3.5 Selling Poo... (Bat Guano Price help.) - OG Myth-Weavers

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3.5 Selling Poo... (Bat Guano Price help.)

   
3.5 Selling Poo... (Bat Guano Price help.)

I am about to post a mission for my players to go harvest bat guano. But before I do, I want to figure out how much to offer per pound.

They are level 1, and the RP behind the mission is that the MASSIVE city they live in is having a shortage. A RL fellow DM suggested 25 silver per pound, and I planned on reducing that by a silver for each hundred pounds turned in. Is that a good price?

More details for the city to prevent confusion. It is HUGE! Millions of people live here. And whats more, its a trade hub. So the shortage is effecting more then just that city. The Guano is being collected with intent to resell in alchemist shops.

Bat guano is rich in Potassium Nitrate which is a component of gun powder and in fertilizers. It is basically a salt, so use the prices for salt, so 5 gp per pound.

Hard to say what the value of the guano may be due to the many uses for agriculture and alchemy. In todays pricing, bat guano on the average sell for $5 USD for 2.2 pounds.

Actually, using salt prices would be highly inaccurate. For one, proper salt is prized for a lot more than its chemical value in ancient times. It's also a highly effective preservative (most places use sea salt for that, for obvious reasons, but rock salt is better for those foods the wealthy enjoy) as well as being considered a fine spice. You also have to mine for salt- that's not cheap.

On the other hand. Guano just takes a shovel and a cave full of bats. The stuff you bring back will be full of impurities (like nasty little insects) and need considerable treatment before even being considered for trade. 5gp a pound might be viable after it's been *refined*... but in original state, it can't possibly we worth that much. 25sp is a bit much- but if there's a shortage, prices go up based upon demand- it may be a bit of price gouging- but it'd probably be sellable at that price.

No, actually, bat guano is mined and it is dry like a salt and it doesn't stink either. Given that you'll find it in caves with massive swarms of bats, only plants would be growing on it, and those won't grow due to lack of sunlight.

If you're looking for fresh guano, ya, it would be ridiculously difficult to get. But there are whole islands with mountains of the stuff ready for mining.

How much would you (TanaNari) sell it for?

Honestly I am more wanting to first figure out whats balanced enough to offer the level 1 players for it, then adjust the RP to fit after. I fully expect them to try and milk the crap out of this standing offer, so I want to make sure they don't end up with several K GP each before they hit lvl 2.

The caves they will be directed to will eventually run out, but I want to get this figured out in the case that they decide to search for another cave.

The only available option will be fresh harvest.

Edit: Also, bugs and bones from prey can litter the guano, that may be the impurities he mentioned. Plus there is dirt, drool, corpses of dead bats, and any number of natural things. Say a beast shares the cave? Half eaten adventurers could count as an impurity too I guess. lol

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dirty Kobold View Post
Honestly I am more wanting to first figure out whats balanced enough to offer the level 1 players for it, then adjust the RP to fit after. I fully expect them to try and milk the crap out of this standing offer, so I want to make sure they don't end up with several K GP each before they hit lvl 2.
Well, several k gp each would be wbl come time they hit level 3 (2700g, to be precise), so it's at best a temporary issue even if it does happen, and you can just toss out a few extra encounters and accelerate XP gain in the event that they do get a few grand each.

Encounters will be involved in the collection process, the group are members of an adventurers guild. They are hired because its dangerous. lol

Well, that is simple then. Guano supply dries up because the the ancient repository for the stuff has been over run by goblins, thus making difficult to mine. The longer the city waits, the more of the guano gets mined and hauled away by the goblins. So, it is either a direct assault on the existing supplies, or track down where the bats have moved and harvest fresh from there. Save the mine and the party receives standard treasure appropriate for their level. If they avoid combat, they can harvest and process the guano for appropriate wealth by level rewards.




 

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