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Cost for an elephant
- Thread starter 3d6
- Start date
I can't think of any references to it, but there's a lot of ways you could go about doing it.
If you go by carrying capacity, an elephant can cary about 6 times as much as a horse (this is based on the carrying capacity table and a Str of 28 for the elephant and 15 heavy horse). Logically, you could then price the elephant at 6 times the horse, which gives 1200 gp.
If you're in a setting where elephants are common (african, indian), this could be much lower. If you're in a setting where elephants are pretty rare, like a normal D+D setting, I'd raise it a bit, probably to 2400.
The purpose for the elephant might also play a big part in the cost. A war horse that's trained to not spook at loud noises or panic from pain costs more than a regular horse. From the little I know about elephants, they are much more skiddish, tend to freak out at the first time they're injured, and generally cause more trouble than they're worth in a battle (this is just a little tidbit from the little I know of Alexander the Great's attempts to use them in battle). Training an elephant for battle purposes would probably bump the cost up even higher.
Taking all of this into acount, I'd probably charge somewhere around 5000 gold for a war trained elephant in a normal D+D setting.
If you go by carrying capacity, an elephant can cary about 6 times as much as a horse (this is based on the carrying capacity table and a Str of 28 for the elephant and 15 heavy horse). Logically, you could then price the elephant at 6 times the horse, which gives 1200 gp.
If you're in a setting where elephants are common (african, indian), this could be much lower. If you're in a setting where elephants are pretty rare, like a normal D+D setting, I'd raise it a bit, probably to 2400.
The purpose for the elephant might also play a big part in the cost. A war horse that's trained to not spook at loud noises or panic from pain costs more than a regular horse. From the little I know about elephants, they are much more skiddish, tend to freak out at the first time they're injured, and generally cause more trouble than they're worth in a battle (this is just a little tidbit from the little I know of Alexander the Great's attempts to use them in battle). Training an elephant for battle purposes would probably bump the cost up even higher.
Taking all of this into acount, I'd probably charge somewhere around 5000 gold for a war trained elephant in a normal D+D setting.
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Jeff Wilder
First Post
I think 5000 gp is about right.
Just don't forget about food and upkeep. Remember, the "gift" of a white elephant is actually a means of costing the recipient huge amounts of money. Ballpark, 250 gp per month, food and board, would be a good place to start.
Just don't forget about food and upkeep. Remember, the "gift" of a white elephant is actually a means of costing the recipient huge amounts of money. Ballpark, 250 gp per month, food and board, would be a good place to start.
Romnipotent
First Post
I might be crazy, but in Monster Manual 2 theres a WARBEAST template you can add to any animal for using it as a mount. Then not that you can inflate the price. I have also seen documents for riding elephants and war elephants, but I cannot recall where.
A Warbeast Elephant will set you back 12*75gp +100gp
1000gp by the layout in the monster manual, however I find the cost to be quite low, and an exotic mount addition kind of balances it out
1500gp for a riding elephant
2500gp for a war trained one
and ranks in handle animal are a must as well with these things
A Warbeast Elephant will set you back 12*75gp +100gp
1000gp by the layout in the monster manual, however I find the cost to be quite low, and an exotic mount addition kind of balances it out
1500gp for a riding elephant
2500gp for a war trained one
and ranks in handle animal are a must as well with these things
Lord Pendragon
First Post
Of course, in the Orient elephants are more common, are they not? (I'm thinking Tibet and India.) In a European setting, I'd charge more.Dr_Rictus said:
