being a merchant

[dragsvart]

some of my players baught a wagon and wanted to become merchants in their time between their adventures but there aren't any rules in the PHB or DMG or anywhere on the web to govern this. Until now that is...

Any input on this is very welcome.



D&D 5th Edition Guide to Merchantry

In d&d, adventuring can lead to large profits but there are always opportunities to make more money. As adventurers travel from town to town they can make some extra money by engaging in merchanty (transporting trade good from one place to another) . so, here are some rules to govern such business ventures (without taking up too much in-game time).


Setting prices:
The base prices for trade goods are on page 156 of the PHB, in order to make money through buying and selling these goods there must be a way to buy them at a lower price and/or sell them at a higher price. For each city roll 2d6, this is the number of trade goods which sell for a different price than the base price. To determine which good have a different price roll 1d20-7 for each , rerolling on repeats. With these rolls 1 is wheat, 2 is flour, and so on down the trade goods list. Alternatively the DM may choose certain good which fit more thematically with the town (such as copper being lower in price near a copper mine or wheat being higher during a drought)
Next, for each trade good it must be determined if the price in inflated or deflated. For each trade good roll 1d20 and use the table (well its not really a table) below to determine its price.

1 10% less than base price
2-4 5% less than base price
5-10 3% rest than base price
11-16 3% more than base price
17-19 5% more than base price
20 10% more than base price


Losing Goods:
While transporting goods can be profitable it also has its risks, for instance bandits are more likely to attack and goods can be ruined if exposed to rain.

[JoeJ]

I would definitely allow Wisdom (Insight) and/or Charisma (Persuasion) to influence the prices. In addition to buying and selling their own cargo, there should also be a chance to find a patron who will offer to pay the party to transport some type of goods/messages/passengers to some place.

I would not have any chance of random loss to bandits, storms, or other hazards. Instead, I'd actually play out the encounter, so the players retain some agency in protecting their investment. Remember that the PCs merchant expedition doesn't always have to run between adventures. Sometimes it can be the adventure.

[Nifft]

IMHO there are two ways to do this (with a secret third way also):

1 - Established Sundry Routes. Everyone knows that iron comes from the dwarves of Anvil Mountain, so if you ride up with a wagon, you can buy cheap iron there. If you're diplomatic about it, of course. But the thing is, since everyone knows this, you will face competition -- by which I mean knives and arrows -- from established trading organizations who operate in that area.

2 - Luxury Goods. Some things are NOT just common trade goods. They're precious and rare and you'll need to travel to exotic locations to get the stuff. You'll still get stabbed and shot at, but it won't be by people who dislike competition -- it'll be from regular bandits who want to steal your stuff.

3 - Manufactured Scarcity. What you do is, you create the demand yourself through crime or warfare, just like the RIAA. Two days before your caravan full of wine reaches town, you sneak into town and burn the biggest wine-warehouse.

[Louro]

Persuasion to get a lower price since you are buying large amounts of stuff, and Insight to get your hands on rumors about what goods could go high or low for future business. And maybe Investigation for... well, to tie all together (best routes, micromanagement, risk avoidance)

[Tallis]

There are rules for running a business in the DMG under downtime activities. They are very vague. Just a simple roll each day tells you how much you made or lost. If you really want your players to run the business you'll need more detail.

[druid91]

It also makes a point that trade goods (AKA raw materials/foodstuffs mostly) and Art Objects are the only things a PC can sell at full price. So don't be wandering blacksmiths.

[dragsvart]

I would definitely allow Wisdom (Insight) and/or Charisma (Persuasion) to influence the prices. In addition to buying and selling their own cargo, there should also be a chance to find a patron who will offer to pay the party to transport some type of goods/messages/passengers to some place.

I would not have any chance of random loss to bandits, storms, or other hazards. Instead, I'd actually play out the encounter, so the players retain some agency in protecting their investment. Remember that the PCs merchant expedition doesn't always have to run between adventures. Sometimes it can be the adventure.

I certainly considered checks (perhaps opposed Charisma (persuasion) rather than Insight) but I left that out to avoid cluttering up game time. the who point is to be something that can be done in 5 minutes while PCs are in town. checks would be better to be done with art objects and higher price stuff (although if the PCs what to go full merchant, let them)

and the random losses certainly be done in game (probably just an increase in random encounters) and the point is not to be run during downtime but while traveling from town to town or dungeon to dungeon (if PCs are going to neverwinter to talk to someone about a quest hook they can bring some trade goods and make a little extra cash)

[napoleon_in_rag]

some of my players baught a wagon and wanted to become merchants in their time between their adventures but there aren't any rules in the PHB or DMG or anywhere on the web to govern this. Until now that is...

Any input on this is very welcome.

In my opinion, the best 2E Campaign was Dark Sun. And one of the better supplements was "Dune Trader".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dune_Trader

It established the Dune Trader character class, which was a type of rogue. It also had lots of info on what cities where importing, exporting, merchant house, elven trading tribes, and how to run a merchant campaign.

As I recall, there were a lot of cool adventure hooks, like dealing with thieves guilds, or using a merchant as a cover for the Veiled Alliance. You probably will have a hard time finding it but this site sells a pdf copy for 4.99. Might be worth a look for you to give you ideas.

http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17182/DSR2-Dune-Trader-2e?it=1

[Louro]

My players are currently running a post office. At the beginning I had an excel spreadsheet to account for income based on what routes they open, city events, sabotage...

Now I just roll give them an average weekly income, based on how much interest, new ideas and investment they bring into the business. From time to time there is a problem which they may solve.

And while writing this I got a nice idea to link their business to the campaign... in an evil way of course :)

[Ninja_Prawn]

It also makes a point that trade goods (AKA raw materials/foodstuffs mostly) and Art Objects are the only things a PC can sell at full price. So don't be wandering blacksmiths.

I think when it says weapons and armour sell at half price, it's implied that it's talking about second-hand goods, and selling them to blacksmiths.

Also, the crafting rules (such as they are), say that it only costs half the value of an item in materials. So if my players tried to smith a sword, they'd pay half price in materials, and sell at full price, because it's brand new and being sold to the end user. Thus, they can make a profit.

[Broken Crown]

I think when it says weapons and armour sell at half price, it's implied that it's talking about second-hand goods, and selling them to blacksmiths.

Also, the crafting rules (such as they are), say that it only costs half the value of an item in materials. So if my players tried to smith a sword, they'd pay half price in materials, and sell at full price, because it's brand new and being sold to the end user. Thus, they can make a profit.

Interestingly, this implies that a smith's only material cost is the price of scrap metal. Perhaps in a world with abundant sources of magical fire, coking coal is a negligible expense.

[Louro]

Interestingly, this implies that a smith's only material cost is the price of scrap metal. Perhaps in a world with abundant sources of magical fire, coking coal is a negligible expense.

Let's assume that the word "material" includes coal, tools, metal... which makes half of the product cost, while the other half goes to salaries.

[Broken Crown]

But if the entire 50% of the price of the finished product is being paid to acquire scrap metal from adventurers (in the form of second-hand items), all the other materials must cost nothing!

(Unless the adventurers are assumed to be throwing in a sack of coal, free of charge, in order to sweeten the deal.)

[Ninja_Prawn]

But if the entire 50% of the price of the finished product is being paid to acquire scrap metal from adventurers (in the form of second-hand items), all the other materials must cost nothing!

(Unless the adventurers are assumed to be throwing in a sack of coal, free of charge, in order to sweeten the deal.)

Or perhaps you could fudge it by saying a certain percentage of 'scrap' from adventurers is actually good enough to re-sell at almost-full price, thus covering the cost of coke.

[JoeJ]

But if the entire 50% of the price of the finished product is being paid to acquire scrap metal from adventurers (in the form of second-hand items), all the other materials must cost nothing!

(Unless the adventurers are assumed to be throwing in a sack of coal, free of charge, in order to sweeten the deal.)

I think those rules only apply to PCs. Economic transactions between NPCs occur offstage, so there don't need to be any rules for them. Sort of like the way NPCs in the MM don't have classes or levels.