How much would it cost to skin a dragon?

[Jon_Dahl]

Players have hired an NPC master skinner to skin a juvenile red dragon that they have slain. The hide is extremely thick and strong and it gave the dragon +15 natural AC bonus. Any ideas how much I should charge them?

[Zanos]

Based on the description in the dragonhide material, there's enough skin and scales there for a suit of masterwork hide armor and a masterwork large shield for a medium creature. So the value of the extracted materials is (330+306)/3 = 212 gp.

A craftsmen probably shouldn't be charging more than the cost of the materials he's acquiring. 20-30% of the value of the material might be reasonable?

[MisterKaws]

According to the DMG, it would cost... three Silver Pieces. Since it's such a skilled guy, I think something around 10~15% of the price should be a good amount. Any more than that and it might become frustrating.

But well, they can also sell the meat for a ludicrous amount, and then make a ton of Dragonbone weapons...

[Zanos]

3 sp is the absolute minimum per day for a trained hireling. The section specifies that it is not unusual for skilled workers to charge much more.

[MisterKaws]

3 sp is the absolute minimum per day for a trained hireling. The section specifies that it is not unusual for skilled workers to charge much more.

I don't mean to be blunt, but... Isn't that exactly what I said?

[Jay R]

Don't think in terms of gold.

My NPC would ask for two claws, one fang, and 10-20% of the hide.

[elonin]

It would cost the amount that that craftsman can command for the time it takes. And they take the risk of ruining the piece if they take it to someone who misses the check badly enough

[Kelb_Panthera]

I don't think that a "skinner" is actually a thing. Hunters, trappers, tanners, and a few other types of skilled workers would know how to properly skin animals.

That out of the way, a dragon would actually likely be much easier to skin than most creatures. Larger animals with tougher hides are almost always easier to skin than smaller animals and animals with delicate hides (taxiderming birds sucks) because the layer of connective tissue that you don't want and need to cut through tends to be thicker and more easily attacked in such creatures. Some allowance can be made if the dragon is large enough that lifting or rolling its torso will prove difficult but it's otherwise not much more than an afternoon's work.

I certainly wouldn't see more than 3 gp being appropriate unless the "skinner" is taking your PC's for a ride.

[Jay R]

I don't think that a "skinner" is actually a thing. Hunters, trappers, tanners, and a few other types of skilled workers would know how to properly skin animals.

Yes, there actually are skinners. The Worshipful Company of Skinners (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worshipful_Company_of_Skinners) has had a Royal Charter since the 1300s.

Even though there are separate words skinner, tanner, and furrier, there's a great deal of overlap, and all three words and concepts exist.