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Message: <blockquote data-quote="karolusb" data-source="post: 5349384" data-attributes="member: 83359">While I can see what you are saying, I am not sure I agree.  The specifics of the math aren't perfect in my mind, but I don't hate the scaling in most cases.   Items have a gold value because items exist, and things that exist will end up having a value (that value may not be as neatly predictable as a game system price list would indicate).    Assuming a fairly advanced renaissance agricultural yield (required for the idyllic fantasy kingdoms with mega-cities), a farm family with generous acreage will produce excess food to the tune of ~15 man years.  Given a(n unrealistically) stable economy, and a 400% farm to inn markup the family would make ~1300 gold a year, lets imagine they pay 50% gross taxes/rents, 900 a year, for a total "profit" of 400 gold.  Depending on management half of that is probably disposable income.  This model doesn't produce the grubbing for coppers view of farmers that many have, but it works well with the setting presented.   Arms makers are harder to make sense of but using medieval price and wage charts from England we can assume that an armorer makes 6 suits of chainmail a month (5-8L gross sale, ~18L a month income), assuming the materials runs 50% of total cost, we come up with armorers making 1400 gp a year with D&D prices, (a bit low, but they probably pay lower taxes than the farmer, the (journeyman) armorer makes most of the profits though his productivity is heavily based on apprentices).   If we convert GP to SP we end up with price lists that, barring a few real outliers (leather armor and wagons come to mind), looks pretty good compared to medieval prices.  Is this realistic?  No, medieval farm yields were much lower than most heavily urbanized D&D settings filled with specialized labor would indicate.  If farmers had the money listed above it would lead to a lot of general inflation.  Renaissance farm yields were higher, but I don't have good prices from that era.  Even so, it's pretty good for a game not based on economics.   Given a word where people have disposable incomes from 200 (head of household farmer) to 1000 (skilled artisan) 360-5000 gp for magic items doesn't seem all that absurd.   The seemingly ridiculous scaling goes with the scaling of the game. At Paragon you are the movers and shakers of the world, petty lords, ranking members of the church etc.  You don't sell +4 swords to a village merchant, you exchange them with the royal treasury.   At epic you are the next generation of Gods.  To relate the expenditures of demigods with pre-industrial farmers makes about as much sense as you would expect.  You live in a world of gods, sell and buy from merchants of the gods, you aren't destroying village economies because you never interact with them (but like warren buffet, you could if you wanted to).  The 20% sale price of items doesn’t sit well with me.  I envision agents working in out of the way areas with high magic concentrations, with accumulated items being transferred to auction houses in major cities, with the rest going to local consignment shops.  The cottage industry concept doesn’t work (as people who describe it with it’s long delays and uncertain nature have pointed out).  The 20% value is the scrap value, so it would be the equivalent of cash for gold scams.   I don’t know if this helps anyone conceive of the D&D economy, but it isn’t as bad as it seems.  I would prefer if they converted GP to SP given the nature of prices.  I don’t love it, but most people aren’t the kind of geeks that I am. And even I can live with it without much hand wringing.   In my homebrew there are 16 common local denominations, put out by competing interests, ranging from the massive 29.16 gram gold Meina (about the size of an Eisenhower dollar) legal only for use as approved by the church, to the tiny Tirger, 3.5grams of Copper, what a non-local would expect to pay for a pint of stout.   Oh and my players could care less <sigh>.  </blockquote>

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