"Your die shows 17. Mine shows 12 — and even with my eye on it, you beat me by 2. Fine. It's yours. Don't let me see you do that twice."

At the keeper's counter

Sticker Prices Are for Towns Without Dice

Two parts. In part one, you can pay the shelf price, haggle, or try to steal, and your table rolls while your DM rules. In part two, your DM can let the dice decide, shop by shop — against a keeper who levels up with their shop and rolls against a thief.

Where each part stands, on the Roadmap: part one and part two.

Part one

Haggle or steal — your table rolls, your DM rules

Real dice, a real DM, and a record that keeps everyone honest.

Haggle

  1. Name your price

    On anything on an open shop's shelf, open the ⋯ beside Purchase, choose Haggle, and say what you'll pay. Your DM gets it straight away.

  2. Talk it out and roll

    Make your case at the table and roll real dice. Your DM types the roll in.

  3. Your DM rules

    Accepted: you buy it right then, at the price your DM sets, which is never more than the shelf price. The gold ledger records what you paid, and selling it back later pays half of that. Refused: the shelf price stands.

Steal

  1. Reach for it

    Choose Steal from the same ⋯. Your DM knows at once. If the shop has only a few of the item, one is held while your DM decides, so nobody else can buy it.

  2. Roll for it

    Quick hands against a watchful eye, with real dice at the table. Your DM types the rolls in.

  3. Your DM rules

    Got away: it's in your pack, marked stolen for good, and no gold changes hands. Caught: it goes back on the shelf, and what happens next is up to your DM.

  • You see your roll and the ruling as soon as your DM makes it, under "Your requests here" on the shop's page. Until then, you can take the request back there — even after the shop closes its door.
  • Your DM also sees one suggestion worked out from the dice, the item's price and rarity, and how much you asked off. It is only a suggestion, and your DM makes the call.
  • A shop with its door shut can't be stolen from through the page. If your party breaks in, your DM records the attempt and rules on it.

Part two

Let the Dice Decide

Your DM chooses, shop by shop, who settles a haggle or a theft at that counter: they keep ruling, as in part one, or they hand it to the dice. Where the dice decide, the result lands the moment you ask — against a keeper who grows sharper with their shop. And you always know what you need before you roll.

Three truths at the counter

Everything below hangs on these.

The server rolls the die

You bring your skill bonus from your sheet — Diplomacy or Bluff to talk a price down, Thievery to lift something. The d20 is rolled for you, on the server, in the same moment the result is applied. Nobody types a die, and nobody can charm one.

You see the odds first

Before you commit, the page shows the number you need and what losing costs. After, you see every die, your total, and what it was measured against. Ties go to the house, and it says so.

One try per item

Win or lose, you get one haggle and one theft attempt at each item — one per player, not per character, so a new character doesn't get a new try. No rolling until it comes up 20. Only your DM can let you try again.

How a scene plays out

At a shop where the dice decide — pick your vice.

The Haggle

"That cloak. Surely not full price for a regular?"

  1. Name your price — and see what it takes

    Choose Haggle, say what you'll pay, and give your Diplomacy or Bluff bonus. The page tells you the number you need on the d20 and what losing costs. No blind gambles.

  2. Only you roll

    Your die plus your bonus against the ask itself. The deeper the discount you want, the harder the number — and a costlier or rarer item, or a more seasoned keeper, is harder still.

  3. Win: it's yours, at your price

    You buy it there and then at the price you offered. The gold ledger records what you paid, and selling it back later pays half of that. Your gold is checked before the roll, so you never win a deal you can't pay for.

  4. Lose: the price stands

    The shelf price is still there for you to pay. That keeper won't haggle with you over that item again until your DM says so.

The Five-Finger Discount

He's a lantern with legs. How good can his eyesight be?

  1. Pick your moment — eyes open

    Choose Steal and give your Thievery bonus. The page shows how sharp the keeper's eye is on that item, and states the stakes before you commit.

  2. Quick hands, watched shelves

    Your die plus your Thievery against the keeper's die plus their Perception — which rises with the item's price and rarity, and with the keeper's level. Beat it to get away; a tie means caught.

  3. Got away: yours, marked for good

    The item lands in your pack tagged stolen — a mark that never washes off, even through a D&D Beyond sync. No gold changes hands.

  4. Caught: your DM knows

    It stays on the shelf, and your DM sees it at once (the rest of the table doesn't). Where the dice decide, you're also barred from that shop until your DM pardons you.

After Hours: the Break-In

The door's shut. That has never stopped anyone.

Grab what you can

At a shop with its door shut, where the dice decide, you can try to break in. You don't see the shelf — you reach for something, and you only learn what it is if you get away with it.

Harder than the counter

It's a theft with a sharper watch, one try per shop. Caught, and your DM knows — and you never find out what you reached for. Where your DM rules, they record a break-in for you, as in part one.

The haggle, by the numbers

What you roll against — your d20 plus your bonus has to reach it.

Start 10 Every haggle starts here.
Keeper +level One for each level the keeper has earned, from 1 to 10. You see it before you roll.
Rarity +0 to +8 Nothing for common, then two more for each step up to legendary.
Price +0 to +3 The costlier the item, the firmer the keeper.
Your ask +1 per 5% One for every 5% you ask off. You can ask for at most half off.

Meet the number and you win. A theft is measured the same way from the keeper's side — their die plus 5, their level, and the same rarity and price steps — and you have to beat it. No natural-20 lottery and no natural-1 disaster: these are skill checks, as in 4e. Every number here is a first guess, tuned once real tables have played.

Where you stand — shown on the shop's page
MarkHow you earned itWhat it doesThe way out
TriedHaggled for, or tried to lift, an itemNo second try at that item, won or lostYour DM lets you try again
BarredCaught stealing or breaking in where the dice decideNo buying, haggling, stealing or breaking in at that shop, with any of your characters; its shelf stays browsableYour DM pardons you — and that clears everything at that shop

A keeper grows with their shop

Their level is earned at their own counter — and it's part of every number you roll against there.

Every coin and every caught thief makes them sharper

Gold through that shop's till and thieves caught red-handed there both feed its keeper's experience, whoever is settling the deals. Each shop's keeper levels on their own, so a busy counter is a harder one. The level is no secret: you see it whenever you are about to roll. Your DM sees it too, and can set it by hand for a keeper who has been at it for years.

A new counter

A soft touch fresh at the forge. Deals are there for the taking — and so, frankly, is the stock.

A busy counter

They've been burned. The easy discounts dry up; their lantern eye lingers on loose fingers.

A legendary counter

A veteran of a thousand deals. Out-haggling them is a story you'll tell; robbing them is a legend.

Your side of every contest: d20 + your skill bonus — the bonus from your own sheet, which the page remembers from your last try. Your DM sees the bonus you used beside every roll.

Why the dice can be trusted

Because they never touch the storyteller's hands — or yours.

House rules for the house itself

  • The server rolls, not the keeper. A keeper narrates outcomes — they never invent them. By the time you see the dice, the result has already happened, somewhere no one can charm.
  • One attempt, one consequence. The roll and its outcome are a single, indivisible act. There is no re-roll to fish for — not a double tap, not a sprite, not even a server hiccup.
  • Dice and totals, in the open. You see every die that hit the counter, your total, and the number it was measured against.
  • The stakes come before the roll. Every attempt tells you what you need and what losing costs before you commit. Consequences are never a surprise; only the dice are.
  • Honest ledger. A won haggle is a purchase at the price you offered, and the gold ledger records exactly that. A theft moves no gold at all.

A note for the DM

You hold the keys, as always — with or without the AI.

In part one, you rule. Every haggle and theft waits for you on the shop's own page — live, and easy to use on a phone. Type the rolls in, read the one suggestion (players never see it), and accept at your price, refuse, or say got away or caught. You can set a request aside without ruling, and you can record an attempt yourself, at any shop, even one with its door shut.

In part two, you choose who rules — shop by shop. Each shop has one switch: you rule, or the dice decide. Every control the back-room assistant has exists as plain buttons on the shop's own page: flip the switch, set how seasoned the keeper is, see every roll with the bonus the player used under “Settled by the dice”, and let a character try again or pardon a barred thief. You never have to talk to the AI.

  • Every shop starts with you ruling, as in part one. Nothing changes at a counter until you flip its switch, and a request already waiting for you stays yours to rule.
  • When a thief is caught or someone breaks in, you're notified quietly — the table sees nothing unless you choose to say something.
  • Players state their own skill bonus. You see it beside every roll, so a bonus that doesn't match the sheet is easy to spot.
  • Nothing moves gold or items without the same wax-seal honesty as everything else in the Armory.

"Everything at this counter is winnable. That's not the same as free."

— the shop's keeper, Master Brambleforge by default, named by your DM · Part two's exact magnitudes remain tuning values until real tables have played them.