value of monster eggs based on challenge rating?

[MonkeySage]

My players just raided a basilisk nest and netted an egg out of it. the alchemist wants to sell it, and I'm wondering if the price should roughly reflect the creatures challenge rating. she scored a nat 20(30) on her appraisel check.

[Kalmageddon]

I guess so.
You could use the Pegasus and the Griffin eggs price as a unit of measure, they are listed in the book if I'm not mistaken.

[goto124]

Why not hatch the basilisk! A baby basilisk would be so cute!

Or, just make a giant omelette, and eat it. Or sell it.

[golentan]

Why not hatch the basilisk! A baby basilisk would be so cute!

Or, just make a giant omelette, and eat it. Or sell it.

Name it Mr. Peppy!

[Inevitability]

Name it Mr. Peppy!

'The hatchling crawls out of the egg and looks up to you with big happy eyes. Make a fortitude saving throw.'

Yeah that's going to work.

[awa]

it should be based on cr a little, its rarity and if it is in anyway useful should factor much more highly, griffins and Pegasus can be trained to be flying mounts so there value should be really high compared to an equally common but less useful critter.

[MonkeySage]

Nisha, the alchemist, comes from a culture that pretty much worships coin. They have little to no agriculture, instead focused on mining and harvesting resources from other regions, then selling them to other kingdoms. Nobody there sees anything wrong with selling even one's own children into slavery to get out of debt(though parents still dread the thought). Mercantilism gone mad, pretty much. As a tiefling, Nisha has always lived with second class status in that culture, and was legally banned from studying actual magic. Coin would be the first thing that she'd think of. On the other hand, the dwarven druid in the group may take interest in having a basilisk as a pet. So I was gonna let them handle that much amongst themselves. Nisha's player is speaking to Norefire's player about how they might handle it in game. I think I'll treat the basilisk as a pet, rather than as an animal companion, until the dwarf gets the proper feat to take it as an animal companion. That's assuming Nisha doesn't decide to to sell the egg instead. Right now they're living in a feudal warrior culture similar to the vikings, and most people do not trade in coin(also other than the witches that rule a nearby kingdom, spellcasters are exceedingly rare). It will be some time before the egg can be sold to anyone.

Actually, the kingdom they're in now was annexed by an empire that's trying to spread mercantilism.

[Jay R]

The most crucial questions aren't CR. They are:

1. Can a basilisk be raised in captivity?
2. Can a basilisk be trained?
3. Is there a use for a grown, captive basilisk?

Dragon eggs are valuable because dragons can be used.

[goto124]

'The hatchling crawls out of the egg and looks up to you with big happy eyes. Make a fortitude saving throw.'

Yeah that's going to work.

If the DM wants to make the basilisk a pet, this has to go.

Or put a blindfold on it.

[Fable Wright]

The most crucial questions aren't CR. They are:

1. Can a basilisk be raised in captivity?
2. Can a basilisk be trained?
3. Is there a use for a grown, captive basilisk?

Dragon eggs are valuable because dragons can be used.

Respectively, yes, yes, and yes. Basilisks, in the D&D universe, can be trained to not use their gaze attack on a regular basis, or to use it on command. They make fantastic guard creatures, and in Eberron, at least, are semi-common pets for medusas.

As for rough pricing guidelines, Lords of Madness pegs a given creature at CR^2*100gp. For a basilisk, that's 2500gp. Given that pegasus eggs (...because they apparently lay eggs in D&D) are valued at 2000gp, this actually seems fairly reasonable. Basilisks are more dangerous and have a smaller market, but are strong enough and useful enough as guard animals to be worth more than pegusi on the whole, despite the fact that pegusi are the fastest terrestrial and aerial mounts you can buy.

[Algeh]

While I'm not much help on pricing, are you planning to make them keep the egg under certain conditions so that it will hatch rather than die before hatching?

I don't know offhand about D&D rules for hatching monster eggs, but I do know something about chickens, and with those you have to do things like keep the eggs at the proper temperature (which is generally done by either keeping them under a live chicken or in an incubator). Also, they hatch on a schedule, which could be an issue for your PCs if they can't reasonably sell the egg before it hatches. The specific requirements and timing vary by real-life species, but if you want to make a big production out of this it would give you an opportunity. Just read up a bit on how it works in a real-world species like chickens (incubating chicken eggs is a common little kid science project, so there are probably plenty of online resources on the subject) and add/modify whatever you think would be appropriate for a magical species.

This would also affect pricing if keep the egg viable was particularly difficult/expensive, since your buyer would be paying for the value of that labor as well and it would probably make them even less common on the market. A non-viable egg would presumably be much less valuable unless it's a spell component for something particularly awesome or some such thing.

Basically, this is the kind of (possibly player-instigated) non-combat sidequest that would have kept me amused as a DM for weeks between them fussing over the egg and trying to find a suitable buyer before it hatched. I'm kind of disappointed I've never had players try it now. I may have to throw a few obvious opportunities in the next time I have players wandering the wilderness...

[Tiri]

Poke its eyes out.

[chadmeister]

Get some cockatrice eggs, and dragon eggs and Rok eggs, whip up a batch of Scrambled Eggs Super ala Peter T. Hooper.

[Lord Torath]

While I'm not much help on pricing, are you planning to make them keep the egg under certain conditions so that it will hatch rather than die before hatching?

I don't know offhand about D&D rules for hatching monster eggs, but I do know something about chickens, and with those you have to do things like keep the eggs at the proper temperature (which is generally done by either keeping them under a live chicken or in an incubator). Also, they hatch on a schedule, which could be an issue for your PCs if they can't reasonably sell the egg before it hatches. The specific requirements and timing vary by real-life species, but if you want to make a big production out of this it would give you an opportunity. Just read up a bit on how it works in a real-world species like chickens (incubating chicken eggs is a common little kid science project, so there are probably plenty of online resources on the subject) and add/modify whatever you think would be appropriate for a magical species.

This would also affect pricing if keep the egg viable was particularly difficult/expensive, since your buyer would be paying for the value of that labor as well and it would probably make them even less common on the market. A non-viable egg would presumably be much less valuable unless it's a spell component for something particularly awesome or some such thing.

Basically, this is the kind of (possibly player-instigated) non-combat sidequest that would have kept me amused as a DM for weeks between them fussing over the egg and trying to find a suitable buyer before it hatched. I'm kind of disappointed I've never had players try it now. I may have to throw a few obvious opportunities in the next time I have players wandering the wilderness...

Lizard eggs might be more useful here. Komodo dragons, iguanas, monitor lizards, maybe even geckos and chameleons. Check to see how warm the eggs must be kept. I know that alligators build "compost" nests that heat up as the interior material decays, generating the heat to keep the eggs warm. I'm not sure how other reptiles incubate their eggs. Sea turtles bury them in the sand, and I suspect a lot of desert-dwellers do the same.

Sounds like a great "adventure" idea, though! I'll have to have my players encounter some griffon/wyvern/whatever eggs when they're exploring the Ilse of Dread.