D&D General Elephants are cheaper than Warhorses

[Lakesidefantasy]

I double checked and they're the same price as they were in 2014. The elephant is 200 gp and a Warhorse is 400 gp. I'm waiting for my wife to start screaming "where's my elephant?".

For funzies, the internet says an elephant has about 1,000 lbs of meat. Rations are 2 lbs and cost 5 sp. 1,000 lbs of rations cost 250 gp, or more than an elephant.

D&D economics are silly.

Yes, Dungeons and Dragon "economics" is silly. But, the money you make from the rations BETTER be more than an elephant or you ain't going to be in business for very long. Now I feel silly.

What is truly silly is that we even try to apply real world economics to a not-real world.

 

[Stormonu]

Have you accounted for the fact that the howdah* for the elephant is 300 gp, whereas the military saddle for the warhorse is 20 gp?

As for economics, Gygax stated long ago in 1E the prices were "gold rush" levels anyway and because of tradition the costs have barely been touched over the years as the editions have rolled along (I think item weight has seen more revisions than prices).


* I don't think it's possible to get a saddle for an elephant? It's either bareback (behind its ears) or howdah for riding, I believe.

 

[jmartkdr2]

Here's an economics question; Would you pay ten bucks for a product that would correct D&D's economy???

Does it do so while keeping adventuring the high-risk-high-reward activity it is now?

 

[comrade raoul]

I think the 1,000 lbs of meat is just what you can get out of the 6,000 to10,000 lb elephant.

Other parts of the elephant probably also have value. So buying and butchering elephants is probably a lucrative side hustle.

depressingly realistic!

 

[Stormonu]

Have you accounted for the fact that the howdah* for the elephant is 300 gp, whereas the military saddle for the warhorse is 20 gp?

As for economics, Gygax stated long ago in 1E the prices were "gold rush" levels anyway and because of tradition the costs have barely been touched over the years as the editions have rolled along (I think item weight has seen more revisions than prices).


* I don't think it's possible to get a saddle for an elephant? It's either bareback (behind its ears) or howdah for riding, I believe.

<EDIT> Also, looking at my old 2E books, 200 gp for an elephant is for a "labor" elephant. A war elephant is 500 gp.

 

[MarkB]

Here's an economics question; Would you pay ten bucks for a product that would correct D&D's economy???

Is it titled "Addressing the Elephant in the Room"?

 

[Rabbitbait]

Oh, look at the fancy man with his chairs! What, too good for a three-legged stool, like the rest of us peasants?

A THREE legged stool? Luxury. Back when I were a lad, stools only had one leg, and that leg pointed upward.

 

[Lakesidefantasy]

depressingly realistic!

Rest assured that in a not-real world the elephant populations can absorb this kind of exploitation. Real world economics be damned.

 

[Rabbitbait]

Rest assured that in a not-real world the elephant populations can absorb this kind of exploitation. Real world economics be damned.

That's without even starting on the troll-meat economy.

 

[Stormonu]

That's without even starting on the troll-meat economy.

"Nasty tasting stuff, then it starts leaping off the table to throttle you!" - Gros, the half-orc.