Kondradis Bubka Mage of Exchange

AC 8 (Dex 16 MV' 12: M12: hp 31: THAC0 17; #AT 1: Dmg 1d4+1 (dagger + 1 Str 9, Dex 16, Con 10. Int 18, Wis 15, Cha 8; AL N.

Spells: 4 1st, 4 2nd, 4 3rd, 4 4th, 4 5th. and 1 6th.

Kondradis is 5'10" tall. 152 lbs. with gray hair (balding at the crown and cut very short) and slightly rheumy gray eyes which betray his 57 years. He dresses very simply, in a plain gray robe without decoration.

Kondradis handles all magical ex change, buying, and selling for the Guild of Wizardry. He specializes in divination spells, and he has developed his own variant of the identify spell. He keeps this completely secret, even from other guild members. and under no circumstances will he be willing to let any PC see the spell book with this spell inscribed in it.

This spell, which Kondradis has immodestly named Bubka's Superior Identification, is treated as an 5th level spell, so that he can cast this up to five times per day (by using Mordenkainen 's lucubration which Mordenkainen has taught him in return for his work in identifying magical items, to gain the ability to cast an extra 5th level spell).

Bubka's Superior Indentification

(Divination)

Level: 5

Range: 0

Components: V, S, M

Duration: 1 round/level

Casting Time: 5 rounds

Area of effect: 1 item

Saving Throw: Special

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When this spell is cast, one item may be examined by the mage so that he may identify the nature of its enchantment. The item need only be hand-held or touched, not worn or used in any way. The following information can be obtained:

(1) One basic magical property of the item (or the fact that it is not magical) is always revealed to the mage. This takes 1 round.

(2) There is a chance that a second magical property will be revealed . The mage "will know in 1d4 rounds if there is a second such property, and will need a further 1d3 rounds to identify the nature of this enchantment. The chance for successfully identifying a second magical property is (level + Int) x 3 (90% in Bubka's case), to a maximum of 95%. Failing this check indicates that, as far as the caster can determine, the item does not possess or contain any additional enchantments.

The spell may be repeatedly cast on the same item to inquire about third and subsequent magical properties (if there are any), with the same [(level + Int) x 3] chance for success. However, attempts to confirm earlier detections will always reveal the same result (even if that finding was in error).

Exact properties are revealed by this spell, such as the fact that a weapon is a sword + 1. (If the weapon was also of the flame tongue variety, this could only be discovered as a second property.) In the case of charged items, the number of charges is treated as a second property and, if the mage makes the [(level + Int) x 3] roll, there is still a 25% chance that the number of charge s is overestimated or underestimated by 2d10% (equal chance for over or under. but the number estimated will never be less than 1 or greater than the maximum possible).

Unlike the 1st level identify spell, casting of this magic does not subject the mage to a loss of Constitution. However, the spell cannot be cast more than once every two hours due to the intense concentration it demands, or else the mage repeating the spell will at once suffer a severe headache lasting 1d4 hours and be unable to memorize or cast any spells for a further 12 hours after the headache subsides. The material components for the spell are the same as for the identify spell, except that the pearl must be of high quality (at least 250 gp value).

Kondradis charges 350 gp (no haggling) for casting this spell. He will always use it to check on any magical items offered for sale, and will set the price he is willing to pay according to the result he obtains from the casting.

The sale prices and purchase prices of magical items (whether the transaction is with Kondradis or someone else) should be set in accordance with other prices in the campaign, depending on whether money-in the PCs' possession or in the campaign in general is scarce or plentiful. The XP values for magical items given in the AD&D 2nd Edition game Dungeon Master 's Guide will provide guidelines of the relative value of magical items, although it's usually not appropriate to simply assume a one-to-one correspondence between XP value and gp value. (For example. a cloak of arachnida and a cloak of displacement both have an XP value of 3,000. This means that they will probably carry gold-piece prices that are identical or very close to each other but this does not mean that each of them will be priced at 3,000 gp.)

Kondradis will ordinarily pay no more than 75% of the standard price for a magical item, or 85% if buying from a member of the Guild of Wizardry. He takes a further 5% off his best offer for any charged item, due to the inherent uncertainty of knowing how many charges are present in the item (and the standard price should be adjusted for the number of charges present in any event). Kondradis will barter magical items (paying in kind) at this percentage, but anyone who wants to make an outright purchase will pay at least 115% of the standard price, (110% for a guild member). The DM is advised to be very careful about selling magical items. Minor items such as potions of healing and the like, and scrolls of spells of levels 1-3, are fairly readily available. Permanent items are rarely sold, almost always being retained for use in bartering for items the Guild of Wizardry wants for itself.

Kondradis will not haggle, and he uses spells such as ESP and know alignment to check the people he deals with. Do not forget that such spells as charm person cannot be cast in the guild house, and Kondradis will be extremely angry if any such attempt at spellcasting is made, ejecting the PCs at once. If they are stupid enough to attack him, the dwarven porters will arrive in 1-3 rounds, followed by 2-8 mages of levels 1-10 in 1-2 further rounds. Since Kondradis is the "stock keeper" of all the Guild's magical items, assume he has access to whatever he needs from these considerable resources.

A special point concerning Kondradis is that he strongly dislikes elves, and will buy from and sell to them at a further 5% benefit for the guild above the noted margins. This animosity is due to an unfortunate experience in Celene, where a court bard sang a witty verse or several mocking his disheveled appearance, and to a lapse of character when he made a pass at Fioranna Aielestriel and was rebuffed in no uncertain terms.

This animosity, and his uncaring neutral alignment, means that he is happy to accept dead elves and also other "creatures" from the Shapechangers (see Chapter 5), buying their supplies quite readily and passing them on to Heironymous Tigana (see below) for his work, with which Kondradis sometimes assists him, for neither man wishes it to be widely known what they use in alchemical work. Awkward questions might be asked if this was known to Kieren Jalucian, the Guild Master, or to Jallarzi Sallavarian (see below). Kondradis takes pride in making good money for the guild, and doesn't wish it to be known how this is sometimes managed.

Kondradis may easily be encountered if the PCs wish to buy, sell, or exchange magic, of course. Any attempt to do this anywhere in the city will always result in the PCs' being referred to the guild and, hence, to Kondradis. In addition, the mage may rarely be found in the Savant (location C11), taking dinner and a small tipple, and he can sometimes be found in the Wheel of Gold, Nerof Gasgal's gambling house, where he attempts to socialize with the well-to-do and any Directors who might be around (who usually treat him with patient respect, which just masks their terminal boredom with the dry-as-dust fellow).