Darokin Merchant PrC [Archive] - Wizards Community

Darokin Merchant PrC [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
CmdrCorsiken
10-20-07, 04:30 PM Has anyone created a prestige class based on the Darokin Merchant class in GAZ 11?

I have tried a couple times, but can't get a good balance of flavor and playability.

Troy
havard
10-20-07, 08:57 PM Not yet. I am actually starting to wonder if it would work better as a Core Class, based on the Bard. A few of the low level spells, like Count Coins could be turned into class abilities to replace the Bard's musical abilities and the spell list would be altered, but otherwise the class would pretty much resemble the bard. What do you think? :)

Havard
CmdrCorsiken
10-20-07, 11:28 PM I haven't thought of making it a base class.... I was actaually trying to avoid it....

Your thoughts about the lower level OD&D spells being turned into class features follow my line of thinking. What about these abilities:

Quick Counting: Starting at 1st level, once per day for each class level, a Darokin Merchant can, as a full round action, determine the exact number of coins in a given pile or container. He must either run his hand through the pile or handle the container directly. If the coins are clearly visible, he can also determine what type of coins are present. At sixth level, he can do this as a standard action.
Appraiser’s Eye: At 2nd level a Darokin Merchant is able to more accurately determine the market price of items he examines. He is also more likely to notice a forgery or hidden signs of poor workmanship. He may add his Merchant level to appraise checks to determine an item’s market price, to forgery checks to detect a forged document, and to spot checks to notice faked items.
Efficient Travel: At 3rd level, a Darokin Merchant’s skills at organizing and running a traveling group streamline the usually time-consuming details. Any caravan or party with which the Merchant is traveling in a leadership or investor role moves at one mile per hour faster than normal.
Rapid Inventory: Once per day for each class level, a Darokin Merchant can, as a full round action, determine the exact contents of a 10 ft cube of merchandise. He must actually be able to see the merchandise to use this ability. At ninth level, he can do this as a standard action.
Smuggler’s Guile: At 7th level a Darokin Merchant is able to apply his business acumen to concealing the more shady aspects of his operation. He may add his Merchant level to sleight of hand or hide checks to conceal an item and to forgery checks to create faked documents.
Smoothing the Ride: At 8th level, a Merchant’s travel management skills help his team avoid many of the typical delays from difficult terrain and road conditions. Any caravan or party with which the Merchant is traveling in a leadership or investor role treats roads, trails, or lack thereof as one level better than the actual conditions. For example, a caravan of wagons traveling over a road calculates hourly and daily movement as if they were traveling over a highway. For details on overland movement modifiers, see page 164 of the Players Handbook.

I have also initially worked out a basic 4-level prepared arcane spell matrix based on intelligence. Plus a couple bonus feats thrown in.
CmdrCorsiken
10-25-07, 10:51 PM It occurred to me, while I was reading through Races of Destiny and Cityscape, that the 'traditional' D&D campaign may not really have a useful place for a Darokin Merchant. By 'traditional,' I'm thinking about the brave adventurers exploring ruins or traveling the wilds slaying evil humanoids, undead, and the like. A Darokin Merchant would be no more or less useful than a Dread Pirate in a deep dungeon campaign.

The more 'urban' flavor of the material in Races of Destiny and Cityscape opens up a lot of opportunities for a Darokin Merchant, just like Stormwrack provides for the Dread Pirate. Blend this with the trade and caravan information in GAZ 11, and you have plenty of campaign concepts which would be ideal for a Darokin Merchant player character.

So, the question is less about the playability, in general, of a Darokin Merchant presitge class, and more about appropriate balance of the class features relative to other prestige classes that would work in a campaign along side the Darokin Merchant. With that in mind, I'm working on finalizing a proposed Darokin Merchant prestige class. When finished, I would love to hear feedback on it.

Stay tuned....
Morphail_o
10-29-07, 02:36 AM I have one at the vaults[URL="http://www.pandius.com/mercprin.html"] here.

I made it an NPC class, but it could be taken by PCs (there is a great 'playing a commoner' thread in the general wizards board, for inspiration on NPC classes).

I never playtested it, and it is probably not very streamlined. But you can check it out for inspiration.
CmdrCorsiken
10-29-07, 10:19 PM Definitely some good inspiration there. I especially like the "Merchant's Knowledge" ability.

I'm about ready to share what I've developed; I just need to know how to get the table to display correctly in the post....
CmdrCorsiken
11-08-07, 09:13 PM OK. Here's my first real 'contribution' to the Mystara community. This is the first presentable draft of a Darokin Merchant prestige class.

I'm still not sure how playable it would be for a typical player.... Please share your thoughts.

Thanks!

DAROKIN MERCHANT

“That cursed Linton! He never checks the entire cargo against the manifest – everyone knows that. But this time, this one time … it’s like he knew, before he got to the caravan, that something was up. I pay my wizards good coin to make sure these sorts of mistakes don’t happen. Maybe it’s true, what they say of Darokin Merchants, that they have some sixth sense.” -- An anonymous Irendi Merchant.
In the Republic of Darokin, trading isn’t just a job for most people; it is a way of life. No matter what a person’s profession, every citizen must be skilled in the ‘art of the deal.’ Even adventurers visiting Darokin should hone their negotiating skills.
Most Darokin Merchants are experts in various professions and crafts who have risen to high positions among the merchant houses. Rogues and bards are among the adventuring classes which often pursue this career when their adventuring days are over, although some find a few levels of Darokin Merchant essential if they intend to operate at the highest levels of Republic society. Wizards occasionally choose to turn their arcane skills into a lucrative business, becoming Darokin Merchants of renowned skill.
NPC Darokin Merchants are the most powerful of business leaders in their communities. While they do not utilize blades or bows, they nonetheless frequently wage war with their enemies. Their weapons of choice: the daro or the dinar. Their lack of combat prowess in no way reduces the risk of making one an enemy, nor does it diminish their potential value as an ally.
Hit Die: d4

Requirements

Skills: Appraise 8 ranks, Bluff 4 ranks or Diplomacy 4 ranks, any one Craft, Perform, or Profession 4 ranks
Special: The character must either hail from the Republic of Darokin or must have worked for a Darokin merchant house for at least two years.

Class Skills

The Darokin Merchant’s class skills are Appraise, Bluff, Concentration, Decipher Script, Diplomacy, Forgery, Gather Information, Handle Animal, Intimidate, Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (geography), Listen, Perform, Profession, Sense Motive, Speak Language, Spellcraft, Spot.
Skill Points at Each Level: 6 + Int modifier.

Spells per Day
Level BAB Fort Ref Will Special 1 2 3 4

1st +0 +0 +0 +2 Quick Counting, Bonus Feat 0 - - -
2nd +1 +0 +0 +3 Appraiser’s Eye, Merchant’s Knowledge 1 - - -
3rd +1 +1 +1 +3 Efficient Travel 1 0 - -
4th +2 +1 +1 +4 Rapid Inventory 1 1 - -
5th +2 +1 +1 +4 Bonus feat 1 1 0 -
6th +3 +2 +2 +5 1 1 1 -
7th +3 +2 +2 +5 Smuggler’s Guile 2 1 1 0
8th +4 +2 +2 +6 Smoothing the Ride 2 1 1 1
9th +4 +3 +3 +6 Bonus feat 2 2 1 1
10th +5 +3 +3 +7 2 2 2 1

Class Features

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Darokin Merchants gain no weapon or armor proficiencies.
Spellcasting: A Darokin Merchant casts a limited number of arcane spells. To cast a spell, he must have an Intelligence score of at least 10 + the spell’s level. Bonus spells are based on Intelligence, and saves against these spells have a DC of 10 + spell level + the merchant’s Intelligence modifier. When he gets 0 spells of a given level, a he gets only bonus spells. A Darokin Merchant has access to any spell on the list (below) and can freely choose which to prepare.
Bonus feat: At 1st level, and every 4th level thereafter, a Darokin Merchant may select a feat from the following list: Alertness, Diligent, Lightning Reflexes, Negotiator, Persuasive, Skill Focus, Trustworthy, any Meta-magic. He must still meet all requirements for whatever feat he selects.
Quick Counting: Once per day for each class level, a Darokin Merchant can, as a full round action, determine the exact number of coins in a given pile or container. He must either run his hand through the pile or handle the container directly. If the coins are clearly visible, he can also determine what type of coins are present. At sixth level, he can do this as a standard action.
Appraiser’s Eye: At 2nd level a Darokin Merchant is able to more accurately determine the market price of items he examines. He is also more likely to notice a forgery or hidden signs of poor workmanship. He may add his Merchant level to Appraise checks to determine an item’s market price and to Spot checks to notice faked items.
Merchant’s Knowledge: A Merchant’s frequent travel exposes him to a great deal of diverse knowledge and lore. Starting at 2nd level, he can tap into this knowledge just as a bard does. This ability functions as bardic knowledge using the Merchant level instead of bard level. If the Merchant also has levels of bard, his Merchant levels instead stack with his bard level to determine the Knowledge bonus.
Efficient Travel: At 3rd level, a Darokin Merchant’s skills at organizing and running a traveling group streamline the usually time-consuming details. Any caravan or party with which the Merchant is traveling in a leadership or investor role moves at one mile per hour faster than normal.
Rapid Inventory: Once per day for each class level, a Darokin Merchant can, as a full round action, determine the exact contents of a 10 ft cube of merchandise. He must actually be able to see the merchandise to use this ability. At ninth level, he can do this as a standard action.
Smuggler’s Guile: At 7th level a Darokin Merchant is able to apply his business acumen to concealing the more shady aspects of his operation or to detecting someone else’s illicit conduct. He may add his Merchant level to Sleight of Hand or Hide checks to conceal an item and to Forgery checks to create faked documents. He may also apply his Merchant level to Spot or Search checks to locate hidden objects and to Forgery checks to detect falsified documents.
Smoothing the Ride: At 8th level, a Merchant’s travel management skills help his team avoid many of the typical delays from difficult terrain and road conditions. Any caravan or party with which the Merchant is traveling in a leadership or investor role treats roads, trails, or lack thereof as one level better than the actual conditions. For example, a caravan of wagons traveling over a road calculates hourly and daily movement as if they were traveling over a highway. For details on overland movement modifiers, see page 164 of the Players Handbook.

Darokin Merchant Spell List

1st level – Alarm, Calm Animals, Detect Magic, Endure Elements, Know Direction, Light, Mending, Message
2nd level – Arcane Lock, Charm Animal, Charm Person, Eagle’s Splendor, Fox’s Cunning, Locate Object, Owl’s Wisdom
3rd level – Darkvision, Find Traps, Glibness, Nondetection, Quench, Shrink Item
4th level – Detect Scrying, Freedom of Movement, Leomund’s Secure Shelter, Sending
CmdrCorsiken
05-30-08, 05:43 PM I'm thinking about adding an ability based on the Resourceful Buyer feat from Races of Destiny. For the Darokin Merchant, it would work both ways, as a buyer and seller. I might call it Resourceful Dealer or something similar.
Cthulhudrew
05-30-08, 06:47 PM Just a quick glance through, but your PrC seems pretty interesting so far.

The thing that I always got hung up on with conversions of the Darokin Merchant and Minrothad Merchant-Prince was just in the nature of class progression (ie, experience).

In OD&D both classes (IIRC, I may be wrong about the Merchant-Prince) gain XP through business transactions, rather than combat, which seems about right. 3E doesn't really have a terribly good system for dealing with mercantile transactions (not in terms of complexity like the rules in the Gazetteers, anyway- they are very simple and don't allow for a lot of leeway in 3E as they stand).

Given that, and that gaining XP through combat didn't seem in flavor for either class, I wasn't sure how to deal with them adequately.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
CmdrCorsiken 10-20-07, 04:30 PM	Has anyone created a prestige class based on the Darokin Merchant class in GAZ 11? I have tried a couple times, but can't get a good balance of flavor and playability. Troy
havard 10-20-07, 08:57 PM	Not yet. I am actually starting to wonder if it would work better as a Core Class, based on the Bard. A few of the low level spells, like Count Coins could be turned into class abilities to replace the Bard's musical abilities and the spell list would be altered, but otherwise the class would pretty much resemble the bard. What do you think? :) Havard
CmdrCorsiken 10-20-07, 11:28 PM	I haven't thought of making it a base class.... I was actaually trying to avoid it.... Your thoughts about the lower level OD&D spells being turned into class features follow my line of thinking. What about these abilities: Quick Counting: Starting at 1st level, once per day for each class level, a Darokin Merchant can, as a full round action, determine the exact number of coins in a given pile or container. He must either run his hand through the pile or handle the container directly. If the coins are clearly visible, he can also determine what type of coins are present. At sixth level, he can do this as a standard action. Appraiser’s Eye: At 2nd level a Darokin Merchant is able to more accurately determine the market price of items he examines. He is also more likely to notice a forgery or hidden signs of poor workmanship. He may add his Merchant level to appraise checks to determine an item’s market price, to forgery checks to detect a forged document, and to spot checks to notice faked items. Efficient Travel: At 3rd level, a Darokin Merchant’s skills at organizing and running a traveling group streamline the usually time-consuming details. Any caravan or party with which the Merchant is traveling in a leadership or investor role moves at one mile per hour faster than normal. Rapid Inventory: Once per day for each class level, a Darokin Merchant can, as a full round action, determine the exact contents of a 10 ft cube of merchandise. He must actually be able to see the merchandise to use this ability. At ninth level, he can do this as a standard action. Smuggler’s Guile: At 7th level a Darokin Merchant is able to apply his business acumen to concealing the more shady aspects of his operation. He may add his Merchant level to sleight of hand or hide checks to conceal an item and to forgery checks to create faked documents. Smoothing the Ride: At 8th level, a Merchant’s travel management skills help his team avoid many of the typical delays from difficult terrain and road conditions. Any caravan or party with which the Merchant is traveling in a leadership or investor role treats roads, trails, or lack thereof as one level better than the actual conditions. For example, a caravan of wagons traveling over a road calculates hourly and daily movement as if they were traveling over a highway. For details on overland movement modifiers, see page 164 of the Players Handbook. I have also initially worked out a basic 4-level prepared arcane spell matrix based on intelligence. Plus a couple bonus feats thrown in.
CmdrCorsiken 10-25-07, 10:51 PM	It occurred to me, while I was reading through Races of Destiny and Cityscape, that the 'traditional' D&D campaign may not really have a useful place for a Darokin Merchant. By 'traditional,' I'm thinking about the brave adventurers exploring ruins or traveling the wilds slaying evil humanoids, undead, and the like. A Darokin Merchant would be no more or less useful than a Dread Pirate in a deep dungeon campaign. The more 'urban' flavor of the material in Races of Destiny and Cityscape opens up a lot of opportunities for a Darokin Merchant, just like Stormwrack provides for the Dread Pirate. Blend this with the trade and caravan information in GAZ 11, and you have plenty of campaign concepts which would be ideal for a Darokin Merchant player character. So, the question is less about the playability, in general, of a Darokin Merchant presitge class, and more about appropriate balance of the class features relative to other prestige classes that would work in a campaign along side the Darokin Merchant. With that in mind, I'm working on finalizing a proposed Darokin Merchant prestige class. When finished, I would love to hear feedback on it. Stay tuned....
Morphail_o 10-29-07, 02:36 AM	I have one at the vaults[URL="http://www.pandius.com/mercprin.html"] here. I made it an NPC class, but it could be taken by PCs (there is a great 'playing a commoner' thread in the general wizards board, for inspiration on NPC classes). I never playtested it, and it is probably not very streamlined. But you can check it out for inspiration.
CmdrCorsiken 10-29-07, 10:19 PM	Definitely some good inspiration there. I especially like the "Merchant's Knowledge" ability. I'm about ready to share what I've developed; I just need to know how to get the table to display correctly in the post....
CmdrCorsiken 11-08-07, 09:13 PM	OK. Here's my first real 'contribution' to the Mystara community. This is the first presentable draft of a Darokin Merchant prestige class. I'm still not sure how playable it would be for a typical player.... Please share your thoughts. Thanks! DAROKIN MERCHANT “That cursed Linton! He never checks the entire cargo against the manifest – everyone knows that. But this time, this one time … it’s like he knew, before he got to the caravan, that something was up. I pay my wizards good coin to make sure these sorts of mistakes don’t happen. Maybe it’s true, what they say of Darokin Merchants, that they have some sixth sense.” -- An anonymous Irendi Merchant. In the Republic of Darokin, trading isn’t just a job for most people; it is a way of life. No matter what a person’s profession, every citizen must be skilled in the ‘art of the deal.’ Even adventurers visiting Darokin should hone their negotiating skills. Most Darokin Merchants are experts in various professions and crafts who have risen to high positions among the merchant houses. Rogues and bards are among the adventuring classes which often pursue this career when their adventuring days are over, although some find a few levels of Darokin Merchant essential if they intend to operate at the highest levels of Republic society. Wizards occasionally choose to turn their arcane skills into a lucrative business, becoming Darokin Merchants of renowned skill. NPC Darokin Merchants are the most powerful of business leaders in their communities. While they do not utilize blades or bows, they nonetheless frequently wage war with their enemies. Their weapons of choice: the daro or the dinar. Their lack of combat prowess in no way reduces the risk of making one an enemy, nor does it diminish their potential value as an ally. Hit Die: d4 Requirements Skills: Appraise 8 ranks, Bluff 4 ranks or Diplomacy 4 ranks, any one Craft, Perform, or Profession 4 ranks Special: The character must either hail from the Republic of Darokin or must have worked for a Darokin merchant house for at least two years. Class Skills The Darokin Merchant’s class skills are Appraise, Bluff, Concentration, Decipher Script, Diplomacy, Forgery, Gather Information, Handle Animal, Intimidate, Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (geography), Listen, Perform, Profession, Sense Motive, Speak Language, Spellcraft, Spot. Skill Points at Each Level: 6 + Int modifier. Spells per Day Level BAB Fort Ref Will Special 1 2 3 4 1st +0 +0 +0 +2 Quick Counting, Bonus Feat 0 - - - 2nd +1 +0 +0 +3 Appraiser’s Eye, Merchant’s Knowledge 1 - - - 3rd +1 +1 +1 +3 Efficient Travel 1 0 - - 4th +2 +1 +1 +4 Rapid Inventory 1 1 - - 5th +2 +1 +1 +4 Bonus feat 1 1 0 - 6th +3 +2 +2 +5 1 1 1 - 7th +3 +2 +2 +5 Smuggler’s Guile 2 1 1 0 8th +4 +2 +2 +6 Smoothing the Ride 2 1 1 1 9th +4 +3 +3 +6 Bonus feat 2 2 1 1 10th +5 +3 +3 +7 2 2 2 1 Class Features Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Darokin Merchants gain no weapon or armor proficiencies. Spellcasting: A Darokin Merchant casts a limited number of arcane spells. To cast a spell, he must have an Intelligence score of at least 10 + the spell’s level. Bonus spells are based on Intelligence, and saves against these spells have a DC of 10 + spell level + the merchant’s Intelligence modifier. When he gets 0 spells of a given level, a he gets only bonus spells. A Darokin Merchant has access to any spell on the list (below) and can freely choose which to prepare. Bonus feat: At 1st level, and every 4th level thereafter, a Darokin Merchant may select a feat from the following list: Alertness, Diligent, Lightning Reflexes, Negotiator, Persuasive, Skill Focus, Trustworthy, any Meta-magic. He must still meet all requirements for whatever feat he selects. Quick Counting: Once per day for each class level, a Darokin Merchant can, as a full round action, determine the exact number of coins in a given pile or container. He must either run his hand through the pile or handle the container directly. If the coins are clearly visible, he can also determine what type of coins are present. At sixth level, he can do this as a standard action. Appraiser’s Eye: At 2nd level a Darokin Merchant is able to more accurately determine the market price of items he examines. He is also more likely to notice a forgery or hidden signs of poor workmanship. He may add his Merchant level to Appraise checks to determine an item’s market price and to Spot checks to notice faked items. Merchant’s Knowledge: A Merchant’s frequent travel exposes him to a great deal of diverse knowledge and lore. Starting at 2nd level, he can tap into this knowledge just as a bard does. This ability functions as bardic knowledge using the Merchant level instead of bard level. If the Merchant also has levels of bard, his Merchant levels instead stack with his bard level to determine the Knowledge bonus. Efficient Travel: At 3rd level, a Darokin Merchant’s skills at organizing and running a traveling group streamline the usually time-consuming details. Any caravan or party with which the Merchant is traveling in a leadership or investor role moves at one mile per hour faster than normal. Rapid Inventory: Once per day for each class level, a Darokin Merchant can, as a full round action, determine the exact contents of a 10 ft cube of merchandise. He must actually be able to see the merchandise to use this ability. At ninth level, he can do this as a standard action. Smuggler’s Guile: At 7th level a Darokin Merchant is able to apply his business acumen to concealing the more shady aspects of his operation or to detecting someone else’s illicit conduct. He may add his Merchant level to Sleight of Hand or Hide checks to conceal an item and to Forgery checks to create faked documents. He may also apply his Merchant level to Spot or Search checks to locate hidden objects and to Forgery checks to detect falsified documents. Smoothing the Ride: At 8th level, a Merchant’s travel management skills help his team avoid many of the typical delays from difficult terrain and road conditions. Any caravan or party with which the Merchant is traveling in a leadership or investor role treats roads, trails, or lack thereof as one level better than the actual conditions. For example, a caravan of wagons traveling over a road calculates hourly and daily movement as if they were traveling over a highway. For details on overland movement modifiers, see page 164 of the Players Handbook. Darokin Merchant Spell List 1st level – Alarm, Calm Animals, Detect Magic, Endure Elements, Know Direction, Light, Mending, Message 2nd level – Arcane Lock, Charm Animal, Charm Person, Eagle’s Splendor, Fox’s Cunning, Locate Object, Owl’s Wisdom 3rd level – Darkvision, Find Traps, Glibness, Nondetection, Quench, Shrink Item 4th level – Detect Scrying, Freedom of Movement, Leomund’s Secure Shelter, Sending
CmdrCorsiken 05-30-08, 05:43 PM	I'm thinking about adding an ability based on the Resourceful Buyer feat from Races of Destiny. For the Darokin Merchant, it would work both ways, as a buyer and seller. I might call it Resourceful Dealer or something similar.
Cthulhudrew 05-30-08, 06:47 PM	Just a quick glance through, but your PrC seems pretty interesting so far. The thing that I always got hung up on with conversions of the Darokin Merchant and Minrothad Merchant-Prince was just in the nature of class progression (ie, experience). In OD&D both classes (IIRC, I may be wrong about the Merchant-Prince) gain XP through business transactions, rather than combat, which seems about right. 3E doesn't really have a terribly good system for dealing with mercantile transactions (not in terms of complexity like the rules in the Gazetteers, anyway- they are very simple and don't allow for a lot of leeway in 3E as they stand). Given that, and that gaining XP through combat didn't seem in flavor for either class, I wasn't sure how to deal with them adequately.