corpse to a taxidermist in Alhaster and had the thing stuffed, mounted, and polished up. The whole process cost them a couple thousand gold (partially because it was a rush job).
They then presented it, on its own pedestal, to Prince Zeech as a gift.
How did Zeech react?
Slightly off-topic.
In my campaign, during "The Prince of Redhand", the group managed to kill one of Ilthane's children (the others fled). They took the corpse to a taxidermist in Alhaster and had the thing stuffed, mounted, and polished up. The whole process cost them a couple thousand gold (partially because it was a rush job).
They then presented it, on its own pedestal, to Prince Zeech as a gift.
Yeah, that's a great idea.
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Thanks for the advice, folks! Your comments were all very helpful, and that article gave me a solid basis for determing GP value of harvested parts.
I made the alchemist roll a skill check for each item he wanted to preserve (he successed on some, and failed on others). He now has a single-use flask of Ilthane's breath, but the brain and heart were spoiled in the process. I also decided that the taint of Ilthane's breath remained intact, so I made him roll a save while working with it, and the flask will unleash the same toxic vapor when it is used.
I made the leatherworker roll to properly tan the dragonhide: he rolled a natural 20 before my eyes, so he'll be able to use the hide and scales to make some exceptional things (or sell it for a great price)!
We didn't get a lot of adventure done that night (one combat encounter on the road), but they got their goods gathered up and made it to Magepoint, so the stage is set for the next chapter.
Thanks again, folks!
Oh, one more question: how much do you think a perfectly preserved dragon's hide would be worth? :)
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Oh, one more question: how much do you think a perfectly preserved dragon's hide would be worth? :)
How big is it? How many suits of Dragonhide plate and shields could be made from it? I would go with the price of Dragonhide items minus 300-500gp per suit or shield X however many suits and shields could be made from it. Don't have my books so I can't give numbers at the moment.
FH
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I've been treating her as gargantuan, since that's the size of the miniature I've been using to respresent her. Not sure how many sets of armor that can make; I'll have to look it up.
DMG pg. 283-4.
The rules don't say how to break it down any more than "a dragon produces enough hide for a single suit of MW hide armor for a creature one size smaller than the dragon" and how this works up through various forms of armor until it gets to "one suit of full plate for a creature 4 sizes smaller". In each case it states that enough hide is left over to produce a small or large MW shield in addition to the armor provided that the dragon is Large or bigger.Deciphering that entry is gonna be difficult.
FH
Even though my players haven't gotten to Ilthane yet, I know this is going to come up, so I'll ask while I'm thinking about it; About how many doses of Dragon Bile do you think could be harvested from the remains?
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Even though my players haven't gotten to Ilthane yet, I know this is going to come up, so I'll ask while I'm thinking about it; About how many doses of Dragon Bile do you think could be harvested from the remains?
Good question. I was fortunate enough to dodge this problem; either the player didn't think to harvest that, or he failed his roll. I don't remember which.
If forced to improvise, I'd probably say one on a successful check, plus one for each point that the skill check exceeded the DC, possibly with a maximum of 1 per size category of the dragon. (This is assuming they have enough empty vials to contain that much. If that seems like too much based on the gp value, you might say +1 vial for every 5 points that the skill check exceeds the DC, and so on.
