The
Merchant
by
Anthony D. Gleckler
The
Merchant
by
Anthony D. Gleckler
| Magical item and spell use | Appraising | Fast-talking | Merchant caravans | Merchants in towns |
| - | - | Conclusion | - | - |
| Dragon | Magic for merchants | - | Classes | Dragon #136 |
Taking Care of Business
Merchants: An NPC class with cash
by Anthony D. Gleckler
Gideon, a fighter of some renown, has
just polished off a troll and is now ready
to collect his winnings. He searches
through the creature?s lair and finds three
topazes worth 500 gp each, a fur worth
8 0 0 g p , a n d a
p i e c e o f j e w e l r y w o r t
h
stop! Whoa! How does this fighter, who
has difficulty counting when his gauntlets
are on, know what a topaz is or what it?s
worth? The ability to identify and appraise
valuable goods should be left to someone
who is properly trained for this duty: that
overlooked and underrated character, the
m e r c h a n t.
The merchant class is an integral part of
any AD&D® game society. Merchants are
certainly the most commonly encountered
NPCs, ranging from clerks in small general
stores to merchant princes heading caravans along new trade routes.
Merchants
are found in all sectors of any civilized
area, serving as fences for the thieves?
guild in the lower-class part of town, as
gem dealers who attend the queen, and as
wool merchants who supply the tailors in
the business district. These individuals
form one of the most powerful groups in
any realm. They control the money, and
when money talks, many ears listen.
Merchants cannot be multiclassed,
although many merchants are exadventurers who have quit their previous
professions after collecting sufficient
funds to go into business for themselves.
Adventurers who change from their profession to that of the merchant
class cannot use any of their former abilities until
their merchant level exceeds their previous class level, or they lose
all experience recently gathered. As a general rule,
the merchant should be used mostly as an
NPC class, although DMs may use the class
as a PC class as they see fit. Some alterations in these rules may
be necessary in
this latter instance; these alterations are
left to the DM?s discretion.
Table 1 shows what classes of NPC merchants are generally
encountered. If a
character class is indicated for an incompatible race (i.e., a half-elf
illusionist),
reroll the result. If the merchant in question is an ex-adventurer,
and if the character was capable of being multiclassed in
his adventuring days, roll again on this
table to determine if he was multiclassed.
For example, a half-elf rolls a 56, indicating he was a fighter. He
rolls again and
gets a 93, indicating he was a fighter/thief.
If he had rolled again in the fighter class
or as having no previous class, he would
simply be a fighter. A third roll of 73
would make him a fighter/thief/magic-user.
A maximum of three rolls is allowed, as
this is the limit for multiclassed PCs.
Merchants are generally either halfelven or human, though DMs may wish
to
include merchant NPCs of other races as
part of a demi-human community. Certain
racial limitations and restrictions will
apply; these may be gleaned from the
P l a y e r s H a n d b o
o k or Dungeon
Masters Guide.
Merchant characters use six-sided dice
for hit dice, as per Table 2. With regard to
human and half-elven merchants, the
following minimum ability scores apply;
DMs may alter these figures as they deem
necessary for other demi-human races:
Strength: 6
Intelligence: 10
Wisdom: 10
Dexterity: 6
Constitution: 6
Charisma: 10
Comeliness: 10
Merchants are allowed to wear leather
armor; they may not use a shield. Merchants are
allowed the use of the following weapons: club, dagger, dart, scimitar,
broad sword, long sword, short sword,
and whip. Merchants may use oil, but only
evil merchants may use poison.
With respect to weapon proficiencies,
merchants receive two initial weapons and
are assessed a -4 nonproficiency penalty.
Merchant characters add one proficiency
level for every four levels gained.
In addition to these abilities, merchants
have the power to read languages and
find/remove traps as a thief of the same
level. Merchants fight and make saving
throws on the thief tables, unless they are
ex-adventurers, in which case they may
use the most advantageous tables as
allowed by the dual-class rules.
While merchants receive standard experience points for monsters and
magic, they
are awarded a 10% bonus on experience
points gained from money. Merchants do
not receive any experience points for
money they acquired prior to becoming a
merchant. Therefore, a fighter with 2,000
gp does not start his career as a merchant
with 2,000 xp. There is, however, no
restriction against using this money for
investments with which he can earn both
profits and experience points.
Merchants may be any of the lawful or
neutral alignments. The frequency of
these alignments are as follows: lawful
good (15%), lawful neutral (35%), lawful
evil (10%), neutral good (15%), neutral
(20%), and neutral evil (5%). Chaos is simply not conducive to good
business.
Magical item and spell use
Merchants can use all magical items
usable by thieves, plus any magical items
allowed them in their previous class if
they are ex-adventurers. Because they so
often handle and evaluate magical items
(and require added protective abilities that
magic can grant), merchants can also
purchase spells that they can cast (as
described further on) from the merchants
guild at 1,000 gp per spell level; cantrips
cost 100 gp each. The guild is protective of
these spells and will not sell them to anyone other than a guild member.
Merchants
can also receive spells from scrolls and
cooperative magic-users, and keep their
own spell books. Merchants acquire a read
magic spell first, and almost always (90%)
acquire a detect magic spell next (useful
because they will not purchase any item
with a magical aura unless they know
what the item?s properties are). Merchants
cast spells at half their merchant level
(rounded down) for effect.
Tables 3 and 4 illustrate spell-use statistics for the merchant class.
Table 3 indicates the number of spells usable by level.
Table 4 shows which spells may actually
be chosen by the merchant, as well as
providing randomization tables for choosing which spells an NPC merchant
receives. Note again that the spells read
magic and detect magic should be chosen
first before rolling for other spells. A 1d6
roll is used to select which cantrips (normal or reversed) the merchant
acquires; a
roll of 1-4 indicates a normal cantrip is
received (for which a 1d12 roll is made to
find the exact cantrip), and a roll of 5-6
indicates a reversed cantrip is acquired
(requiring a 1d6 roll). The spells listed in
Table 4 are exactly the same as the versions of these spells listed
in the Players
Handbook and Unearthed Arcana. All spell
powers and restrictions listed in these two
sources also apply to the merchant class.
Cantrips are used quite frequently for
such tasks as keeping the merchant?s
wares polished, shined, or fresh. Less
scrupulous members of this class may use
some of the reversed cantrips to bring
down the prices of items they want to
purchase.
Table 1
Merchant Type Encountered
| 1d100 | Merchant |
| 01-50 | No previous class |
| 51-65 | Ex-fighter |
| 66-70 | Ex-ranger |
| 71-85 | Ex-magic-user |
| 86-87 | Ex-illusionist |
| 88-00 | Ex-thief |
Table 2
Merchant Levels and Experience
220,00 XP per level for each additional level beyond 12th.
Appraising
One of the most important aspects of the
merchant class is the ability to determine
the value of an object. A merchant will
appraise any item for someone else, charging a fee of 1% of the value
of the item per
level of the merchant. Thus, a 6th-level
merchant charges 6% to appraise an item;
10% is the maximum fee. This fee will not
be charged if the merchant buys the item
at the same time he appraises it.
Single-item merchants (e.g., rug merchants) appraise items in their
fields of
specialization as if they were four levels
higher, but are penalized two levels when
appraising an item not in their particular
area of expertise. Optionally, thieves can
appraise as merchants at one-fifth their
thieving level, rounded down; consequently, a 1st- through 4th-level
thief cannot
appraise, a 5th- through 9th-level thief
appraises as a 1st-level merchant, etc.
Table 5 illustrates the merchant?s ability
to appraise goods. To use Table 5, roll
1d100 and compare the result with the
merchant?s level. The amount indicated is
the appraised value of the item. For example, a 4th-level merchant
appraising a gem
worth 1,000 gp rolls a 92; therefore, he
appraises the gem at 125% of its actual
value, or at 1,250 gp. Evil (and some neutral) merchants may give a
false appraisal
if they think they will never see the PCs
again, and always do so if they wish to
purchase an item for themselves.
Merchants naturally pay less for goods
and merchandise, especially when making
their purchases from individuals such as
PCs. However, their funds are not as
endless as most PCs seem to think. Table 6
shows the funds usually available to NPC
merchants, though the DM may rule that
certain ones are richer or poorer than
indicated (especially ex-adventurers). Any
merchant who is going to spend a considerable portion of his funds
for a purchase
verifies his appraisal with a higher-level
merchant to avoid making any costly
mistakes. Merchants appraise wares for
each other for free if they share other
trade-offs in business.
A purchase percentage is the percent of
the appraised value a merchant will pay
for an item. Higher-level merchants pay a
smaller percentage because of their
increased skills in bargaining.
Table 3
Spells Usable by Class and Level
| Merchant
level |
C* | 1 | 2 |
| 1 | - | - | - |
| 2 | 1 | - | - |
| 3 | 2 | - | - |
| 4 | 3 | - | |
| 5 | 3 | - | |
| 6 | 4 | - | |
| 7 | 4 | - | |
| 8 | 4 | - | |
| 9 | 4 | - | |
| 10** | 4 |
| Number | Normal cantrips |
| 1 | Clean |
| 2 | Color |
| 3 | Dampen |
| 4 | Dry |
| 5 | Dust |
| 6 | Flavor |
| 7 | Freshen |
| 8 | Gather |
| 9 | Polish |
| 10 | Shine |
| 11 | Stitch |
| 12 | Wrap |
| Number | Reversed cantrips |
| 1 | Dirty |
| 2 | Dusty |
| 3 | Ravel |
| 4 | Tangle |
| 5 | Tarnish |
| 6 | Wilt |
1st level
| Number | 1st level |
| 1 | Alarm |
| 2 | Comprehend languages |
| 3 | Detect illusions |
| 4 | Detect magic |
| 5 | Friends |
| 6 | Hold portal |
| 7 | Identify |
| 8 | Mending |
| 9 | Message |
| 10 | Nystul's magic aura |
| 11 | Read magic |
| 12 | Tenser's floating disk |
2nd level
| Number | 2nd level |
| 1 | Audible glamer |
| 2 | Detect evil/good |
| 3 | Detect invisible |
| 4 | ESP |
| 5 | Fools gold |
| 6 | Knock |
| 7 | Locate object |
| 8 | Magic mouth |
| 9 | Preserve |
| 10 | Wizard lock |
1d100 roll and appraisal percentage
| Merchant level | |||||||||
| 01-03 | 04-08 | 09-16 | 16-30 | 31-70 | 71-86 | 86-92 | 93-97 | 98-00 | |
| 1 | 1-20% | 50% | 66% | 75% | 100% | 125% | 133% | 150 | 300-1000 |
| 2 | 23-40% | 50% | 66% | 75% | 100% | 125% | 133% | 150 | 200-500 |
| 3 | 21-40% | 66% | 75% | 90% | 100% | 100% | 125% | 133 | 200-400 |
| 4 | 31-50% | 75% | 90% | 90% | 100% | 100% | 125% | 133 | 200-400 |
| 5 | 31-50% | 75% | 90% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 125% | 133 | 200-300 |
| 6 | 41-60% | 75% | 90% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 125 | 150-250 |
| 7 | 51-70% | 90% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 125 | 150-250 |
| 8 | 61-80% | 90% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100 | 100-200 |
| 9 | 71-90% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100 | 100-200 |
| 10* | 81-100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100 | 100-150 |
* Maximum appraising ability
F a s t - t a l k i n g
Merchants have the ability to fast-talk to
make a deal; treat this as a suggestion
spell. The victim is entitled to a saving
throw on 1d20 against his intelligence,
with saving-throw bonuses against willforce attacks for high (or low)
wisdoms.
This suggestion power can be used once
per day per level of the merchant. If the
victim fails his roll, he believes he got a
good deal for a number of turns equal to
level 9 and above may, in addition, talk so
persuasively that they can cast a mass
20 minus his wisdom score. Merchants of
suggestion once per day.
If the victim makes the saving throw, he
most likely becomes irate and possibly
violent. Therefore, an established businessman or trader working a
regular
route seldom uses this technique; doing so
quickly gains the merchant a bad reputation. If for some reason the
merchant is
dealing with a monster, use the intelligence
table in the Monster Manual, page 6,
and the Dungeon Masters Guide, page 79,
for wisdom notes. The merchant
must be
able to communicate with the victim to
use the fast-talk ability.
Merchant caravans
The merchant caravan described
on
page 69 of the Monster Manual is a perfect
description of how merchants travel. The
following additional characters accompany
every caravan, replacing the tradesmen
given in the Monster Manual:
1 head merchanrt of 8th-12th level;
1-3 overseer merchants of 5th-7th level;
1-6 merchants of 2nd level; and,
3-18 merchants of 1st level
The number of people in the caravan is
dependent upon the amount of merchandise. There are 50 people for every
10,000
gp worth of goods, up to a maximum of
300 people and 60,000 gp.
If PCs encounter a caravan, the level of
the merchant they deal with depends on
how much merchandise the PCs plan to
buy. If they are going to spend less than
500 gp, they will work with a 1st- or 2nd-
level merchant. If they have between 500
and 3,000 gp, they will deal with one of
the overseers; anything in excess of 3,000
gp will be handled by the head merchant
himself.
Table 6
Merchant Purchasing Goods
| Merchant level | Funds (gp) | Purchasing percent |
| 1 | 200 | 80 |
| 2 | 500 | 80 |
| 3 | 750 | 75 |
| 4 | 1,250 | 75 |
| 5 | 2,500 | 70 |
| 6 | 4,000 | 70 |
| 7 | 7,000 | 65 |
| 8 | 15,000 | 65 |
| 9 | 25,000* | 60 |
* P l u s 2 5 , 0 0 0 g p
p e r l e v e l a f t e r 9 t h
* * M i n i m u m p u r c h a s i n g
p e r c e n t
Merchants in town
E v e r y t o w n , n o m a t t
e r t h e s i z e , h a s
a t
l e a s t o n e m e r c h a n t
r u n n i n g a g e n e r a l
s t o r e ; l a r g e c i t i e s
m a y h a v e h u n d r e d s o f
t h e m w o r k i n g i n i t s
s h o p s , s t a n d s , a n d
b a z a a r s . A l m o s t a l l
m e r c h a n t s f o u n d
w o r k i n g i n s h o p s a r
e b e t w e e n 1 s t a n d
4 t h
l e v e l . E x c e p t f o r m
a g i c s h o p s a n d h i g h
c l a s s e s t a b l i s h m e n t s , m e
r c h a n t s o f 5 t h
l e v e l a n d a b o v e a r e
r a r e l y e n c o u n t e r e d
r u n n i n g a s t o r e , a s
t h e y a r e u s u a l l y b e h i
n d
t h e s c e n e s m a n a g i n g
s e v e r a l b u s i n e s s e s .
Conclusion
L e t ? s g o b a c k t o
G i d e o n n o w . I n s t e a d o
f
t e l l i n g h i m e x a c t l y
w h a t h e h a s f o u n d ,
a
D M s h o u l d a d v i s e h i
m t h a t h e h a s f o
u n d
t h r e e l a r g e y e l l o w
g e m s , a n i c e f u r ,
a n d a
s i l v e r o r p l a t i n u m
n e c k l a c e c o n t a i n i n g
e i t h e r c l e a r g l a s s
o r d i a m o n d s . G i d e o n
m u s t n o w h o p e h e
g e t s a n h o n e s t m e r c h a
n t a n d a g o o d a p
p r a i s a l . [Another
system for appraising treasure appeared
i n DRAGON issue #104, page 38: "Assessing,
not guessing,” by Lionel D. Smith.]
1. SUBCLASS = n/a
2. SOCIAL CLASS MINIMUM =
3. ABILITY SCORE MINIMUMS
STRENGTH =
INTELLIGENCE =
WISDOM =
DEXTERITY =
CONSTITUTION =
CHARISMA =
COMELINESS =
4. POSSIBLE RACES & MAX. LEVEL ATTAINABLE =
5. MULTI-CLASS POSSIBILITIES =
6. HIT DIE TYPE =
7. MAXIMUM NUMBER OF HIT DICE =
8. SPELL ABILITY =
9. ARMOR PERMITTED =
10. SHIELD PERMITTED =
11. WEAPONS PERMITTED =
12. OIL PERMITTED =
13. POISON PERMITTED =
14. ALIGNMENT =
15. STARTING MONEY =
16. WEAPON PROFICIENCIES =
17. NON-PROFICIENCY PENALTY =
18. NON-WEAPON PROFICIENCIES =
19. STARTING AGE =
20. COMBAT =
21. SAVING THROWS =
22. MAGIC ITEMS =
| XP | Level | Dice for HP | Title | ||||||
zb
8.
7.
6.
5.
4.
3.
2.
1.
