Appraise (Apath)
This skill is used to manage a shop, mercantile emporium, and to invest in caravans and ship cargoes.
Manage a Shop
Make a roll each month with a DC based on the value of the shop. For each point of margin, the indicated profit is made. This profit can be realized in money or invested, increasing the value of the shop. If the DC is matched exactly or fails by less than 5, the shop breaks even. If the roll fails by more than 5, the shop makes a loss based on the margin of failure (there is no rebate for the first 4 points here, a loss is always at least 5 times the profit value); this loss must either come out of the owner of the shop's pocket or reduces the value of the shop.
| Shop Value | DC | Profit per point of margin |
| 1 gp | 5 | 1 cp |
| 10 gp | 10 | 1 sp |
| 100 gp | 15 | 1gp |
| 1,000 gp | 20 | 10 gp |
| x10 | +5 | x10gp |
Supercargo
Cargo is generally sold in tons (4 mule-loads, 1 wagon-load, or 1 ton of ship's cargo capacity) and costs 100 gp to purchase. The value of the cargo increases as it is transported; goods that are easy to produce in one locale command a better price when exported to a locale where it is hard to produce. The price increase and DC depends on the accumulated travel distance of the goods. Add the applicable modifiers from the table below and make an Appraise check to find the value of the goods at the destination.
| 10 miles transport (day trade) | -10 |
| 20 miles transport (local) | -5 |
| 40 miles transport (regional) | +0 |
| 80 miles transport (regional) | +5 |
| 150 miles transport (regional) | +10 |
| 300 miles transport (regional) | +15 |
| 600 miles transport (international) | +20 |
| 1,500 miles transport (international) | +25 |
| 3,000 miles transport (international) | +30 |
| 6,000 mile transport (global) | +35 |
| 12,000 mile transport (global) | +40 |
| Majority of transport is by wagon (road) | +5 |
| Majority of transport is by pack animal (path) | +10 |
| Trouble on the route (war, plentiful bandits) | +5 |
| Good timing (new route, seasonal demand) | +5 |
| Trade route had to be rescheduled to a nearby destination | -5 |
Note that price increase is based on the best commonly available route, the players may have used a better or worse route than that.
| Result | Appraise result | Value of 10 tonnes of cargo |
| Disaster | Lower than zero | Roll x1 gp |
| Loss | 0 | Roll x5 gp |
| Marginal | 10 | roll *10 gp |
| Profitable | 20 | roll^2 (roll squared) gp |
You are not forced to sell at this price, but you cannot reroll in the same locale for a year. Cargo is invested towards an eye for profit at a particular destination and will not sell quite as well anywhere else, so refusing to sell can be a risky business.
The capacity of a settlement to produce and absorb cargo depends on its size - the purchase limit is how much value in cargo the place can handle in a month. For cargoes like this, there is little bargaining room; everyone involved in the trade is fairly certain about its worth, as determined by the appraise roll.