How Much are Dragon Scales Worth?

[KingGramJohnson]

My party will be finding some dragon scales (silver and black) pretty soon. Knowing the party, they're going to want to sell them. However, I can't seem to find the price on individual dragon scales.

Does anyone know how much they're worth, or can give advice on how much they should be worth if they're no set number?

Thanks!

[Quantum Steve]

Well, the only thing in the rules to go off is Dragonscale armour, unfortunately the pricing rules for this makes very little sense.

A suit of masterwork dragonscale hide armour costs 170gp, so the raw materials would cost 10gp, so the scales of a large dragon should be worth 10gp, the scales of a huge dragon should be worth 20gp, the scales of a gargantuan dragon should be worth 40gp.

[GM Rednal]

It should probably be appropriate for the level... XD

As a ballpark estimate, however, a suit of Dragonhide Plate (Ultimate Equipment) costs 3,300 GP, or twice the cost of Masterwork Full Plate. Halving that, we basically get 1,650 as the added cost from dragonhide (including some skin). Assuming each scale is relatively good sized, you could, say, use eleven or so scales there, giving us a value of 150 GP per-scale. The Hide version probably has a lot more skin and a lot less scale than the Full Plate version, by the way.

What you want to be careful of is players killing each monster and trying to carve it up for materials and added loot. XD If you want an easier way to do it, you could just call it X amount of dragon scales suitable for use in crafting (mundane or magical), and have it as that sort of loot instead of individual value. Otherwise, treat them a lot like gems, and maybe say that they have to be removed from dragons in a certain way to retain their value so they can't just de-scale any dragon they fight.

[KingGramJohnson]

Thanks for the advice!

[Plausible Pseudonym]

A gold dragon scale is a costless focus component for the Hermean Potential spell in Legacy of Dragons. So the smallest scales don't cost anything meaningful.

[Captain Kuro]

1.) I'd go 10gp to 50 depending on size an colour. While neat the scales really don't do much on thier own and should be treated as art items.
Buuuttt if u add a sprinkle of imagination and craft...
2.) They are light and durable enough to be made into Frisbees. Make your kid the envey of the block as he throws his dragonscale Frisbee to the horizan!
3.) Dragonscale grips: I remember that these were a thing somewhere but can't remember where. Eitherway, ergonomic and stylish, Dragonscale never goes out of fashion (disclaimer, we are not responsible if you end up a burnt up corpse on the shores of Hermea.
4.) Scrying Focus. If they are shed scales they could be used to scry the dragon they once belonged to. Find the dragon, find the hoard...
5.) Sheilds for your familiar or other tiny sized friends!
6.) Red (or silver, green, blk, copper, ect.) Herring: Use the dragon Scale to frame a local reptile for your misdeeds! Then volunteer to slay said dragon (if in your ability to do so) for extra gold.
With a little clever thinking, those 10-50gp art objects can go a long way!

[MageHunter]

I'll check back latet but I think Dragon's Demand has dragon scales with listed values.

[Azothath]

as they are unpriced material components they are below 1GP in value.
You can go from 0.1GP to somewhere around 50GP and 6 to 25 coin weight (50 coins per lb).
It is a DC14 Know(nature) to identify dragon scales in The Dragon's Demand p14, I did not see any prices for individual scales. DC 14 to 20 is in the range depending on the dragon in question - some are quite rare.
Finding out by casting a spell with the scale as the material component might be the amusing way (for the GM)... In a home game I would allow Identify to correctly identify it as a {type} dragon scale as it's a material component.

from extra sources-
Determining the worth of hides uses the table in Dungeons and Dragons Arms and Armour Guide which states: pg:40
* Furs and hides, common 20lb: 1gp–5gp
* Furs and hides, unusual 20lb: 6gp–10gp
* Furs and hides, rare 20lb: 11gp–20gp
* Furs and hides, exotic 20 lb: 21gp–50gp
* Furs and hides, monstrous 20lb: 51gp–200+gp

the last entry works out to 2.5-10gp/lb, or 0.3 to 1.23 gp per (6 coin weight) scale (about 9.6 US quarters).

[taks]

MageHunter wrote:

I'll check back latet but I think Dragon's Demand has dragon scales with listed values.

I just ran my Sunday crew through the area in which they find the scales. I saw no values listed, unfortunately.

[KingGramJohnson]

Thanks!

[doomman47]

depending how rare dragons are in your world a collector could buy them for a pretty penny.if you want a more specific ammount though idk about pathfinder but i think in skyrim dragon scales sold for 150-350 each depending on were they were sold

[bitter lily]

The spell Dragon's Breath from the APG also assumes that dragon scales have no significant cost. Now that's for one dragon scale. A heap of them at, say, 5 or so SP apiece would add up...