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Message: <blockquote data-quote="painandgreed" data-source="post: 1928569" data-attributes="member: 24969">Means of ProductionThe raw material cost for making a set of chainmail is 50 GP. It took miners, and smelters to make that raw iron. If we assume that everything was made at the same sight we have iron ore and wood made into charcoal. Assuming around equal worths of both and the typical 1/3 cost to product worth for D&D economics, you have 16.66 GP of material, 8.33 GP of ore plus 8.33 GP worth of wood. It took two peasants a little over a week’s time to mine enough ore and chop down enough wood to come up with the materials for the foundry worker to make that 50GP worth of iron. I’d say working a foundry would actually be a craft since you’re making something rather than just gathering other material. Let’s say this is a typical item being a DC of 10. The foundry worker is 1st level and has four ranks and will take 10 like in most our examples. He takes the wood and ore and makes 14 GP worth of iron a week. That’s 140 pounds of the stuff. To make the full 50GP worth, 500 pounds, he’ll need three and a half weeks.Now the iron ingots head down the street to the armorsmith. A suit of chainmail doesn’t quite need all 50 pounds of iron as some is made from cloth and leather. However, we’ll ignore that for now because I have no idea what the ratio to iron to other materials should be. Anyway, our armor smith hammers out the iron into wire and then rings and makes some gauntlets as well as the lining so it doesn’t chaff. Let’s say our armorsmith is an expert with skill focus in his trade for a total modifier of 7. His check is 17 after taking 10,  which is good because he needs a 15. He manages to pound out the chainmail in about eight weeks.So, according to the rules, we have one armor smith working continuously to sell a chainmail suit for 150GP. 100 GP is profit which goes to the armorsmith. He’s making about 2 GP per day off this chainmail suit. 50 GP went to the foundry worker, of which 33 GP is profit. He’s making about 5 SP per day if the armor smith is his only customer. He could be making about a gold and a half a day if he is constantly working.The 16.66 GP for materials for the iron gets split up between the two peasants. They’re making 14 CP per day if the foundry worker is their only customer. They can push this to a GP if they have constant work which falls in line with the normal rules for a profession.Of course, what is more likely is that one person owns the mining and lumber rights to an area and hires the others to do work. He pays the woodcutter and miner 1 SP per day for their work as needed and perhaps pays the foundry worker 2SP per day. So he’s out 6.66 GP in wages for the iron which he charges 50GP. Of course, also out of that comes equipment cost, taxes to the lord for mining and lumber rights, and any other incurred costs such as transportation.Shipping and HandlingJust how much does it cost to ship things across the country? Our armorsmith makes his chain mail, a merchant buys it and he carries it across the land to sell in another place. How much does the merchant have to increase the price to break even?Our first example will be by wagon. According to the Arms and Equipment guide, a wagon is 35 GP, requires two horses, moves 35’, and can carry 2 tons (4000#). Two heavy horses will cost a total of 400 GP and we’ll assume that all the gear needed for them to pull the wagon is incurred with the wagon. He’ll hire a driver, 1 SP/day and have to feed the horses, 1 SP/day. Both costs are year round. We’ll assume that our merchant is always carrying a full wagon of trade goods and that travel takes up half of the year (180 days). We’ll also assume that due to aging of the horses and wear and tear on the wagon, everything must be replaced every 5 years, incurring a 20% charge of the initial set up fee to pay off the wagon and horses.1/5 of 435 is 87 GP. Add 36 GP for the year to pay the driver and another 36 GP per year to feed the horses. We come out with 159 GP, which we’ll call 180 GP to round things off and soak up things like tolls. Assuming quick sale once to the new location, then he needs to make 1 GP extra per day of travel. With a full wagon, that means a 1 CP charge per day for every 40# of trade goods above and beyond whatever the merchant needs to add to make a living off of as a merchant. So our chainmail increases in value a minimum of 1CP for every 28 miles it travels along good and safe road from the spot that it was made at. So, our chainmail moved 12 days away is going to increase in value 12 CP for a cost of 150.12 GP.Keep in mind that this is the optimum price. If the merchant can’t maintain a full load on the wagon or has to hire guards for the journey, costs go up. If the point of sale is through rougher terrain, then it takes long and the price again goes up. Assuming an average of half a wagon load through harsher terrain, the price of shipping could quadruple.Our next example is a ship. Again, according to the Arms and Equipment guide, a ship costs 10,000 GP, has a crew of 20, and can carry 150 tons. Assuming that 17 of the crew are untrained sailors for 1 SP /day, that three are professionals incurring a cost of 1GP per day, and that there is also a 20% charge to repair or pay off the cost of the equipment, we end up with a cost of about 10 GP/day to sail a ship. Given 180 days of travel and constant travel under a decent wind, it comes to 1CP/day for every 150# of merchandise. With constant travel with a good wind, they can make 48 miles per day. Again, this is best possible case, and would not take into account bad winds or cost of guards that might easily raise the price by several multiples.</blockquote>

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