Npcs

Every named face in Red Dead Redemption 2 sits on one side of a ledger. Gunsmiths, tailors, the trapper and the newspaper boys take Arthur's dollars. Fences hand dollars back, and the sixteen legendary animals pay in a currency of their own: pelts that unlock outfits and teeth, claws and horns that become permanent trinkets. A third group deals in nothing but encounters, from gang members with a favor to ask to a hermit who fires on sight. This guide walks the map in that order, so you know before you ride out whether a character is going to cost you, pay you, or simply talk.

The counters where Arthur pays

Gunsmiths: five shops, one price list

There are five gunsmiths: Annesburg, Valentine, Tumbleweed, Rhodes and Saint Denis. Every one carries the identical catalogue of weapons, ammunition and upgrades, so the only reason to favor one is distance. What changes is not the shop but the story: each line of the catalogue unlocks after a specific mission, from the $50 Cattleman you start with to the $190 Carcano Rifle. The full unlock timeline, and which entries a general store also carries, is in the weapons guide.

Tailors: two shops, four outfits each, gated by honor

Only two tailors exist, in Saint Denis on the main road and in Blackwater near the butcher, and each sells complete outfits rather than single pieces; general stores handle individual garments. Half of the stock is locked behind honor rank, shown as a red padlock in the menu. Blackwater's shop opens so late that it is mostly John's tailor.

If the Saint Denis tailor icon vanishes from your map, the shop is still there: it has a door on the square and a second one on the main street, and walking through either brings the icon back. Failing that, the icon returns after A Fine Night of Debauchery, the Chapter 4 mission in which Arthur visits the tailor with Trelawny. How honor ranks are earned and lost is covered in the game systems guide.

The trapper: one shop, roaming stalls, and sixteen garment sets

The trapper is the only vendor who takes pelts as raw material. His permanent shop is on the east side of Saint Denis, marked with a paw print and staffed at all times from Chapter 4. Before then he works from stalls in the wilderness: near Elysian Pool southwest of Annesburg, in the northwest corner of Big Valley above Owanjila, east of Riggs Station, northeast of Riggs Station on the eastern side of Big Valley, and southwest of Manzanita Post where the Lower Montana River ends. Leave that last one until your Blackwater bounty cools off. Besides crafting, he stocks Gun Oil at $1.50, Cover Scent Lotion at $1.25, Predator Bait at $3.00, Herbivore Bait at $2.25, Tomahawks at $4.00 and Throwing Knives at $2.50.

His catalogue runs to dozens of hats, gloves, vests, coats, chaps and boots, but the shape of it is sixteen garment sets. Eight need at least one legendary pelt, and eight can be built entirely from perfect pelts of ordinary animals.

Newspaper sellers: three papers, fourteen editions

Three papers are printed, each sold in two towns: the Blackwater Ledger in Blackwater and Strawberry, the New Hanover Gazette in Valentine and Annesburg, and the Saint Denis Times in Saint Denis and Rhodes. A new edition of all three appears after each of fourteen story milestones, and the editions matter because they carry the game's cheat codes. The newspaper sellers page pins each vendor on the map.

The counters that pay Arthur

Fences: four shops, a wagon buyer and a horse buyer

Fences unlock after The Spines of America in Chapter 2 and take what no honest merchant will: gold bars, jewelry, stolen coaches and the rest of the loot. Four regular fences operate. Seamus works out of a lean-to beside the big red barn at Emerald Ranch; a second stands in the caravan park on the edge of Rhodes, the same camp Trelawny goes missing from in Magicians for Sport; the Saint Denis fence trades from a proper market stall east of the city; and Seamus's side business at Van Horn buys stolen wagons and stagecoaches. Two special services sit alongside them: the wagon fence at Emerald Ranch, and the horse fence north of Clemens Point, which opens after Horse Flesh for Dinner in Chapter 3 and pays for illegally acquired mounts.

Money flows the other way at a fence too, and this is where legendary animals turn into permanent bonuses. Fences craft five talismans and fourteen trinkets from legendary parts, sell four masks (Canvas Sack Hood $3, Executioner Hood $4.75, Metal Skull Mask $8.50, Psycho Mask $10), a rack of crafting pamphlets, thrown weapons, and, from Epilogue 1, six upgraded satchels at $15 to $29 each plus the $150 Legend of the East Satchel once you own the rest. Which pamphlet unlocks after which mission is on the fences page; the thrown weapons are in the weapons guide.

Legendary animals: sixteen hunts that pay in trinkets

A legendary animal announces itself with an on-screen notice when you enter its territory. From there the routine is the same every time: Eagle Eye to find the first clue, follow the trail through two or three more, then hit it with the heaviest gun you own, because a legendary pelt cannot be damaged. If it escapes, sleep 72 in-game hours and it respawns. The pelt goes to the trapper, and the tooth, horn, claw or antler goes to a fence, where it becomes a trinket or talisman whose effect never wears off. The table lists what each hunt pays.

Two of the sixteen have no page of their own yet, so the White Bison and Pronghorn rows come from the parent page and the trapper's catalogue. Three hunts are gated: the panther and the ram wait for Master Hunter rank 9, and the bullgator does not appear on the map until Chapter 6. The bear is met during a Chapter 2 mission with Hosea and can be finished then or later. Hunting rules for ordinary animals, and the Master Hunter challenges themselves, live in the game systems guide.

Encounters that pay in favors, honor, or nothing at all

Companion requests: twenty-two errands around camp

Gang members ask Arthur for small things while he walks the camp, and each companion request is tied to a chapter and a time of day, usually 8 am to 8 pm. Most wants are common herbs or shop goods; a handful are unique objects hidden in shacks, which our items guide tracks. The reward is rarely cash and often better than cash.

Special characters: twenty-eight strangers on a timer

The special characters look like chance meetings but every one runs on a fixed place, a time window and a cooldown, usually three in-game days. None of them pays in money; what they offer is a story that continues each time you come back, and a few open further encounters after the epilogue.

The Klan and the Sasquatch

The Ku Klux Klan appears exactly three times: at a night ceremony just north of Rhodes, by day between the Dakota River and Flatneck Station, and at night southeast of Wallace Station. The ceremonies are over in moments, so arrive early. Killing them costs no honor, their bodies carry notes, and leaving one alive raises your wanted level in the area.

Bigfoot exists twice over. A giant skeleton lies under a ridge on the southeast face of Mount Shann, north of Strawberry, and counts as a point of interest for Arthur's journal. The living version is the Giant from the table above: study thirty species, find the odd flock of birds on the west bank near Calumet Ravine on a clear day, and follow them until they circle his cave. He talks but never shows himself, and a second conversation opens three in-game days later.

Character questions

Which legendary animals are locked at the start?

Three by rule and one by geography. The panther and the ram need Master Hunter rank 9, the bullgator waits for Chapter 6, which That's Murfree Country opens, and the bear only spawns after Hosea's Chapter 2 hunt. The cougar, pronghorn and Tatanka bison live in New Austin, which is a long way from any of Arthur's camps.

Do I have to visit the fence to use a legendary part?

Yes. Trinkets and talismans are bought from a fence's menu once you hold the part, and each also needs a jewelry piece or curio listed on the fences page. The trapper only handles pelts.

How many trappers are there?

One man with one shop in Saint Denis and a rotation of wilderness stalls. Any stall sells the same catalogue and buys the same pelts, so pick the nearest. The missions that unlock his neighbours on the vendor list are laid out in the missions guide, and the Red Dead Redemption 2 hub gathers every bucket in one place.