Prices & Haggling
Table of contents
Throughout this book, prices are in threes: a “sell to a merchant” price, a “market” price, and a “buy from a merchant” price.
The “Market” price is what the item is worth in wholesale. In practical terms, it represents a floor for sale prices and a ceiling for purchase prices: If a merchant sells you the item at that price or buys it from you at that price, then they are (generally) not making any profit off the transaction.
The “Sell to a merchant” price represents the typical price a merchant will pay a typical Hero for the item, before the Hero attempts to do any haggling. The “buy from a merchant” price, similarly, represents how much a merchant will charge a Hero for the item, if the Hero does not haggle.
In all cases, the base “sell to a Merchant” prices are 50% of the Market Price, and the base “buy from a Merchant” prices are 200% of the Market Price.
Passive Haggling
When Heroes set out to buy lots of little things – or when the players buy items between sessions, or while the GM is busy with other things – they use Passive Haggling to modify the prices of goods.
Passive Haggling is ‘always on’, unless a Hero specifically decides to pay full asking price for an item. It represents how the Hero presents themselves to a merchant, and the merchant’s first impression of the Hero.
Passive Haggling is based on a Hero’s Influence, minus the Merchant’s Discipline.
For easy reference, consult the table below.
Note that Passive Haggling does not consider extenuating circumstances, like the Merchant’s attitude towards a Hero, unless the GM explicitly says so.
| Your Influence – Their Discipline | Sell to Vendor… | Buy from Vendor markup… |
|---|---|---|
| 0 or less | 50% | 200% |
| 1 | 55% | 190% |
| 2 | 60% | 180% |
| 3 | 65% | 170% |
| 4 | 70% | 160% |
| 5 | 75% | 150% |
| 6 | 80% | 140% |
| 7 | 85% | 130% |
| 8 | 90% | 120% |
| 9 | 95% | 110% |
| 10 or More | (Market Price) 100% | (Market Price) 100% |
Active Haggling
Sometimes, though, the Heroes may want to try and get a better discount than their innate Influence would grant. They may be looking to buy a high-value item, trying to negotiate a bulk price on a large shipment of goods, or simply want to press their luck. In these cases, Heroes use Active Haggling. When a Hero haggles with a Merchant, they make a contested Trait Check of Influence vs. the Merchant’s Discipline.
Once you’ve decided to use Active Haggling, though, there’s no going back – even if you get a worse deal than if you had stuck with Passive Haggling.
If a Hero succeeds, they decrease the price of purchased items by 10% of Market Price, or increase the value of their sales to a Merchant by 5% of Market Price. If they lose, however, the reverse happens – they get a worse deal than if they had simply used Passive Haggling. In all cases, a good’s value is capped by the Market Price.
Merchants will never sell for less, or buy for more, than an item’s Market Price.
When Heroes go to haggle, they and the GM can decide whether they haggle per individual item, or only roll to haggle once, and have that result apply to all the prices in their current visit. It’s recommended to do the former if you’re buying a small number of high-priced items (such as weapons or armor), and to do the latter if you’re trading for a large number of similar items (such as Tools and Materials).
| Hero beats Merchant by… | Sell to Vendor… | Buy from Vendor markup… |
|---|---|---|
| 0 or less | 50% | 200% |
| 1 | 55% | 190% |
| 2 | 60% | 180% |
| 3 | 65% | 170% |
| 4 | 70% | 160% |
| 5 | 75% | 150% |
| 6 | 80% | 140% |
| 7 | 85% | 130% |
| 8 | 90% | 120% |
| 9 | 95% | 110% |
| 10 or More | (Market Price) 100% | (Market Price) 100% |
Merchants are typically quite adept at haggling – it’s rare you’ll find one with little Insight and Discipline, as those merchants would go out of business! The more savvy and rich a merchant is, the more likely they have an impressive Discipline and Insight.
Merchant’s Discipline
Whether a Hero is using Passive or Active Haggling, they’ll be comparing their Influence to the Discipline of the Merchant they’re dealing with. However, no GM wants to worry about building out a full character loadout for every individual street-vendor and salesman. To that end, here are some methods a GM can use to determine a Merchant’s Discipline.
Method 1: Consider the Merchant’s storefront. In general, a Merchant with a larger, more prosperous business will have a higher Discipline – after all, they must be good at what they do to get this far.
| Merchant’s Business | Discipline |
|---|---|
| Not Actually a Merchant | 1 |
| Small Wagon, Dabbles | 2 |
| Market Stall, Large Wagon | 3 |
| Owns a Single Shop | 5 |
| Owns Multiple Shops | 6 |
| Head of a Conglomerate | 8 |
Method 2: Consider the size of the settlement the Merchant is in. Generally, Merchants will move to the most profitable locations they can handle.
| Merchant Environs | Discipline |
|---|---|
| No One Around for Miles | 1 |
| Side of a Small Road | 2 |
| Crossroads or Small Village | 3 |
| Large Village or Town | 5 |
| Big City or Port of Call | 6 |
| Metropolis or Capital City | 8 |
Method 3: The Merchant’s Discipline is equal to (the highest Rank of item they sell, times 1.5).
Easy Trading
If a Hero’s Influence beats a Merchant’s Discipline by 2 or more, they may trade like items of the same rank on a 3:1 basis.
If they beat a Merchant’s Discipline by 5, they may trade like items on a 2:1 basis.
And finally, if they beat a Merchant’s Discipline by 10, they may trade like items on a one-for-one basis.