Shops can be found in some dungeon levels and settlements. The player may buy items from these, or sell some of their own items for gold. Even browsing can be useful, since any item in a shop will be permanently identified if the PC moves on to it.
For the less scrupulous, shoplifting can also be a tempting (and perilous) prospect.
Shop types[]
Shops are distinguished by the types of items that they will buy/sell:
- General shop (deals in all kinds of items)
- Scroll shop
- Potion shop
- Ring shop
- Wand shop
- Bookshop
- Figurine shop
- Food shop (only in Terinyo)
Guaranteed shops[]
There are seven guaranteed shops in the game:
| Location | Type | Shopkeeper | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Terinyo | Food | Munxip | The only shop in the game which specializes in food. |
| Lawenilothehl | General | Barnabas | |
| Dwarftown | General | Waldenbrook | |
| Casino | General | Largest shop in the game. Player cannot sell items here. | |
| High Mountain Village | General | Leggot | |
| Borderland Settlement | Potion | Lu'uksort | |
| Antediluvian dungeon | Scroll | Contains an antediluvian dwarven map fragment. |
The initial stock of these shops (and in some cases, the race of the shopkeeper) is randomized for each game.
Randomly-generated shops[]
On most dungeon levels which are non-unique and non-cavernous, there is a chance for a shop to be generated as part of the level. Such shops have a randomized type, size and initial stock of items (influenced by DL), along with a shopkeeper of random race.
The chance for shops to be generated is higher for PCs with Silver Tongue/Natural Trader talents, and for PCs who are Merchants.
Note that randomly generated shops may have items generated on the ground that are not for sale. These can be picked up and carried off with no consequences. (e.g: Climbing set found in random scroll shop.)
Prices[]
A number of factors influence the prices offered by each shop, both for purchase and sale of items.
Known factors include:
Race[]
The base price multiplier of each shop is governed by the relationship between the shopkeeper's race and the PC's race. For example, dwarven PCs will receive favorable prices from dwarven shopkeepers and unfavorable prices from orcs.
Further details are provided in the relevant articles.
Stats and/or haggling[]
PCs with sufficiently high Charisma (if male) or Appearance (if female) can receive discounted prices. Notably, the Charisma-based discount is only calculated once per shop, upon the PCs first arrival to the level containing the shop; any subsequent change to a male PC's Charisma will not affect the shop's prices.
Discounts can also be achieved via one or more successful applications of the Haggling skill. These discounts are applied to the shop's prices as a whole, rather than the prices involved in a single transaction.
Regardless of whether discounts are achieved via Charisma/Appearance or haggling, the maximum collective discount from these approaches is a 30% reduction of the shop's prices. If the full 30% discount is achieved through Charisma/Appearance alone, haggling will not improve prices further.
Talents[]
PCs with the Silver Tongue talent receive a 20% discount from shops. The subsequent Natural Trader talent confers a further 20% discount, and increases sale price of the PC's items by 10%.
Class[]
Merchant PCs receive a 20% discount from all shops upon reaching experience level 6, which is superseded by a 40% discount at level 18 and a 60% discount at level 32.
Number of restocks[]
Whenever the shopkeeper restocks their shop, all of the shop's items (both new stock and any pre-existing stock) become more expensive unless the PC is a Merchant.
This mechanic makes it more difficult for the player to repeatedly 'farm' items from the same shop.
Special shops[]
Some guaranteed shops have unique price mechanics:
- Prices in Munxip's food shop will be lowered by 30% if the player saves Yrrigs.
- Barnabas' Black Market offers highly unfavorable prices by default. This can be affected by the player's actions:
- If the player joins the Thieves' Guild, prices will become more favorable in the Black Market, but slightly less favorable in all other shops.
- If the player becomes head of the Thieves' Guild, prices will become much more favorable in the Black Market, but significantly less favorable in all other shops.
- Relative to other shops, the Casino shop charges very high prices for its items, and its shopkeeper cannot be haggled with.
Selling items[]
The player may drop items in a shop to sell them for gold. If the shopkeeper has gold available and the item is compatible with the shop's specialty (e.g. a potion shop will not accept scrolls), an offer will be made to the player, which can then be accepted or rejected.
When determining how much gold to offer, shopkeepers are aware of all aspects of a given item (such as its B/U/C status) which affect its value, even if the PC is not aware of these aspects themselves.
Shopkeepers carry a finite amount of gold. If the shopkeeper has some gold, but not enough to cover an item's full value, they will simply offer the full amount of gold that they have remaining: "I only can offer <amount> gold pieces for yer <item>".
From time to time, shopkeepers will replenish their gold supply, thereby enabling the player to sell more items. This supply is also topped up by any gold that the player spends in the shop.
Artifacts can be sold for high prices. Upon buying an artifact from the PC, the shopkeeper will become more powerful (immediately gaining one or more experience levels) to better protect their valuable stock.
Restocking[]
Periodically, shops may top-up their stock with new randomly-determined items based on the current DL of the level. Each time a restock occurs, all items (including existing unsold stock) become more expensive.
The length of time before a restock occurs can vary greatly; it has been seen to happen within a few turns of the player departing the shop, but it can also take much longer.
The number of items generated during a restock correlates with the number of items removed from the shop by the PC - regardless of whether the items were legitimately purchased by the PC or simply stolen without the shopkeeper noticing.
Existing unsold stock will never be replaced during a restock, although a new item may occasionally be stacked on the same tile as a pre-existing item.
If the PC hears "arcane mumbling", this indicates that the shop on the current dungeon level has just been restocked.
Shoplifting[]
Main article: Shoplifting
The player can attempt to remove item(s) from a shop without paying for them. Each pilfered item will incur some chaotic alignment for the PC, even if the theft goes unnoticed by the shopkeeper. If caught in the act, the PC will attract the wrath of the shopkeeper among other possible consequences. Further details and tactics are included in the main article.
If the shopkeeper becomes hostile towards the player, their shop will cease to function, i.e. it will never again be stocked with new items.
Tips[]
Shops can sometimes be used to determine the B/U/C status of the player's own items; this can be helpful if there is no suitable altar nearby. For example, if the player has a potion of water known to be uncursed, they could drop it in a shop and take note of the offered price, without actually completing the sale. The player could later drop a potion of water with unknown B/U/C status in the same shop, and compare the offer with the price noted earlier. An identical price would indicate that the potion is uncursed, whereas a higher or lower price would indicate a blessed or cursed potion respectively.
When about to visit a level for the first time which may contain a guaranteed shop, it may be worthwhile for male PCs to equip items which improve Charisma since any price improvement from this is calculated only once per shop. It is worth noting that some shops, such as the Dwarftown shop, can vary slightly in location from game to game.
The guaranteed potion shop in the Borderland Settlement is quite large, and often contains useful items such as potions of water. It may be worthwhile to revisit this shop occasionally to take advantage of restocks.
Bookshops, if found, can be extremely useful for PCs who wish to use magic but do not belong to a dedicated spellcasting class (Wizard/Necromancer/Priest/Druid) since spellbooks are much less likely to appear in random loot for such PCs; likewise, they will not find as many books in the Sinister Library of Niltrias. This can be an interesting consideration when choosing talents, since the Silver Tongue and Natural Trader talents increase the rate of random shop generation (and thereby the chance of finding a bookshop).