Mewtarthio
2007-10-23, 01:49 PM
Note that this spell was designed to work with Rich Burlew's variant Diplomacy (http://www.giantitp.com/articles/jFppYwv7OUkegKhONNF.html). If rules without risk/reward analysis are in effect, only the "called creatures" aspect of the spell applies.
Price Discrimination
Divination
Level: Sor/Wiz 5, Beguiler 4
Components: S, F
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Close
Targets: 1 creature willing to negociate
Duration: Instantaneous or 1 round/level (see text)
Saving Throw: Will negates
Spell Resistance: Yes
You determine how much a person is willing to pay, or how much he is willing to accept, to make a deal work. When casting the spell, you must specify a variable, quantified form of currency and a transaction of goods or services that the target is willing to make with you. You instantly know exactly how much currency must change hands for the subject to consider the deal Fantastic, Favorable, Even, Unfavorable, or Horrible. Note that the spell only reveals how a subject will react to the "risk vs reward" aspect of the deal; you gain no special insight on any other factors influencing his judgement, such as his opinion of you or his business savvy.
In order to gain information from this spell, the subject must be willing and prepared to negociate all items in the deal with you. For instance, you could not cast this spell on a shifty advisor to see if he'd pay you to kill the king; you would first have to convince him that he could trust you with that task, and then you could cast this spell to set the price. Note that merchants are considered to be willing to negociate the price of their own goods, and the local currency (usually gp) is considered viable payment by default (though there may still be people unwilling to allow an exchange for any reasonable price).
The currency in question need not necessarily be trade goods, but it must be a quantifiable amount of essentially similar product. For instance, if you have recently raided a garrison filled with masterwork swords, you could cast the spell to determine how many masterwork longswords the target will accept as payment for a task. You could not, however, cast this spell with regards to magic swords, as magic swords are varied enough that different swords could be valued differently (though casting the spell with regards to +1 flaming longswords is acceptable). Naturally, such esoteric methods of payment are rarely used. The most common non-trade good used as currency is services: In this case, the spell returns the length of time the one provided the service will be considered indebted to the other.
This spell has a special use with regards to creatures called by spells such as planar binding or planar ally. During the negociation of the service to be performed by the called creature, a successful casting of price discrimination allows you to determine how the creature will react to your requests. You may mentally try one request per round for up to one round per level and learn how that request will interact with the particular calling effect. For instance, casting this spell on a creature trapped by planar binding reveals the bonus to your Charisma check you will recieve upon making the offer, and casting it on a planar ally reveals if the creature will offer a discount or markup for that particular task. Some Outsiders have been known to voluntarily fail their saves if they believe the caster has something particularly tempting to offer them.
Arcane Focus: A sample of the currency used in the pricing. If the spell is cast with regards to services over a period of time, the focus is a written description of what will be expected of the debtor during the period of debt. This is generally a legal contract that the parties will sign at the conclusion of the negociation.
Price Discrimination
Divination
Level: Sor/Wiz 5, Beguiler 4
Components: S, F
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Close
Targets: 1 creature willing to negociate
Duration: Instantaneous or 1 round/level (see text)
Saving Throw: Will negates
Spell Resistance: Yes
You determine how much a person is willing to pay, or how much he is willing to accept, to make a deal work. When casting the spell, you must specify a variable, quantified form of currency and a transaction of goods or services that the target is willing to make with you. You instantly know exactly how much currency must change hands for the subject to consider the deal Fantastic, Favorable, Even, Unfavorable, or Horrible. Note that the spell only reveals how a subject will react to the "risk vs reward" aspect of the deal; you gain no special insight on any other factors influencing his judgement, such as his opinion of you or his business savvy.
In order to gain information from this spell, the subject must be willing and prepared to negociate all items in the deal with you. For instance, you could not cast this spell on a shifty advisor to see if he'd pay you to kill the king; you would first have to convince him that he could trust you with that task, and then you could cast this spell to set the price. Note that merchants are considered to be willing to negociate the price of their own goods, and the local currency (usually gp) is considered viable payment by default (though there may still be people unwilling to allow an exchange for any reasonable price).
The currency in question need not necessarily be trade goods, but it must be a quantifiable amount of essentially similar product. For instance, if you have recently raided a garrison filled with masterwork swords, you could cast the spell to determine how many masterwork longswords the target will accept as payment for a task. You could not, however, cast this spell with regards to magic swords, as magic swords are varied enough that different swords could be valued differently (though casting the spell with regards to +1 flaming longswords is acceptable). Naturally, such esoteric methods of payment are rarely used. The most common non-trade good used as currency is services: In this case, the spell returns the length of time the one provided the service will be considered indebted to the other.
This spell has a special use with regards to creatures called by spells such as planar binding or planar ally. During the negociation of the service to be performed by the called creature, a successful casting of price discrimination allows you to determine how the creature will react to your requests. You may mentally try one request per round for up to one round per level and learn how that request will interact with the particular calling effect. For instance, casting this spell on a creature trapped by planar binding reveals the bonus to your Charisma check you will recieve upon making the offer, and casting it on a planar ally reveals if the creature will offer a discount or markup for that particular task. Some Outsiders have been known to voluntarily fail their saves if they believe the caster has something particularly tempting to offer them.
Arcane Focus: A sample of the currency used in the pricing. If the spell is cast with regards to services over a period of time, the focus is a written description of what will be expected of the debtor during the period of debt. This is generally a legal contract that the parties will sign at the conclusion of the negociation.