D&D 5E Easy realistic economy

[Yaarel]

A realistic economy for D&D is easy.

Forget mimicking medieval economies. Forget the nonsense magic item prices. Just use todays prices. Have an item, just Google it.

1 D&D gold piece ≈ $10 USD

You can buy a reallife full plate armor for roughly $3000.

Therefore it costs 300 gp.




Modern prices diverge sharply from medieval prices for certain items. But so what? We use technology to produce these items, D&D uses magic to produce these items. Assume casting a spell like Fabricate impacts the prices in the D&D economy.

Most important of all, it becomes transparent how much a magic item would cost. If there is a hi-tech item that resembles the magic item, then you already know how much the magic item costs. If there is nothing to compare too, well, how much reallife money would you pay to have an item like that? Now you know how much it costs.

Personally, I dont allow merchandizing magic items. Because magic. They can only be given or received to further their magical purpose when created. But, it is still useful to estimate the value of what one does.



The value of a consistent D&D economy, within which a DM can consistently adjudicate prices on the fly, is priceless.

 

[Yaarel]

house (3 bedroom in prosperous town) 40,000 gp

milk (quart) 1 sp

horse (riding) 500 gp

horse (thoroughbred) 10,000 gp

 

[Yaarel]

viking sword 50 gp

 

[Yaarel]

It might be more helpful to standardize the coins as follows.

1 gold coin ≈ $100 USD
1 silver coin ≈ $1 USD

(Note, the gp coin and sp coin are different sizes.)



But the D&D tradition has severe gp inflation, so it is closer to $10 per gp and $1 per sp. Think of the gold piece as a very small piece of gold.

 

[Nevvur]

I remember once upon a time comparing a bunch of items from the PHB to their modern equivalents in an attempt to find the approximate value of a gold piece in terms players could relate to. The idea was more to give them a better understanding of appropriate amounts for bribes and tips, not item pricing, the latter of which I was fine with leaving alone. The 'exchange rate' I found was 1GP:$10-100, depending on the item, with the average skewed toward the low end. If I were to use a simplified system like the one you propose, I would probably value a GP at $20.

However, I'll continue to rely on PHB prices because I and my players believe (in ignorance of actual medieval economics, or economics in general) that they reflect societal values of the times better, which in turn supports immersion.

 

[Yaarel]

I remember once upon a time comparing a bunch of items from the PHB to their modern equivalents in an attempt to find the approximate value of a gold piece in terms players could relate to. The idea was more to give them a better understanding of appropriate amounts for bribes and tips, not item pricing, the latter of which I was fine with leaving alone. The 'exchange rate' I found was 1GP:$10-100, depending on the item, with the average skewed toward the low end. If I were to use a simplified system like the one you propose, I would probably value a GP at $20.

However, I'll continue to rely on PHB prices because I and my players believe (in ignorance of actual medieval economics, or economics in general) that they reflect societal values of the times better, which in turn supports immersion.

Yeah, $20 works for a D&D gp. But $10 works often enough, and the round number is very helpful to ‘feel’ the economy.

There are many prices unlisted in the PH, and of course, many prices that are implausible in the PH.

So, todays prices add a level of consistency. And versatility for anything that might come up.

How much should a trip on a teleportation circle cost? (Supersonic jet plane ticket, but a bit better?) Maybe about 1000 gp, one way, depending on the location?

 

[Oofta]

I've almost always done the a gold piece is $20. It just kind of made sense to me, along with the idea that many areas people have quite a low standard of living by modern standards. Many people may only earn a few silver per week (if that) but they also get food and potentially even lodging in return for their service. Barter is also more common, along with neighbors and community chipping in in times of need.

So yes, most people have never seen a gold piece, but that's because their wealth isn't in cash, it's in their relationships and goods or property.

 

[TwoSix]

But the D&D tradition has severe gp inflation, so it is closer to $10 per gp and $1 per sp. Think of the gold piece as a very small piece of gold.

I like the idea of a silver piece as a dollar. It makes those low level village interactions a lot more clear. That 5 gp tip for the barkeep is a $50 tip!

 

[Celebrim]

This works well, but only for handmade goods. If you use this pricing for machine made goods, you'll vastly under cost the item unless your setting is fully industrialized and has "magic as technology" as a trope. Then again, you seem to assume that D&D settings do that.

Some prior discussions of using this technique:

http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?356696-How-Much-Would-a-Castle-Cost
http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?268876-A-workable-fantasy-economy
http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?406463-Copper-piece-value-in-U-S-dollars
http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?467066-silver-standard

 

[jasper]

Hmm I can buy 14 ga full plate for about $900 . Some replica swords from a company in Atlanta start around $200. I can get a riding horse for about $600 local. My house is 3 bedroom is 5250 Gp. House prices vary with location as I learn from all those flip/buy my house shows.
As to staples those prices are interesting.