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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Raven Crowking" data-source="post: 3510663" data-attributes="member: 18280">I believe that you understand exactly what I mean by saying that costs are relative. EDIT:  That's not meant to sound confrontational; that's meant to agree that you've nailed it exactly.It does.  That doesn't mean that the formula is reasonable in terms of the world it is intended to represent, however.  This is, I believe, where Celebrim's metagaming comes in.  From the standpoint of determining relative cost in a society, you need to determine first the utility of the item to that society and the amount of gold it is worth to the creator.If the utility of a +1 sword is equal to 10 mercenaries hired at 5 sp/day (50 sp/day =  1,825 gp/year) then the cost of the sword would have to be significantly less than 1,825 gp for anyone (in general) to buy it.  Even though the mercenaries cost more in the long run, they cost less in the short run, and this is often a driving force in sales.  So, say, a +1 sword would have to cost 900 gp or less to make it cost effective.But that's even assuming that the +1 sword is worth 10 mercenaries.  The 10 mercenaries are probably more versatile than the sword.  Taking this into consideration, the sword has to cost, say, 500 gp or less.However, for the same investment of time and effort, the wizard might be able to produce something that gains him far more in return.  Is he going to waste his time on that sword?  If the people of Bongo are the finest axe crafters in the world, and it costs them 10 sp to make an axe that they can sell for 15 sp, but they can make crappy hammers for 2 sp that sell for 6 sp; and the people of Tongo are the finest hammer makers in the world, but they pay 4 sp to make hammers that sell for 7 sp (although they can make crappy axes that cost 6 sp to make and sell for 12 sp), the odds are good that the world is going to be flooded with crappy (but cheaper) axes and swords, rather than finer (but more expensive) axes and swords.  Unless, of course, there is some incentive other than money involved.  That's economics at work.Where the disconnect lies, I think, is in that the modern Western world is largely based upon a monetary incentive system.  Most pre-modern civilizations had other incentive schemes, some of which were far more important than money, because, ultimately, they governed what you could hope to gain more than the coins in your pocket did.As an aside, can a person in a D&D world reasonably survive on 1 sp/day?  Assuming that the person has even one non-laboring dependent, how much does it cost to eat and be sheltered per day?RC</blockquote>

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