Talk:Gold Idol/@comment-10150182-20130728044114/@comment-115.134.181.168-20130825100055

I think I can confirm; I gave Caxton the gold idol, and Madeleine the silver one during my first playthrough. Then in my New Game Plus, I accidently fucked up and failed Symone's quest (protip: go to the pawn guild rift stone to make a checkpoint save BEFORE accepting the quest, yeah my bad, I actually thought I had time to run there to save, nope, quest failed), so I thought I was screwed.

Then I realised hey wtf, didn't Madeleine already have the Kunai and Galvanized Dagger in stock at the start of my NG+... sure enough, she had the Sultry Cowl too; all three of these are Gold Idol-level merchandise.

Fwiw I had Madeleine show up during the ending cutscenes of my first playthrough - although I thought Aelinore was my LI since it was her who was kidnapped by Dragon earlier (ironically, I'd give the Arisen's Bond to Mercedes, not to either of these two). Also, I'd done all of Madeleine's quests, picked all the decisions that would please her, etc.

So I think OP is correct in saying if the affinity is high enough, the vendor's inventory will reflect that.

TL;DR In my New Game Plus, both Caxton and Madeleine were vending Gold Idol-level gear, even though originally I only gave the Gold Idol to Caxton, and the Silver Idol to Madeleine.

The only reason I can guess why this happened is Madeleine's stock appeared to have been boosted due to her affinity. So in your fist playthrough, give Caxton the Gold Idol and Madeleine the Silver Idol, and then make sure to do all of Madeleine's quests and generally suck up to her. She'll probably end up as your Love Interest, but unless you really give a shit, this is a small tradeoff for getting her Gold Idol-level gear without actually needing to give it to her. Or you could try gifting her a lot - although this will be a pain in the ass considering she likes those Golem drop amulets, have fun farming those.