This character class has been culled from a back issue of Dragon(tm) Magazine and details a character classes for use in a 1st Edition AD&D game.

Merchants: An NPC class

Gideon, a fighter of some renown, has just polished off a troll and is now ready to collect his winnings. He searches through the creature's lair and finds three topazes worth 500 gp each, a fur worth 800 gp, and a piece of jewelry worth - stop! Whoa! How does this fighter, who has difficulty counting when his gauntlets are on, know what a topaz is or what it's worth? The ability to identify and appraise valuable goods should be left to someone who is properly trained for this duty: that overlooked and underrated character, the merchant. The merchant class is an integral part of any AD&DŽ game society. Merchants are certainly the most commonly encountered NPCs, ranging from clerks in small general stores to merchant princes heading caravans along new trade routes. Merchants are found in all sectors of any civilized area, serving as fences for the thieves' guild in the lower-class part of town, as gem dealers who attend the queen, and as wool merchants who supply the tailors in the business district. These individuals form one of the most powerful groups in any realm. They control the money, and when money talks, many ears listen.

Merchants cannot be multiclassed, although many merchants are exadventurers who have quit their previous professions after collecting sufficient funds to go into business for themselves. Adventurers who change from their profession to that of the merchant class cannot use any of their former abilities until their merchant level exceeds their previous class level, or they lose all experience recently gathered. As a general rule, the merchant should be used mostly as an NPC class, although DMs may use the class as a PC class as they see fit. Some alterations in these rules may be necessary in this latter instance; these alterations are left to the DM's discretion. Table I shows what classes of NPC merchants are generally encountered. If a character class is indicated for an incompatible race (i.e., a half-elf illusionist), reroll the result. If the merchant in question is an ex-adventurer, and if the character was capable of being multiclassed in his adventuring days, roll again on this table to determine if he was multiclassed. For example, a half-elf rolls a 56, indicating he was a fighter. He rolls again and gets a 93, indicating he was a fighter/thief. If he had rolled again in the fighter class or as having no previous class, he would simply be a fighter. A third roll of 73 would make him a fighter/thief/magic-user. A maximum of three rolls is allowed, as this is the limit for multiclassed PCs.

Merchants are generally either halfelven or human, though DMs may wish to include merchant NPCs of other races as part of a demi-human community. Certain racial limitations and restrictions will apply; these may be gleaned from the Players Handbook or Dungeon Masters Guide.

Merchant characters use six-sided dice for hit dice, as per Thble 2. With regard to human and half-elven merchants, the following minimum ability scores apply; DMs may alter these figures as they deem necessary for other demi-human races:

With respect to weapon proficiencies, merchants receive two initial weapons and are assessed a -4 nonproficiency penalty. Merchant characters add one proficiency level for every four levels gained. In addition to these abilities, merchants have the power to read languages and find/remove traps as a thief of the same level. Merchants fight and make saving throws on the thief tables, unless they are ex-adventurers, in which case they may use the most advantageous tables as allowed by the dual-class rules. While merchants receive standard experience points for monsters and magic, they are awarded a 10% bonus on experience points gained from money. Merchants do not receive any experience points for money they acquired prior to becoming a merchant. Therefore, a fighter with 2,000 gp does not start his career as a merchant with 2,000 xp. There is, however, no restriction against using this money for investments with which he can earn both profits and experience points.

Merchants may be any of the lawful or neutral alignments. The frequency of these aliguments are as follows: lawful good (15%), lawful neutral (35%), lawful evil (10%), neutral good (15%), neutral (20%), and neutral evil (5%). Chaos is simply not conducive to good business.

Magical item and spell use

Appraising

Merchant caravans

If PCs encounter a caravan, the level of the merchant they deal with depends on how much merchandise the PCs plan to buy. If they are going to spend less than 500 gp, they will work with a 1st- or 2nd-level merchant. If they have between 500 and 3,000 gp, they will deal with one of the overseers; anything in excess of 3,000 gp will be handled by the head merchant himself.

Merchants naturally pay less for goods and merchandise, especially when making their purchases from individuals such as PCs. However, their funds are not as endless as most PCs seem to think. TabIe 6 shows the funds usually available to NPC merchants, though the DM may rule that certain ones are richer or poorer than indicated (especially ex-adventurers). Any merchant who is going to spend a considerable portion of his funds for a purchase verifies his appraisal with a higher-level merchant to avoid making any costly mistakes. Merchants appraise wares for each other for free if they share other trade-offs in business.

A purchase percentage is the percent of the appraised value a merchant will pay for an item. Higher-level merchants pay a smaller percentage because of their increased skills in bargaining.

Fast-talking

If the victim makes the saving throw, he most likely becomes irate and possibly violent. Therefore, an established businessman or trader working a regular route seldom uses this technique; doing so quickly gains the merchant a bad reputation. If for some reason the merchant is dealing with a monster, use the intelligence table in the Monster Manual, page 6, and the Dungeon Masters Guide, page 79, for wisdom notes. The merchant must be able to communicate with the victim to use the fast-talk ability.