Trader Prestige Class (Dark Sun Dune 5e Trader Conversion)

## Prestige Class: Trader
In a world full of magic, awe inspiring cultures and terrifying beasts, it is the humble trader that wields enormous influence. While the butt of many jokes, and often despised by city state leaders and monarchs, traders are popular with ordinary citizens. They are tolerated everywhere, for without them and the goods they bring life would come to a hungry and dull end.

While all traders aspire to become master of their own trading houses, most have to start small. They generally have no qualms about accompanying roving bands of adventurers, acting as negotiators and diplomats, appraising and bartering for treasure and supplies. It is, in fact, in the best interest of a trader to see the world, as it allows them to make new connections and find rare and exciting goods to share across the world.

Those adventurers that accompany a young trader often form the core of a new trading house, are adopted into their family as close friends, or live well as senior agents when the trader grows successful.

| Trader Level | Features |
|:---:|:---:
| 1st | Fast-talk |
| 2nd | Liquid Gold |
| 3rd | Eye for Detail|
| 4th | Desperate Haggling |
| 5th | Agency |
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## Prerequisites
* **Charisma 13.** A trader's livelihood depends on their ability to fast talk their competitors and gain the trust of their customers.
* **Intelligence or Wisdom 13.** Recognising the value of goods requires a wide basis of experience and knowledge.
* **Proficiency in Persuasion, Deception or Intimidation.** A trader needs a silver tongue to stay one step ahead of the competition.
* **Gain a trading license.** Traders live and die by the swaying of the market, and one of the major forces maintaining its stability is the governing body of the land. To profitably trade in large amounts of goods, taxes must be paid and legal documentation obtained to defend your rights in the eyes of the law. You cannot gain experience as a trader if you cannot practice your skills.

## Class Features
As a trader, you gain the following class features
#### Hit Points
___
- **Hit Dice:** 1d8 per trader level
- **Hit Points per Level:** 1d8 (or 5) plus your constitution bonus per trader level.

#### Proficiencies
___
- **Tools:** Calligrapher's Supplies, Cartographer's tools

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### Fast-talk
At 1st level, you learn the art of Fast-talking. It  is  the  art  of  distraction  and  conning.  You are able  to  persuade  your  target  to  cooperate  with  your schemes, and agree to your suggestions.  You  can fast-talk in many situations. You may  be  an  out-and-out  fraud,  such  as selling  worthless  merchandise  for  a  fortune  in  gold pieces. You may be persuading an assailant to stop and listen to reason. You may even simply bargain to gain a  better  price  for  an  ordinary  mercantile  shipment.

To fast-talk someone, tell the DM your plan, and they will allow you to make a *Deception, Intimidation, Performance or Persuasion* check. The DC to fast-talk someone is equal to **8 + their intelligence and wisdom modifiers**. If they are proficient in the insight skill, add their proficiency bonus to the DC. Further factors may increase the DC, at the DM's choices. If your skill check beats their DC, you have successfully fast-talked them.

Someone you have fast-talked, until reasonable evidence is provided, will believe what you tell them, agree to tasks you suggest, and may even turn on their allies. The effects of your fast-talk will wear off after 10 minutes have passed, or the goals of your fast talk plan have been achieved. If you fail to fast-talk a target, or the effects of your fast-talk have worn off, they become immune to it for the next 24 hours.

To be able to fast-talk a creature, you must be able to communicate with them in some way. A target with less than 3 intelligence cannot be fast-talked, nor can a target that is unconscious or petrified. If you injure or otherwise turn on someone you have fast talked, the effects ends on them.

*Fast-talking examples of increasing difficulty can be found at the end of the class description*.

### Liquid Gold
At second level, you learn that for many professions, both potions and poisons are valuable tools that can be the difference between life and death, a job well done and a task failed. The production of these solutions can be very profitable. As a trader, it is your prerogative to take advantage of this. Choose between **potions** or **poisons**:

**Potions.** If not already, you gain proficiency with the herbalist's kit. With access to a lab, you can brew a *tincture of healing*. The brewing process takes three days and costs 30gp in reagents. The tincture heals **1d4+1 hit points** per trader level when brewed.

**Poisons.** If not already, you gain proficiency with the poisoner's kit. With access to a lab, you can distil a *deadly toxin*. The distilling process takes two days and costs 75gp in reagents. When applied to a weapon or ingested,  the toxin deals **1d4 poison damage per trader level when brewed**, and the victim has to make a **constitution saving throw** or be poisoned for one hour. The save DC of your toxin is **8 + your intelligence modifier + your proficiency bonus**, and victims have disadvantage on their save if they ingest the toxin.

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### Eye for Detail
If you weren't already, you gain proficiency with appraiser's tools. During a short rest you can study an object (such as piece of equipment or a scroll), or a sample of a quantity of goods (such as a handful of grain from a sack) you learn the following information:
* Its base value, and what condition it is in.
* The quality of its production, and whether it is genuine or fake.
* If it is magical, and what properties it has.
* A brief history of its use, such as if it is used often, fixed regularly, sat on a mantlepiece or handled with little care.
* If it is part of a set, or missing any pieces.

### Desperate Haggling
At fourth level, your silver tongue can even bargain for your life. You can use your reaction to make an assailant stop in their tracks before they strike. When an enemy who you can communicate with targets you with an attack or harmful spell or ability, you can make a fast-talk check against them. This does not make the target immune to your Fast-talk ability. If you are successful, they cannot attack or try to harm you until the beginning of your next turn.  They can choose another target for the attack, spell or ability, but not if you would be directly harmed by it (such as being in the radius of a fireball.)

You can use this ability as many times as your Charisma modifier, and regain all uses after a long rest.

### Agency
Once you reach 5th level, your successful portfolio and renown as a shrewd dealer begins to attract agents. Agents are followers of exceptional skill and ability, and will work for you if their needs are met. Agents might produce rare goods, guard your caravans, or provide other services to you. You need not accept the services of every agent that approaches you. However, bear in mind that a dismissed agent might refuse to work with you in the future, or hold a grudge.

>Agents are a way for you to manage the affairs of your business without the need to watch over it. Agents are more loyal than regular hired aid, as they see you as inspiration for their own dreams and aspirations. It is unlikely that an agent would betray you, unless you gave them a particularly good reason.

#### Fast-talking Examples
| Difficulty  | Example | DC Modifier |
|:---:|:-----------:| :------: |
|  Easy  | Getting up to 10% more or less than an item's base value; persuading a target to believe a plausible exaggeration or lie | 0 |
|  Average  | Getting up to 20% more or less than an item's worth; persuading a moderate lie, such as "this gem is from a Red Dragon's hoard, and it very rare!"; convincing a single assailant of equal or lesser level not to attack | +1 |
|  Moderate  | Getting up to 30% more or less than an item's worth; persuading a target to believe an implausible falsehood, such as "if you kill me, you will be slain by a terrible curse!"; convincing a group of up to 10 assailants of equal or lesser level to not attack| +3 |
|  Hard  | Getting up to 40% more or less on an item's worth; persuading the target to believe an extremely implausible falsehood, such as "I am a powerful wizard and can strike you dead"; convincing 10-20 assailants of equal or lower level to not to attack | +5 |
|  Very Difficult  | Getting up to 40% more or less on an item's worth; persuading the target to believe a total falsehood, such as "I am a Red Dragon in disguise, fear me!"; convincing 20 assailants of higher level to not to attack | DM's Discretion |

The Dungeon Master may decide to award advantage or disadvantage to the fast-talk check based on the situation. A trader fast-talking someone who is charmed by them might have advantage on their check. Equally, a trader trying to fast-talk a stern guardsman catching them in the act of theft would have disadvantage.

When determining the fast-talk DC of a group of creatures, determine if the group works well together or not. If they are cohesive, use the highest intelligence and wisdom. If they are a disorganised mess, use the lowest stats instead.  
>Fast-talking is not a catch-all replacement for negotiating. Players should be aware that other traders may be just as smart, so careful planning and catering to the targets needs may yield more success than just sweet talking.

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### Trade Goods: Price per unit
Below are some sample trade goods and prices. They are a good collection of basic goods that would make their way from city to city, making up luxuries of different qualities, non-essentials and total frivolities.

Next to each item is listed the 'base cost', which is the raw value of each good. What each item actually sells for will change depending on the market it is in- war drives farmers away from their fields, increasing the price of foods, for example. Equally, buying a product at its source will be much cheaper than its base cost, as there is an abundance of it.

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### Trade Goods: Prices Codes
A simple way to visualise how prices can change in an economy is with price codes. These letters broadly describe the supply level of an item, and how to modify the base cost if trying to buy or sell goods.

When preparing a new city or region with its own economics, print out the tables to the left and go through, thinking about how each item might have an affect on the citizens of that area. You can even just highlight important goods to keep an eye on, as **such information can help set the scene in a new city or environment**.

#### Price Codes:
| Code  | Meaning| Suggested Change |
|:---:|:-----------:|:--|
|  **A**  | Supply is very low or non-existent; prices are going to be very high, even up to 5 or 10 times the base cost. This condition exists only as a result of extraordinary circumstances (war, natural disaster, fashionable craze, etc) or market manipulation by a trading house. It rarely persists for more than a few months. | **4x Base Cost +**
|  **B**  | Supply is low, demand and prices are high. A definite seller's market exists. Anyone supplying the needed goods stands to make a considerable profit. | **2 x Base Cost**
|  **C**  | Supply and demand are balanced. Prices are approximately at the base cost. The chance of making money on these good is about equal to the chance of losing, but both profit and loss will be moderate. | **Base Cost**
|  **D**  | Supply is high, demand and prices are low. These are places where one can buy large quantities of goods at reasonable prices and, with luck, transport them to a place where demands (and profits) are high. | **1/2 Base Cost**

### Random Market Fluctuation
Nothing can ever be certain in the world, especially concerning the value of stock on the market. Circumstances may change a city's economic conditions literally overnight. To simulate this, when  player goes to buy or sell a certain item, you can secretly roll percentile dice to determine the actual demand of the item.

Random fluctuation can also make a great **plot hook** for players; when they go to market to sell their goods, recent world shaking events have changed the city overnight.
#### Random Market Fluctuation
| **D100**  |  |
|:---:|:-----------:|
|  **Roll**  | **Result** |
|  01-75  | No change |
|  76-90  | Adjust price code by on letter (50% chance of either up or down) |
|  91-98  | Adjust price code by two letters |
|  99-00  | Adjust price code by three letters |

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