House buying through the Stronghold Builder's Guide

Your the DM
you dont HAVE to follow the book price, maybe they're heroes getting Mates Rates (raw material costs) and it costs them 1000gp

I would go with something between 500-1000 gp.The more work-raw materials-magic they provide the less money they'll have to pay.

I am planning to do something like that in a session or two but a bigger house with extra room for laboratories and craftrooms-(the extra "expensive" facilities are going to be built later around the central structure when time and their purse allows).

I wouldn't do the mistake to trust a book (DMG etc.) for something more than guideline.


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The Wizard

I expect a house built using the Stronghold Builder's Guidebook (specially if it includes laboratories and stables and shrines) to look something like the Casa Loma in Toronto, or like the Luthor Manor in Smallville, i.e. a small castle.

Like it was said before, any house with that many rooms will be more akin to an inn or tavern, not a family home (which would have one living/dining/cooking room and one or two privacy rooms (one for the house's owner and one for everyone else). And a stable would look more like a roof with a single wall, not a separate house.

Also, remember how huge a 20x20 room is. There are options for smaller rooms in there that would take up less space. Also, remember there are heavy price modifiers depending on location.

How big is the city?
How far outside of it are they?
What is the climate/terrain of the area?
Do the PC's have access to any of the creation spells? (Airwalk, Fly, Levitate, Fabricate, Move Earth, Stone Shape, Telekenesis, Wall of Stone, Wood Shape)

So the cost for Bedrooms (x4)(2ss) is 1400gp.

A 1ss kitchen is capable of preparing meals for up to 15 people. Also a 20x20 kitchen is gynormous for a smallish house. I'd reduce it to .5 ss, eliminate the cook prerequisite, and drop the price to 1,000.

And a Basic Common Area costs 300gp.

Basic Bath is 400gp.

Basic Storage is 250.

Total Room Cost: 3350.

There's no cost adjustment for height if they only want the house to be 2 stories. Spaces in the 1st level of the basement, also do not incur a height adjustment cost.

Walls: You can mix and match your wall types. The ground floor with wood walls is free, and in the basement, hewn stone walls are free. Save money on the second floor and transition to packed earth (500gp total) or save more money and don't have a 2nd floor. Your kitchen can go into the basement with proper ventilation and you can easily put all of your ss on the ground floor should you want to. If you do pay for wood walls, and the terrain is forest, don't forget that you can take 10% off of the price.


Or look at it this way. A Basic Residential structure for 30 people costs 12000. That's approx 400gp per person. Multiply by 4, and you have 1600.


The total cost for the house below is 3500 before any adjustments. The second floor has packed earth walls; the first floor has wood walls, and the basement has hewn stone walls. It includes 4 bedrooms, a bath, common area, kitchen, and storage.

If the climate is warm, located on a plains area, the price is reduced. It's also altered by how far the house is outside of the city.

*The map below was made using Dundjinni software.

Quasqueton said:

So I checked my SBG for some prices. According to that book, each of these "items" take up a 20'x20' area: 2 bedrooms (x2), kitchen, living area. Sounds reasonable. Comes to a 20'x40', two-story dwelling (not counting a basement). Total cost, by that book, for "basic" rooms: 5,300gp!

Holy crap! 5,300gp for a basic "family" home? This doesn't even include a basement or stable. (The stable for 4 horses costs 1,000gp all by itself.)

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Keep in mind you average peasent has a common room & an outhouse.

Your design is more in line with a very wealthy merchant than a typical 'house'. The idea of every person getting their own room is more of a modern American idea (as America is a huge country with a lot of open space to build large homes).

As for the price, are you confortable with it? If you want, you can have your PC's adventure to get the cash (or offer it a payment for services rendered).

You can always let them buy an existing house (that's a steal). Only find out later its haunted. You could use for an adventue or two.

The SBG is god starting point. But tons of other factors influence land & building costs. Go with maybe 5,000 gp (if entire party chips in, it's not that much per person, depending on their level & wealth). If you want up or lower the prices based on whatever factors you think would exist (population, economy, building material availabilty, etc).

And, keep in mind adventurers are like walking cash machines. NPC's view them as rich & will try to fleece them for every cent they are worth.

Well, the PCs had a treasure haul of well over 200,000gp. So the affordability is not a problem (beyond eating into their magic-item money). They asked how much it cost, I said "maybe 1,000gp," and we played on. They've already "moved into" the house. [Ironically, they are immediately preparing to leave on another extended adventure (live in house 1 week, adventure will probably take several weeks).]

I don't want to change my "ruling" on the price after we've already "played" through the situation. Several comments here have convinced me that the SBG prices are not as outrageous as I at first thought. I agree, on second thought, that this is actually a relatively big/nice home.

The Players had mentioned they were going to buy a house before the game session, and I really should have checked out the SBG *before* the game. <shrug> Oh well, it's not the first nor last time I'll screw up.

They got a really good deal. [And that has adventure hooks built right in.]

Quasqueton

Quasqueton said:

Holy crap! 5,300gp for a basic "family" home? This doesn't even include a basement or stable. (The stable for 4 horses costs 1,000gp all by itself.)

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Don't forget that a peasant in D&D makes around 1d4 gp per month, and a noble around 150 gp per month (if I remember well). What can I say that wasn't already said? When it comes to costs and economics, what's indicated in the official D&D books is just plain idiocy.

Do we really want to play an economics simulation, people? The prices in the books are all based on how much treasure an adventurer of a certain level is expected to have, and they do not fluctuate due to the natural supply/demand curves that anyone who's gone through a high school econ class would be familiar with. Why?

Because to make it "realistic" would require the DM to create and manage markets, guess at the desires, wants, and needs of whole societies of fictional people, and then guess at how product suppliers would react to those wants and needs, etc.

Of COURSE it's not accurate - but if you really want it to be, you'd probably have more fun getting your Masters in Economics than playing D&D....

From a rat-bastard DM's point of view, the cost of the house depends on the amount of cash the PCs have. About 80% should do it...

There's several places to look for this info. Check your DMG - it's got some basic housing costs in there. Personally, I'd say 1000gp is low. Keep in mind that SBG provides you an entire house - from the cost of matierals, to construction, to complete furnishings. Many times players forget that when they scoff at the cost of a building. It's one thing to pile four walls together and drop on a plank for a roof. It's quite another to construct a well-built house, and include well-built beds, cabinets, chairs and lounges, tables, lamps and candle placements, and everything else that transforms four walls into a livable, comfortable home.

Vraille Darkfang said:

And, keep in mind adventurers are like walking cash machines. NPC's view them as rich & will try to fleece them for every cent they are worth.

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Very, very true,

I imagine most merchants have people on the look out for adventurers in the hopes of lurign them to thier place of business, hoping to help releive them of all that ready cash they must be lugging around, or buying those looted artifacts at the best price there cities market can honestly support...honest! (and then later sell it on at its actual value and make a nice profit later).

I cant see those selling property being any different... "buy this marvelous waterfront property, two floors, en suite privvy.. excellant purchase for the first time adventurers dipping his foot into the property market".