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<blockquote data-quote="William Ronald" data-source="post: 1654211" data-attributes="member: 426">Thoughts on fantasy economics: different pricing structuresOne consideration for&nbsp; population is that commoners may not be paying the same costs for magical services as adventurers.&nbsp; Adventurers tend to be far wealthier than most commoners and often are passing through different communities.&nbsp; They may be charged higher prices for services and end up subsidizing services for others, much like business class passengers on airplanes help defer the costs of other types of passengers.To this end, different price scales may exist.&nbsp; The cost of a&nbsp; cure minor wounds or a cure disease may be priced according to a peasant's income, not a set gold piece amount that an adventurer would pay.&nbsp; So, the cost of a chicken might cover a minor healing spell.&nbsp; Or a local farmer or craftsman may volunteer some service to a local temple.In some cases, clergy may be interested in casting spells that benefit the community and not charge at all or charge at a reduced cost.&nbsp; Plant growth spells might be cast regularly at a reduced rate.&nbsp; The impact of a different fee structure is two-fold. It gives the local populace some incentive to support their local spell casters, especially clergy.&nbsp; Thus the peasants in a country have a reason to support their local temple -- both are looking after each other's mutual interests.&nbsp; It also tends to promote social stability, as there are less deaths from injury and disease while crops are more stable. Considering the relative rarity of some spell casters, very powerful spells such as raise dead and resurrection may be outside the means of most people who are neither nobles, adventurers, or wealthy merchants.Another consideration is how many deaths are caused by monsters. Not all monsters will necessary want to kill an entire village.&nbsp; Some may enslave villagers to work as farmers or herdsmen. (The Spartans had the helots serving as farmers.)&nbsp; Others may wish to trade or offer services to&nbsp; a community.&nbsp; (A gold dragon, unlike his red dragon counterpart, may set up a few trade deals with a few communities.&nbsp; With polymorph&nbsp; abilities, some dragons may even be able to pose as merchants buying crops and herd animals for market. )What are your thoughts on my ideas?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="William Ronald, post: 1654211, member: 426"] [b]Thoughts on fantasy economics: different pricing structures[/b] One consideration for population is that commoners may not be paying the same costs for magical services as adventurers. Adventurers tend to be far wealthier than most commoners and often are passing through different communities. They may be charged higher prices for services and end up subsidizing services for others, much like business class passengers on airplanes help defer the costs of other types of passengers. To this end, different price scales may exist. The cost of a [I]cure minor wounds [/I] or a [I]cure disease[/I] may be priced according to a peasant's income, not a set gold piece amount that an adventurer would pay. So, the cost of a chicken might cover a minor healing spell. Or a local farmer or craftsman may volunteer some service to a local temple. In some cases, clergy may be interested in casting spells that benefit the community and not charge at all or charge at a reduced cost. Plant growth spells might be cast regularly at a reduced rate. The impact of a different fee structure is two-fold. It gives the local populace some incentive to support their local spell casters, especially clergy. Thus the peasants in a country have a reason to support their local temple -- both are looking after each other's mutual interests. It also tends to promote social stability, as there are less deaths from injury and disease while crops are more stable. Considering the relative rarity of some spell casters, very powerful spells such as raise dead and resurrection may be outside the means of most people who are neither nobles, adventurers, or wealthy merchants. Another consideration is how many deaths are caused by monsters. Not all monsters will necessary want to kill an entire village. Some may enslave villagers to work as farmers or herdsmen. (The Spartans had the helots serving as farmers.) Others may wish to trade or offer services to a community. (A gold dragon, unlike his red dragon counterpart, may set up a few trade deals with a few communities. With [I]polymorph[/I] abilities, some dragons may even be able to pose as merchants buying crops and herd animals for market. ) What are your thoughts on my ideas? [/QUOTE]

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