Appropriate Appraise DCs?

[senrath]

In my most recent campaign, I'm planning on giving out most of the wealth in the form of gems and jewels, with the total actually being a fair bit over WBL. However, since the gems are a highly concentrated source of wealth, and there won't be many big cities, I figure that's okay.

Anyway, back to the question at hand: How should I assign appraise DCs to the gems? I don't want to use the fixed DC12, because I don't want the party to accurately appraise the gems every time, but I do want to give them a shot at it. The group is starting at level 1, by the way, and consists of around 4-6 people.

[Dr Bwaa]

Honestly DC 12 is probably pretty fair, since no one ever spends their precious skill points on Appraise. If you've told your party they'll need it, that's a different story, but keeping it a level 12 or maybe up to 14 seems to me like they'll identify the correct value about 50% of the time without putting many points into it.

[Lochar]

DC: 10 + (Value of Gem/100).

That way, the lesser gems are fairly easily identified, but you give them a gem worth a couple thousand gold and suddenly they can't agree on it's value and take it to an expert.

[senrath]

DC: 10 + (Value of Gem/100).

That way, the lesser gems are fairly easily identified, but you give them a gem worth a couple thousand gold and suddenly they can't agree on it's value and take it to an expert.

Thanks Lochar, this is exactly what I was looking for. I might fiddle with the base DC a bit, though.

[Kioran]

Thanks Lochar, this is exactly what I was looking for. I might fiddle with the base DC a bit, though.

Everything in D&D progresses geometrically - and nobody is going to be able to make a DC 60 check for a precious stone. I´d recommend: 15 + square root (Value/25), giving:

100 GP = DC 17
500 GP = DC 19
1000 GP = DC 21
5000 GP = DC 29

That is, unless you are somewhat less mathematically inclined.