item prices

[Death a Barbar]

What the hell is with item prices? +1 variants go for 100 000% of the normal price, most items only sell for 1-2 gold. I carry around a bunch of loot to the point that most characters are full and I can sell them for 15-20 gold, because I'm selling at %10 for some reason. I can maybe buy back a single item, it's ridiculous.

[drae_perin]

You're dumping battle worn and environmentally corroded junk on local merchants and hoping to get premium pricing?

The only way you're making money carrying around second-hand wilderness trash is if it's a high value item that you don't have a use for.

Common items (literally items the shop already has) sell for even less. If you're selling items one at a time, but in large numbers, you're losing even more profits. If you sell one Two Handed sword at a time each sword is worth a little less to the Merchant, but if you sell a full page of Two Handed Swords at the same time, and to a merchant that doesn't have any Two Handed Swords, suddenly they have some actual value.

If you really must collect junk, sell as many of the same item as you can, to merchants that don't have any of that item, or at least as few as possible, and shop around. Merchants have different buy rates, don't sell to a stingy merchant if you have options.

Keep small valuable items that stack rather than picking up every short sword you see. You will earn more money per inventory slot by selling full stacks of gems than by transporting daggers and short swords up and down the coast.

You shouldn't be buying most magical weapons, you should earn them through adventuring. Save your money for unique items.

If you aren't a law abiding citizen you can easily heist your way to unreasonable levels of income.

[wendigo211]

Eh, it's D&D. Most regular items are worth less than 20 gold and any magical items get expensive very quickly. A +1 weapon is usually worth around 1000 gp. Merchants pay squat for any stuff you loot. That said, the best you're getting is +1 or +2, so gear lasts. Quite a few items at the Thunderhammer Smithy in Beregost are endgame gear (like the Shadow Armor, Army Scythe and Dagger of Venom).

You can lower prices by improving your reaction modifier. Your reaction modifier is calculated from your reputation and your charisma modifier. Making a high charisma party member like Imoen your party leader when you talk to merchants can lower their prices. Casting the "Friends" spell on your party leader to boost their charisma can also help. You can get some pretty substantial discounts from doing this.

There are some quests that have some pretty hefty rewards early on, like killing Bassilus, which gets you 5000 gp from the priest of Lathander in the temple east of Beregost. You can also kill Ankhegs (one map north of the Friendly Arm Inn) and sell the shells to the smith in Beregost for 500 gp each. Don't loot regular gear, just scrolls, gems, potions and magic items.

[Centurion]

Everything you just read is true. First, the better your Reaction the better the price. Unless you are hard up for money, wait until your REP/CHA are high. (Also, volume.)

Volume matters. Once you sell one of anything to a merchant, they drop the price they will pay next time. So, you will get more for each one if you sell several at once, preferably 20 (all your character can hold.) This even applies to magic items. You will eventually have 20 +1 long swords. Can you wait? And two important tips here: 1) Once you sell a stack, the price changes. This means if you have two characters lugging long bows into the same shop, you will get the best price on the first stack, and less on the second. Also, each merchant is separate. So, you can sell 20 to Merchant #1 for full gold, and sell 20 more to #2 for the same amount.

Wondering how to accumulate all of this? Use the containers in towns (near merchants.) Believe it or not, you can drop your loot in barrels, crates, sacks, etc., and no one will touch it! So just let it add up. Works for gems, jewels, scrolls, potions, etc.

Learn what to take and what to leave. Halberds, short swords, clubs, daggers, etc., aren't worth lugging around. 2-H swords, bows, and armor chain or better, are generally worth enough if you are early and need money. 20 bows at 37 gp each is 740 gp, not a bad pay day. 20 halberds at full price are 40 gp. Not really worth it.

Realistically, you can finish BG1 with 250,000 to 400,000 gp easy (mostly selling unneeded magic items.) So, how much do you need that cruddy Kobold leather armor?

[Death a Barbar]

It has the same stats as brand new weapons so it's clearly not in bad condition, besides there is an iron shortage and I get warned that I'll get attacked because the iron items I have on me ware worth a lot, just not when I'm trying to sell them apparently.
The economy scaling just doesn't make sense to me, a bartender is renting out a luxurious room for 8 gold/night, and also selling an amulet for 5000 pieces, the blacksmith's prices are even more ridiculous with prices in the tens of thousands, while arrows costs 1 gold for 10 pieces.

Thanks for tips.

[Wicket W. Warrick]

Originally posted by Death a Barbar:

It has the same stats as brand new weapons so it's clearly not in bad condition, besides there is an iron shortage and I get warned that I'll get attacked because the iron items I have on me ware worth a lot, just not when I'm trying to sell them apparently.
The economy scaling just doesn't make sense to me, a bartender is renting out a luxurious room for 8 gold/night, and also selling an amulet for 5000 pieces, the blacksmith's prices are even more ridiculous with prices in the tens of thousands, while arrows costs 1 gold for 10 pieces.

Thanks for tips.

MC is an adventurer not a merchants so he can obtain only a small fraction of the real valor, so for the normal items is quite realistica. Less realistic is for luxury and rare magical items, since they could be sold for less but not so much. But realism is useless if it ruins gameplay.. In all rpgs, even in tttrpg, the money system is built in order to balancing the game. The power of your character is related to money availability, so if you coulg easly get 100k gold tradind leather armors, the whole experience would be ruined. It's a game, not a real life simulator.

[Death a Barbar]

I understand that some balancing is necessary, but it ruins immersion for me when an armor set costs more than a small mercenary army would. Most shelf armor is ♥♥♥♥ anyway and needs to be adjusted, so it should have a time cost with a normal high gold cost to balance.

[Wicket W. Warrick]

Originally posted by Death a Barbar:

I understand that some balancing is necessary, but it ruins immersion for me when an armor set costs more than a small mercenary army would. Most shelf armor is ____ anyway and needs to be adjusted, so it should have a time cost with a normal high gold cost to balance.

That is subjective, and I understand it, but many games work like this.

[Sstavix]

After a while, though, it doesn't matter. It's so easy to make money in this game.

Level 1: "Can I please get two gold for this rusty dagger? That way my friends and I can share a crust of bread for dinner tonight."

Level 4: "This inn doesn't have noble lodgings? Sigh... looks like we're slumming it tonight."

[philos3]

Originally posted by Sstavix:

After a while, though, it doesn't matter. It's so easy to make money in this game.

Level 1: "Can I please get two gold for this rusty dagger? That way my friends and I can share a crust of bread for dinner tonight."

Level 4: "This inn doesn't have noble lodgings? Sigh... looks like we're slumming it tonight."

LOL, oh wow, this is sooo true.