Economy

Oh! The Economy!

Finally, after years of playing about, I think I have found a key to the D&D/Pathfinder Economy, based on the Cost-of-Living Categories. This doesn’t really affect PCs, the game continues according to the rules whether you think they make sense or not, but if you want to design a nice, sensible world, it helps to understand how things fit together. And I have always been a bit of a world designer …

Remember, these thoughts are based around NPCs and how and where I can use them as I build a world.

You can find my justification for this here

• Destitute (0 gp/month): The PC is homeless and lives in the wilderness or on the streets. A destitute character must track every purchase, and may need to resort to Survival checks or theft to feed himself.
• Poor (3 gp/month): The PC lives in common rooms of taverns, with his parents, or in some other communal situation—this is the lifestyle of most untrained laborers and commoners. He need not track purchases of meals or taxes that cost 1 sp or less.
• Average (10 gp/month: The PC lives in his own apartment, small house, or similar location—this is the lifestyle of most trained or skilled experts or warriors. He can secure any nonmagical item worth 1 gp or less from his home in 1d10 minutes, and need not track purchases of common meals or taxes that cost 1 gp or less.
• Wealthy (100 gp/month): The PC has a sizable home or a nice suite of rooms in a fine inn. He can secure any nonmagical item worth 5 gp or less from his belongings in his home in 1d10 minutes, and need only track purchases of meals or taxes in excess of 10 gp.
• Extravagant (1,000 gp/month): The PC lives in a mansion, castle, or other extravagant home—he might even own the building in question. This is the lifestyle of most aristocrats. He can secure any non-magical item worth 25 gp or less from his belongings in his home in 1d10 minutes. He need only track purchases of meals or taxes in excess of 100 gp.

The character is homeless and lives in the wilderness or on the streets. A destitute character must track every purchase, and may need to resort to Survival checks or theft to feed himself. Makes absolute sense, but there won’t be very many of them, compared to other NPC groups. In towns, it is liable to be street kids, beggars or the simple-minded, while every fantasy village has the Village Idiot, and I don’t think there will be many right out in the wilderness.

This is the lifestyle of most untrained laborers and commoners. From elsewhere, we know that an untrained NPC earns 1sp per day - which, conveniently, works out to about 3gp per month – or the Poor Living Standard. We also know that most of a settlement’s population is made up of L1 commoners. So this is an important demographic for world building. We know that The Poor live in common rooms of taverns, with their parents, or in some other communal situation—and is the lifestyle of most untrained laborers and commoners. They need not track purchases of meals or taxes that cost 1sp or less.

This Implies

• Any Common Room (Not just those in Taverns) can house a few commoners. Note (I am going to use five as a suitable number of residents)
• Most Commoners can earn enough to pay their rent, regardless of the skills that they have.
• Most commoners will have skills relevant to the environment they live in.
• They don’t live in houses with bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchens etc, however they can find some privacy and shared facilities.
• With no Kitchen, cooking is limited. Traditionally (in RL) many used take ways in towns and cities. But some ‘Down Hearth’ style cooking might be available in a small fireplace, or over a brazier, for some residents.
• Clothing will be a combination of elements from the 1gp ‘Outfits’ from the Equipment section - but clearly second hand, patched and rarely matching. Note (In Victorian London, this sort of second hand clothes business was known as ‘Shoddy’).

(10 gp/month: The NPC lives in his own apartment, small house, or similar location—this is the lifestyle of most trained or skilled experts or warriors. He can secure any nonmagical item worth 1 gp or less from his home in 1d10 minutes, and need not track purchases of common meals or taxes that cost 1 gp or less. Which works out at a daily wage of a Trained Hireling - 3sp/day. In other words, ‘the typical daily wage for mercenary warriors, masons, craftsmen, cooks, scribes, teamsters, and other trained hirelings. This value represents a minimum wage; many such hirelings require significantly higher pay.’

This Implies

• Most Commoners can earn enough to pay their rent, regardless of the skills that they have.
• Most commoners will have skills relevant to the environment they live in.
• They live in homes with some private rooms, but probably don’t have dedicated bathrooms, kitchens etc.
• With no Kitchen, cooking is limited. Traditionally (in RL) many used take-a-ways in towns and cities. But some ‘Down Hearth’ style cooking will probably be available in a small fireplace, or over a brazier, for some residents.
• Clothing will be a combination of elements from the 1gp ‘Outfits’ from the Equipment section - bought new, and perhaps more than one set.

That covers most NPCs. While it is arbitrary, for my planning purposes, I am going to treat Level-1 Unskilled commoners (no ranks in Craft or Profession) as earning 1sp/day, Level-1 skilled commoners (1 rank in a Craft or profession) as earning 2sp/day, and any other Level-1 NPC class as earning 3sp/day. That leaves much of the population with a similar living standard, and able to relate to each other.

NPCs who get to level-2 or 3 start to earn more and live in better accommodation. These are liable to be Master Crafters, skilled professionals, mercenaries, elite soldiers, NPCs with character classes or very minor aristocrats - and will be found in, or around, towns, rather than the countryside. You shouldn't expect to find a masterwork costumier, sword smith, jeweller (etc) in a village that is miles from anyone with money. However, Local lordlings, retired adventurers, managers of large farms, quarry managers, etc, are the exception and will be found in the countryside. (Remember this deals with NPCs, rather than PCs).

These guys will start to have the facilities and options delineated in the downtime buildings section - and may even have live-in servants and guards attending to their needs. However, the detail isn’t relevant, unless you want your PCs to ‘adventure’ inside their home. Then it is a bespoke battle map … (that includes all the things you need for the scenario)

Any NPC who makes a cost-of-living contribution higher than (about) 20gp a month is almost certainly a character with a bespoke character sheet, bespoke home, bespoke job etc etc. So doesn’t really impinge on NPC living conditions.

(100 gp/month): The NPC has a sizable home or a nice suite of rooms in a fine inn. He can secure any nonmagical item worth 5 gp or less from his belongings in his home in 1d10 minutes and need only track purchases of meals or taxes in excess of 10 gp. This is one wealthy and very influential NPC. Probably an Expert, Aristocrat or with PC classes.

(1,000 gp/month): The PC lives in a mansion, castle, or other extravagant home—he might even own the building in question. This is the lifestyle of most aristocrats. He can secure any non-magical item worth 25 gp or less from his belongings in his home in 1d10 minutes. He need only track purchases of meals or taxes in excess of 100 gp.

It would be better to say, “This is the lifestyle of most Nobles.” To avoid confusion with low level NPC-Aristocrat-Classes.