Appraise - Realism at What Cost?

[Denaes]

It can hurt merchants. Why do you assume that a merchant automatically know exactly what it is worth, they can mess up thier roll too.

Never seen that before in any game from 1e t 3.5e and other systems.

The merchant just always knows unless you're purposefully trying to trick or bluff him.

Sounds like a nice idea if the group is into playing "Merchant: The Shopping". Most groups I've been a part of really don't want to devote that much time to it though.

 

[Len]

For those who find that the skill does not slow down play, could you please describe how you are using it.

Number one, we don't appraise every single piece of treasure as we find it. (We did have one guy who liked to run in and examine everything, even as my rogue was still checking for traps. We weaned him of that, but not before he coined the memorable phrase "Are they masterwork skulls?")
What's the point of appraising everything as you go and keeping track of all the results, rather than just doing it when you want to sell the items?

Number two, we don't usually roleplay buying & selling, except for items that are hard to buy or sell. Most of the time we just use standard book value.

So in our games Appraise isn't used very often, and when it is it's not usually necessary to remember the results.

 

[Crothian]

Never seen that before in any game from 1e t 3.5e and other systems.

The merchant just always knows unless you're purposefully trying to trick or bluff him.

Sounds like a nice idea if the group is into playing "Merchant: The Shopping". Most groups I've been a part of really don't want to devote that much time to it though.

It doesn't take a lot of time, least it doesn't have to. And if the merchant always seems to know when you are bluffing, the DM is probably cheating and not a good DM. If you are trying to trick the merchant, there are obvious rules the DM should be followuing with bluff and sense motive checks. Two dice rolls, very little time expended.