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Trading is a central gameplay mechanic in Baldur's Gate 3 revolving around the sale and barter of Items and Gold. Depending on which Character is talking a given Trader, including the trader's Attitude to the character, the character's Persuasion value, and the Difficulty setting of the game, a trade price multiplier is calculated. This multiplier is then applied to each item's inherent value, giving the prices for the character.
The price modifier is calculated as:
- P = max(1.0, 2.5 - persuasion modifier - difficulty modifier - attitude modifier)
An item's value is multiplied by the price modifier when buying, and divided by the modifier when selling, i.e. the smaller the total price modifier the better for the player.
Modifiers
Persuasion modifier
A character's Persuasion value affects prices. Positive values will make prices more favourable (higher when selling, lower when buying) and vice-versa. On Explorer difficulty, characters have a higher Persuasion value if they are proficient in Persuasion because the proficiency bonus is higher on that difficulty. Each Persuasion value point changes the total modifier by 0.1., as detailed below.
- Persuasion modifier = Persuasion value × 0.1
Game difficulty
Depending on the game difficulty set, the player receives certain advantages or disadvantages.
Explorer difficulty
On Explorer difficulty, the difficulty modifier is 0.5.
If a character is proficient in Persuasion, they will benefit from the higher Proficiency bonus this difficulty provides, depending on their character level, as detailed in the table below. This, in turn, increases the Persuasion modifier.
| Character level | Bonus (explorer difficulty) |
|---|---|
| 1 – 4 | +4 |
| 5 – 8 | +5 |
| 9 – 12 | +6 |
Tactician difficulty
In Tactician difficulty, the difficulty modifier is −0.5, meaning the total modifier is increased, making it more expensive to buy and lowering the sell price.
Trader attitude
A trader's Attitude score represents how friendly a trader NPC is with a certain character. Each point of Attitude changes the total modifier by 0.005, resulting in a maximum attitude modifier of 0.5 at 100 Attitude.
- Attitude modifier = Attitude × 0.005
Attitude is visible in the Trading interface under the trader model. Hovering on the meter displays the exact Attitude score. Attitude is per-character, and can be modified by friendly or hostile actions against an NPC. One of easiest ways to gain Attitude is by gifting Gold or other items to a trader using the Barter interface. The amount of gold required to gain attitude scales depending on the level of the player character.
| Level | Gold required to raise Attitude by 1 | Gold required to raise Attitude from 0 to 100 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | 400 |
| 2 | 5 | 500 |
| 3 | 6 | 600 |
| 4 | 8 | 800 |
| 5 | 10 | 1000 |
| 6 | 14 | 1400 |
| 7 | 18 | 1800 |
| 8 | 24 | 2400 |
| 9 | 30 | 3000 |
| 10 | 36 | 3600 |
| 11 | 45 | 4500 |
| 12 | 45 | 4500 |
When is it optimal to gift?
Assuming you are only looking to buy once from a trader, we can calculate the cutoff above which gifting saves more than the value gifted.
- price reduced per gift value = base value / level modifier × 0.005 > 1
If this value is above 1, every gold gifted is worth more in discounts, so you save by raising attitude to 100.
- base value > 200 × level modifier
For example, at level 4, this cutoff would be 200 × 8 = 1600. If you are buying more than 1600 total base value of items, you actually spend less total gold by gifting 800 gold to raise the trader's attitude to 100 first. Note that this refers to base value of items, not the price you see at 0 attitude, which is usually more than 2 times the base value (see price modifier at the top of the article).
You could also consider respeccing your character with Withers and, before levelling up, visiting the relevant merchant and gifting them 400 gold. The spend cutoff will be 200 x 4 + 100 x 2 = 1000.
Talking character
The trade price modifier is set depending on the character that initiates the dialogue with a trader. Even if the active inventory is switched in the trader screen, the first character's trade price modifier remains in use. It is thus a good idea to initiate all trade dialogues with the character that has the best trade multiplier.
See also
References
- GaRy van Thos Gaming, "How Merchant and Traders Attitude work and effect Prices in Baldur's Gate 3". youtube.com
- Annie Shi, "Baldur’s Gate 3: How To Raise Merchant Attitude". thegamer.com