Selling captured equipment...
I have read a few times about how the weapons and armor taken from monsters are worthless, and thus are not able to be treated as treasure. While I might be able to buy into the concept that zombies or skeletons might have items that are being held together by the same magic that is animating them, and could litterally, break , rust away or turn to dust as they expire. I could even buy that some species such as goblins or darlings known for living off the waste of other civilizations cast offs might have a pseudo magical racial ability to mate use of broken items as if they were unbroken items. However, otherwise I object with the premise that as a general rule, that the weapons that momentarily ago were good enough to hit without penalty, and do full damage to the heroes is otherwise suddenly worthless, piles of useless trash with no purpose.
Now, I'm fine with it becoming questionable if it is worth the weight of transporting it, but even broken items have potential value as raw materials that might be reclaimed. Obviously, you would get even less for that than the standard half value.
I figure that the standard sale of items for half price presumes an item of decent like new or gently used state, and reasonable chance that someone else in the vicinity might want to buy it.
If you stray from that, I think it justifies reducing how much you could get. If some people can buy broken items for around half price, that would mean that a person who sells a broken item should expect no more than a quarter of list, and potentially less than that. In theory, any item may consist of about 1/3 its value in raw material, although you might not reclaim all of it. But, based on that outside of exceptional situation, you would expect to get no more than one half the retail price of materials for broken items sold for scratch. That would mean normally something between nothing and one sixth it's list price. If a particular raw material involved is so sought out it might qualify as a Trade Good, you might be able to justify up to one third its list, unless the material has an elevated value there.
Something else to consider is the type of raw material. If you have goblin weapons, made of bone or stone and try to sell them to your village which primarily makes its tools of iron and steel, it might be difficult to find a buyer for your raw materials.
So this may leave you in a position where you say, but you just said all that equipment was s now worthless. But, that depends on your market, and it also is importantant to note that if the weapons started out as bone that affects their combat use when used against the heroes. And if they meet some bone using tribesmen, they might buy the supplies.
Also keep in mind, quauntity affects need and sale ability of items. While selling a long sword and perhaps dagger at a small shop in a small village may seem reasonable. Selling a score of swords and daggers may not seem like a good investment for a shop unless there is a short supply and great need. It might be more reasonable for a big city, so again target market becomes important. Excess items woul potentially be accepted at a discounted cost closer to the raw materials cost up to some quantity they consider reasonable.
Other factors can come up, such as appearances of it seeming stolen, or contraband in nature. If swords and large blades are controlled items, selling them might be dangerous/risky and that might impact your take.
This message was last updated by the player at 20:50, Wed 30 Aug 2017.