Appraise in this adventure

[Lanathar]

How strictly have people applied this skill in this AP?

I usually hand waive is and am probably not alone

But should it form a key part of the early parts of this AP? Especially as lots of items are potentially unusual

My problem with the skill:

- it is a very high DC early game
- it punishes failure but does not reward success

What have other people done ?

[MerlinCross]

I'm one of those twits that thinks every skill can be used or be made to be of use. My own game I'm running I also use background skill system so Appraised gets kicked back there. Also have messed with the worth of some items. What I'm saying is my own game is strange and I'm an odd DM.

That said, let me give you some ideas to roll with.

- Personally I also like to use Appraise(Or the proper Knowledge check) to let players know what kind of buyer might give them the best deal. Yes any collector might like item X..., Appraise check? Okay you know this would probably be worth more to some historian. *Roll* Oh you know the church itself would probably like to have these items.

Doing it this way, I'd also let them know ahead of time that an auction is going on later(Book 2). Proper use or good rolls on Appraise can lead them to knowing that item X is better saved for it. Site 1 has an item I couldn't believe the actual given price so I had them check it and put it into storage for later.

- While Detect magic can wreck this bit, reflavor items. Or nerf other ones. As an example, I reflavored This into some sort of Honey or Oil based gel that could survive for hundred of years. Still good, something different and the team wouldn't know what it was without Apprise. Maybe Knowledge check.

- Really that's something I'm rolling with actually. Apprise as a substitute for Knowledge rolls just on items, trinkets and materials.

Hope this gives you some ideas from a Mad mad GM.

[drsparnum]

I rolled magic items that were available as overstock in the city, and therefore available at 75% of base cost. Appraise and diplomacy in my game allow the players to find more of these items with a bargaining function. So far none of my players have taken advantage of this option....

Bargaining: Pasted below is the table that describes the number of items you can find discounted (75% of typical cost). I could not find this table during last session so we'll just keep the items I rolled, but moving forward we will use this list. The number is a function of the city size and the highest appraise or diplomacy check from the party. Appraise is the more targeted skill here so identical values on appraise vs. diplomacy yield more items. The party can reroll this check every 7 days. Moreover, a desired item can be placed on layover and carried over during future rolls.

For example, an Appraise roll of 20 or a Diplomacy roll of 25 uncovers 10 minor items, 9 medium items, and 3 major items on discount. All items 3,000 gp or less are assumed to be available in Wati for full price always.

Small City (e.g., Wati) Limit: 3,000 gp
Appraise Check/ Diplomacy Check/ Minor/ Medium/ Major
<10 <15 4 3 1
10 15 6 5 1
15 20 8 7 2
20 25 10 9 3
25 30 12 11 4
30 35 14 13 5
35 40 16 16 6
L:arge City (e.g., Tephu) Limit: 8,400 gp
Appraise Check Diplomacy Check Minor Medium Major
<10 <15 4 3 2
10 15 6 5 2
15 20 8 7 3
20 25 10 9 4
25 30 12 11 5
30 35 14 13 6
35 40 16 16 7
40 45 16 16 8
Metropolis (e.g., Sothis) Limit: 12,000 gp
Appraise Check Diplomacy Check Minor Medium Major
<10 <15 All 4 3
15 20 All 6 4
20 25 All 8 6
25 30 All 10 7
30 35 All 12 9
35 40 All 14 10
40 45 All 16 11
45 50 All 16 12
Limit: All items of this gp value or less are assumed 100% available.