Rules for selling gems?

[N0Man]

I've done that too! It's a great way to simplify the "haggling"/"selling" process into something easy for players to grasp and quick to resolve. It's quick because you either manage to find a specific buyer and get the good price, or you don't and get the market price -- there's no temptation to keep making Diplomacy checks in an attempt to eke out that extra 5% profit.

Actually, why dispense with the Diplomacy? Maybe they can convince him to pay a higher price, but it might require them to use other skills or actions to convince him. What I'm talking about is a skill challenge, where the reward would be a minor parcel as far as you are concerned, but it would be presented to the players as an increase in the buying price. It could be in the form of helping him out with some other tasks, or maybe a skill challenge that isn't directly involving him but has indirect results which might have an impact on the price.

What do you think?

 

[Coherent805]

This thread is pertinent to my interests

Thread necromancy! I am interested in this thread because I feel strongly that gems are not equivalent to currency. In my game, the quick sale of a gem nets only 55 to 65% of it's final value, although that can be raised by haggling.

Think of it this way: if you offer goods or services in fantasy or the real world, are you likely to accept a slab of aluminum or an unrefined blob of platinum as payment? How likely are you to accept a pretty rock that may or may not be a gem? Are you, random merchant, a gemologist as well?

You just don't know its value by looking at it, any more than you'd know how much a slab of aluminum is worth, or any random weight and purity of _any_ precious metal or stone.

Gems are not currency any more than any raw materials are in the modern day. People trust currency they know; this is why coins have pictures on them and counterfeiting is frowned upon, even in a metals based economy. Gem assay is not a common or certain skill, and nobody wants to get burned by a fake gem.

The longer you take to sell a gem, and the more careful of who you try to sell it to, the better the relationship you have with that person, the more likely you are to get the stated value.

Of course, some institutions exist that _do_ have gemologists on staff, and they're much more likely to give you a better price due to their increased confidence in the real value of your pretty rocks. Everybody else is taking a terrible risk, and will give you less in exchange because of that uncertainty.

So I'm with blalien!


P.S. I tend to give out too much treasure in my games, so it's not like my PC's are starving in the streets because of this. It's just that it can be tricky to unload treasure sometimes when you're stuck in a strange land and nobody trusts you.

 

[Wednesday Boy]

First of all, is this a kind of interaction your players want? I was disappointed every time I found a gem as a player because I knew it meant tedious searching for a buyer and haggling on a price. It wasn't fun to me, but it might be to someone else. Honestly, if the players don't like that kind of thing, I'd just skip it.

I think this is the most important place to start addressing your question. Haggling is not fun to me. Whether we're stuck haggling over the gems we're selling, buying equipment, or how much we should make on a bounty, it always seems like a waste of time when I could be enjoying a meaningful story.

But other people I play with haggle at every turn. Maybe they enjoy the banter or want to squeeze everything out of their money. But regardless there is something they enjoy about haggling.

So you should find out what your players want before spending time on something they may dislike.

 

[Dayte]

Down with accounting!

But, but, but .... it's how I pay my bills.

Yea, 4e makes things simple. That doesn't mean a DM can't come up with a system to make it a little more "life-like" if that is what he and hopefully, his players want.

I'm sure it can also be simpler than what you proposed. Perhaps streetwise or dungeoneering (?) for appraisal. Diplomacy (or Intimidate?) to haggle.

To each group their own.

 

[Jhaelen]

Thread necromancy! I am interested in this thread because I feel strongly that gems are not equivalent to currency. In my game, the quick sale of a gem nets only 55 to 65% of it's final value, although that can be raised by haggling.

Well, do you play 4e? If so, do you allow the 'Fluid Funds' ritual?

At least for games set in Eberron it's a non-issue because of this ritual

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

Yea, 4e makes things simple. That doesn't mean a DM can't come up with a system to make it a little more "life-like" if that is what he and hopefully, his players want.

I'm sure it can also be simpler than what you proposed. Perhaps streetwise or dungeoneering (?) for appraisal. Diplomacy (or Intimidate?) to haggle.

To each group their own.

Welcome to the boards!

For me, giving gems out as treasure has two purposes
a> in games where wealth<>level guidelines apply, gems are more portable and more historically correct ways of transporting large values of money.
b> gems and art items come with built in plot hooks... specifically 'who do you sell it to'?

I believe games in which the bargaining over gems sales is boring is due to the approach of 'you have a gem, meet a merchant, roll to see if you can get a good value from it' instead of 'you have a gem... time to find someone to trade it with for something you want/need, try to not attract attention of theives, perhaps play two bidders against each other, perhaps travel to a distant location ... then finally get down to bargaining over the price.' kind of approach.

Mechanically, I have gp limits based on the population of the town and I use a modified skill challenge framework for the group/PC to ferret out a potential buyer, determine the right approach, and then finally try to close the deal.

The same goes for art, with the added issue of being charged with tomb-robbing or art-theft, and for magic items.. with the added issue of more attention from less than legal-minded folks.

This allows me to bring into play minor nobles, guilds, and other NPCs within the town that are more than just a 'gem ATM' for 'Fluid Funds' {a disallowed ritual IMC...}