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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Herremann the Wise" data-source="post: 867281" data-attributes="member: 11300">This is something I was contemplating the other day so I suppose I'd have to say yes to the question of whether I'd be interested in such a resource.Some ThoughtsHowever, I suppose the idea of economics in a fantasy game can be abused by both players and DMs to the detriment of the campaign. An explanation:- The fundamental concept in 3rd Ed. D&D is that the average worker gets 1sp per day. Depending upon taxation, such a person would earn between 20 and 36gp a year. This is a good concept to ground things upon in terms of relativity.- However, where the abuse comes in is that in most campaigns, adventurers would be averaging  this amount per day if not much more. As such, the whole concept of relativity pretty much goes out the window. In the end, you have players totally divorced from the real campaign world economics.- As such, it comes down to the player feeling good that he has got a bargain price, or bad because they got ripped off or neutral because things went by the book. Normally, players don't want to see behind the veil and the enormous but invisible economic engine determining their purchase price.- However, the DM can also abuse this by being radically inconsistent with their pricing policies. Sometimes sticking to the standard book price is the best way of making sure the DM does not get too inventive and the players remain happy that their goals (I need 600gp for that beautiful...) are not changed indiscriminantly.- A Forgotten Point: I'm sure most of the older people here would not forget this but too often people forget the most basic concept of buying and selling: Buy low, sell high. On several occasions, I've had players telling me that a perfectly new Chain Shirt that they want to sell should get book price - 100gp. Umm... No. I don't care if it has been freshly constructed by the local armorsmith. Some merchant is not going to pay 100gp for a Chain Shirt only to sell it for the market price of... 100gp. If they know they can sell it for 100gp, they'll try and buy it for much less than this - 60gp or there abouts (this depends upon a variety of factors).However, a good general rule from the merchants perspective is:Common Item: About 10% profitUncommon Item: About 10 to 25% profitRare or Selective Item: About 25 to 100% profitVery Rare Item: Up to 300% profitArtifact: If you need to ask how much it costs, it's too expensive for you.The main thrust behind this is making it realistic.- Appraise Skill:Always remember that a Merchant has the Appraise Skill raised to the gahutza. Rarely will the PC's be on par or better than the merchant. However, it is good that sometimes a merchant wants an item quite desperately and will raise their offer to match this. I find this a much more palatable explanation of a poor Appraise skill check rather than they couldn't price a regular item within 10%. Again, it all depends upon interpretation. Bluff and Sense Motive should also be treated accordingly.Some Further IdeasI think the base price for goods and services is pretty good, as set out in the PH and A&E. However, the following factors are worth considering:- The Campaign World has:   - Low or very High Magic (Making some items worth more or less)   - Low or High availability of Metal.   - Low or High Merchant Competition (Cheaper in Larger Populations).   - Low or High view of Craftspeople (Fabricated items cost more or less).What you could do is have a base list and then have several lists after it with these considerations taken into account - spreadsheet format. This would make a quick price base easy to work out for the DM. It also allows the DM to see a good range of possible prices for an item.Once you have a base price to work off, you can then vary it further as required by skill checks and other varying factors.However, while this is all very interesting and provides a myriad of amazing variables to use and abuse, you must remember that the players are still only going to have one of three possible reactions to it (good, neutral or bad). Under these circumstances, sometimes the effort just does not seem worth it. In most situations, playing it on the fly without even rolling is perhaps the best solution. Go with what ever mood takes you. If you need a cantankerous encounter to spice the game up, do it, otherwise let the players make the purchase and get on with the game.Best RegardsHerremann the Wise</blockquote>

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