Barter (Fallout: New Vegas)

Barter is a skill in Fallout: New Vegas.

Description
The Barter skill is primarily used in the buying and selling of items, such as trading with a merchant or scavenger. In general, purchase prices will be lowered and selling price will be higher. It is the primary factor in price determination, and is also offset by the Barter skill of the non-player character in question. The skill is also used in certain dialogue options with non-player characters, where certain responses require Barter checks.

Initial level

 * $$\text{Initial level}=2+(2\times\text{Charisma})+\left\lceil\frac{\text{Luck}}{2}\right\rceil$$

Example: A starting Charisma of 5 and Luck of 5.
 * $$2+(2\times5)+\left\lceil\frac{5}{2}\right\rceil=2+10+3=15$$

Barter affects the prices gotten when trading with merchants. There are also many Barter skill checks in the game that can help advancing in quests by displaying a good sense with money, talking down costs, and talking up rewards. The Barter skill is governed by the Charisma attribute.

General price (before application of reputational fees or discounts) is counted with the same formula as in Fallout 3.

Price Discounts
Many merchant barter menus can be triggered with a modifier from -100 to 100, usually based on the Courier's faction reputation (see Available Discounts). This modifier is effectively a percentage of the existing price dictated by your barter skill.

Positive values add that percentage to the value of items you sell and subtract that percentage from the cost of items you are purchasing. A negative value similarly reduces the price of items you sell and increases the cost of items you purchase by that percentage.

A zero or omitted modifier corresponds to buy and sell prices dictated only by the Barter stat. No modifier level will allow you to sell items for more than - or purchase items for less than - their actual value

A modifier of -100 corresponds to zero trade value of items regardless of barter skill and a modifier of -100 effectively reduces a barter skill of 100 to 0. A modifier of 100 has the effect of offering barter 100 prices with a barter skill of 0 and full value trades when barter exceeds ~11 points.

Available Discounts
The following merchants offer discounts under certain conditions:


 * 5 for providing the Food additive from Vault 22
 * 5 for repairing the Food processor

Dr. Kemp in the Camp McCarran Concourse offers a discount if Esteban Morales has been recovered in A Final Plan for Esteban Quartermaster Mayes at Camp Forlorn Hope will purchase items but does not sell anything
 * Arranging meat supply with Fitz at Grub n' Gulp Rest Stop
 * 3 for purchasing meat with caps
 * 5 for trading for meat with vegetables/water (Speech 60 or Barter 60)
 * Arranging meat supply with Blake at Crimson Caravan Company
 * 5 for purchasing meat with caps
 * 8 for purchasing discounted meat with caps (Speech 70)
 * 8 for trading for meat with vegetables/water (Barter 50)
 * Arranging food supply with Ruby Nash in Primm
 * 2 for purchasing food with caps (200 Caps or Barter 60 and 100 Caps)
 * 5 for trading for food with vegetables/water (Speech 70)
 * Completing none of these results in standard barter rates
 * 10 for recovering Esteban and requesting caps
 * 20 for recovering Esteban for free

Jack at the Red Rock Drug Lab has bugged dialog that would offer the discounts noted above.

When the Courier's reputation with the Mojave Brotherhood becomes Mixed, a paladin should approach them and inform them of a discount. This discount variable is never referenced in the barter scripts, so only the positive reputation discount is available.

Barter in quests and exploration
While hard to tell in the abstract from the following list, in many cases Barter is offered as an alternative dialogue skill check to Speech (though generally involving paying money) or other skill checks. This may be to help compensate for the fact that Barter on its own may not be as useful as other skills.


 * 20 to convince Trudy for an additional 25 caps for repairing her radio.
 * 20 to convince Major Knight to send a squad of NCR troops to Primm in order to protect the town and its trade route.
 * 25 to convince Chet to assist in the quest Ghost Town Gunfight or Run Goodsprings Run.
 * 25 to convince Dr. Klein to have Dr. 0 give 250 bottle caps to the Courier instead of 50.
 * 30 to convince Johnson Nash to give up information about the NCR attack on NCR Correctional Facility for just 50 caps in the quest I Fought the Law.
 * 35 to convince Beatrix Russell in Wang Dang Atomic Tango.
 * 35 to convince Tyrone to give up the chemical ingredients in the quest Don't Make a Beggar of Me.
 * 35 to convince Aurelius of Phoenix to allow trade with Decanus Severus. (NCR Dog-tags for food, ammunition, explosives, firearms or armor.)
 * 35 to convince Crandon to allow the start of the quest Someone to Watch Over Me.
 * 40 to convince George outside the Boomers minefield to sell the secrets of navigating the minefield for 200 instead of 300.
 * 40 to get medical supplies from Emily Ortal during The Moon Comes Over the Tower.
 * 45 to trick Max into giving the player Euclid's C-Finder for only 20 caps.
 * 45 to notice that the Happy Trails Caravan Company is not in best financial shape when talking with Jed Masterson.
 * 45 to convince Squatter Bill (and the other Squatters) to leave for 50 caps in the quest Someone to Watch Over Me.
 * 45 to convince Big Sal to release Troike from his contract in How Little We Know
 * 45 to convince Private Renolds to give a monetary "encouragement" in the quest Anywhere I Wander.
 * 50 to convince Mr. House to pay an additional 250 caps for the Platinum Chip, bringing the Courier's final payment to 1250 caps.
 * 50 to convince Old Lady Gibson to give the Courier the thrust controllers for 250 caps instead of 500 for the quest Come Fly With Me.
 * 50 to extort 300 caps from Orris in G.I. Blues after an Intelligence check of 6.
 * 50 to convince Dr. Hildern for an additional 600 caps from in There Stands the Grass.
 * 50 to convince The Lonesome Drifter to give up the Mysterious Magnum during the quest Talent Pool.
 * 50 to convince Ralph to craft a counterfeit passport for the Strip at a reduced price of 375 caps (originally 500).
 * 50 to convince Red Lucy for an additional 100 caps after bringing her mantis eggs in the Bleed Me Dry.
 * 50 to convince Tommy Torini to give the Courier a 5% cut in Talent Pool.
 * 50 to more easily convince Dean Domino to cooperate in Find Collar 14: Dean Domino.
 * 50 to convince Dr. Klein to have Dr. 0 give an additional 250 caps to the Courier.
 * 50 to convince Greasy Johnny (and the other greasers) to stop causing trouble for 50 caps in the quest Someone to Watch Over Me.
 * 50 to convince Jack to start creating medicinal chems in Aba Daba Honeymoon.
 * 55 to get Cachino's room key from the receptionist for 200 caps instead of 300 in How Little We Know.
 * 60 to convince Red Lucy for an additional 100 caps after bringing her radscorpion eggs in the Bleed Me Dry.
 * 60 to convince various merchants to sell food at a discount to Farber in the Camp McCarran concourse.
 * 60 to earn 200 caps and Cachino's "friendship" after confronting him about his journal in How Little We Know.
 * 65 to convince Alice McLafferty to let Janet get out of debt in Young Hearts, explaining to her the possible profit from future trade possibilities with the Boomers.
 * 70 to convince Red Lucy for an additional 200 caps after bringing her fire gecko eggs in the side quest, Bleed Me Dry.
 * 70 to convince Old Lady Gibson to obtain Rey's brain for free in Nothin' But a Hound Dog.
 * 75 to convince Dr. Klein to have Dr. 0 give an additional 250 bottle caps to the player.
 * 80 to convince Red Lucy for an additional 300 caps after bringing her nightstalker eggs in the side quest, Bleed Me Dry.
 * 80 to bribe the missionary involved with the quest G.I. Blues.
 * 90 to convince Red Lucy for an additional 500 caps after bringing her cazador eggs in Bleed Me Dry.
 * 90 to convince Dr. Klein to give the Courier: Fixin' Things, Programmer's Digest, Patriot's Cookbook, 250 additional bottle caps, 2 doctor's bag, 3 stimpaks and one super stimpak.
 * 100 to convince Legate Lanius to retreat during Eureka!, All or Nothing or No Gods, No Masters, by pointing out that Legion's sabotage of the West has left its forward advance near impossible to supply and maintain.
 * 100 to persuade General Oliver to order an NCR military withdrawal from Hoover Dam during All or Nothing, by promising protection for NCR merchant caravans in the area.

Ways to increase Barter

 * Permanent
 * Leveling up (up to +15 or +17 with Educated)
 * Tales of a Junktown Jerky Vendor (+3 or 4 with Comprehension)
 * Empathy Synthesizer (+2 depending on current Charisma, a perfect Charisma of 10 will see no benefit.)
 * Tag! (+15)
 * Good Natured (+5)
 * Skilled (+5)
 * Temporary
 * Salesman Weekly (+10 or 20 with Comprehension)
 * Mentats (+2 depending on current Charisma, a perfect Charisma of 10 will see no benefit.)
 * Party Time Mentats (+2-10 depending on current Charisma, a perfect Charisma of 10 will see no benefit, can be stacked with Mentats.)
 * Absinthe/Beer/Irradiated beer/Irradiated whiskey/Jake Juice/Scotch/Wine (+2 depending on current Charisma, a perfect Charisma of 10 will see no benefit.)
 * Moonshine (+2-4 depending on current Charisma, a perfect Charisma of 10 will no benefit, can be stacked with other alcohol.)
 * Benny's suit (+5)
 * Roving trader hat (+5, earliest acquisition is from Malcolm Holmes.)
 * Roving trader outfit (+5, earliest acquisition is from Malcolm Holmes.)
 * Vera's outfit from Dead Money (+5 and another +2 depending on current Charisma.)
 * Daniel's outfit from Honest Hearts (+5)
 * "Mood Light" (+5-9 (depending on current Charisma) for 12 hours or until the player uses the "Smart Lights")

Barter experts

 * Elizabeth Kieran (98) - NCR Major providing aid to NCR squatters living in Freeside.
 * Lady Jane (98) - a caravan merchant living in Freeside.