Trading and item pricing
In Baldur's Gate 3, there are multiple factors which may determine the price at which you buy or sell items:
- The talking character
- The talking character's Persuasion skill modifier
- The adventure (game) difficulty
- The talking character's level
- The trader's Attitude score
The Talking Character
The item prices and trader's Attitude score are determined by the character that initiates the conversation with the trader NPC. It's what we refer to as "the talking character".
Example:
You're a party of 4 characters: Gale, Wyll, Astarion and Karlach. If you initiate the trading conversation with Wyll, then the trader will adjust its prices to Wyll only. If you're in the trading interface and decide to switch between other character's inventories, the trader still has his prices and Attitude adjusted to Wyll. Therefore, Wyll is the talking character in this example situation.
Tip: It is a common strategy to use the character with highest Persuasion score to interact with traders and boost trader's Attitude with that character only.
Persuasion Skill Modifier
Depending on the talking character's Persuasion modifier, item prices will be higher (if modifier is less than 0) or lower (if modifier is greater than 0).
- Each negative/positive modifier point increases/decreases the item price by 5%.
- Explorer difficulty grants bonus Proficiency modifier to the talking character's Persuasion skill (check the Adventure (game) difficulty section below).
Adventure (Game) Difficulty
Depending on the game difficulty set, the player receives certain advantages or disadvantages.
Explorer difficulty
- All items are 20% cheaper (compared to Balanced difficulty)
- If the Player's character is proficient with the Persuasion skill, it receives a bonus Proficiency modifier to that skill. The bonus scales according to the character's level: - 1 to 4 level: +2 bonus - 5 to 8 level: +3 bonus - 9 to 12 level: +4 bonus
Tactician difficulty
- All items are 20% more expensive (compared to Balanced difficulty)
Trader Attitude
A trader's Attitude score suggests how friendly a trader NPC is with a certain character. The meter is visible in the Trading interface, right under the trader's model (bottom right corner of the screen). Hovering on the meter displays the exact Attitude score.
Reducing Attitude
Performing acts of hostility (getting caught pickpocketing, damaging objects around the trader, stealing (picking up objects highlighted in red), attacking friendly (to the trader) NPCs etc.) will reduce this trader's Attitude towards the hostile character.
Raising Attitude
The way to earn Attitude is by gifting items or gold to the trader using the "Barter" feature. You can do that by simply switching the trading interface to "Barter", then move the desired amount of gold or items to prepare them for trade. Do not click "Balance offer", just leave the trader's part of the deal empty, and press the "BARTER" button. This will gift the items or gold to the trader for free, therefore increasing its Attitude towards the talking character.
Key notes
- Gold is interchangeable with items of the same total value. In other words, gifting an item that's worth 1 gold when sold by your talking character, is the same as gifting 1 gold piece.
- Each point of Attitude grants a price discount of 0.25%. Having 100 Attitude would mean a -25% price discount.
- The higher the level of the talking character, the higher the required gold/value of items will be to raise Attitude. The required amount scales as such:
| 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 |
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