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Message: <blockquote data-quote="dvvega" data-source="post: 1570864" data-attributes="member: 524">Appraise is worth its weight in gold in my campaign.Actually any skill that is deemed useless by the players.Why? Because the one player that may take ranks in the skill will have an opportunity to shine. During my campaign play I "spotlight" certain players and their characters every now and again so that they have an attachment to the campaign and the world around them.Appraise is one such skill. I have a standardised taxation system in place in my world. Essentially the size of the population centre dictates the standard mark up for purchases. For example: a metropolis has 0% markup since it is the largest community and thus would have more chances for competitive pricing (essentially you can buy stuff in the PHB at cost). In a smaller community the tax goes from 5% upwards.Now the minute you start charging extra for anything, players are going to of course want to haggle the price down. We roleplay it out and I give bonuses to their Appraise skill check which allows lowering of the tax rate. A 15 moves the tax bracket to the next highest population, then each 5 beyond that adds to the deduction.Additionally selling gems and loot. The PHB indicates selling any equipment is 50% of the PHB price. I of course have the taxation system which refuses to pay 50% depending on the size of the community. A metropolis where items are common is going to pay much less than a small village who may need some extra suits of leather or what have you. Appriase comes in handy here as well.Gems are always taxed at a base 5% for exchange into coin of the realm (whichever country they're in). And of course the gem merchant wants to turn a profit, and so will try to soak up this 5% in under valuing. No character can argue with a gem merchant unless they actually have an idea of the value. Certainly you can haggle without Appriase but it's much more difficult.In general Appraise in my campaign allows you to value an item, haggle over an item since it allows you to "notice" those nicks and scratches on the blade of the sword you're about to purchase, or the extreme quality of the workmanship in the filigree of the rapier you're selling and pointing it out just at the right moment.Just realised I've waffled on so I'll sign off here.</blockquote>

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