Setting Idea: The Residuum Economy

[Slander]

Why the assumption that the Ritual casters would be treated as upper-class citizens? If you are talking about gaining the most from this type of mass-production, why pay a Ritual caster well when you can enslave him and force him to work for free?

To me, this would be a world where ritual casters are the lowest class, obligated/forced to give themselves up for the "greater good" of civilization. Casters would try as much as possible to hide in the shadows. Destitute family's would sell children with a hint of potential for a (comparatively) tidy sum. The number of casters in your possession is as much a status symbol as the number of rituals in your archive.

The Guilds would profit, civilization would benefit, but woe to be a caster.

 

[Asmor]

Suddenly I imagine giant golems shoveling people into the portable residuum converters on their backs...

EDIT: Someone needs to stat that golem. Let's say it gives residuum equal to the XP value of the converted creature...

Ask and ye shall receive...

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Why the assumption that the Ritual casters would be treated as upper-class citizens? If you are talking about gaining the most from this type of mass-production, why pay a Ritual caster well when you can enslave him and force him to work for free?

To me, this would be a world where ritual casters are the lowest class, obligated/forced to give themselves up for the "greater good" of civilization. Casters would try as much as possible to hide in the shadows. Destitute family's would sell children with a hint of potential for a (comparatively) tidy sum. The number of casters in your possession is as much a status symbol as the number of rituals in your archive.

The Guilds would profit, civilization would benefit, but woe to be a caster.

Outright slavery is unlikely, caster require too much training and are tricky people to keep captive at best. No a normal guild system will do nicely with plenty of impoverished apprentices, a moderate number of well to do journeymen and a few wealthy master ritualists. The only way they would be all wealty is if ritualist were very scarce in the first place.

 

[mmadsen]

Why the assumption that the Ritual casters would be treated as upper-class citizens?

Because they add tremendous value, and because they are only able to do that after spending enormous amounts of time and energy becoming ritual casters.

If you are talking about gaining the most from this type of mass-production, why pay a Ritual caster well when you can enslave him and force him to work for free?

Because no one would become a ritual caster if it meant enslavement.

Or, rather, fewer talented individuals would find their way into it than if ritual casting were richly rewarded.

Of course, you might imagine a reason for elite ritual casters to be richly rewarded yet nominally slaves, like imperial eunuch bureaucrats or Mameluke soldiers.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Be prepared for entreprenurial players to see if they can game the system.

You state that the material components cost the same as the item produced. But they can't cost the same.

Well, the assumption is that large organizations can produce or acquire it at lower costs, thus allowing them to make a profit. But they are bulk traders for a reason.

The cost of something is due to supply and demand; it's not fixed. So, logically, there are going to be occasions where the demand for the object-to-be-made is high but the demand for the material components to be used (candles, crystals, residuum) is low. [Perhaps there's a nostalgia fad for hand-crafted items, which become status symbols for a year.] So it will be like printing money. And that's going to happen all the time, especially if the material components are actual items like candles, not abstract stuff like Residuum.

If they want to play at being traders, they are welcome. All prices fluctuate - including list items in "normal" settings, but the general assumption of D&D is that the fluctuations are small enough not to matter very much. If they do want to profit from such fluctuations, then obviously it's time to build a more detailed economic model for them - and that includes competition. After all, they are presumably not the first ones to think of such schemes.

They can make a profit, if they work smartly. It's just not as simple as they may imagine, and it will carry its own risks. But if they truly want to do this, it's possible to build an entire campaign arc around this.

 

[Goobermunch]

I'd say with some effort ritual casters can develop new ones.

So does the ritual caster need to any particular skill set to make a new pattern, or does he merely need the handiwork of a skilled craftsman?

--G

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

So does the ritual caster need to any particular skill set to make a new pattern, or does he merely need the handiwork of a skilled craftsman?

--G

It would probably make sense if they researched this field sufficiently so that they would be able to create the object on their own. Yes, all this is magic - but it doesn't mean that these rituals represent wish fulfillment...

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Why the assumption that the Ritual casters would be treated as upper-class citizens? If you are talking about gaining the most from this type of mass-production, why pay a Ritual caster well when you can enslave him and force him to work for free?

The same reason there aren't many cases of enslaved accountants - being a slave usually means you aren't very motivated to learn new things if only your owner benefits. Thus, menial laborers were the most common slaves throughout history.

 

[Goobermunch]

The same reason there aren't many cases of enslaved accountants - being a slave usually means you aren't very motivated to learn new things if only your owner benefits. Thus, menial laborers were the most common slaves throughout history.

You've obviously never been an associate at a big law firm.

--G

 

[mmadsen]

You've obviously never been an associate at a big law firm.

I know you're (half-)joking, but the reason you can treat young associates at a law firm (or consulting firm) like slaves is that they're competing to become partners -- and they view that as quite a big reward. Or they leave.