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

[Lord Ben]

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.

Yeah, I did the math wrong. I figured 1gp per day, not 1sp per day. I also only figure on a 6 day work week - I may be a slave owner but I'm not a ruthless SOB!!

The confusion stems from the fact that in my world 1gp a day is the base salary. It fits more in line with the world I envision. People own their own houses (three years worth of salary) their own horse, etc. A common laborer would have to save up for 2 years and not spend anything just for a horse at 1sp a day!! A backpack is 20 days labor!! Sorry, but 1gp a day is more inline with prices.

 

[Grendel]

excellent point Lord Ben,
Dwarven slaves would be highly prized for their stanima and longevity, while goblin, kobold, orc, and human would be less valuable. I believe elves would make poor slaves since their low constitution would cause them to expire long before they noramlly would under idea circumstances.

I always wondered why golems aren't in greater demand. with all the powerful drow wizards running around you would think golems would be more popular.

 

[jasper]

Roman System mONEY system
2 AS = 1 dupondius
2 dupondii = 1 Sestertius
4 sestertii = 1 denarius
25 denarii = 1 aureus (gold)

Prices 1 AD Teachers pay 188 denarii, 1 pound of pork = 12 denarii, 1 pound of beef = 8 denarii, general slave 500-1500 denarii, amphora of wine 300 sestertii
so slaves are 20gp to 60 gp for average slaves

 

[xjp]

Yeah, I think a 1 gp wage per day is reasonable. Otherwise your adventurers can hold a handful of gold in front of the peasants and get them to do anything.

I think a 5 year rule is inline with the way a lot of businesses run today, an investment must pay back its cost in five years and then start generating profit. You might have to factor in the costs of keeping a slave, though(which is not cheap).

In many ancient slave cultures it was not necessary to "break the will" of a slave. Many slaves were taken from poorer countries and were sold to people of means. Slaves seldom worked in the fields and were often house servants. Most cultures afforded a number of rights to slaves, they could own property and some could even own other slaves. Not that slave conditions were ideal, but slaves did not have to be tortured and broken.

 

[Teflon Billy]

We always base in-game prices for slaves based on their stats. Usually the total of three pertinent stats (STR, CON and DEX for "blue collar"; CHA, WIS and INT for "white collar") multiplied by 50 gp.

This is for outright ownership in our game world's more mercantile nations.

So a truly huge strong labourer who can work all day without any fatigue or clumsiness will go for considerably more than a smaller, weaker one. A witty, beautiful serving girl will command a much hihger priec than an ugly, dull one.

Training serves as a multiplier for cost. I can't remmeber exactly, but special skills such as combat, scribing etc were (I think) x2 the base cost of th slave.

More than one group in our campaign regretted training their slaves for battle

 

[S'mon]

Yeah, I think a 1 gp wage per day is reasonable. Otherwise your adventurers can hold a handful of gold in front of the peasants and get them to do anything.

I think that's the point of the game - successful adventurers get to be *rich*. I don't follow the wealth by levels tables BTW - I have no problem with poor 10th levellers.

Slaves in ancient Greece and Rome were very cheap if uneducated, half a year's pay 20gp is generous. But in an economy similar to antebellum USA they'll be much more expensive - the 5 years' salary rule would be about right.

 

[xjp]

I think that's the point of the game - successful adventurers get to be *rich*. I don't follow the wealth by levels tables BTW - I have no problem with poor 10th levellers.

True. As a player I am a prime abuser of my wealth. Whenever we get tasked with something, I try to get someone else to do it for a fee. The DM usually insists that they turn it down, and I point at that the fee is 3 months pay for 1 or 2 days of work. There is no way a commoner would turn that down. Although it is perfectly reasonable to keep commoners dirt poor, I think it's a bit more fun if they can afford a drink at the inn.

 

[Forrester]

The FRCS suggests 50gp to 100gp for a random slave, where slaves are actually sold, and that sounds right to me.

Maybe a little too pricy in the Underdark, though. Maybe down to as low as 10gp for a kobold . . . on the other hand, ogres would probably go for 300 or 400gp.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Well, most orcs TAKE slaves, why pay for something you can take.

A lot depends on their use, young boys are worth more, then young girls, labor, and so on. History/Discovery channel had a show on it just last week on Rome. Today $10,000 for a young boy, $7,000 for a young girl.

Conversion comes into play when on what is a gp worth? Some say 1gp equals $100 some say $10.

 

[Roland Delacroix]

When I was playing a LE monk i sold my fellow adventurerers to Drow for the price of free passage. Worked out pretty well.