Trade Goods
Whether someone is a trapper bringing a cart full of furs to market or a ship captain pulling into port with a hold full of astral cloth, it is important to know the relationship between the amount of the goods one hopes to sell and the price one expects to earn. The table below presents this information for some of the most important valuables in the Dungeons & Dragons game, as well as the unit of finished goods in which each is typically encountered.
A seller might need to seek out a buyer for items such as rare wines or artwork, whose value is not always obvious to the untrained eye. Someone who wants to buy such items might need to worry about counterfeits.
Buying and Selling: To perform either of these transactions, establish the total value of the trade goods in question. Use the major purchase column on the table in the Pocket Change entry to figure out the level of this transaction. For example, unloading a rare book worth 10,000 gp—or a forged copy of the same—would be a 15th-level transaction. Use this information with the Difficulty Class by Level table (Rules Compendium, page 126) to determine the DC to sell or buy a trade good, or to recognize or pass off a fake item.
Then make a check (usually Streetwise) to find either a buyer or a seller. Use the moderate DC for the level of the transaction in a location with a good-sized marketplace or population. Use the easy DC in major trading hubs such as the City of Brass, and the hard DC if the value of the items far exceeds the locals' wealth. A successful check indicates that the transaction has been completed.
Counterfeits and Forgeries: In the case of a counterfeit, the buyer has a chance to recognize the fake before purchasing it, and the check is based on how much the forger invested in the item. Use the easy DC if the forger spent one-tenth of the item's true value on the forgery, the moderate DC if one-fifth the value was spent, or the hard DC if one-half the value was spent.
TRADE GOODS
| Item | Finished Unit | Weight per Unit | Value per Unit | Value per Pound |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Artwork, epic statuette | 5 lb. | 5,000,000 gp | 1,000,000 gp | |
| Artwork, fine statuette | 5 lb. | 500 gp | 100 gp | |
| Book, rare volume | 5 lb. | 10,000 gp | 2,000 gp | |
| Cloth, astral outfit | 2 lb. | 125,000 gp | 25,000 gp | |
| Cloth, fine outfit | 5 lb. | 30 gp | 6 gp | |
| Cloth, shadow outfit | 3 lb. | 5,000 gp | 1,000 gp | |
| Fur coat | 15 lb. | 3,000 gp | 200 gp | |
| Stone, precious gem | 1/500 lb. | 1,000 gp | 500,000 gp | |
| Stone, semiprecious gem | 1/500 lb. | 20 gp | 10,000 gp | |
| Mithral bar | 1 lb. | 250,000 gp | 250,000 gp | |
| Perfume vial | 1/10 lb. | 100 gp | 1,000 gp | |
| Residuum grain | 1/5000 lb. | 1 gp | 5,000 gp | |
| Silk square | 5 lb. | 5 gp | 1 gp | |
| Spice jar | 5 lb. | 50 gp | 10 gp | |
| Tapestry square | 45 lb. | 15 gp | 1/3 gp | |
| Wine, common bottle | 1 lb. | 5 gp | 5 gp | |
| Wine, rare bottle | 1 lb. | 500 gp | 500 gp |
Published in Mordenkainen's Magnificent Emporium, page(s) 128.