Pod pricing should not be done on the assumption that we're trying to get everyone in the city with a steady income to buy one and keep it in their personal medkit, or that we're selling them so that people can cure day-to-day ills. The level of healing that these pods can provide is
extremely powerful and
obviously magical. We don't
want everyone on the street to be able to afford them casually.
There are only a few types of people who are our target market for the pods:
- Rich people who want their bodyguards/personal armies/on-hand doctors to have the best equipment possible, for whom price is not a serious concern
- Personally wealthy warrior or mercenary types for whom serious injury is a real risk and hedging against that is a good investment of their available wealth
- People who are actively injured and going to die or be crippled for life unless they get one, and therefore are willing to hand over their life savings because without a life they don't need savings
- Healers who basically function as retailers by purchasing the pods in advance and then selling the pods to one of the previous three as-needed
None of these groups are the kind of demographic that need their product to have a low cost in order to purchase it. If a craftsman can buy the best healing devices in the setting, which are so far above what they can otherwise access that they might as well be miracles in cans, using nothing more than a week's disposable income, then the price is
much too low.
Yes, if we lower the price so far that it's dirt cheap on the logic that we want 100% sales, we could certainly manage that. But why would we? We don't benefit from low-cost healing being available to the masses, we don't benefit from rumors of low-cost healing pouring out of our island in gigantic streams, we certainly don't benefit from pricing our services so low that people are likely to question whether we're a street-level con-man with a neat trick instead of a world class wielder of magic (because if you charge more people think that your services- and
you- are actually worth more and provide respect accordingly), we don't benefit from letting anyone else know that making the pods requires little to no work on our part instead of each one being a laborious work of hand-crafting by a master artisan, and finally, we don't benefit from maximizing
sales rather than maximizing
profits, so if we can keep prices artificially high- and we can- then we should do so.
What happened with the salves will not- cannot- happen here, because the pods practically sell themselves. When the sales pitch involves the salesman being able to stick a knife through his arm, down a pod, and then have no wound afterward,
people will buy. And they will pay. For that kind of performance, they'll pay a
lot.
Looking up Leoric's previous comments on crossbow cost, those range from 200 for absolute shit to 2000 for the best in the world, so base price of 1000 and a discount of a couple hundred for our friend and ally seems appropriate for batons. Since there's contention here I'm willing to call 400 IM a reasonable friend-discount pre-haggle base price for the pods, but anything less than that is just silly.
I like most of the vote, though. Providing goods at reduced price, raids/combat assistance from creations, and I've thrown in consulting as a magic user in case that comes up since it seems like there's magic threaded through a lot of the plot and they could well have an ace.
[x] Ask whether she tries to entice all her negotiation partners like this, or whether we're special. Maybe banter/flirt back and forth a little.
-[x] First off, we're willing to continue to provide batons and healing pods on request. Batons for 800 IM each (starting sum; could haggle us down to ~600, I figure, possibly 500 if she offers something really interesting in return) with a limit of 15 per turn. Pods for 400 IM each (starting sum again; lower limit ~200), for a limit of 90 per turn (adjust depending on the amount of harvests we can get from 3 pod bushes in the same turn, so we don't over-commit). In that regard, thank her for the tools she provided upon our request; they made producing the pods much easier.
--[x] Depending on her own reaction to the prices, hint that we're aware that we're probably selling them below value. Possibly attribute it to a mix of differing priorities, and wishing to build a good relation with the Givanni.
-[x] Second, we'd be willing to assist in a more direct manner. For example, using Fyora to set fire to Morosini ships or buildings.
-[x] Third, we're willing to offer our services analyzing anything unusual that they uncover regarding the Morosini and their backer, should such come up.
