Killing a Dragon Blues

[HMS Invincible]

My PCs killed a dragon around level 5, Large sized, young Adult maybe CR 7 to 9. The treasure was a dragon corpse and the hoard of gold, roughly 25k gold split 5 ways. Unfortunately, I didn't realize how much the corpse was worth. http://www.giantitp.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-187378.html
Selling the parts into materials for others shouldn't be too bad. The math in the other thread should work out (if sold at 50% rate, or 50% of 1/3 the equipment if sold as material only). The wealth by level should be fine if they just sold that and split it five ways. The bigger problem is the dragon blood. The PCs know it's valuable, and they want to convert all the potential armor/weapons into gold instead. There's just too much blood given how valuable it is compared to how hard it is to kill the younger dragons.

I can probably nickle and dime my way out of corner I wrote myself into. However, why the heck is dragon's blood priced so high? Totally threw off all my careful planning. =\

[Angelalex242]

It's not terrible. They'll probably just buy magic items with it all anyway.

Besides, Wealth by Level is an approximation, not a hard cap. Just make their next challenges unintelligent critters that don't have treasure, and move on.

[HMS Invincible]

It's not terrible. They'll probably just buy magic items with it all anyway.

Besides, Wealth by Level is an approximation, not a hard cap. Just make their next challenges unintelligent critters that don't have treasure, and move on.

The tricky part is finessing the value of the corpse down to a more reasonable figure without breaking the immersion. The party(and me) was expecting a modest sum from the corpse, but the blood being highly valuable means the party has high expectations.

Just how much blood will these murderhobos try to get out of this corpse anyway? It's a grim topic, which the dracomonicon doesn't cover, and my googlefu is failing me. Perhaps I should look up vampire books for guidance?

[Gildedragon]

Nah, let them have the oodles of loot now.
Next few encounters are with oozes and other things that don't have much treasure. Winterwolves, barghests, incorporeal undead, a few spiders...

[Rebel7284]

Nah, let them have the oodles of loot now.
Next few encounters are with oozes and other things that don't have much treasure. Winterwolves, barghests, incorporeal undead, a few spiders...

Most of the blood is probably absorbed into the ground, and also, how are they getting it out efficiently?

As far as winter wolves, I have many fond memories of farming winter wolves in Baldur's Gate. 500gp per pelt was a fortune! ^^

[Dr. Azkur]

There should definitely be a blues about killing a Dragon. Jazz&Blues Bards are the best of the best.

[Slipperychicken]

Processing the dragon's remains might require some good Craft(Butchery) or similar check to do it properly. They need to make sure the dragon is properly skinned (and the hide will be damaged from the ultraviolence used to kill it), that its blood is all drained instead of spilled onto the floor (especially a concern given the extremely violent nature of its death), that they harvest the organs without excessively damaging them, and so on. Not to mention they need to properly preserve it, which a Gentle Repose spell could fix, but it still takes some forethought. After all, nobody wants rotten dragon-guts and spoiled dragon-blood.

Even so, a bit more gold most likely isn't going to shatter the game until they realize they can raise a private army. It's probably just going to mean a handful of stat-boosts, +1-3 to hit for some of the beatsticks, and someone might have the idea to invest in a utility item or two. WBL is just an average of treasure results: That means it's perfectly normal to go over WBL at least half the time, and sometimes to go way over.

[andromax]

Processing the dragon's remains might require some good Craft(Butchery) or similar check to do it properly.

This.

It's pretty easy to give them a reasonable amount due to the fact that the corpse has undergone rigor mortis and the majority of the blood has spoiled.

I mean butchering a large animal takes a lot of time by people that know what they're doing, and initially, when it's not refrigerated, it's on a time crunch. Stuff spoils, becomes nasty tasting quicker than you might think if not properly handled.

[Angelalex242]

Ehhhhh.

Since Craft: Butchery isn't typically a part of most people's campaigns, it's a little bit of a bastard move to spring it on PCs who didn't know it was necessary.

There isn't a PC in a thousand who'd have craft: butchery unless the GM specifically said it would see high amounts of use.

If you simply must do this, give the PCs a one time opportunity to reassign their skill points with craft butchery in mind. Keep in mind, then, that they'll then butcher EVERY SINGLE MONSTER THEY KILL. So think that one through.

[VariSami]

I believe it would be a Profession (Butcher) OR a Craft (taxidermy) check. The latter is used to obtain trinkets from fallen foes, and thus, I would probably allow it to apply to all organ harvesting from recently dead creatures. In all simplicity, the latter is a thing - there is even a feat which requires ranks in it - and thus, if none of the players have invested in it, they should really not expect to receive full value from the corpses they produce. They may attempt the check untrained, of course, but in this case, having invested in the skill would have been rewarded nicely. It was simply a non-obvious choice, the value of which will be acknowledged in the future.

[Lord_Jord]

I believe it would be a Profession (Butcher) OR a Craft (taxidermy) check. The latter is used to obtain trinkets from fallen foes, and thus, I would probably allow it to apply to all organ harvesting from recently dead creatures. In all simplicity, the latter is a thing - there is even a feat which requires ranks in it - and thus, if none of the players have invested in it, they should really not expect to receive full value from the corpses they produce.
Wouldnt a survival check work for skinning? We use it for that a lot in my games, and it seems to make sense. If you're good at hunting and killing game, and you do it a bunch, you probably no how to skin/dress it.

[HammeredWharf]

Since Craft: Butchery isn't typically a part of most people's campaigns, it's a little bit of a bastard move to spring it on PCs who didn't know it was necessary.

There isn't a PC in a thousand who'd have craft: butchery unless the GM specifically said it would see high amounts of use.

They sprung in on themselves. The DM can't predict what the players will want to do. It's not like skinning this dragon is a part of a quest. They just want more loot. I agree with


I believe it would be a Profession (Butcher) OR a Craft (taxidermy) check.

this, though. Survival is a good enough choice if you want to use kid gloves, but they're not eating the dragon. Probably. I'd give them a +2 synergy bonus for 5 ranks of Survival.

[Slipperychicken]

Another thing I forgot: A few of the dragon's bones may be cracked or broken from the fight, perhaps reducing their sale value somewhat.

Also, I consider butchery and taxidermy to be Craft skills because they generate tangible commodities, as opposed to Profession skills (which do not create such products).

[thatryanguy]

If you were going to be kind, I might suggest going with a reasonably high DC heal check. In my experience they tend to apply to knowing biology and anatomy, and with a strong enough roll, they could very well be able to figure out the dragon and take him down to preserved pieces (assuming they have the tools/spells for that part of things)

[Blackhawk748]

Honestly, half of the Dragons blood is probably all over the floor, and if a Dragon's blood congeals half as fast as a Deer's they have all of 5-10 minutes to get a bunch of it into a container and cast Gentle Repose. Which is probably the reason its worth so much, Dragons probably clot quickly and as such its really hard to harvest their blood. Now that being said when they start to butcher it i would say a Craft Taxidermy, as has been said, with a +2 synergy bonus from survival, probably around a DC 15 to not screw something up would get them maybe a gallon of blood. As a guy that goes deer hunting i can tell you that when you field dress something that blood is gonna rush out when you pull out the entrails and most of it is gonna wind up on the ground, no real way around that.

With all that being said im sure theyd be happy with a gallon of decent quality dragon blood.

[Gildedragon]

I am on the prof(butcher) or survival camp as, well, they ain't trying to stuff the dragon and sell it as a decoration. They are after the victuals, hide (for tanning), and bone.

[QuidEst]

… is it too late for dragon's blood prices to refer to the processed result of refining it? I mean, most of dragon's blood is probably water anyway.

Also, I'd probably call collecting blood, etc. Craft (Alchemy) to use an existing skill.

[HMS Invincible]

… is it too late for dragon's blood prices to refer to the processed result of refining it? I mean, most of dragon's blood is probably water anyway.

Also, I'd probably call collecting blood, etc. Craft (Alchemy) to use an existing skill.
As for the mostly water, 1 potion of purified blood requires 1 gallon of blood. So it does refer to it that way.

Like I said, I can probably talk my way out of giving the party too much gold but i don't want the party to feel cheated either. It's a balancing act.

[atemu1234]

From Unearthed Arcana I recommend Craft (Taxidermy). Or was it profession...?