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What is a good role playing way to handle selling loot from an adventure and buying items? I want to give the characters a chance to use their skills and creativeness to get some good trades. I have generated a list of items available in the city at this time. What kind of skill checks and skill challenges would be involved?
Diplomacy, opposed by the merchant NPC's Diplomacy roll. Higher roll changes the amount in their favor - merchant wins, he offers x amount less for their loot or wants x amount more of what their trading for the item; PC wins, he gets a better price by x amount, etc. Play it out with offer and counter-offer.
I had a system in my game where they can use Diplomacy or Bluff to try to get a better deal, both on selling and buying. You would get 1% better deal for every point you passed the DC of the NPC you haggled with, and vice versa if they beat you (you have to accept the consequences of the roll). General goods would be sold by a 3rd level Expert with a total of +7, magical items would get a circumstance bonus to the check equal to the caster level of the item.
So a PC at 10th level with max ranks in Diplomacy and a decent CHA has maybe a +15-+20. They want to buy say a +3 weapon that has a CL of 9, they'd have to outroll an NPC with a +16 to his check.
Diplomacy, opposed by the merchant NPC's Diplomacy roll. Higher roll changes the amount in their favor - merchant wins, he offers x amount less for their loot or wants x amount more of what their trading for the item; PC wins, he gets a better price by x amount, etc. Play it out with offer and counter-offer.
And give a good bonus to the test for good role playing.
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I searched and searched for something to answer this question, and had to go back to my old Star Wars RPG (2nd Edition). This was my solution:
SELLER BEATS BUYER BY:
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5 - Price is 110% of item cost
10 - Price is 125% of item cost
15 - Price is 150% of item cost
20 - Price is 200% of item cost
25 - Price is 300% of item cost
BUYER BEATS SELLER BY:
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5 - Price is 90% of item cost
10 - Price is 85% of item cost
15 - Price is 75% of item cost
20 - Price is 65% of item cost
25 - Price is 50% of item cost
MODIFIERS:
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+2/-2 - Buyer is known/not known to purchaser
+2/-2 - Item being purchased is common/rare
-5 to seller - Item being sold is damaged in some way
Modifications as per the settlement can also have an affect.
I've simply houseruled bartering, for two reasons
- My group doesn't want to RP haggling
- Rolls against merchants will end up being 'I've rolled badly against this merchant, I'm in a big city, I'll try on the next merchant, again and again until I roll well'
Houserules are :
- Buying loot starts at 100% of item, getting 1% cheaper per +1 Charisma modifier, to a max of 5% off
- Selling loot starts at 50% of cost, gaining 1% per +1 Charisma modifier, again to max of 5% bonus
- Anything not sized medium or small gets a cumulative 15% penalty per step to medium or small.
This also helps keep the buying and selling away from the table and can be done between sessions.