PAGING ALL SLAVERS! How much do you sell your slaves for?

[Forrester]

This is the second in a disturbingly rapidly growing list of threads aimed at helping yours truly create an internally consistent Underdark culture/society/economic system.

In the Underdark, kobolds are often taken as slaves (or food) for orcs, bugbears, and (occasionally) drow, as are goblins. Orcs themselves are sometimes taken as slaves for bugbears and drow. They're tougher to discipline, but their strength makes up for it.

I would even imagine that the drow have created *cities* of slaves to do their bidding. Forced breeding and all that.

However, more slaves are always useful, especially when it comes to clearing/cleaning out new caverns and caves, digging passages, and doing other grunt work.

THE QUESTION: In gp terms, how much do you think such slaves would run? Take each in turn -- kobolds, goblins, and orcs. (I suppose the drow might have some bugbear slaves as well, though I'm guessing they usually use them as lackeys instead.) Consider the cost/price of catching and transporting these slaves, their usefulness to their new owners, and so on.

I wish I had some historical perspective on how much slaves cost in Roman times, or whatnot, but I do not.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Sodalis]

forrester:
I wish I had some historical perspective on how much slaves cost in Roman times, or whatnot, but I do not.

well, in Gladiator, the guy who trains them bought a tiger for 4000 GP, and six slaves for 2000 GP, which makes it a grand total of 5000GP.

so 2000 GP / 6 slaves = 333 gp 3 sp and 3 cp each

 

[Crothian]

Well, like anything else it depends on the economy and supply and demand.

Slaves as a source of food would be rather cheap. Unless you're getting the Grade A kobold, orc, or goblin, I'd say they would be less then a gold each. Remeber, buy in bulk. Saves you money if you have the storage space.

As servants you'd one broken slaves. Not broken as in don't work, but broken as their free will has been sapped away through torture and other means. It's best if you don'r have to use magic to keep your slaves in line. Saves your own power for better reasons. Also, it depends on how skilled thwey are. A slave that can cook would got for a hundred if not more gold, no matter what the race. Non clumbsy slaves for cleaning would be around 5-50 depending on their usefulness. I'd go for the higher priced ones, as they are less likely to break your valuibles.

Slave gaurds are always good, but these you have to be careful with. Arming slaves can be tricky. Using magic to keep them in line might be a good idea. These could go from anywhere from 5gp for a basic grunt warrior, to a few hundred for a local hero or proven fighter. The best thing about these guys is you can also use them in gladitorial areas.

These are more ingeneral and not Underdark specific. Slavers work in volume. So, they gathering as many they can knowing at the very least they can sell them as food or cheap labor for farms, or even ships. The tricky part is dealing with slaves that have talents in the bedrooms. Especially if they are an exotic creature. Those can fetch thousands if not more.

Hope that helps in some way.....

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Don't overcomplicate it. Price them out at the same price as a horse or a mule and be done with it!

 

[Vuron]

IMHO slaves would on average be less than a warhorse and more than a draft horse.

In an underdark community the critical resources are food and water with the added complication of space. Assuming that you want kobolds and or goblins as your primary workforce (miners, fungi farmers, and cannonfodder) they need a decent source of food and water even if it is somewhat tainted by other sources before hand. However except for mindflayers and other low population density underdark dwellers eating goblins and kobolds would be unwise as raising them as cattle is inevitably a losing proposition considering the lack of food resources overall.


I'd probably place an adult male goblin at 10-25 gp value with exceptional individuals maybe garnering 25-50. Greater Humanoids like orcs and bugbears would likely garner around 50-100 gp imho and ogres or giants far excess of that. I imagine that goblin tribes would even sell thier own members into bondage when food resources are less than what is required for the community to survive. Rare slaves with PC classes or unusual expertise would command premium prices and might be better protected than commoners of the enslaving race.

 

[Oracular Vision]

The correct answer is, whatever the market will bear...

 

[Lord Ben]

In Ancient Greece a general labor slave (dig ditches, plow fields, etc) in good physical condition would cost about half a years salary. Don't forget you need to feed, cloth, and house them yet. If you figure the typical commoner gets 1sp per day and works about 6 days a week then the yearly income would be 300gp, or 150gp for a slave. That's with human lifespans and strength though. A Dwarf with a lifespan of ~500 years would probably cost far more then a Goblin with a lifespan of ~20 years. I forget the exact figures but a highly skilled slave could sell for up to 200x that amount too. So again assuming 1/2 years salary and human a highly skilled human might fetch 30,000gp if they could make it back for you. Figure in a highly skilled Dwarf smith with a longer lifespan and a bonus to smithing and you could probably be talking in the range of hundreds of thousands of gold pieces. Needless to say he's going to be treated VERY well even though he's a slave.

 

[Greatwyrm]

Coincidentally, I was reading GURPS Arabian Nights a while back. It covers this sort of topic. IIRC the starting price for a slave under the rules in the book was roughly what the slave could make working for 5 years.

If you wanted to go with that, I guess you could just figure them taking 10 for 5 years on their most beneficial Craft or Profession skill. Somewhere in those skills it also covers what untrained laborers can earn.

(searching)

According to the SRD, untrained laborers earn 1 sp per day. 1sp x 7 days x 52 weeks x 5 years = 1820 sp (182 gp).

Now, for a trained laborer (e.g. Craft: Carpenter) with two skill ranks and no stat modifier:

12 gp from the check x 1/2 according to the SRD info on Profession x 52 weeks x 5 years = 1560 gp.

I know I'm mixing and matching Craft and Profession, but they are essentially the same for this. This would at least give you some kind of jumping off point. As you can see, your untrained kobold ditch-digger is going to be a great deal cheaper than a captive weaponsmith or herbalist.

 

[S'mon]

In Ancient Greece a general labor slave (dig ditches, plow fields, etc) in good physical condition would cost about half a years salary. Don't forget you need to feed, cloth, and house them yet. If you figure the typical commoner gets 1sp per day and works about 6 days a week then the yearly income would be 300gp, or 150gp for a slave.

1sp/day is 3gp/month or 36 gp/year, so a slave labourer would cost 18gp, which is about what they cost in my game. More if trained or educated, less for elderly, women, children etc.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Halflings are Half-Price!

WHEEEE!