Help with a Merchant Build - mastering GP, purchase, sale, UMD

[DavidWL]

I'm interested in a build that is about buying, selling, and using items.

Current things of interest:
* Feat:  Mercantile - sell at 75% list price, buy 1 item per month at 75% price
* Feat:  Favored in Guild (Mercantile) -  sell 1 item per level at 100% markup (200% retail price)
* Feat:  Wanderer's Diplomacy - purchase more expensive item than what a town could support w/ diplomacy check ~ +1K GP per point of check
* Feat:  Item Familiar - for bonuses on UMD, Diplomacy, etc.
* Feat:  Leadership & it's ilk - ok,  but not quite what I want to emphasize right now
* Feat:  Landlord - up to 800K GP for a stronghold ... ok, but not quite fitting the idea of "buying & selling"
* Affiliation:  Ordained Champion or Disciple of Legend- buy weapons&armor or scrolls&potions at 75% price
* Skill: Diplomacy - 10% discount if vendor becomes "helpful" (http://web.archive.org/web/20060219045326/http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20050107a&page=3)

Skills - Diplomacy, UMD

Classes - ... anything that helps UMD is good ... Marshall for Motivate Cha, Exemplar 1 for take 10, ... what else?  Merchant Prince fits thematically, but the perks don't seem so great ... (except for the business piece).

Any advice?

Best,
David

[awaken_D_M_golem]

There was a thread Strange 5th Wheel builds ...
http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=13343.msg229189#msg229189
... which fits thematically.
Wanderers Diplo is great early, but has to trend toward Nanobots later.

If fluff-only and/or Fluff-As-Intended is in effect,
the Mercane from Epic is spot on.
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/monsters/mercane.htm
Specifically the Organization: "progression", gets
a connection to a Planar Metropolis power structure.
'Course this gets going rather late 7hd+7la.

Magic Mantle gets UPD=UMD over very cheaply.

[DavidWL]

Thanks for the link - that finds "Resourceful Buyer"

[awaken_D_M_golem]

Sigil of course has just about anything, depending on
how much (good or bad) trouble you wanna get into.

Apprentice feat gets you wired into an organization
presumably with a lot more resources than without.

The Enabler uses a very small corner case from MoI.
http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=8191.0


edit --- oh right and Yak Folk is a fun thing to use a Max Magic Mart on.
But you already know that ... 

[awaken_D_M_golem]

Could get a Yak Folk cohort going at level 9.

Lokiyn saved the WalMart thread from Un-Wotc-ing, here:
http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=16388.msg291748#msg291748

That was a good one, that idk wtf it did anymore.


edit --- huh that walmart thread was a setting, not the other walmart threads.
Not sure where they went ...

[DavidWL]

Thanks Awaken_D_M_golem!  The Sapphire Hierarch temple is nuts!

Love Yak Folk

[LudicSavant]

So, not sure if this is relevant to what you want to accomplish, but I thought you might find it amusing.

So, I just stumbled upon the spell Unseen Crafter.  Unseen Crafter is a level 2 spell in Races of Eberron that lasts 1 day/level and creates a servant who can make crafting checks for you.  A mid-level caster can potentially cast this spell enough to have a legion of craftsmen (hundreds!).  They can all be making, I don't know, Salvo poisons.  In which case, combine with this:  http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=4849.0  But really they can make anything.

With a +6 to your casting stat (not hard at mid-levels), +2 from equipping them with artisan's tools, and a +2 from having them work in a workshop, they can hit the masterwork DCs for all Craft skills without you having any ranks in any Craft skills.

So, say you have 200 Unseen Crafters, each making DC20 Craft checks (for any craft skill) while taking 10.  It's a one man factory enterprise.  Maybe something to put in that stronghold, and give you a small mountain of stuff to sell with your mercantile skills?   

[awaken_D_M_golem]

Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice.
 

Here's your sci-fi-esque robot assembly line assembling itself.