D&D General Elephants are cheaper than Warhorses

[Snarf Zagyg]

D&D economics are silly.

Two adventurers are walking down a tunnel, and they come across 100 gold pieces.

The younger adventurer says, "Hey, look, it's 100gp!"

The older adventurer shakes his head at the younger adventurer, and scoffingly replies, "That's nonsense. If there were 100 gold pieces in the middle of a tunnel, someone would have already picked it up by now."


The Efficient Campaign Hypothesis.

 

[Mannahnin]

Two adventurers are walking down a tunnel, and they come across 100 gold pieces.

The younger adventurer says, "Hey, look, it's 100gp!"

The older adventurer shakes his head at the younger adventurer, and scoffingly replies, "That's nonsense. If there were 100 gold pieces in the middle of a tunnel, someone would have already picked it up by now."


The Efficient Campaign Hypothesis.

"If there were 100gp unguarded in this room, they'd be invisible, hidden behind a secret door or under the floor, locked in a hard-to-open strong box with poison needles or deadly gas released when the box is opened. Clearly this must be an illusion, trick or trap!"

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

"If there were 100gp unguarded in this room, they'd be invisible, hidden behind a secret door or under the floor, locked in a hard-to-open strong box with poison needles or deadly gas released when the box is opened. Clearly this must be an illusion, trick or trap!"

THE EFFICIENT GYGAX HYPOTHESIS ....

DM: You've entered a 30'x30' room. There is an unopened chest in the middle of the room.

Players: Um ... there's no monsters? Just a chest?

DM: Yup! Just, you know, a chest. Sitting there. Unopened.

Players: Oh no .... RUN AWAY! WE RUN AWAY!

DM: ...you run away?

Players: QUICKLY! WE RUN AWAY .... QUICKLY!

DM: TOO LATE!

Players: NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Bitbrain]

Same. After level 3-4, when fighter gets his full plate (and in earlier editions, party buys at least one wand of CLW), gold becomes superfluous, specially in 5e, since there is no magic market.

Lord, I envy your D&D experience. Most d&d campaigns I’ve been a player in never saw any player have more than 200 gold on their character at any one time.

Obtaining full plate by level 4? More like level never.

 

[Bedrockgames]

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.

Elephants are much harder to control

 

[Xeviat]

Elephants are much harder to control

Maybe IRL, but there's no rules for that.

 

[Bedrockgames]

Maybe IRL, but there's no rules for that.

I get that, I am just saying it is easy enough to balance out with a ruling

 

[Xeviat]

I get that, I am just saying it is easy enough to balance out with a ruling

Totally! I wasn't actually complaining about it, I just found it funny, as if someone would sell a fully grown elephant for less than a horse in D&D when the prices are based on value, not supply and demand.

The "war" of warhorse implies lots of training, and there's more market for them. Elephants are big and take a lot of food and are very very intelligent and probably aren't as willing followers as horses are. The lower price makes sense, but 3E had a "anything under X price is available in town" guideline and my brain is stuck there since it was my first edition.

 

[jasper]

There's probably a warranty component in the warhorse. If it breaks down during battle, a new one will be brought up to you. A few minutes' paperwork, check it for existing damage, and you're on your way.

Dear Diltach we are reaching out to about your warhorse warranty.

 

[Stormonu]

Totally! I wasn't actually complaining about it, I just found it funny, as if someone would sell a fully grown elephant for less than a horse in D&D when the prices are based on value, not supply and demand.

The "war" of warhorse implies lots of training, and there's more market for them. Elephants are big and take a lot of food and are very very intelligent and probably aren't as willing followers as horses are. The lower price makes sense, but 3E had a "anything under X price is available in town" guideline and my brain is stuck there since it was my first edition.

That's an interesting thing. Warhorse has physically different stats from Riding Horse in 2E, but a War Elephant and Labor Elephant do not. If I recall correctly, 2E handled the difference between a battle mount and a non-combat mount through Morale (roll vs. 2d6, 9 was "average") with the non-combat versions being easy to spook (Morale 7 or 5 I think). 5E just sort of hand waves it, making Animal Handling pretty worthless, as well as doing funny things with prices.

Still, I could never get over a hunting jaguar costing 5,000 gp.