Interesting comment from a player

[Mark]

Dms, would you allow this kind of thing to happen?

Under the right circumstances, sure. They'd be rare circumstances. The NPC would have to be wealthy enough to acquire such an item, be dumb or foolish enough to fall for it, and not know enough people to have already loss it before the PCs got to him.

 

[Jeff Wilder]

Although I figure, even in modern times, people get suckered into parting with huge amounts of money in frauds?

This is true, but most scams are penny-ante jobs. Those that net serious money are elaborate, with set-ups involving slowly gaining the mark's trust over the course of time (sometimes months or years). They involve skill in acting, in forgery, in diplomacy, in people-reading, and, of course, in bluffing. Movies like The Sting and Matchstick Men are, of course, big cons taken to the extreme for purposes of entertainment, but for all that, the set-ups they show give some idea of what's involved.

In short, I wouldn't allow this kind of thing with a single Bluff check, no, unless the mark was a bonafide moron.

 

[tarchon]

I'd have the npc pop off the cork, knock it back, and immediately grow 10 years younger.

 

[ARandomGod]

Brain summed up most of the points I was going to make for clarification, but let me add one more.

The retired adventurer in question lives in a small town without a wizard who can identify items. The stuff he was selling (including the ring) was his old gear, and he was using it to fund his retirement.

Also, we use the 'exploding dice' variant, and I believe his Sense Motive exploded down. Even with a +20 circumstance bonus (which I did give him) his overall SM check came out to something like a 5, while Brain's Bluff check (iirc) came out around 25. (That's after giving Mr. Merchant his +20!)

Well, in this case I'd completely allow it, with the only repercussion being whatever the NPC could bring to bear. Which is likely not much. Well, that an a possible alignment infraction, depending on his alignment. Not a shift, just an infraction note. People can do things all over the alignment board, it's only when they're consistent that it should make a shift.

 

[ARandomGod]

I'd have the npc pop off the cork, knock it back, and immediately grow 10 years younger.

Heheh. Interesting theory. Along the lines of "magic does what you think it does."

Opens too many issues for me. But a good thought. Take it to it's more believeable conclusion: He pops the cork, knocks it back, and immediately does not grow any younger at all.

NOW you have an interesting and believable conclusion, that fits with all the established rules.

 

[Stalker0]

Want a real life big bluff con?

This was around 1995 in Indonesia (I think, the country's name is eluding me right now).

A geologist working there basically makes up a gold mine. He goes to America, and works with a representative there for a large financing company. With his knowledge of geology, a few half truths, and a couple of completely made up facts, he gets the guy on board.

The guy drills core samples into the ground, and then uses gold from his own wedding ring to spike the samples. He knows the perfect proportions to make the sample seem very valuable, but not so valuable it would draw suspicion.

He fools everyone, the financing companies, the asayers, even the Indonesian government. His mining company (and again, he hasn't actually mined a drop of gold) goes public on the Canadian stock exchange, and it goes through the roof. Not only does he make up a gold mine, he makes up the biggest gold mine in history!!

People can't resist, the potential is too good, no one wants to get left behind on the biggest gold deals in decades. He keeps faking the samples, and people keep buying in. Eventually, his company is worth millions of dollars....and again, there is NO GOLD!!

But the story does not end happily for the guy, the Indonesian government gets greedy and they want a piece of the pie. So they forced the guy to team up with a government drilling team. Well...guess what the government found out? The man died shortly thereafter.

This guy was not a professional con artist, he was a real life working stiff just trying to make a living... eventually gets fed up with it, and then cons the entire world.

 

[Odhanan]

Tonight, the player made a comment that many, perhaps most, dms wouldn't have let that happen, regardless of the dice- the npc wouldn't have fallen for that kind of trick.

I think it's perfectly possible as long as the NPC isn't an expert Wizard and the PC has a good Bluff skill.

 

[was]

I'd allow it. It's a great adventure hook for when the NPC eventually discovers it's a fake and comes looking for payback.