For those interested, item values are coded in the protos.tab file and number given is in Copper pieces. A Dagger is 200 (2 GP) and a Longsword is 1500 (15 GP). With an Appraise of 0, you sell items to the correct vendor at 40% of its item value. Each additional rank in Appraise results in a 3% increase in selling price. If you have 17 ranks in Appraise that gives: 40 + 17(3) = 91 So you will be selling items at 91% of their value. Since an Appraise of 20 (total ranks, inclusive of Int and misc bonuses), should result in selling items at 100% of their value, I wonder if it is possible to exceed that value. If it is, it may be possible to sell an item for less than the buying price as the buying price also comes down in a decremental fashion with more Appraise ranks. If it is not, then an Appraise of more than 20 is not useful for selling things and if there is a similar limit for reducing buying prices at Appraise 20, then one need not have more than 20 ranks in that skill. I believe it possible to achieve Appraise > 20 in-game. A character may not have more ranks in a class skill than 3 + his level, so take a level 1 Rogue and max Appraise for 4 ranks. Next, increase Appraise by 1 every level to level 10 for 13 ranks. Taking Skill Focus: Appraise adds 3 ranks for 16 ranks. Int 18 gives an added 4 ranks, coupled with a Headband of Intellect +6 gives another 3 ranks. You can get a further +2 ranks (competence benefits) from the spell Heroism or Good Hope (these 2 do not stack). Therefore it is possible to have a grand total of Appraise = 25, legitimately. I would appreciate if someone with a pure, high level Rogue could do some further testing to see how extreme Appraise works. All above tests were done at the blacksmith at Hommlet.
now i could be wrong... But i thought that in D&D appraise was used to make a skill check on a DC20 vs. the vendor's appraise skill. THUS a more expereienced merchant will be harder to get reduced prices with than a blacksmith who freelances on the side. Anyone can verify that?
Not sure about 3.0, but I have quoted below a section of the 3.5e SRD: APPRAISE >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Check: You can appraise common or well-known objects with a DC 12 Appraise check. Failure means that you estimate the value at 50% to 150% (2d6+3 times 10%,) of its actual value. Appraising a rare or exotic item requires a successful check against DC 15, 20, or higher. If the check is successful, you estimate the value correctly; failure means you cannot estimate the item's value. Untrained: For common items, failure on an untrained check means no estimate. For rare items, success means an estimate of 50% to 150% (2d6+3 times 10%). A magnifying glass gives you a +2 circumstance bonus on Appraise checks involving any item that is small or highly detailed, such as a gem. A merchant's scale gives you a +2 circumstance bonus on Appraise checks involving any items that are valued by weight, including anything made of precious metals. These bonuses stack. A dwarf gets a +2 racial bonus on Appraise checks that are related to stone or metal items because dwarves are familiar with valuable items of all kinds (especially those made of stone or metal). The master of a raven familiar gains a +3 bonus on Appraise checks. A character with the Diligent feat gets a +2 bonus on Appraise checks. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Appraise in 3.5e appears only to be a estimator of item value. The more ranks makes you more accurate at correctly estimating the actual value. Not sure if it actually reduces store prices and helps you sell your items for more gold in PnP games but that's the way it's implemented in ToEE. In IWD2, if I remember correctly, Charisma was the stat that influenced buying/selling prices.
I've got a high-Appraise L10 bard and some old saves, so I looked into it. The following results are from the blacksmith in Hommlet, using a chain shirt (value=100gp, according to the SRD). Other items/merchants gave the same results, percentage-wise. Code: Appr. Buy Sell 0 160gp 40gp ... 16 112gp 88gp 17 109gp 91gp 18 106gp 93.99gp 19-25 103gp 97gp As you can see, the game caps buying and selling at 103% and 97%, so anything above 19 has no effect; no conning the merchants into taking a loss. It's nice to know how Appraise works, anyway.
Ahh... thanks a lot for completing the tests. Tis good to know that there still are minor details that the developers got right the first time in the game. Btw, since you have a high level Bard, I'm curious to know if you have managed to use Bardic Knowledge to identify items. The manual seems to give a few hints that it just may but a quick search through the Atari forums reveals no one having success with it. Is this feature implemented at all? Or perhaps you need a high level Bard before the benefits become appreciable. (just a thought in the same line of saving cash/getting more cash through Appraise )
Nope. If there's a way to use it through the interface, I can't find it. And it definitely doesn't work passively; my bard is the one who gets to lug all my unidentified stuff, and nothing has ever been auto-IDd for me. Looks like Troika skipped this one, for whatever reason.
