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#703184 17/10/20 03:55 PM
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stranger
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Can someone explain how vendor prices work please?

I see a vendor has an item I want. It says the item has a value of X. I move the item into the barter window and now it says the items costs Y. I do not see any correlation between X and Y.

I want to sell an item to a vendor. The item has a worth of X. I move the item into the barter window and the vendor offers me Z. There is no correlation between X and Z that makes any sense to me.

It is extremely confusing and not explained in game. If an item is worth some amount that is what I should be able to buy it for. And I should be able to easily determine what an item will sell for based on that value.

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Duchess of Gorgombert
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The prices are the item's basic value (what is displayed in the inventory and info screens) and the barter menu shows what they are willing to ask/pay. I don't know the exact mechanics behind it but it's typically a multiplier to the trader's advantage, so something like 50% would see the trader ask 150 gold for something whose base price is 100 and pay 67 if you're selling it. IME the rates are a lot worse than that!

I don't know D&D at all but in other games the multiplier can vary by trader, by their proficiency, by their attitude to you and by the commodity in question, i.e. whether it is something they choose to trade in and its availability. Buy and sell prices don't necessarily have the same multiplier.

I don't know how BG3 does it and none of the above necessarily applies; it's just to illustrate that the actual price can be quite different to the "list price" and the reasons can be opaque.


J'aime le fromage.
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I belive it is decides by their attitude towards you. I recall a weapon costing me 920g but after a failed theft elsewhere in the camp, that weapon later costed 1050g.

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The "value" of the item should be what I can buy it for. And I should be able to sell an item for some percentage of that. That is how D&D rules work.

Playing around with it more I see that prices also vary depending on which character I am using to do the trade. That is absolutely not how D&D works and really just becomes a frustrating game of inventory swap before I can do any trading.

1) There should be one price: the item's value. And that value should be displayed in the bottom right corner instead of whatever the number that is currently there.
1a) An item's value is the number it can be bought for. When I add the item from a vendor to the buy screen it should reflect the item's value in the barter screen.
1b) Likewise, I should be able to sell items for 50% of their value (this is the 5e rule). There can be reasons for this to be different, but as a general rule this is how it works.

2) Prices are static. It should not matter who is doing the trade. We are all in the same party traveling together. Don't make me play musical loot before I buy and sell items. And this should only come into play if prices are modified via 1b above, which should not come into play all that often.

Last edited by hatfulofhollow; 17/10/20 04:55 PM.
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I've understood the charisma score of whoever is speaking to the vendor matters. It doesn't use the highest cha automatically.

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Originally Posted by 1varangian
I've understood the charisma score of whoever is speaking to the vendor matters. It doesn't use the highest cha automatically.

I have found this too in many different games.. better Charisma helps selling and buying prices.. In some games you need the character that is talking with the trader to have the highest charisma, in other games they use the leader of the party as the character you need to have the best charisma..


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