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you can sell it "at auction in any major city"

CapnZapp

Legend
...is not an uncommon guideline for major artifacts and relics you find in adventures.

So I have a very specific question:

Who could and would handle such an auction in Waterdeep? I'm talking the tens and hundreds of thousands of gold range here.

Is there any official Realmslore regarding this subject? (Perhaps example buyers?)

Pointing me to specific passages in any past or present sourcebook from any era or edition would be acceptable, if you don't just want to give me a name of a merchant or trading house :)
 

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CapnZapp

Legend
Reason I'm asking is that when the party finishes with Tomb of Annihilation they have a bunch of more or less evil artifacts with significant sale values. (Since I'm running the module for a high-level party, trust me when I say significant)

But I don't just want to roll a random d20 to see what they get out of each item.

Ideally, I want to be able to present two or three choices for auction houses or, well, fences. And then a variety of upscale buyers.

Point is to present a moral dilemma: do we sell to the obviously evil buyer for top dollar, or do we accept the lower bid from a neutral or even good interested party?

Since I'm pretty sure they won't settle for any backwater market, and with access to level 7 spells won't have to either, Waterdeep is the obvious megalopolis to do business in.

So I need a crash-course on the Realmslore :) 3rd edition Forgotten Realms supplements, old AD&D adventures, Dragon magazine articles, ... anything you have would be appreciated.
 

Inchoroi

Adventurer
I have a slightly modified table (the basis of which was stolen from the DMG) that I've been using for my players to sell magic items. The basic idea is that selling a magic item, any of them, is like trying to sell rare art. Its a seller's market. I've actually been considering using the rules from Xanathar's to modify the below (or just replace entirely, not sure yet), as well as the rules for buying magic items. I allow my players to try to buy magic items, but Xanathar's are more fitting with how I want magic items portrayed (i.e. rare art).

The below is made so that I can easily modify the modifiers to change the outcome based on the setting; for example, if I were to use these in Forgotten Realms, I'd probably make it more of a bell curve rather than a linier thing like it is now, the understanding being that FR is probably got more magic items of lower rarity available. In Eberron, it'd be a very steep bell curve, with common and uncommon very easy to sell.

Use and/or modify as your leisure! You could just as easily use Xanathar's for the rules, too.


Selling Magic Items

Few people can afford to buy a magic item, and fewer still know how to find one. Adventurers are exception in this regard due to the nature of their profession.

A character who comes into possession of a common, uncommon, rare, or very rare magic item that he or she wants to sell can spend downtime searching for a buyer. This downtime activity can be performed only in a city or another location where one can find wealthy individuals interested in buying magic items. Legendary magic items and priceless artifacts can't be sold during downtime. Finding someone to buy such an item can be the substance of an adventure or quest. For each salable item, the character makes a DC20 Intelligence (Investigation) check to find buyers. Another character can use his or her downtime to assist with the search, granting advantage on the checks. On a failed check, no buyer for the item is found after a search that lasts 10 days. On a successful check, a buyer for the item is found after a number of days based on the item's rarity, as shown in the Salable Magic Item table.

A character can attempt to find buyers for multiple magic items at once. although this requires multiple Intelligence (Investigation) checks, the searches are occurring simultaneously, and the results of multiple failures or successes aren't added together. For example, if the character finds a buyer for an uncommon item in 5 days, but fails to find a buyer for a rare item up for grabs, the entire search takes 10 days.

For each item a character wishes to sell, the player rolls percentile dice and consults the Selling a Magic Item table, applying a modifier based on the item's rarity, and the population of the party's location, as shown in the Salable Magic Items table and the Population Size table. The character also makes a Charisma (Persuasion) check and adds that check's total to the roll. The subsequent total determines what a buyer offers to pay for the item.

The DM determines a buyer's identity. Buyers sometimes procure rare and very rare items through proxies to ensure that their identities remain unknown. If the buyer is shady, it's up the DM whether the sale creates legal complications for the party later.

Magic Item Modifiers
RarityDays to Find Buyerd100 Roll Modifier
Common1d4+10
Uncommon1d6+0
Rare1d8-15
Very Rare1d10-25

Population Modifiers
Population SizeModifier
< 1,000-50
1,000-2,000-25
2,000-5,000-20
5,000-10,000-10
10,000-25,000+0
25,000-50,000+10
50,000++20


Selling a Magic Item
d100 + ModYou find...
30 or lowerA buyer offering a tenth of the final price.
31-60A buyer offering a quarter of the final price, and a shady buyer offering half the final price.
61-89A buyer offering half the final price, and a shady buyer offering the full final price.
90-99A buyer offering the full final price
100 or higherA shady buyer offering one and a half times the final price. No questions asked.
 

aco175

Legend
I could see a noble house that deals with these things. You can have one approach the PCs saying that they can deal with this for a fee. A BBEG gets wind and wants it for himself, of course. The house could sell the thing to an evil group as well that uses it against the PCs, of course, or terrorizes the locals that now need the PCs to solve the problem.

You could make an adventure trying to offload an item. Evil people and organizations get involved along with the police and powerful NPCs not wanting the bad guys to get a hold of the item.
 


doctorbadwolf

Heretic of The Seventh Circle
I don’t have any canon sources, but my general knowledge of Waterdeep suggests a few options.

1) Any prominent Bard’s College. Your magic items would need to have artistic or historical value, here. An item with such value might sell at a higher price than if you auction it somewhere else.

2) The Yawning Portal Tavern. Gotta spend money to make money, and a decent number of the people here are here to make their fortune, or die trying. This would be an informal auction. Note that elements of the powerful groups and servants of powerful people gather here, as well, as do adventurers from across Faerun. Exactly the sort of morally ambiguous market you’re looking for.

3) A masked auction set up by a wealthy patron, perhaps one of the villains or major NPCs from Dragon Heist. The auction goers would be from all the various factions of 5e adventures, and the villainous and virtuous factions from Dragon Heist. Maybe the most vLuable, and/or most dangerous, item on the list is stolen and the theft discovered only in the moment the auction begins!

4) Skullport. A dangerous hive of scum and villainy. This is where Duergar and Drow and Illithid Thralls come to find the goods they can’t find elsewhere, and also where Harpers and others come to thwart their acquisitions with or without bloodshed.
 


Halaster absolutely needs to have a merchant shop in Waterdeep, where his minions buy your items to stock his dungeon with crazy things. They probably even have minions show up at other auctions to buy things for the dungeon. Bonus points if your party ever goes to Undermountain and runs into all the evil artifacts they sold.
 



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