Money and Merchants

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Currency

Coin	Copper	Silver	Gold	Platinum	Astral Diamond
Copper Piece	1	10	100	10,000	1,000,000
Silver Piece	1/10	1	10	1,000	100,000
Gold Piece	1/100	1/10	1	100	10,000
Platinum Piece	1/10,000	1/1,000	1/100	1	100
Astral Diamond	1/1,000,000	1/100,000	1/10,000	1/100	1

In the city of Fane, another unit of currency is the "Share", which is somewhere between 5 and 10 gold pieces in value.

Settlement Sizes

Settlement Type	Population	Base Limit	Purchase Limit	Coffer Limit	# of Magic Shops	Merchant DC	Spellcasting
Thorp	fewer than 60	50gp	500gp	1,000gp	likely none	20	1st
Hamlet	61 to 300	200gp	1,000gp	5,000gp	likely none	22	2nd
Village	301 to 2,000	1,000gp	5,000gp	15,000gp	1	25	3rd
Small Town	2,001 to 10,000	2,000gp	10,000gp	50,000gp	1d3	27	4th
Large Town	10,001 to 50,000	5,000gp	25,000gp	150,000gp	1d6	30	5th
Small City	50,001 to 300,000	10,000gp	40,000gp	500,000gp	2d4	35	6th
Large City	300,000 to 1,000,000	50,000gp	150,000gp	unlimited	3d6	40	7th
Metropolis	1,000,001 to 5,000,000	1,000,000	3,000,000	unlimited	6d6	50	8th
Megalopolis	5,000,001 and up	unlimited	unlimited	unlimited	yes	60	9th

Population

This number represents the settlement's population. Note that the exact number is flexible; a settlement's actual population can swell on market days or dwindle during winter—this number lists the average population of the settlement. This flux in population size is more evident in smaller settlements, but even very large cities may experience changes. For example, a summer festival may bring thousands of fair-goers, merchants, and schemers to large town or small city, significantly raising the population for a season. On a larger scale, a yearly pilgrimage for a major religion may bring many thousands or even millions of extra people to a megalopolis. Note that this number is generally used for little more than flavor—since actual population totals fluctuate, it's pointless to tether rules to this number.

Base Value

This section lists the community's base value for available magic items in gp (see Table: Available Magic Items). There is a 75% chance that any item of this value or lower can be found for sale in the community with little effort. If an item is not available, a new check to determine if the item has become available can be made in 1 week.

Purchase Limit

A settlement's purchase limit is the most money a shop in the settlement can spend to purchase any single item from the PCs. If the PCs wish to sell an item worth more than a settlement's purchase limit, they'll either need to settle for a lower price, travel to a larger city, or (with the GM's permission) search for a specific buyer in the city with deeper pockets. A settlement's type sets its purchase limit.

Coffer Limit

A settlement's coffer limit is the maximum amount of money the entire settlement can scrape together to buy things from the players in a single month. Sometimes it may take days to gather all this money in one place (mainly in smaller towns/villages). Townsfolk who spend every loose gold piece like this will probably travel to a bigger town to sell the newly acquired loot at a profit, so they can pay everyone back.

Number of Magic Shops

This is the approximate number of shops that sell magic items at each settlement type. Note that 90% of the stuff in these shops will be spell components, holy symbols, fake love potions, etc. Only a small portion of the shop deals in the kind of gear an adventurer would seek out. Of course, in a metropolis or other massive population center, there will be whole shops catering specifically to shoppers seeking magic toe rings.

Merchant DC

This is the DC of the diplomacy check made by the players seeking to buy or sell an item to a magic shop. Players may always elect to skip the diplomacy check, and accept a 50% sell value for their items, or buy items for 100% of the merchant's sale price. Note that this is exactly like failing the check to the maximum extent, so really, you should just roll the die.

Selling an item to a merchant:

• Base value the merchant will pay for the item is 55% of the item’s full value.
• +1% per 1 point over the Merchant’s Diplomacy DC, Maximum 80% of item value.
• -1% per 1 point under Merchant’s Diplomacy DC, Minimum 50% of item value.

Buying an item from a merchant

• Base value the merchant will sell the item for is 90% of the item’s value.
• -1% per 1 point over the Merchant’s Diplomacy DC, minimum 80% of the item value.
• +1% per 1 point under the Merchant’s Diplomacy DC, maximum 100% of the item value.

Having an Item Crafted

• The player must provide the materials to create the item. The cost of these materials is subtracted from the base cost of the item, and then a diplomacy check is made against the appropriate merchant DC.

Spellcasting

This is the maximum spell level of any casters in the settlement. This can be used to determine whether anyone in the settlement is capable of making a custom magic item or potion.

Link to d20pfsrd Settlements Page.