Buying and Selling Cargo

Bards, paladins, and sorcerors all excel at trading cargo due to their high charisma scores. Traders usually rely on their persuasion or intimidation skills to buy and sell cargo, but deceitful individuals have been known to use deception skills to upsell common cargo, or overrepresent their amount of goods.

Lots

To save time, cargo is traded in lots of up to five tons. A lot may include less than 5 full tons, in half ton increments.

Selling

Selling cargo can be a good income for most player parties who own a vessel. First you must find a buyer, and then you must negotiate to sell.

Finding a Buyer

To sell any cargo, a player must first find a buyer. When a player is attempting to sell cargo, they sell it one lot at a time. To find a buyer, the player selects five tons of cargo or Compressed Cargo that is available aboard their vessel or in their bastion, and makes an intimidation or persuasion proficiency check. Reduce the DC by five when looking for a buyer for a lot of Compressed Cargo.
If successful, the player finds an NPC prepared to purchase the lot of cargo at the base price (see the Cargo value table).

Finding a buyer for cargo is the first step when making a Trade: Goods action during a facility or bastion turn. A single player may only search for a buyer a number of times equal to their charisma modifier, per tenday.

Negotiating the Sale

Sometimes finding a seller for the cargo is the easy part, convincing them to part with their coins for your wares may be more difficult.
A player may opt to sell a lot of standard cargo at the value price without any proficiency check required. To sell a lot of Compressed Cargo, or to attempt to receive a better price on a lot of standard cargo, the player must negotiate with another intimidation or persuasion proficiency check. The result modifies the final price.

If a player decides not to accept the negotiated deal for a given lot of cargo or Compressed Cargo after making the negotiation, they may not attempt to find a buyer for or negotiate sale of that lot again until the next facility or bastion turn. Failure to accept a negotiated deal more than once in a given facility or bastion turn reduces the parties renown with the local Port Authority by one level per lot after the first.
Negotiating to sell cargo is the second step of the Trade: Goods action made during a facility or bastion turn. A single player may only negotiate to sell cargo a number of times equal to their charisma modifier, per tenday.

Buying

The rarity of cargo available to a trader is dependent upon their renown with the local Port Authority. Some settlements will have specific cargo available for purchase, particularly where that cargo may be produced.

Availability of Cargo

When a player is looking for a specific type of cargo, they search in lots of 5 tons. To search, select an entry from the Cargo Types Table, and make an intimidation or persuasion proficiency check. Increase the DC by five when searching for Compressed Cargo.
If successful, the player finds one lot of 5 tons of the cargo available at the base price (see the Cargo value table).

Searching for cargo is the third step when making a Trade: Goods action during a facility or bastion turn. A single player may only search for cargo a number of times equal to their charisma modifier, per tenday.

Negotiating the Purchase

Sometimes finding a seller for the cargo is the easy part, convincing them to part with it for less than its standard price can be a trickier negotiation.
A player may opt to purchase a lot of standard cargo at the value price without any proficiency check required. To purchase a lot of Compressed Cargo, or to attempt to receive a better price on a lot of standard cargo, the player must negotiate with another intimidation or persuasion proficiency check. The result modifies the final price.

If a player elects not to purchase a given lot of cargo or Compressed Cargo after making the negotiation, the lot is no longer available. Passing on more than one lot in a given facility or bastion turn reduces the parties renown with the local Port Authority by one level per lot after the first.
Negotiating to buy cargo is the fourth and final step of the Trade: Goods action made during a facility or bastion turn. A single player may only negotiate to buy cargo a number of times equal to their charisma modifier, per tenday.

Sidebar: Going the Distance

Most cargo is the same from system to system, bar some local style. That being said, it may interest a party to run long range trading routes, and the DM can support this by increasing the value by one rarity level when cargo is sold in a different system than it originated.
If the DM is going to support this, players should note the name of the star system the cargo was made in next to its entry in their belongings. For example Martial - Uncommon cargo from Realmspace may effectively be sold as Martial - Rare in Greyspace.