Elder-Basilisk
First Post
I'm looking at a situation where some PCs may soon need to interact with a broker of magic items.
In the campaign, I conceive of magic items as being bought and sold but not like commodities in a marketplace--the demand for them is not widespread enough for merchants to keep things other than very minor potions in stock. Rather, there are some individuals who keep their ear to the ground and know who's looking for what kinds of items. If they hear that someone else has such an item, they contact both parties and see if they can broker a deal.
For the characters and NPCs, the advantage of such brokerage is security. A broker's reputation for honesty can assure them that it's not a trap and the broker's connections make it possible for adventurer X who wants a magic mace to connect to noble Y who found a magic mace when his armies sacked city Z. The broker also arranges for both the payment and the item to be verified--the notes of credit or other magic items used to pay for the item aren't forged, the gold is real and neither alloyed nor illusionary, and the magic item isn't a masterwork sword with Nystul's Magic Aura.
But what precautions would such a broker take against theft and deception?
Said Broker is an Exp 8/Ari 4
So far, I've come up with this:
All negotiations on price, etc. are conducted in a hallowed chapel with either a Zone of Truth connected to the Hallow or Discern Lies. (Discern Lies might be better because it's not resistable).
The broker keeps the items for 24 hours to make sure that any mid-duration spells on them have time to expire.
The broker hires a respected wizard to Cast a Dispel Magic or Greater Dispelling on both the item and the payment (just in case there is magic on them designed to deceive him). The wizard then casts analyze dweomer on both of them and gives a full report to both parties on the qualities (if any) of what they are receiving. (On relatively inexpensive items, he'll probably just UMD a scroll of Identify himself--their value can't justify the cost of an Analyze Dweomer).
The broker lives in a villa and has his own guards and servants (as befits a man of his wealth and influence). They're competent, but the best are probably no more than 6th level with maybe an 8th or 9th level captain. Most are probably 2nd to 4th level with NPC classes (Warrior/Commoner or Warrior/Expert). Hiring more powerful guards would be too expensive for him to justify.
Since the broker doesn't keep a stock of powerful magic items (though he's wealthy enough to buy some small items he knows he can find buyers for), he doesn't usually need more powerful guards. And when adventurers or nobles arrive to negotiate over a sale/trade, he makes them understand that they are part of the security for the items they are trading and that, if trouble breaks out, the alarms will ring in their rooms as well as the guard house. That way, if Dornan DoRight the paladin wants him to sell the staff of power he found in the dragon's hoarde, he has an 18th level paladin and his friends to guard the staff.
However, he still needs to take precautions.
His entire villa is kept under a permanent Mordenkeinen's Private Sanctum (it's expensive but it's a one-time cost which he can make up over the years he uses it). That way he can't be scried upon and neither can his treasure room.
The area between the outer wall and his house is kept lit by torches with Heightened (4th level) Continual Flame. That way, a thief can't sneak by his guards with a simple darkness spell. He probably lights the hallways in his house in the same manner. The floors are designed to be squeaky so as to give away the presence of invisible intruders. He pays for quality locks (DC 40--they're cheap) on all exterior doors, on the doors to his treasure chamber, and on the doors to the safes where he stores the items. He also buys scrolls of Arcane Lock (at a decent caster level--he may not be able to anticipate everything but he can thwart Knock scrolls) and Uses Magic Devic to read that himself on the doors to the treasure chamber and the safes. Anyone other than him will have to break the spell to open it as well as have the key. And he pays for some fiendishly clever traps to be placed on all of those locations. (Since the treasure chamber is used regularly as are his hallways, he can't just trap random locations). Knowing that, given enough time, a good rogue would be able to find the traps, he has guards patrol past the area on a regular basis (maybe once every fifteen minutes to half hour) and posts a guard by the treasure chamber door.
The entire interior of the house is covered with thin lead leaf to stop detection spells--except in the areas where he wants to be ostentatious; there he uses gold.
What other precautions should he take? And could he afford all of these precautions (assuming he takes about a 25-30% commission+identification and security fees on all transactions (something which might explain why PCs generally buy magic items at full price but only get about half price when they sell them) and makes a fair number of high value transactions per year but probably not more than a few dozen)? Would it be reasonable for him to pay for his entire villa (or maybe just his treasure chamber) to be permanently dimensional locked? Or would he get a wizard to cast that before expecially high value transactions?
What skills does he need himself (obviously, Bluff, Gather info, Knowledge (Local), Diplomacy, Sense Motive, Appraise, Profession (Merchant), and Use Magic Device but am I missing anything?)
And, what level of rogue would it likely take to bypass these precautions and steal the items from his treasure chamber?
In the campaign, I conceive of magic items as being bought and sold but not like commodities in a marketplace--the demand for them is not widespread enough for merchants to keep things other than very minor potions in stock. Rather, there are some individuals who keep their ear to the ground and know who's looking for what kinds of items. If they hear that someone else has such an item, they contact both parties and see if they can broker a deal.
For the characters and NPCs, the advantage of such brokerage is security. A broker's reputation for honesty can assure them that it's not a trap and the broker's connections make it possible for adventurer X who wants a magic mace to connect to noble Y who found a magic mace when his armies sacked city Z. The broker also arranges for both the payment and the item to be verified--the notes of credit or other magic items used to pay for the item aren't forged, the gold is real and neither alloyed nor illusionary, and the magic item isn't a masterwork sword with Nystul's Magic Aura.
But what precautions would such a broker take against theft and deception?
Said Broker is an Exp 8/Ari 4
So far, I've come up with this:
All negotiations on price, etc. are conducted in a hallowed chapel with either a Zone of Truth connected to the Hallow or Discern Lies. (Discern Lies might be better because it's not resistable).
The broker keeps the items for 24 hours to make sure that any mid-duration spells on them have time to expire.
The broker hires a respected wizard to Cast a Dispel Magic or Greater Dispelling on both the item and the payment (just in case there is magic on them designed to deceive him). The wizard then casts analyze dweomer on both of them and gives a full report to both parties on the qualities (if any) of what they are receiving. (On relatively inexpensive items, he'll probably just UMD a scroll of Identify himself--their value can't justify the cost of an Analyze Dweomer).
The broker lives in a villa and has his own guards and servants (as befits a man of his wealth and influence). They're competent, but the best are probably no more than 6th level with maybe an 8th or 9th level captain. Most are probably 2nd to 4th level with NPC classes (Warrior/Commoner or Warrior/Expert). Hiring more powerful guards would be too expensive for him to justify.
Since the broker doesn't keep a stock of powerful magic items (though he's wealthy enough to buy some small items he knows he can find buyers for), he doesn't usually need more powerful guards. And when adventurers or nobles arrive to negotiate over a sale/trade, he makes them understand that they are part of the security for the items they are trading and that, if trouble breaks out, the alarms will ring in their rooms as well as the guard house. That way, if Dornan DoRight the paladin wants him to sell the staff of power he found in the dragon's hoarde, he has an 18th level paladin and his friends to guard the staff.
However, he still needs to take precautions.
His entire villa is kept under a permanent Mordenkeinen's Private Sanctum (it's expensive but it's a one-time cost which he can make up over the years he uses it). That way he can't be scried upon and neither can his treasure room.
The area between the outer wall and his house is kept lit by torches with Heightened (4th level) Continual Flame. That way, a thief can't sneak by his guards with a simple darkness spell. He probably lights the hallways in his house in the same manner. The floors are designed to be squeaky so as to give away the presence of invisible intruders. He pays for quality locks (DC 40--they're cheap) on all exterior doors, on the doors to his treasure chamber, and on the doors to the safes where he stores the items. He also buys scrolls of Arcane Lock (at a decent caster level--he may not be able to anticipate everything but he can thwart Knock scrolls) and Uses Magic Devic to read that himself on the doors to the treasure chamber and the safes. Anyone other than him will have to break the spell to open it as well as have the key. And he pays for some fiendishly clever traps to be placed on all of those locations. (Since the treasure chamber is used regularly as are his hallways, he can't just trap random locations). Knowing that, given enough time, a good rogue would be able to find the traps, he has guards patrol past the area on a regular basis (maybe once every fifteen minutes to half hour) and posts a guard by the treasure chamber door.
The entire interior of the house is covered with thin lead leaf to stop detection spells--except in the areas where he wants to be ostentatious; there he uses gold.
What other precautions should he take? And could he afford all of these precautions (assuming he takes about a 25-30% commission+identification and security fees on all transactions (something which might explain why PCs generally buy magic items at full price but only get about half price when they sell them) and makes a fair number of high value transactions per year but probably not more than a few dozen)? Would it be reasonable for him to pay for his entire villa (or maybe just his treasure chamber) to be permanently dimensional locked? Or would he get a wizard to cast that before expecially high value transactions?
What skills does he need himself (obviously, Bluff, Gather info, Knowledge (Local), Diplomacy, Sense Motive, Appraise, Profession (Merchant), and Use Magic Device but am I missing anything?)
And, what level of rogue would it likely take to bypass these precautions and steal the items from his treasure chamber?
