Speculative trade - determine purchuse price

[Carolus]

I'm not completely sure on a small detail when you determine the purchuse price of trade goods.
The text says to add several modifiers to the roll of 3d6, among which is the travellers broker skill. If the traveller is untrained in said skill, do you apply a -3 penalty to this roll? Logic would dictate yes, but the the text specifically doesn't call this a skill check. Just checking to make sure I don't screw over the players.

 

[cunningrat]

I'm not completely sure on a small detail when you determine the purchuse price of trade goods.
The text says to add several modifiers to the roll of 3d6, among which is the travellers broker skill. If the traveller is untrained in said skill, do you apply a -3 penalty to this roll? Logic would dictate yes, but the the text specifically doesn't call this a skill check. Just checking to make sure I don't screw over the players.

Untrained is a DM of -3 when "trying to use the skill", whether that's a skill check or not. (See rules for Untrained use of armor that requires a specific skill, for example). So yeah, your Untrained traveller would be at a -3 penalty and shouldn't go anywhere near speculative trading.

 

[Garran]

Or, if they really must engage in speculative trade, invest in a high-quality Expert program beforehand.

 

[Carolus]

Thanks, I expected as much, but one of the players was adamant. The armour rules are a useful reference, hadnt thought of that!