Jester David
Hero
Does also depend on what you would qualify as "a lot". A day's pay? A week's? A year's? Enough to retire on?
D&D 5E Gold for Villagers
Warbringer
Explorer
This is not perfect, but easy to follow and understandable benchmark
US poverty level $22,000
price gold $1400
price silver $30
A poverty level family would earn/spent equivalent of 15 gold a year, or 2 silver a day.
Median income levels are 3x these, but median will be much lower in a less developed country so use (poverty levelx1.5) for 22gp/3sp per day
US clearly a rich country, so benchmark for a rich and relatively fair country so base average country 1/3rd this, poor country 1/10th.
Rich Country: 22gp per year/3sp per day
Average Country: 7gp per year/1sp per day
Poor Country: 2gp per year/2sp per week
US poverty level $22,000
price gold $1400
price silver $30
A poverty level family would earn/spent equivalent of 15 gold a year, or 2 silver a day.
Median income levels are 3x these, but median will be much lower in a less developed country so use (poverty levelx1.5) for 22gp/3sp per day
US clearly a rich country, so benchmark for a rich and relatively fair country so base average country 1/3rd this, poor country 1/10th.
Rich Country: 22gp per year/3sp per day
Average Country: 7gp per year/1sp per day
Poor Country: 2gp per year/2sp per week
Blackwarder
Adventurer
Check out the links in my sig, I found that ACKS got the best economic model of any system I've seen.
It's basically built around the price of wheat, I bought it simply for the economic model.
Warder
It's basically built around the price of wheat, I bought it simply for the economic model.
Warder
DMZ2112
Chaotic Looseleaf
These are essentially the numbers I use. For a silver piece an adventurer can get dinner, space on the floor for the night, and a cold breakfast, which means that a villager has to be able to live on less than that per day (although I wouldn't call it comfortable). An untrained laborer makes about 30 gold pieces per (Earth) year, allowing for one holy day off a week. A skilled laborer or tradesman could make a few to several times that, but in general the more expensive the trade the less frequently he will be paid, so you hit a point of diminishing returns.
Nobles are trickier, because they generally don't have jobs. Their money comes from taxes and investments. That said, I would expect a low-ranking noble to be able to command at least ten times a untrained laborer's income, and high-ranking nobles to command a hundred or even a thousand times that much. A king literally has a license to mint coinage. Keep in mind that the prices given in the books are retail -- when you control the means of production your money is worth a lot more than its face value.
In general, I tend to consider that an adventurer's income from his high-risk career should put him on a level with a middling noble. Richer than anyone he knows personally, but not so rich that he could, say, threaten the local government. If he wants to do that he's going to have to do some saving.
The low values offered by some posters are unsustainable..
Comparing real world costs of precious metals tells us nothing. we need to use purchasing power parity. Let us take thee standard items.
A handaxe. 5 gp.
Artisan's tools. 5gp.
Tent. 2 gp.
Even if the tent has a really pretty ribbon on it, there is no conceivable way that an adventurer's tent represents an expenditure that exceeds an annual poverty-level income. Artisans have to afford artisan tools, and woodsmen need at least a hand axe, and adventurers need to start with something less than enough to live on for the next ten or more years.
This may indeed tell us that the economy of the game is broken (which it is), but there is no sensible take on the economy of the game that can be presented that keeps so much money out of the hands of non adventurers. The world presented is one in which metal exists in abundance, and this facilitates a robust system of trade that remains meaningful even if PCs are comparatively few.
Purchasing power parity shows that villagers have access to gold, and trade in it regularly. It may be worth a bit ($100 for a gp as a possible rule of thumb?) but it is not an annual wage.
Comparing real world costs of precious metals tells us nothing. we need to use purchasing power parity. Let us take thee standard items.
A handaxe. 5 gp.
Artisan's tools. 5gp.
Tent. 2 gp.
Even if the tent has a really pretty ribbon on it, there is no conceivable way that an adventurer's tent represents an expenditure that exceeds an annual poverty-level income. Artisans have to afford artisan tools, and woodsmen need at least a hand axe, and adventurers need to start with something less than enough to live on for the next ten or more years.
This may indeed tell us that the economy of the game is broken (which it is), but there is no sensible take on the economy of the game that can be presented that keeps so much money out of the hands of non adventurers. The world presented is one in which metal exists in abundance, and this facilitates a robust system of trade that remains meaningful even if PCs are comparatively few.
Purchasing power parity shows that villagers have access to gold, and trade in it regularly. It may be worth a bit ($100 for a gp as a possible rule of thumb?) but it is not an annual wage.
My question exactly. And I agree with all the "peasant wage is 1 sp/day" comments.
Majoru Oakheart
Adventurer
Since I'm likely to play in this game and I'd like to be considered a god by mere peasants, I believe I'd like to write in an answer of 1 sp. Though, I'd still like us to start at 100 gp. That way I can own everyone I come across.
My more serious answer is that 1 sp per day seems about right to me as an expected wage. I assume that most peasants who are farmers don't actually see "pay" but instead are able to feed their family and still make about the equivalent of 1 sp per day selling the extra.
I think city based people might be slightly higher and 2 sp a day might be a decent urban wage. Given that, a gp is about a week's wage, or about 500 dollars as others have said.
Though, I don't think it breaks the economy of D&D too badly if you keep the prices in the rules the way they are and instead assume that people are somewhat more wealthy than that. If you assume that people make about 1 gp a day and that 1 gp is roughly equivalent to 50 dollars instead, you create a world where the average person can afford to hang around in the tavern buying drinks, which are often listed as 5 cp to 1 sp(or $2.50 to $5 a drink with this assumption).
This still assumes that something like a handaxe is a weeks worth of wages. Which I think works pretty well.
My more serious answer is that 1 sp per day seems about right to me as an expected wage. I assume that most peasants who are farmers don't actually see "pay" but instead are able to feed their family and still make about the equivalent of 1 sp per day selling the extra.
I think city based people might be slightly higher and 2 sp a day might be a decent urban wage. Given that, a gp is about a week's wage, or about 500 dollars as others have said.
Though, I don't think it breaks the economy of D&D too badly if you keep the prices in the rules the way they are and instead assume that people are somewhat more wealthy than that. If you assume that people make about 1 gp a day and that 1 gp is roughly equivalent to 50 dollars instead, you create a world where the average person can afford to hang around in the tavern buying drinks, which are often listed as 5 cp to 1 sp(or $2.50 to $5 a drink with this assumption).
This still assumes that something like a handaxe is a weeks worth of wages. Which I think works pretty well.
