Chapter 1 - Non-weapon Proficiencies
Haggling Non-weapon Proficiency
(must be from Al-qadim)
Check with the DM before taking this proficiency.
While it enhances the flavor of the AL-QADIM campaign, haggling may result in PCs spending too much time at the bazaar and too little time on the battlefield (or in other realms of high adventure).
The bazaar is a place of give and take, where steep prices are demanded and modest amounts are paid. The price list for equipment in Chapter 6 shows three amounts for each item. The first is the asking price, the second the normal price, and the third the bargain price. If the DM chooses to avoid all haggling, only the normal price applies. But if haggling is allowed, then all three prices come into play in the AL-QADIM campaign.
The asking price is just that what a merchant typically asks for a given item when a buyer points it out. A poor haggler usually ends up paying that price. The bargain price reflects the most successful result of a haggling character, while the normal price reflects a middle ground a sort of standoff or compromise between buyer and seller.
Here's how the proficiency works in play. A buyer with the haggling proficiency usually a PC points to an item for sale and asks the price. (Prices are rarely posted.) Variations exist, but as a general rule, merchants are assumed to have the haggling proficiency too, with a Wisdom of 14 to back it up. (In other words, their haggling score is 14.) The PC makes a haggling check. The DM does the same for the merchant. Results are as follows: If the buyer makes a successful check but the merchant doesn't, the item will sell for the bargain price - usually with some complaint by the merchant.("You are stealing from me! You remember that it was I who was so good to you when next you need supplies. Now, what else may I show you?")
If both the buyer and the seller make successful checks, the merchant will not settle for less than the normal price, regardless of bickering. If both the buyer and the seller fail their checks, the merchant won’t settle for less than the normal price (the fine price, the excellent price, "the price that barely feeds my wife and my ten sick children" - a virtual killing!).
If the buyer fails the check but the seller succeeds, the merchant will hold firm to the asking price, and no amount of haggling will change it. ("Hah! You insult me with your swine-headed ways! If you think you can get a better price, then go somewhere else! Now, what else may I show you?")
Lacking the haggling proficiency is the same as failing the proficiency check. For example, if the buyer lacks the proficiency, and the seller's proficiency check fails, then the normal price applies.
If the PCs are together, only one of them can haggle for a particular item; a merchant won't begin anew with another player character. Further, the price of an item determined by haggling applies throughout the business day. Return attempts are useless until the next morning. If the character wishes to buy another item of the same type, the previous price automatically applies. A character can haggle for another kind of item right away, but could not, for example, attempt to buy a second waterskin that day from the same merchant for a better price.
At the DM's option, merchants may decide not to haggle with a PC who appears not to have the asking price in hand. (Why should merchants waste effort on a pauper who has no intention of buying?) "Let me see your silver" is a common response to a questionable buyer's attempt to haggle.
Bazaars are packed with all manner of goods, some rare and strange, such as armor imported from northern realms or an occasional coffee-pouring automaton. If an item is not listed in Chapter 6, the DM should set a normal price, add 50 percent to determine the asking price, and subtract 25 percent from the normal price to find the bargain price. For example, a set of fine crystalline cups might have a normal price of 100 gp. The asking price would be 150 gp, and the bargain price would be 75 gp.
Haggling should enhance the flavor of adventures in the Land of Fate, with appropriate role-playing to supplement the proficiency checks. The DM should not allow it to dominate or otherwise slow the campaign.
