Price list for buildings...
- Thread starter Wispr
- Start date
Celebrim
Legend
Historically, all price lists for D&D have been very wacky. This is Gygax's fault, and he did it deliberately because he was less concerned with making a realistic functioning economy than he was in balancing the core game play - which was delving into dungeons, killing things, and taking there stuff. This bias is seen all over the place, including the spell lists and the magic item price lists, but its most egregious in the price lists for ordinary stuff.
To begin with, decide what your economy is based on. Traditionally, the D&D adventuring economy is gold peice based - despite the lack of realism in that - and so things that adventurers were supposed to be buying are priced in gold. This creates problem when Gygax decides to adopt realism in other places and have the mundane economy be silver peice based (probably to prevent the PC's from getting too rich collecting taxes), and conversely keeps buildings based on a gold/adventuring economy (resulting in a situation where peasants can't afford to build even simple shacks).
To my knowledge, since that rocky start, things haven't really gotten any better.
Personally, rather than relying on any price list, I'd ask yourself what you really want from your game. Do you want buildings to be an attractive option for PC's, so that they have appended to their character sheet a long list of blue prints? There is good and bad in that so there is no right answer. Are you going for realism? What historical era is your game play centered on?
Assuming a typical fantasy gold peice standard and your typical low fantasy campaign with platemail and the like, I'd personally price a simple temple at about 2-3 g.p. per square foot. So a simple enclosed shrine with a single 20x30' room and your basic decoration might run 1200-1800 g.p.
Greenfield
Adventurer
Does the Stronghold Builder's Guide (mentioned in another thread) include prices?
Greenfield
Adventurer
Does the Stronghold Builder's Guide (mentioned in another thread) include prices?
Hmm. Just looked. Forget I asked. Yes, it does, but it's far from simple to figure out.
Hmm. Just looked. Forget I asked. Yes, it does, but it's far from simple to figure out.
Pergentile
Explorer
Just have specific common buildings that are quickly and cost-efficiently built by contractors.
I have been a contractor, and let me tell you, whenever someone tells me they want a curved wall, or a wall with lots of angles that aren't "right", I facepalm.
A Contractor can build an average square house at three quarters the cost. He can do it at half the cost if he is working for free. ^^
In my world, there is a Guild that controls and manages the construction of basic buildings, allowing the average citizen to be able to have a nice comfy home. =D
I have been a contractor, and let me tell you, whenever someone tells me they want a curved wall, or a wall with lots of angles that aren't "right", I facepalm.
A Contractor can build an average square house at three quarters the cost. He can do it at half the cost if he is working for free. ^^
In my world, there is a Guild that controls and manages the construction of basic buildings, allowing the average citizen to be able to have a nice comfy home. =D
frankthedm
First Post
Simple house 1,000 gp
Grand house 5,000 gp
Mansion 100,000 gp
Tower 50,000 gp
Keep 150,000 gp
Castle 500,000 gp
Huge castle 1,000,000 gp
Moat with bridge 50,000 g
Personally, I don’t think the DMG prices for property are that unreasonable. ( IMHO the Instant fortress is underpriced ). The commoners don’t own squat and when the king gets told it costs 1000s of gold for magic items, he expects to get similar amounts for his land.
I would personally interpret the high GP costs cover the 'fees' and 'taxes' for obtaining such properties. When players can defend properties, they have a lot of income at their disposal. If they don’t have the cash, they can negotiate prices. And sometimes interested parties may offer really good deals.
The Curio Company is pleased to inform you that you have received a most generous offer in regards to the items of significant enchantment you wished to receive more than ‘the going rate’ for. The offer consists of a fully furnished mansion, with the only stipulation being your group takes residence in the mansion for no less than 5 years. The offer comes from the King himself so we strongly recommend you accept such a generosity with haste. The building and land rights alone are worth nearly 100,000 gold, A profit of over 50% beyond the market value of your Crown of Telepathy: 27,000 gp and +6 Cloak of Charisma: 36,000 gp.
Grand house 5,000 gp
Mansion 100,000 gp
Tower 50,000 gp
Keep 150,000 gp
Castle 500,000 gp
Huge castle 1,000,000 gp
Moat with bridge 50,000 g
Personally, I don’t think the DMG prices for property are that unreasonable. ( IMHO the Instant fortress is underpriced ). The commoners don’t own squat and when the king gets told it costs 1000s of gold for magic items, he expects to get similar amounts for his land.
I would personally interpret the high GP costs cover the 'fees' and 'taxes' for obtaining such properties. When players can defend properties, they have a lot of income at their disposal. If they don’t have the cash, they can negotiate prices. And sometimes interested parties may offer really good deals.
The Curio Company is pleased to inform you that you have received a most generous offer in regards to the items of significant enchantment you wished to receive more than ‘the going rate’ for. The offer consists of a fully furnished mansion, with the only stipulation being your group takes residence in the mansion for no less than 5 years. The offer comes from the King himself so we strongly recommend you accept such a generosity with haste. The building and land rights alone are worth nearly 100,000 gold, A profit of over 50% beyond the market value of your Crown of Telepathy: 27,000 gp and +6 Cloak of Charisma: 36,000 gp.
airwalkrr
Adventurer
Frankthedm gave you the official answer for 3.5. But I'd also like to note that I allow players in my Eberron campaign to purchase property in the city of Sharn (where the campaign is based) following some guidelines that are in the Sharn, City of Towers supplement, which provides a randomized value range depending on where the neighborhood is. A poor residence (single room condo with just enough room for a bed and some personal belongings) is 1d4x100 gp and is located in a bad part of town. An average residence (multi-room condo or home with enough room for a small family or a large family if several people share) is 1d4x1,500 gp and is located in a middle-class or poor neighborhood. An upscale residence (expensive manor or luxurious condo) is 2d8x2,500 gp and is located in a wealthy or middle class neighborhood.
RainOfSteel
Explorer
I never agreed with a cost of 1,000gp for a simple house with a "thatch roof".
As for purchasing land from the nobility, in medieval times, you often couldn't buy land at all. Commonly speaking, you were a serf and it didn't matter, you rented if you were free, were enfeoffed by a higher noble if you were a worth lesser noble, or you were the church and it was donated to you by a noble.
In any event, the other villagers would get together and help their neighbors raise the new house. Payment was usually in the expectation of return assistance later. If anything material was given, it might have been meals during the labor.
