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Message: <blockquote data-quote="kigmatzomat" data-source="post: 2728816" data-attributes="member: 9254">I'm going to second the above with an explanation: you are providing the food & lodgings to the military so you should not need nearly the same amount of coin.  In total you are providng 6gp salary, 12gp food, 0.5gp in barrack maintenance, some portion of the entertainment for nearly 20gp/mo.  This doesn't include the opportunity cost involved in housing them at the barracks instead of renting them out as an inn.  Second, where is the income from the hedge wizards?  I'm expecting this to mean "adept" which can cast healing spells.  You should be seeing some revenue there either from sold spells or items they create for you.    Third, why isn't your palace generating revenue? Hunstmen, falconers, blacksmiths and gardeners should all generate revenue in excess of their expense. You should have acreage you can use for farming and the like. At the very least it should eliminate the food bills.   IIRC, a farmer with decent equipment and crop rotation could work 1 acre and feed about 4 peope from that acre; your 12 gardeners could work 12 acres and feed 48 people.  If they go for a cash crop they could generate revenues for 2x-8x as much food.  Fourth, where are the fees and rents?  Property tax is nice but in most cases the lord owned or managed the land for the king, renting it to peasants.  Guilds, craftsmen, and shops had to pay special taxes for the privilege of being in a town with guardsmen, judges, and lordly protection.  Churches normally also paid a fee to the lord, in return for the right to collect tithes from their congregations.  (At least until the religions become as powerful as the nobility)  Fifth: Harbor generates no income?  I think not!  Boat dock fees and shipping costs cover all that.  Plus, where is the fishing revenue?  Building & road maintenance is generally performed by the peasantry as general public service tax.  Rich people can pay their way out of it, generating income to pay itinerant peasants.  Criminals would also be subject to labor if a fine is not appropriate.  Oh and "Public Defender"?  This is a luxury, given by some societies but very few.  The PD is usually a very low paid individual who does it for the ethical reasons as anything else (I have friends who are gov't lawyers; most make less than $40k/yr).  The short form is that everything should at least break even.  The harbor should generate at least 724gp/year.  If you have enough criminals to keep 2 judges busy there should be about 450gp in fines assessed yearly.  Untrained workers earn 1sp/day normally; that does not include food or rent.  That is their income by the PHB and it earns them something slightly better than the $5-10/week earns someone in china, indonesia, or south america.  Since I peg $1 =1cp based on bread and beer, the peasantry earn about $3,000/yrYou need to revisit those numbers.  There is 12,000gp/yr in taxable food which, compared against the cost of food for soldiers and servants, means you only have 83 civilians (12,000gp/yr divided by (12gp/person x 12mo/yr)).  Why are there 200 guards for 83 people?  Plus, what were the loans for?  Where did they go?  Who mills the grain and bakes the bread?  The lord usually made money on grain and flour by owning the mill and taking a percentage of the grain as his tithe and on food by owning the ovens (constructed metal is expensive!).  Who are your land owners?  You have 8,000gp/yr in logging going on; that's a pretty hefty sum.  Who makes the profits there?  There are 3,000gp in luxury goods, who buys them?  Where are your churches?  Who is the lord your bard reports to?  Contact those larger organizations and ask them for copies of the charters they hold to your towns.  Remember, if the Duke doesn't think you owe the peasants Freebie X, you are under no obligation to give the peasants Freebie X.  By getting the DM to commit to the new Lord's obligations you can avoid the major pitfalls.  It also puts you on the higher-ups' good list since it means you should be avoiding the obvious pitfalls.  I'd recommend your DM go get a copy of "Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe" from Expeditious retreat.   It is an excellent guide for running a manor.  He can use it to generate a coherent manor where costs still exceed revenues and then you can begin evaluating the best ways to proceed.   It is possible that the previous lord had the lands setting up for vinyards and olive trees, both of which take years to establish before they begin generating profits.  You could break even if you can hold out.  Or, the guy was a putz who had way too much glitz for his own good.</blockquote>

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