Tuesday May 04, 2004

The merchant district is the center of commerce for any community, whether a hamlet or a thriving metropolis.  How much more important, then, is the merchant who works there!  He rubs shoulders with all men, both great and common, and has more items pass under his nose in a day than most people see all year.  In time, a mere glance at an object will reveal whether it is worth its salt, and the merchant’s judgment of people improves as he deals with them.  He knows how to strike a bargain, how to get the most for his money.  He knows when an item is priceless and when it’s junk.  He can look a horse in the mouth and tell you how many more miles before the animal drops dead.  He can also look another man in the eye and see through all sorts of beguiling tricks and deceits.  The best merchants sometimes know more about magic items than the wizards who created them.  And if there’s something that needs doing that the merchant and his party cannot do, leave it to him to resort to his many contacts, calling in a favor in return for one.

Adventures:  An adventuring merchant is an oddity, for the adventuring trail rarely lends itself to commerce.  The many days, weeks & months spent dungeon crawling are just that many days, weeks & months of lost revenue.  The tradeoffs, however, can be astoundingly wealth producing.  As most merchants have heard multitude times—as any adventurer will tell them—“I found this in a vast underground cave system.”  The sheer quantity (as well as quality) of treasure to be found at the end of a hairy adventure is often reward enough for a merchant, who will then load up his wagon and peddle the stuff he’s gathered.  The life behind a counter, watching all the discovered treasures pass before his eyes, is what sends an adventurous merchant on the trail.

Characteristics: Merchants are normally fairly well off, but that’s not always true.  A failed business venture might be just the thing that sent him traveling.  Perhaps he lacks the capital to start a business, and hopes the adventuring life will yield some quick start-up money (as well as inventory).  The richer merchants are suppliers to kings or owners of a chain of emporiums and who probably have grown tired of counting all their coins.  Still others like the thrill of capturing the rare artifact for themselves instead of hiring Clyde Beatty to track it down for them…and then maybe never return with it.  The variation in merchants is almost limitless.

Alignment:  Merchants run the spectrum of alignments, holding to no one in particular.

Religion:  Many merchants recognize the gods of wealth, trade, or travel.  Otherwise, there is no set pattern to worship among mercantile.

Background:  Merchants are what make the world of commerce turn.  They can be found in every town and village across the land, and traveling all roads from here to there.  An individual merchant may be fed up with seeing wealth pass before him and never being able to acquire any, or he might be a traveling peddler who traveled just a bit too far.  In any case, the merchant was once a man who handled goods to make a living.  Though he probably still belongs to a merchant’s guild somewhere, he no longer merely peddles wares, but enjoys the adventures of finding those wares himself.

Races:  Merchants can be of any race with equal likelihood among them all, with a possible skewing of the balance in favor of gnomes.  Half-orcs don’t usually make good merchants, though.  The bael special race favors mercantilism as a class.

Other Classes:  Of primary benefit to an adventuring party is the merchant’s keen sense of value when he sees it.  Many a worthless “treasure” may be avoided with a merchant in tow.  Having encountered so much stuff in his life, the merchant can usually spot a fake and often intuitively sees inherent quality in an item many adventurers would throw away.  He is also quite adept at social skills and negotiations, for that is what he does for a living.  When passage is needed through the guarded gate, the merchant is often able to talk the guards into letting the party by.  And if that doesn’t work, a little bribe is usually all that’s needed, and the merchant knows just what to do.  When it comes time to sell off the party’s loot or restock on used-up items, the merchant calls the bluffs of other peddlers and stretches the value of a gold piece farther than anyone.  For these reasons, there’s not a single class who doesn’t appreciate the value a merchant can add to their party, and all are eager to befriend him.

Abilities:  Charisma is the foremost ability of the merchant, for he must be able to negotiate and haggle with others, getting his way while making the other think well of him.  Wisdom is also important for negotiations, and intelligence helps influence the merchant’s variety and strength of skills.

Hit Die:  d6

Restrictions/Requirements: CHA 14+

Skill Points/Level:  At first level: (4+INT mod) x4 (+4).  Thereafter: 4+INT mod (+1) per level.

Skills:  Appraise, Bluff, Craft, Decipher Script, Diplomacy, First Impression, Forgery, Gather Information, Knowledge (all), Profession, Sense Motive, Speak Language, Spot, and Use Magic Device.

Starting Gold:  5d4 x 10.

Armor & Weapon Proficiencies:  A merchant knows quite a lot about all kinds of armor and weapons, but is proficient only with simple weapons and light armor and is not proficient with shields.  Wearing armor and shields carries the normal penalties to certain skills and provides the normal chance of spell failure.

The Merchant’s Table

Mercantile Knowledge:  Just as the bard picks up a wealth of odd tidbits of knowledge as he travels and jostles with people at taverns, so the merchant picks up a wealth of interesting facts as he interacts with his customers and other merchants.  Just the variety of items alone that cross his counter—and the stories that go with them—give him an inroad to a great mixed bag of information.  The merchant may make a mercantile knowledge check (d20 + INT bonus + merchant level) as many times each day as he has levels against a predetermined DC set by the DM.  Treat this exactly as bardic knowledge.

Identify:  The merchant has an intuitive ability to know the properties, function, history, origin, and abilities of a magic item.  This is not a spell-like ability, nor does the merchant even resort to magic at all.  He simply knows, through years of exposure to like items, what the thing is by picking out clues that others wouldn’t know to look for.  The clues may be markings on the exterior, color, smell, taste, texture, or even a hidden signature under an undiscovered panel.  The merchant knows where to look, and puts the clues together to form an idea about what the item is.  He makes a mercantile knowledge check against DC 12 + the caster level of the item’s maker.  (The DM may make adjustments to the DC for an item’s inherent rarity or commonness.)

Eye for Detail:  The merchant has a trained eye for seeing fine details that other people miss, allowing him to value an item accurately.  Beginning at 1^st level, the merchant has a +1 competence bonus to Appraise checks and to Search checks (when examining an item up close).  This bonus increases by +1 every 3 levels thereafter.

Sense of Magic:  At 2^nd level, the merchant develops an idea of what to look for in a magic item.  His long hours spent studying, buying and selling magic items has attuned his senses to the magical aura that surrounds these items, and earns him a spell-like ability to detect magic, as per the spell.  He may use this ability 1/day for every 2 merchant levels he has.

Keen Eye:  As the merchant gains experience, he gains the ability to see through the façades and disguises put upon items.  Starting at 2^nd level, he gains a +1 competence bonus to Spot checks to notice fake or disguised items, and to see through the fraudulent business dealings of sellers.  This ability increases by +1 per 2 levels.  He also gains an insight bonus (as indicated) to Willpower saves to disbelieve Illusions, whether they are placed upon items, locations, or creatures.

Talk Down:  Beginning at 3^rd level, the merchant’s cumulative dealings with people gain him the ability to get the best possible price from another vendor.  Upon making a successful Diplomacy check, the merchant is able to squeeze a discount on any one purchase equal to 2d10% (2%-20%).  This ability may be used only once per vendor with whom he is negotiating.  This ability may also be used to trump up the price of an item he is trying to sell.  A successful Diplomacy check will gain him a 2d10% price increase on any one item, applicable only once per customer.

Call in a Favor:  A merchant’s many contacts can prove to be his greatest assets.  Favors he has done for them in times past become favors he can request.  This often saves the merchant many Gather Information checks to obtain knowledge and much gold to obtain items.  To successfully Call in a Favor, the merchant makes a special Charisma check, adding his level to the roll, versus a DC set by the DM.  Simple favors carry a DC of 10 while expensive or illegal favors could have a DC of 25 or higher.  A merchant cannot “take 10” or “take 20” on this check, nor may he make multiple attempts for the same (or virtually the same) favor.  The favor is refused if he fails the check, but he can try later to call in a different favor.  Truly extreme favors are generally impossible (and should be the basis of an adventure anyway, not a single die roll.)  Failed attempts to Call in a Favor are not lost, and the merchant can accumulate multiple favors over time.  Once a favor is successfully called, however, it is “spent” and may not be used again.  **The above paragraph is largely borrowed from the Wheel of Time RPG, by WotC.

Business Savvy:  At 4^th level, the merchant’s public negotiating powers begin to increase as he regularly gains discounts for himself and his party and intuitively knows when he’s being scalped, granting him a +2 competence bonus on Diplomacy checks and Sense Motive checks.  This bonus increases by +2 for every 4 merchant levels.

Strike a Bargain:  When the merchant reaches 6^th level, he gains the ability to so influence a vendor that he is able to procure an item or service for ½ its normal price…just about at cost.  To be successful, the merchant makes a Diplomacy check against a DC of 10, +1 per 500 gp value of item or service (price in book).  For example, the DC to Strike a Bargain for a wand that retails at 5,000 gp would be 20 (10 + [5000/500]).  If successful, the merchant buys the wand for 2,500 gp.  Similarly, if the merchant is trying to sell an item, he may be able to gain 50% more than the normal price.  The DC to Strike a Bargain in a sale is 10 +1 per 500 gp in book price.  This ability may be used once per vendor (or customer) per day. 

Make a Deal:  At 15^th level, the merchant has become so polished in his negotiations that he could sell snow to a Yeti.  Once per day, he may so influence a vendor that he is able to procure an item or service for free.  To be successful, the merchant makes a Diplomacy check against a DC of 20, +1 per 500 gp value of the item or service (price in book).  For example, the DC to Make a Deal for a wand that retails at 5,000 gp would be 30 (20 + [5,000/500]).  If successful, the merchant gives a trinket worth at least 50 gp (simultaneously convincing the vendor that he really wants the bauble) in exchange for the free wand.  Similarly, if the merchant is trying to sell an item, he may be able to gain twice the normal price.  The DC to Make a Deal in a sale is 20 +1 per 500 gp in book price.  This ability may be used once per vendor (or customer) per day.