Questions tagged [economy]
For questions relating to the economics of game worlds.
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Are all souls of equal value?
The Monster Manual's Devil entry describes how devils desire souls and enter into contracts with mortals to gain them.
To own a creature's soul is to have absolute control over that creature, and ...
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How much do hirelings cost?
I'm looking for a cheat-sheet with prices of hiring people: bodyguards, specialists, servants and whatnot. I will be playing Masks campaign soon and I plan on making my Investigator a rich business ...
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How to take large amounts of money away from the party without causing player resentment?
So, basically, last session, the person the players were escorting went back to his hometown, where he owes a massive debt to the residents. The residents of the town threatened to repossess his boat ...
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Is ammunition a consumable magic item?
In the crafting rules in the DMG, there is a rule that the value of consumable items is half the normal cost (p. 135):
The value of a consumable item, such as a potion or scroll, is typically half ...
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What loot has the highest value to weight ratio in D&D?
Reading "What are Astral Diamonds Made of?" made me wonder: what is the most valuable treasure in the game per pound? I mean, treasure that actually does have a price, have a weight, and is ...
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Would this house rule for trade goods be unbalanced or cause problems?
The PHB rules say this about trade goods on page 144:
Trade Goods. On the borderlands, many people conduct transactions through barter. Like gems and art objects, trade goods—bars of iron, bags of ...
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Can you use Alchemist Supplies to make infinite money?
So just for the sake of this question, I'm going to assume you have proficiency and the kit itself.
In the description of Alchemist Supplies it states the following:
Alchemical Crafting. You can use ...
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Pricing guide for a necromantic item
Hello I'm looking for some help pricing an item that specifically only uses the animate dead option to maintain control of the animated dead once per day. I know there won't be a RAW solution but was ...
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Is there a value limit on the objects True Polymorph creates?
True Polymorph has the option to transform a creature into an object that can not be larger than the creature. What about the object's value? Wish has a limit of 25,000 gp for on label use. Could ...
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Do lifestyle expenses alter by the number of people in a family?
I was toying with the idea of my character, a Chronurgy Gladiator, sending gold home to support his family (mother, father, and two younger sisters). This idea was spurred from the oddly succinct ...
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Have spaceships always cost about the same as putting armor on your horse?
With the release of Spelljammer: Adventures in Space, the Spelljammer setting has come to 5th edition. Much to my surprise, I discovered that I can turn a regular boat into a spaceship for as little ...
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How much does it cost to manufacture a conductor stone?
I'm running a 5e Eberron campaign. My players are about to discover that Lhesh Haruuc is secretly building a lightning rail line from Rhukaan Draal towards Sterngate, aided by a rogue scion of House ...
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Can you point out recommendations for building, managing, upgrading and running player's base? [closed]
In my campaign, recently two players started laying plans to buy a part of land not too far away from city in hopes of building the base of operations for the team, or buy an already existing building ...
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How to incorporate Lifestyle into D&D?
Lifestyle is under the section "Between Adventures" on page 157 PHB and does not list as an optional rule.
But, most characters avoid paying for it because it has no mechanical numeric value ...
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Do Baldur's Gate coins have names like Neverwinter and Waterdeep in Forgotten Realms?
The minted coins of Waterdeep and Neverwinter within the Forgotten Realms setting have names established in the published lore. However, I have been unable to find anything similar for Baldur's Gate.
...
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By what in-game logic is there no market for wizard spells? [closed]
Finally, the equipment tables make no mention of spell scrolls, so they cannot be bought by default.
The real reason magic items and spells cannot be bought by default is of course that D&D is an ...
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How to deal with incredibly rich PCs messing with combat balance
One of my PCs are ludicrously rich: on the order of 100000 platinum pieces. I don't want to say "You're poor now, too bad", so what is a fast way to deprive them of their wealth so it doesn'...
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How to make sense of the cost/value of a spellscroll? [closed]
Xanathar's Guide to Everything describes the gold obtained from selling a magic item.
Rarity
Base price*
Common
100gp
Unommon
400gp
Rare
4,000gp
Very rare
40,000gp
Legendary
200,000gp
* Halved ...
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What would be the effects of giving out ten times the expected gold?
Given the treasure tables and advice in the Dungeon Master's Guide and Xanathar's Guide to Everything, characters have an implied wealth per level. An approximation of this is shown below, copied from ...
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Do the rules for running a business contradict themselves?
My players recently came into possession of an inn in a small village and I'm trying to figure out how to run it.
On page 127 of the DMG, it says that an inn costs 5GP maintenance per day, including ...
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How much would it cost for a PC to fund a metropolis-wide party night?
How much would it cost for a PC to fund a metropolis-wide party night?
When I say metropolis-wide party night, picture your run-of-the-mill festive fantasy village where food and drinks are in ...
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How was loot sold historically? [closed]
Looting and selling valuable equipment is a key revenue generator for PCs in many RPGs, but how did this work historically? I have a vague idea from fiction that when armies brought home large amounts ...
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Are Lower Tier Magical Items Available in a City if They're Under the Base Value but Not the Spellcasting Limit?
I'm currently in a Rise of the Runelords Pathfinder 1E campaign. I understand that being an earlier campaign it is fairly magic item starved. My character is at level 10 and I have been absolutely ...
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Are purchasable animals overpowered?
I have recently discovered that you can buy a large variety of rather strong creatures for very cheap amounts. A character that is moderately specialized in handle animal can easily get a +15 by level ...
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How do I establish the prices of goods and services in Numenera?
As I'm making my way through a campaign, I'm beginning to realize that I don't know what to do about money. My tier 2 (out of 6) players have 200 shins (gold in Numenera terms) between 5 of them. We ...
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Sources for Benchmarks of Prices in the Star Wars Universe
I am planning to run a Star Wars campaign, and I would like to get a better feel for the setting's economical 'realities', such as approximate relative prices of things and services. I understand that ...
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What is the lowest level that an adventuring party can safely make enough money to take care of a city-state?
Lets say that a party has recently decided to retire from adventuring to focus their efforts in caring for a city-state in need of benefactors. I want to know what the lowest level a party can be and ...
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Do elves of Evermeet use money?
Evermeet was created as elven heaven. So, do they use money or gold there? If so, do they trade with other Arvandor or Feywild cities with money or something?
Where I can read about such things? ...
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How to discourage mundane play?
I am freestyling a campaign w/out an “official” system, and I have run into a problem. With certain players, they refuse to play as adventurers, choosing instead to get a steady job, then saying ...
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How much gold should be spent to optimally run this Tavern?
The Waterdeep: Dragon Heist adventure gives the players the option to run a tavern. The "Tavern Keeping Expenses" sidebar (p. 41) specifies the regular running expenses and how to determine profit or ...
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Fixing/Improving My Model of Reciprocal Economies [closed]
I’m unsatisfied with how things like reciprocal economies are usually handled in RPGs. I've come up with a homebrew mechanic of my own, but it's also far from perfect and I’m trying to improve it.
In ...
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How much will studying magic in an academy cost?
Here is why I ask this question:
I want to create a wizard character that goes to the best magic school in the Eberron settings (which I will also be playing in): the Arcanix. But, I want to say in ...
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Is there a place to find the pricing for (non-magical) things not mentioned in the PHB?
Though I know that with how vast imagination can take this question, the most common answer would be "ask the DM", though I am looking for common items that should be listed somewhere...
Specifically,...
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What is the monetary system for Mythic Europe?
I've been reading through the core rule book, and there are references to money and skills related to money. However, I have been unable to find a section that talks about the monetary system of the ...
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How many copper coins fit inside a cubic foot?
I have a Wizard who is level 5, currently running in a pirate campaign (homebrew), and I thought about some scams I could pull to earn the ship some extra coinage whenever we touched port to resupply ...
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Are expensive material component costs too specific?
Reality Revision requires a crystal worth 25,000 gp.
Wish requires a diamond worth 25,000 gp.
"Grand Jewels" in the treasure tables peak at 5,000 gp.
Perhaps there is a work around for Reality ...
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How would a player character pay for an item that costs less than 1cp?
For reasons too complex and stupid to go into, I've recently been looking at item values and the 5e currency system. As I understand it, 1pp = 10gp = 20ep = 100sp = 1000cp, which places 1cp as the ...
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How much is unrefined gold ore worth?
We're a new group with a DM that's relatively new. In a recent session the party visited a mine and found a cart full of unrefined ore. We pushed it all the way back to town and are now trying to cash ...
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Krynnspace two-way gold / steel arbitrage
This question reminded me of an old issue that came up in a campaign: is there any in-universe reason that the players, armed with a Spelljamming ship, couldn't make ludicrous amounts of money ...
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How are large amounts of money expected to be made during the early parts of the Waterdeep: Dragon Heist adventure?
I'm currently running the Waterdeep: Dragon Heist adventure, and want to stay in the book's materials.
There's an opportunity for
How can the party fund this relatively enormous expense, as a party ...
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Can a kingdom be destabilized by an influx of enemy gold? [closed]
A few years ago I read a role-playing game supplement that described a cold war between kingdom Good and kingdom Bad. Both kingdoms used metal coins with silver as the most common followed by gold. ...
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Can my character collect royalties from being an author?
My character is a half-elf, aged academic globetrotter researching ruins, fauna and flora - anything he can get his hands on really. In his 100+ year career it stands to reason that along with any ...
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How to build an economy based on PCs’ sphere of influence? [closed]
First some context:
I have only been a PC rather than a GM so far, but my brother who is running a campaign (with his own homebrew system based on Shadowrun) with some of his friends asked me for help....
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Should I give my larger-than-expected party more total gold/treasure to compensate?
I am currently DMing the Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Path and the party just hit level 4.
For several reasons, we ended up with a party of 6+DM, while the AP states to be best balanced for ...
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How much should PCs earn as guards?
If a merchant hires the PCs as guards, how much should the PCs earn?
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What's the best way to handle Magic Marts in 3.5e?
I have been thinking about how much Magic Marts take me out of the game. I'm wondering if there's really a solid solution in 3rd Edition to prevent the acquisition of magic items from being too simple ...
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How much money do traders have to purchase PCs' goods?
In my setting money is fairly important, as I am running a West Marches style campaign. I don't want the one lowly trader in the village to be able to purchase everything the PCs wish to sell, but I ...
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How do the economics add up for laborers?
Relevant quotes from Chapter 5 of the Player's Handbook:
Laborer's wages
A silver piece buys a laborer’s work for a day, a flask of lamp oil, or a night’s rest in a poor inn.
(Page 143)
Laborer's ...
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How do profits from running a business work?
On page 129 of DMG, the Running the Business chart says "The business covers its own maintenance cost for each of the days. It earns a profit of 1d6 × 5 gp.", for example. I'm a bit confused on this....
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Should spellcasting services be limited in E6? How?
Pathfinder E6 limits PC level to 6th to disallow the players from using level 4+ spells. This means, for example, that resurrection of a fallen friend is not what PCs can normally do, nor can they ...
