Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark Hints

Merchant Tips

• 1 of 11: As you're probably already aware if you've played Shadows of Undrentide or NWN Gold, the prices merchants sell things for and what they pay when you sell them things depends on the item's base value, the merchant's base setting (called "Buy Mark Down" by the Aurora Toolset), your character's Intelligence and Appraise skill, and a random factor. All other things being equal, the merchant's base setting determines which merchant is the best.
• 2 of 11: However, even more important than the base setting is the random factor. In order to get the most out of a merchant, your strategy should be to equip every item you have that boosts your Intelligence and Appraise skill, drink a Potion of Fox's Cunning (which boosts Intelligence), and then do a quicksave before viewing the merchant's store for the first time.
• 3 of 11: Then pick out one item in your inventory and see what the merchant offers to pay for it. Make a named save with the amount he offered as the save name (to help you remember it), then restore your quicksave and repeat the process. If the merchant offers you more money for the same item, then save over your named save. Repeat this several times until you're fairly sure you're getting the highest value you can. (Then go do the same thing with all the other merchants in the area to see which one can go the very highest -- or just read on in these hints for my tips on who's best in each chapter).
• 4 of 11: Fortunately, merchants don't redo the Appraise skill check and random component every time you view their stores. That only gets recalculated when you view their stores with an Appraise skill that's higher than when the values were last calculated. That means you can go through the above process with a merchant again in an effort to get even higher sell prices whenever you increase your Intelligence or Appraise skill (via level-up or new enhancement items).
• 5 of 11: Another thing to remember is that the best merchant to sell to isn't necessarily the best merchant to buy from. To take an HoU example, White Thesta and Argali Silth both sell a Tower Shield +2, but Thesta sells it for less even though Argali will pay you more for items that you're selling.
• 6 of 11: HoU adds in another nasty little factor. Each merchant has a maximum amount that they'll pay you for any one item that you sell them -- a "sell cap." This means that if you're selling an item that would normally sell for more than the "sell cap" (even if it's *way* more), you can only get the "sell cap" amount. That's a massive rip-off and greatly limits the amount of gold you can gain through selling magic artifacts, so only sell something for the limit if you have to. (Note that the general "sell cap" goes up from chapter to chapter.)
  • Is there any way to raise or eliminate the sell caps?
• 7 of 11: Another HoU oddity is that most merchants won't buy trap kits from you anymore, claiming that they're all "stolen goods." This is also ludicrous, but at least this little glitch doesn't cheat you of much income.
• 8 of 11: Read on for specific information on who's best to sell to in the various chapters. Note that if you use this advice, you won't have to go through the above tedious process of maximizing a merchant's sell prices for every merchant in the chapter -- just do the best one.
• 9 of 11: In Chapter 1, the merchant with the best "base setting" is actually the blacksmith in Argali's Arms. However, the blacksmith's "sell cap" is only $500, so never sell her anything that she offers $500 for unless Sobrey offer you less. Sobrey is the best to sell to otherwise, though Argali is a close second.
• 10 of 11: In Chapter 2, the "sell cap" for merchants is raised to $10,000, so you may want to save your most expensive items from Chapter 1 to sell in Chapter 2. (Remember to store items to keep over in only Deekin's inventory, since he's the only henchman who can come to Chapter 2 with you.) The best merchant of the chapter is the duergar merchant in the Drearing's Deep area. There's an equivalent merchant on the Isle of the Maker, but he'll leave with his companions after you do a quest there, whereas the one in Drearing's Deep will always be available.
• 11 of 11: Good news in Chapter 3! The "sell cap" is up to a big $50,000, and it's not too late to upgrade weapons since Rizolvir's ghost has taken up residence in the tavern in the City of Lost Souls. As for who to sell to, the tavernkeeper and Gru'ul don't pay any attention to your Appraise skill, which will be good news to characters with very few points in that skill. Those with a high Appraise can get more by selling to Rizolvir's ghost.

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