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<blockquote data-quote="S'mon" data-source="post: 7604506" data-attributes="member: 463"><p>1 or 2 silver pieces a day was a living wage for thousands of years (in areas with a monetary economy), and yes Gygax did base his 1e DMG hireling wages off that. However he did not base his PHB gear costs off historical values; he says himself that they are wildly inflated.</p><p></p><p>5e says a skilled worker makes 2gp/day, which is ahistorical but tallies better with the 5e PHB prices.</p><p></p><p>If you wanted something that looks historical you'd need to divide most 5e PHB prices by 10 (ie gold > silver), pay skilled workers 2 sp/day (1 sp if unskilled), and have a silver piece be worth around $20* purchasing power parity.</p><p></p><p>*I did some research on Roman bread prices etc and it works out as a typical low-end working class income in the Roman empire was around $20/day. The $2/day you see as subsistence living in modern 'Developing' countries is not historical, at least not in anything resembling a D&D world. A Chinese peasant might get by on $10, but with a notably lower standard of living and a greater likelihood of famine.</p><p></p><p>Edit: Personally I tend to do a Gygaxian-style bodge where I base the economy off 1 sp/day subsistence and use the PHB prices as the inflated amounts paid by adventurers. They are really all over the place though - eg a wagon is only 35 gp, which looks like it's based off the sp economy, but a pony is 30gp which looks like it's based off the x10 standard. In my Sunday game the PCs bought a wagon & 2 draft oxen, I charged them 30gp per ox but felt a bit guilty about that - should probably have been more like 8gp*. <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/blush.png" class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":blush:" title="Blush :blush:" data-shortname=":blush:" /> Still the PCs weren't spending their own money so they didn't mind being ripped off. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite8" alt=":D" title="Big grin :D" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":D" /></p><p></p><p>*Just found ox on very badly laid out PHB pg 157 - it's under "Trade Goods" and is 15gp!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="S'mon, post: 7604506, member: 463"] 1 or 2 silver pieces a day was a living wage for thousands of years (in areas with a monetary economy), and yes Gygax did base his 1e DMG hireling wages off that. However he did not base his PHB gear costs off historical values; he says himself that they are wildly inflated. 5e says a skilled worker makes 2gp/day, which is ahistorical but tallies better with the 5e PHB prices. If you wanted something that looks historical you'd need to divide most 5e PHB prices by 10 (ie gold > silver), pay skilled workers 2 sp/day (1 sp if unskilled), and have a silver piece be worth around $20* purchasing power parity. *I did some research on Roman bread prices etc and it works out as a typical low-end working class income in the Roman empire was around $20/day. The $2/day you see as subsistence living in modern 'Developing' countries is not historical, at least not in anything resembling a D&D world. A Chinese peasant might get by on $10, but with a notably lower standard of living and a greater likelihood of famine. Edit: Personally I tend to do a Gygaxian-style bodge where I base the economy off 1 sp/day subsistence and use the PHB prices as the inflated amounts paid by adventurers. They are really all over the place though - eg a wagon is only 35 gp, which looks like it's based off the sp economy, but a pony is 30gp which looks like it's based off the x10 standard. In my Sunday game the PCs bought a wagon & 2 draft oxen, I charged them 30gp per ox but felt a bit guilty about that - should probably have been more like 8gp*. :blush: Still the PCs weren't spending their own money so they didn't mind being ripped off. :D *Just found ox on very badly laid out PHB pg 157 - it's under "Trade Goods" and is 15gp! [/QUOTE]
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