Traders¶
Traders are the Merchants, sellers, and movers of goods. Merchants, ore Merchants, peddlers, caravan masters: the market side of every settlement.
Theme: Merchant¶
Trader who buys specific goods at their source and moves them to market. Operates from a booth near the producer, a shop in town, or a full office in the city.
| Scale | Creatures | Features | Locations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Village | 1 Merchant, 1 Guard | Personality, Specialty | Trade Booth |
| Town | 1 Merchant, 1-2 Clerks, 2 Guards | Personality, Specialty | Trading Post |
| City | 1 Merchant, 4-6 Clerks, 6-8 Guards | Personality, Specialty | Trade Office |
Theme: Shopkeeper¶
Trader who runs a fixed shop. Village shops are the shopkeeper's family home combined with the storefront; town and city shops become dedicated commercial spaces.
| Scale | Creatures | Features | Locations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Village | 1 Shopkeeper | Personality, Specialty | Shop |
| Town | 1 Shopkeeper, 1-2 Clerks, 1 Guard | Personality, Specialty | Store |
| City | 1 Shopkeeper, 3-5 Clerks, 2-3 Guards | Personality, Specialty | Emporium |
Theme: Artisan¶
Trader who makes goods for sale. Smiths, potters, weavers, glassblowers, brewers, and other skilled crafters. Village artisans work alone or with family; town workshops staff journeymen and apprentices; city workshops often belong to guilds.
| Scale | Creatures | Features | Locations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Village | 1 Artisan | Personality, Specialty | Basic Workshop |
| Town | 1 Artisan, 1-2 Journeymen, 2-3 Apprentices | Personality, Specialty | Fine Workshop |
| City | 1 Artisan, 3-5 Journeymen, 5-8 Apprentices, 1 Guard | Personality, Specialty | Grand Workshop |
Theme: Counting House¶
Financial house. A Banker (or family of Bankers) takes deposits, extends loans, changes currencies, insures ventures, issues letters of credit. Rare in villages; present in most towns; foundational in cities where trade concentrates. A Merchant House often keeps its own Counting House as an internal function; a distinct Counting House theme means an independent financial operation, not a trading firm's finance arm.
| Scale | Creatures | Features | Locations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Town | 1 Banker, 1-2 Clerks, 4-6 Guards, 1 Sergeant | Personality, Specialty | Counting House |
| City | 1 Banker, 3-5 Clerks, 10-15 Guards, 2 Sergeants | Personality, Specialty | Counting House |
Theme: Guild Hall¶
An organized fraternity of a specific skilled craft such as smithing, weaving, or bookbinding, which controls who may practice the craft in the settlement. Sets standards, dues, apprenticeship terms, and prices. Owns a Guild Hall on or near the town's Market Square. Where the guilds are the rulers, the Guildmaster sits on the Syndicate. See Rulers: Syndicate (theme).
| Scale | Creatures | Features | Locations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Town | 1 Guildmaster, 2-3 Officers, 1 Clerk, 1-2 Guards | Personality, Specialty | Guild Hall |
| City | 1 Guildmaster, 5-8 Officers, 3-5 Clerks, 3-5 Guards | Personality, Specialty | Guild Hall |
Theme: Trade League¶
An organized association of workers in a shared livelihood such as fishing, farming, or dock work. Members join for mutual aid and collective negotiation with employers. Owns a modest League Hall.
| Scale | Creatures | Features | Locations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Town | 1 League Master, 2-3 Officers | Personality | League Hall |
| City | 1 League Master, 4-6 Officers, 2 Clerks | Personality | League Hall |
Details¶
Creatures¶
Apprentice. Trainee learning the craft. Fetches materials, cleans up, does simple work under supervision. Uses the Commoner stat block. Loot: apron, a few coppers, a small tool.
Artisan. The master crafter who owns and runs the workshop. Uses the Professional stat block with proficiencies with a tool, plus Insight and Persuasion. In cities, the Artisan may be a Noble who inherited or bought his guild seat. Loot: signet or seal, a prize piece from the current commission, purse (3d10 gp village, 5d10 gp town, 5d100 gp city).
Banker. The Master of the Counting House. Uses the Noble stat block, or Professional for a smaller town operation. Wealthy, calculating, plays a long game. Keeps his own counsel; his real work is in his ledgers. Loot: signet or seal, ledger of active loans (blackmail material - the Banker knows everyone's debts), purse (5d10 gp town, 5d100 gp city); the Counting House holds the treasury.
Clerk. Records and paperwork; assists customers on the shop floor. Uses the Professional stat block. Loot: ledger, ink, 1d10 gp.
Guard. Hired security for the goods and the coin. Uses the Guard stat block. Loot: club or spear, a few silver.
Guildmaster. Head of the guild. Uses the Noble stat block; may still work his trade and use the Professional stat block. Loot: signet or seal of office, ceremonial chain (10-20 gp), ledger, purse (5d10 gp town, 5d20 gp city); personal wealth.
Journeyman. Trained crafter, works under the Artisan's roof. Uses the Professional stat block with proficiencies in the specialty's tool. Loot: small purse (2d10 gp), tools of the trade (10 gp), a piece of work he's carrying to show the next master.
League Master. The elected head of the trade league. Uses the Professional stat block. Chosen by the membership; serves a term. Loot: signet, ledger of members and dues, purse (3d10 gp town, 5d10 gp city).
Merchant. The trader running the operation. Uses the Professional stat block with proficiencies in Insight, Investigation, Persuasion, plus one appropriate tool. Assesses goods, sets prices, keeps ledgers. In cities, the Merchant may be a Noble who inherited or bought his way in. Loot: signet or seal, ledger, purse (3d10 gp village, 5d10 gp town, 5d100 gp city); personal wealth at higher scales.
Officer. Warden, treasurer, secretary, or similar guild post. Chosen from the membership or guildmaster. Uses the Professional stat block. Loot: signet, ledger, purse (1d10 gp town, 2d10 gp city).
Shopkeeper. The trader who owns and runs the shop. Uses the Professional stat block with proficiencies in Insight, Persuasion, and a tool. Knows regular customers and debts. In cities, the Shopkeeper may be a Noble who owns a business empire. Loot: signet or seal, ledger, purse (3d10 gp village, 5d10 gp town, 5d100 gp city); the day's cashbox; the shop's stock.
Features¶
Personality. The trader's approach. Roll d6 by theme.
Merchant: 1 fair (honest weights); 2 stingy (skims on price); 3 desperate (needs product now); 4 patient (holds out for the right offer); 5 ruthless (crushes competitors); 6 well connected (knows every Merchant downstream).
Shopkeeper: 1 friendly (treats each customer well); 2 haggling (bargains hard); 3 rushed (always busy); 4 gossipy (knows everyone's business); 5 predatory (marks up for out-of-towners); 6 selective (won't sell to certain people).
Artisan: 1 exacting (rejects flawed work); 2 boastful (announces his skill); 3 secretive (guards technique); 4 inventive (always trying something new); 5 traditional (does it his master's way); 6 embittered (a rival stole a commission or a technique).
Guild Hall: 1 protective (fierce about member interests); 2 political (angling for Council power); 3 conservative (defends old ways, blocks new masters); 4 corrupt (favors and seats for coin); 5 rising (aggressive expansion, courting a charter); 6 declining (losing members, in debt, splitting into factions).
Counting House: 1 conservative (lends only to trusted clients); 2 ambitious (courts new clients aggressively; opens branches); 3 politically connected (lends to the powerful; they protect the House); 4 predatory (calls in debts hard; the ruined avoid or curse the House); 5 embattled (a rival House is undermining, or a big debtor is refusing to pay); 6 discreet (offers services the guilds and lords officially disapprove of).
Trade League: 1 activist (loud, quick to strike or refuse work); 2 conservative (avoids conflict with employers, prefers arbitration); 3 co-opted (League Master in the employers' pocket; membership doesn't know); 4 pragmatic (deal-cutting; work is work); 5 fractious (rival factions within the membership); 6 rising (growing power; the trade is expanding and the League with it).
Specialty. What the trader deals in. Roll by theme.
Merchant: d6. 1 ore (iron, copper, silver, gemstones); 2 grain and crops; 3 wool, hide, and cloth; 4 timber; 5 spices and rare goods; 6 general (buys anything at the right price).
Shopkeeper: d20. 1 general store (staples: flour, salt, oil, small tools); 2 bakery (bread, pies, morning trade); 3 butcher (meat, cured goods, sometimes hides); 4 grocer (fresh food, spices, preserved goods); 5 cobbler (boots, shoes, leather goods); 6 tailor (custom outfits, alterations, traveling clothes); 7 weaver / clothier (cloth by the bolt, thread, dye); 8 ironmonger (tools, hardware, nails, horseshoes); 9 weaponsmith (arms, armor, military gear); 10 chandler (candles, soap, lamp oil); 11 apothecary (herbs, salves, common remedies); 12 vintner (wine, spirits); 13 bookseller (books, parchment, ink, scribe work); 14 jeweler (settings, repairs, appraisal); 15 locksmith (locks, keys, lockboxes); 16 pawn shop (buys used goods for resale; sometimes fences); 17 curiosity shop (exotic and strange goods from far places); 18 music shop (instruments, sometimes lessons); 19 cartographer (maps, surveys, custom commissions); 20 imports (silks, wines, spices from far ports).
Artisan: d20. 1 smith (tools, hardware, weapons, armor); 2 weaver (cloth, thread, textiles); 3 potter (ceramics, jars, tableware); 4 carpenter (furniture, joinery, carving); 5 mason (stonework, ornament, walls); 6 glassblower (glass, vials, chimneys, decorative pieces); 7 cobbler / leatherworker (boots, shoes, leather goods, harness); 8 tanner (leather from hides); 9 cooper (barrels, casks, buckets); 10 wheelwright (wheels, wagon parts); 11 miller (flour, meal, oil); 12 brewer / distiller / vintner (ale, spirits, wine); 13 baker (bread, pies, pastry); 14 jeweler (settings, precious pieces, engraving); 15 wright (wagons, carriages, ships); 16 chandler (candles, soap, lamp oil); 17 luthier (musical instruments); 18 alchemist (mundane alchemical goods); 19 dyer (cloth dyeing, ink, paints); 20 scribe / bookbinder (writing, illumination, binding).
Guild Hall: d12, or match to the town's dominant trades. 1 wool; 2 weavers; 3 smiths; 4 masons; 5 carpenters; 6 merchants; 7 moneylenders; 8 dyers; 9 potters; 10 leatherworkers; 11 brewers or vintners; 12 fishers or sailors.
Counting House: d6. 1 general banking (deposits, loans, exchange); 2 moneylending (personal and small-business loans, sometimes at rates the temple frowns on); 3 marine insurance (backs ships against loss at sea; a bad season ruins the House); 4 caravan financing (backs land caravans; bandits and weather are the enemy); 5 letters of credit and bill of exchange (moves value across long distances without moving coin; the House has correspondents in far cities); 6 crown lender (backs royal ventures for political favor; ruined if the crown defaults).
Locations¶
Basic Workshop. Typically the family home with a shop attached. Contains equipment, tools, and materials. Loot: raw materials (10-50 gp); tools (10-30 gp); a piece in progress; the day's finished work.
Counting House. The financial house's premises: a hardened building holding the wealth of many depositors. A counting house has:
- Public counter room: where clients deposit or withdraw and Clerks record every transaction. A high counter separates clients from Clerks; behind the Clerks, an iron-banded door leads to the interior. A city counting house has multiple counters and a small waiting hall for wealthy clients.
- Banker's private office: where high-value clients are received and private business is conducted. Fine appointments, a heavy desk with a locking chest.
- Records room: ledgers going back generations. Rows of shelves, a scribe's desk, the House's official seal. Behind a strong lock.
- Letter-of-credit chamber: at city scale. The letter-of-credit ledger and the register of correspondents in far cities. Behind a strong lock, always manned by a Clerk when open.
- Vault: a masonry strongroom deep in the building, behind a masterwork lock and a reinforced iron door. Floor-to-ceiling shelves and iron-bound chests holding depositors' coin, jewels, letters of credit, and the House's reserves. Requires the Banker's key.
- Guardroom: just inside the front door, always manned. The Sergeant's post; the alarm bell rope hangs here.
- Guards' barracks: small quarters on the premises where off-duty Guards sleep. The whole guard rotation lives on-site.
- Defenses: Guards on 24-hour rotation, never fewer than 2 on the counter floor and 2 in the guardroom; the alarm bell rings straight to the nearest Watch station and to the Sergeant's whistle; iron shutters on every window at night; masonry walls throughout; the Vault behind a masterwork lock that requires the Banker's key and cannot be picked in less than an hour; a Sergeant lives on-site and rallies the off-duty Guards inside a minute; iron-banded doors between every major section.
- Magical wards: In a City, a Counting House has a permanent arcane lock on the Vault door (opens only to the Banker's key plus a passphrase), a permanent magic mouth at the Vault entrance (shouts a warning when touched by an unauthorized hand), and a glyph of warding on the Vault door itself (explosive runes triggered by a breach). A more wealthy Counting House adds a permanent detect magic area in the guardroom. In a Town, there may only be a single arcane lock on the Vault.
- Loot: the day's cash on the counter (5d100 gp town, 5d1000 gp city) behind a strong lock; the Vault's holdings (5d100x10 gp town, 5d1000x10 gp city, plus depositors' jewels and heirlooms worth as much again) behind a masterwork lock; deposit records (blackmail material - the Banker knows everyone's debts); letters of credit (each worth the value inscribed, potentially thousands of gp); the House's own investment holdings on paper; the Banker's private strongbox (2d100 gp) with personal jewels and heirlooms.
- Mint variant: When chartered, the Counting House strikes the ruler's coin. Adds a foundry (melting metal), an assay hall (testing purity), and a press hall (striking coin) to the basic building. The Banker becomes the Master of the Mint; a Warden (a Steward variant, see Rulers: Warden) commands the guard on the ruler's authority, holding one half of the Vault key. Moneyers (Professionals) work the presses; guards are Garrison rather than private security. The Vault holds bullion reserves and the working coin dies. Rare; typically one Mint per realm, in the capital. Additional loot: bullion reserve (5d100 gp of coin plus 5d100 gp of bullion for an ordinary mint; x10 at a domain's chief mint); the day's struck coin in the Press Hall (2d100 gp before it moves to the Vault); the day's ingots in the Foundry (2d100 gp of copper, silver, or gold depending on the mint's specialty); the working dies; records of every strike ever made.
Emporium. Large shop, possibly multiple stories or wide. Multiple counters, staff on the floor, secure storerooms. Loot: cashbox with 5d100 gp; stock varies by specialty (5d100 gp market value).
Fine Workshop. Has room for journeymen and apprentices; materials in the back; a counter at the front for orders. The master often lives above. Loot: raw materials (2d100 gp); finished pieces (5d20 gp); tools (50 gp); cashbox with 5d10 gp.
Grand Workshop. Has multiple work stations, storage for materials, secure vaults for finished goods. Journeymen and apprentices work in shifts. Loot: raw materials (varies by specialty, 5d100 gp); finished pieces awaiting delivery (5d100 gp); tools of the trade (100 gp); the master's ledger and guild seal.
League Hall. A modest building where the trade league meets, keeps records, and holds its shared cashbox for injuries and widows. Meeting hall, records room, a kitchen for shared meals on session days, a strongbox for dues and the welfare fund. Not fortified. Loot: dues cashbox (5d10 gp town, 5d100 gp city); membership ledger; the League's welfare fund (5d100 gp town, 5d10x10 gp city) held for injured members and their families.
Guild Hall. The building where the guild meets, keeps records, and receives petitioners. Sits on or near the Market Square. A guildhall has:
- Main hall: the meeting space for the membership. Front doors on the market open on session days; heavy chairs facing a raised dais where the Guildmaster and Officers sit. At city scale, a formal banquet hall replaces or supplements the meeting hall.
- Chapter room: where the Officers meet privately, disputes are heard, disciplinary business is settled.
- Guildmaster's suite: the Guildmaster's office and, at city scale, private apartments. Ring of office, seal, correspondence.
- Records vault: ledgers of membership, apprentice indentures, master-status confirmations, dues records. Behind a strong lock; the senior Clerk holds the key.
- Treasury: the guild's coin holdings. Strong lock at town scale, masterwork at city scale. The Guildmaster and Treasurer share keys.
- Library of trade records: at city scale. Trade charters, price histories, patents, technique manuscripts.
- Guest chambers: at city scale. Rooms for visiting Guildmasters from other cities or foreign trade delegates.
- Chapel: at city scale, sometimes adjoins. A small devotional space for the guild's patron or founder.
- Cellar: for the guild's shared equipment, ceremonial regalia, samples of members' work.
- Small courtyard: at the back or alongside. Sometimes for apprentice examinations or informal gatherings.
- Defenses: Guards at the front doors during meetings; the Treasury behind a strong or masterwork lock; the records vault behind a strong lock; the Guildmaster's suite is off-limits without appointment.
- Loot: the dues chest (1d100 gp town, 2d100 gp city); the guild's charter (often royal, of political value); records worth blackmail material; ceremonial regalia (50-250 gp town, 100-500 gp city); the guild's investments (documents and promissory notes; often more valuable than the coin on hand).
Shop. Typically the shopkeeper's family home with a storefront. One counter, shelves along the walls, storage in the back. Locked door at night. Loot: cashbox with 3d10 gp; stock varies by specialty.
Store. Has counter, shelves, and a storeroom in back. The shopkeeper often lives above. Loot: cashbox with 5d10 gp; stock varies by specialty (5d20 gp).
Trade Booth. A small booth or shed for weighing goods and paying producers. Scales, a strongbox, a chair. Loot: strongbox with 3d10 gp; ledger.
Trade Office. Office with counter, scales, strongboxes, a records room, and holding storage in the back. Guards on rotation. Loot: strongbox with 5d100 gp; records; stock in storage varies by specialty.
Trading Post. Office with counter and a small stockyard or storage room. Loot: strongbox with 5d10 gp; ledger; some stock in storage (varies by specialty).
Stat blocks used¶
Traders draws on shared blocks.
- Commoner - SRD.
- Guard - SRD.
- Noble - SRD.
- Professional - new. Upgraded Commoner with proficiencies chosen by role.