The Witcher Cheapskate's Guide

Are you frugal? Thrifty? Economical? A miser? A tightwad? Alright, a cheapskate? Does that extend to your behaviour when you play The Witcher? Well it does for me, so in keeping with that philosophy, here are a few tips on saving orens in the game. Also, in the game the trade-offs are usually between time and money, and since time seems to stretch infinitely, money is key. The tips are especially useful in the first 3 chapters (or acts). After that, you'll have pretty much all the cash you need.

 New ! Handy-dandy price lists

Don't advance the plot
Don't advance the narrative prematurely. Take your time (remember, it's pretty much infinite in the game). A nifty feature of the game is that very, very few quests are time-sensitive (a couple are, so do be careful, see the note below). The sequence of quests can be important, but rarely the actual time it takes or when you do it. Talk to all the minor or incidental characters first and get what information and goods you can before you start chatting up major players. I don't leave many quests half done, unless forced or permitted to do so by the narrative.

Note: The Source can be delayed for most of Act III. This saves on screechy encounters with whomever did not get to take care of Alvin. All optional quests are just that, optional, so you can do them anytime. A Long Way from Home does involve a time sensitive task, so don't dilly-dally.

Don't pay cover charges
Are you cheap and bloodthirsty too? If so, you save even more orens by killing Ramsmeat's guards outside his house. If you let them live, you'll have to pay them each time you want to enter and that adds up. Don't forget to grab the key! Additionally, this is the only key in the game which is not a quest item, so it is possible to lose it. Two guards = two keys, so what I do (because I'm compulsive that way) is leave one copy in storage, just in case I lose the other one (or have to dump it to pick up something valuable to convert to cash.

Maximize your harvests
Make sure you have all the bestiary entries you need for any given chapter. This way you'll get the most out of your kills, whether that means quest items, ingredients for potions or just stuff to cash in, it's worthwhile. Of course, this does cause some consternation when trying to buy as few books as possible, but it can be done. Just take your time when you first get to a new area and speak to only minor NPCs, don't initiate conversation with any of the major characters until you've exhausted all the freebies available without advancing the plot.

Never pay to sleep
Never pay to sleep somewhere unless you have no alternative. Inns are a rip-off, some even more so than others. There is almost never any reason to pay for accommodation in the game, someone will always put you up for free. Occasionally, some of your would-be hosts stray from their homes, but usually someone is home at any given time.

Sleep for free in Act I

 * Abigail's place
 * The Reverend's place
 * Odo's house
 * Haren Brogg's house

Sleep for free in Act II

 * Detective Raymond's place
 * Eager Thighs Brothel
 * Gramps' hut, if Geralt doesn't kill him or piss him off
 * Kalkstein's place
 * Shani's place
 * St. Lebioda's Hospital
 * Thaler's Place
 * Vaska's place
 * Vivaldi's house

Sleep for free in Act III

 * Triss' place (even if you choose to leave Alvin with Shani, although she comes home pretty late and is not always there)
 * The Gamblers' Den
 * Gramps' hut, if Geralt doesn't kill him or piss him off
 * Shani's (unless you choose to leave Alvin with Triss!)
 * the Mage's Tower, since Kalkstein lives there now
 * Vaska's place

Sleep for free in Act IV

 * Adam's place
 * Alina's place
 * the Fisher King's hut

Sleep for free in Act V

 * Foltest's Castle (while you are there, speak with the chamberlain)
 * the makeshift forge, speak with the resident blacksmith or armorer
 * the field hospital, speak to a paramedic or nurse
 * Kalkstein's laboratory
 * the Executioner's Tower, since Zahin Schmartz lives there now
 * the refugee caves in the Swamp Cemetery

and of course, there are always campfires (except in the Trade Quarter).

Buy as few books as possible
You can get most of the information regarding plants and monsters by giving gifts you've found and stored to "old women", who are not to be confused with "beggars" or "old peasant women". There are also some very useful morsels of information gleaned from more major characters: for example, the gardener, Shani, some guards, etc. Basically talk to absolutely everyone before you contemplate buying a book. The entries you still can't get using these tips still have to come from books, but this eliminates at least half the books you'll have to buy.

Also, if you feel you have enough cash and aren't using monster parts to supplement your income, I believe you can get all the bestiary entries necessary to complete any contract quest in the same manner. The information can be obtained in the same Act as the contract quest (some even from earlier Acts). Waiting to get the besyiary entires for free can cramp your style a tiny bit. For example, in Act III where you can kill many, many alps, the bestiary entry is only available from a book, but in Act IV, it can be obtained in exchange for food.

Free books in the Prologue

 * The Frightener
 * Monstrum, or a Portrayal of Witchers

Free books in Act I

 * Against Nonhumans
 * Basics of Alchemy
 * The Book of the Swallow
 * The Book of the Tawny Owl
 * An Invitation to Magic
 * Ithlinne's Prophecy
 * Recent History
 * Swamp Monsters
 * The Tome of Fear and Loathing, volume I

Free books in Act II

 * Against Nonhumans
 * Ain Soph Aur
 * Basics of Alchemy
 * The Book of the Kiss
 * The Conjunction of the Spheres
 * Cults and Religions of the Nordlings
 * The Flower and the Flame
 * A Guide to Vizima
 * The History of the World
 * Ithlinne's Prophecy
 * The Kingdom of Temeria
 * Lara's Gift
 * Shadow People, or the story of His Majesty's Secret Service
 * Specters, Wraiths, and the Damned
 * The Story of Lara Dorren and Cragen of Lod

Free books in Act III

 * The Conjunction of the Spheres
 * Curses and the Cursed
 * Elder Blood
 * Hymns of Madness and Despair
 * Ithlinne's Prophecy
 * The Kingdom of Temeria
 * Monstrum, or a Portrayal of Witchers
 * The Rivian Pogrom
 * Samum
 * Secrets of the Southern Masters
 * Sorceresses and Sorcerers
 * Swamp Monsters
 * Swamp Plants

Free books in Act IV

 * Ballads
 * Elder Blood
 * Fairytales and Stories
 * Ithlinne's Prophecy

Free books in Act V

 * Against Nonhumans
 * Disenchanting a Striga
 * The Last Wish

Free books in the Epilogue

 * Ithlinne's Prophecy

Pick up and sell everything
Well OK, not everything, some things you'll need to keep. But you get the idea. Raid all containers (and I do mean ALL) and once you've decided what to keep, store what you need and sell everything else.


 * If you run out of space in your inventory, go to a merchant or an innkeeper, make more room (by selling or storing stuff) and start again.
 * If you must choose between two items, take the more expensive first. You can always go back for the less expensive items if you are really strapped for cash.

Additionally, and especially in Act III, any areas that were accessible in previous acts that remain accessible have been restocked. So you can have a second look around the Temple Quarter and the Swamp making sure to check all the containers again. There are new containers there as well.

Never pass up an opportunity to raid a corpse/remains
Pretty self-explanatory. See the section above.

Use teleportation
Why pay the ferryman every time you go to or come back from the swamp? In Act II, go see Kalkstein early and get the teleportation crystal from him. Then, at least you can come back from the swamp for free (and from a couple of places in the sewer if need be).

In Act III, you get the use of four teleporters:
 * one in Kalkstein's basement lab in the Temple Quarter,
 * Triss' mirror in her bedroom at her house in the Trade Quarter,
 * another in the Elven ruins in the Trade Quarter sewers and
 * a final teleporter in the Mage's tower in the swamp, where Kalkstein has relocated.

No more being nickeled and dimed by the ferryman.

Play a lot of poker
Play poker. Lots of poker. Save before each game, and if you lose, restore. In Act II, Thaler will play as long as you want to, as will Chireadan in Act IV. Velerad is a reckless bettor (even if he won't play more than a couple games at one sitting). However, leaving the area and returning seems to reset this condition, so any opponent is a potentially infinite pot of gold. see Dice poker players for a list of possible opponents.