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Message: <blockquote data-quote="jgsugden" data-source="post: 7611602" data-attributes="member: 2629">D&D is an RPG.  A role playing game.  Characters play a role in a story.  So do NPCs.Let's say you're a rich NPC Shopkeep that wants to buy and sell magic items.  A bunch of adventurers approach you and wish to sell some of the items they acquired on an adventure.  Then you'll put them in your shop and sell them to other adventurers or rich folks.  How do you settle on a price?  They do not come with a prce tag.  You might be able to track down what some magic items have been bought and sold for in the past, but then again, perhaps not.  The best real world equivalent would be buying and selling Art.  How is art sold?Option 1: The artist works with a gallery, sets their own prices, and the gallery takes a percentage (for showing, promotion, etc...)Option 2: Auction.Option 3: The artist sells directly.The artist and gallery might work work appraisers that have an educated guess on what a buyer might pay for Art, but it is not going to be consistently accurate.That leads to my approach to selling and buying items in 5E:First of all, there are no 'shops' where you can buy powerful items.  It just isn't a reasonable way for someone to sell them.  Yes, potions, low power scrolls, and certain common/uncommon items (including a lot of homebrew items that are not aimed at adventurers per say, like a ring that casts unseen servant once per day and provides access to the mage hand cantrip - or a pair of earrings that allow a pair of people to cast the message cantrip back and forth) could be found in a store, on a shelf, because there are enough of them to establish a good idea on what a buyer might be able to pay - but more expensive items are sold n a barter system.  It might be that they go to auction.  It might be a negotiation between the buyer and seller directly.How does that work?  The NPC seller thinks about what they might get for the item.  That would be an intelligence check (proficient for some NPCs wih skills).  If it is good, the DM determines where and when another buyer woud come along at a price the DM thinks is fair for the item.  If it is bad, the DM sets a price that is either too high or too low for the item for the NPC, and depending upon whether it is too high or too low, the object will either move faster or slower (perhaps after the proce goes down a bit).  Is that price actually fair?  YES.  But the DM pulled it out of their %$#$?  YES.  However, there is a seller out there that is willing to buy it at that price - the DM makes those other buyers up as they create the world.  But what if a PC is willing to pay more for it?  Then the PC can negotiate for it.  What if the PC is not willing to pay that price.  Well, they can stll try to negotite the price down.That negotiation consists of opposed charisma (persuasion - or possibly deception) checks.  If the PC is willing to pay 30% more than the sellers other future buyer, they might lose this heck and just settle on a price higher than the price the other buyer would pay.  If they win, they might negotiate the seller down a bit below that price (as the seller doesn't actually know that a buyer will come to them).  What if the PC is not willing to pay the price that the NPC has established? Well, if they win the charisma check, they might still talk the NPC down in price.  If not, then no agreement will be reached.I've been using variations on this idea for a long time.  Some of the labels have changed, but the core idea has been there since the 80s.* Prices are subjective, not absolute.  DM sets what an NPC is willing to pay/accept.* Wares are rare.* Do a check for the seller to establish a price.* Do an opposed check for the buyer and seller to negotiate prices.</blockquote>

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