Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
On character wealth an d game balance
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="S'mon" data-source="post: 7090262" data-attributes="member: 463"><p>Yeah, for most campaigns that's about what I use (or 1 sp = £5, 1 gp = £50), with 1 sp being daily subsistence for an adult human. A typical peasant farm produces several sp in value daily, I use 5 sp/day as a guide, so 150 sp/month or 15gp. That farm probably has 2 adults and 3 children and gives a small surplus the Lord can extract in taxes </p><p>without starvation.</p><p></p><p>Some settings are wealthier, especially those where population density is very low, but these </p><p>numbers give a reasonable basis for tax incomes etc. I have a campaign where one PC is the </p><p>Sultan of Ylaruam, his realm of 500,000 has been giving him a net cash income of </p><p>80,000gp/year to play with, with which he is very happy. </p><p></p><p>In my Ghinarian Hills Wilderlands game on Saturday, after a tough battle with Black Sun </p><p>assassins on the road outside Ahyf, the high level 5e PCs (Fighter 11th, Barbarian 14th & Barbarian 17th plus 2 NPCs) sought shelter for the night at a nearby fortified farmhouse (9 people). After diplomatising their way in they gifted the farmer the 35gp they'd taken from the assassins - so about 35x50=£1750, enough to buy several oxen or half a trained riding horse (although in horse breeding areas I use 25gp/horse not 75gp). The farmers were pretty happy and weren't terrified at the thought of this money being discovered. They're not living in France AD 1200 after all.</p><p></p><p>I think if you want a setting where huddled masses of disarmed peasants are more terrified of their Lord than the </p><p>local monsters, that is actually fairly unusual for D&D. If I wanted that I'd maybe use Gary </p><p>Gygax's Great Kingdom from World of Greyhawk (with population increased to 50 million from 5 </p><p>million), a lawful evil realm that could do 'high medieval France' quite well.</p><p></p><p>Comparing to the real world, I generally find Ancient World Mediterranean standards fit D&D better </p><p>than medieval western Europe, due to the lack of coin in Europe from the Dark Ages Islamic conquests</p><p> causing the collapse of Mediterranean civilisation. 1gp=10sp fits the period in Greece from the </p><p>Peloponnesian War onwards, when there was an influx of Persian gold; 1gp=20sp for the earlier </p><p>period.</p><p></p><p>Athenian Hoplite and trireme rower wages seem to have been in the 1sp to 2sp/day range, which fits Gygaxian economics, but for D&D I would typically use around x5 if you expect to be recruiting actual trained </p><p>mercenaries for your war, rather than levy citizenry, so 15-30gp/month perhaps (plus looting rights!). </p><p>Likewise a man can live on 1sp/day, but if you want to hire a linkboy or bearer for your dungeon/wilderness expedition expect to be paying 5sp/day or more.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="S'mon, post: 7090262, member: 463"] Yeah, for most campaigns that's about what I use (or 1 sp = £5, 1 gp = £50), with 1 sp being daily subsistence for an adult human. A typical peasant farm produces several sp in value daily, I use 5 sp/day as a guide, so 150 sp/month or 15gp. That farm probably has 2 adults and 3 children and gives a small surplus the Lord can extract in taxes without starvation. Some settings are wealthier, especially those where population density is very low, but these numbers give a reasonable basis for tax incomes etc. I have a campaign where one PC is the Sultan of Ylaruam, his realm of 500,000 has been giving him a net cash income of 80,000gp/year to play with, with which he is very happy. In my Ghinarian Hills Wilderlands game on Saturday, after a tough battle with Black Sun assassins on the road outside Ahyf, the high level 5e PCs (Fighter 11th, Barbarian 14th & Barbarian 17th plus 2 NPCs) sought shelter for the night at a nearby fortified farmhouse (9 people). After diplomatising their way in they gifted the farmer the 35gp they'd taken from the assassins - so about 35x50=£1750, enough to buy several oxen or half a trained riding horse (although in horse breeding areas I use 25gp/horse not 75gp). The farmers were pretty happy and weren't terrified at the thought of this money being discovered. They're not living in France AD 1200 after all. I think if you want a setting where huddled masses of disarmed peasants are more terrified of their Lord than the local monsters, that is actually fairly unusual for D&D. If I wanted that I'd maybe use Gary Gygax's Great Kingdom from World of Greyhawk (with population increased to 50 million from 5 million), a lawful evil realm that could do 'high medieval France' quite well. Comparing to the real world, I generally find Ancient World Mediterranean standards fit D&D better than medieval western Europe, due to the lack of coin in Europe from the Dark Ages Islamic conquests causing the collapse of Mediterranean civilisation. 1gp=10sp fits the period in Greece from the Peloponnesian War onwards, when there was an influx of Persian gold; 1gp=20sp for the earlier period. Athenian Hoplite and trireme rower wages seem to have been in the 1sp to 2sp/day range, which fits Gygaxian economics, but for D&D I would typically use around x5 if you expect to be recruiting actual trained mercenaries for your war, rather than levy citizenry, so 15-30gp/month perhaps (plus looting rights!). Likewise a man can live on 1sp/day, but if you want to hire a linkboy or bearer for your dungeon/wilderness expedition expect to be paying 5sp/day or more. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
On character wealth an d game balance
Top