Appraise

Description

Appraise lets you estimate the value of goods, identify the rarest and most valuable items in a hoard, and detect forgeries or inferior quality in trade goods. It reflects mercantile knowledge, familiarity with materials and craftsmanship, and an eye for provenance.

Check

Make an Appraise check to determine the value of an object. You must examine the item (typically within 5 feet) for at least 1 full round.

Success: You determine the item's value to within 10% of its actual price.

Failure by 4 or less: You estimate within 50% of the actual value.

Failure by 5 or more: The GM gives you a wildly incorrect value (the item is worth far more or far less than your estimate).

Action

Standard action to appraise a single item within 5 feet. Appraising a pile of mixed goods (e.g., a treasure hoard) takes 1 minute per category of item.

Try Again

No. Additional checks on the same item gain no new information — a failed appraisal locks in an estimate. You would need to consult a merchant, sage, or use a Detect Magic / Identify spell to get better information after failing.

Special

• Relevant Craft or Profession skill: Having 5 or more ranks in a Craft or Profession skill that produced the item grants +2 on Appraise checks for items of that type (e.g., Craft [Weaponsmithing] helps appraise weapons).
• Merchant knowledge: Merchants and traders in many cities have Appraise as a class skill or strong bonuses — PCs may get better offers from them than the standard 50% fencing price.
• Skilled appraiser feat (optional): Some GM variants allow one attempt per day with take 10, representing careful study time.
• Rogue: Appraise is a class skill for rogues, supporting fence and acquisition characters.

Untrained

Yes. Any character can attempt to appraise common items. Rare, exotic, or magical items benefit greatly from dedicated ranks, as low modifiers frequently result in wildly inaccurate estimates.