How much money/gold does the average NPC make?

Stormvessel

I noticed that 8 gold is considered a lot of gold at an inn.

How would you estimate the economy on the Sword Coast? How much would you say the average laborer makes?

OneAngryMushroom

the average peasant NPC makes 1GP per day of work
EDIT
At least in the 2e rule book

meagloth

I've thought about this, and it doesn't really work. If 1g is a lot, then why is it the smallest unit in game? If it isn't a lot, then why do beggars freak out when you give them just one, and why do commoners only make 1/day? Also, shops only sell weapons and fighting supplies, so there's no frame of reference.

LadyRhian

The Average Peasant farmer probably makes about 3-5 gold per year. The price at Inns in the game is artificially inflated because the game doesn't want to deal with copper pieces and silver pieces (or electrum pieces, or platinum pieces). Plus, if they deal with adventurers, you are dealing with what is basically a gold rush economy, like in the gold rush where people were charging $1 (or more) for eggs. Adventurers are going out and liberating money that has been lost out of society because monsters stole it. And Innkeepers, and everyone else, is/are going to get some of that for themselves.

In money terms, one gold is worth 2 electrum pieces, 10 silver and 100 copper. And a platinum piece is worth 5 gold. Most farmers, unless they are really prosperous, aren't going to see that much gold in a year. Just to buy a plow could cost 2 or 3 years worth of profits (Which is why people take care of their things- it costs too much to replace!

A subsistence farmer may only make a few gold pieces in a year- most of their food goes to feeding themselves and their families. A More prosperous farm may make 15 gold or so. Really prosperous farms may make, say 30 to 50 gold. Merchants can make more money, but bear the cost of having to actually ship their goods around- and if their caravan is attacked by orcs or goblins, they bear the loss themselves.

So, when you say "average", what sort of "average" are we talking?

Stormvessel

Just average salary, basically. The average an NPC makes a year.

If 3-5 gold is the average yearly salary, then we can estimate that 3-5 gold is equivalent to $30,000 - $50,000 USD in real world money. That would mean the 500 gold Katana at the beginning would cost $5,000,000 USD, and some of the awesome items in the game, like the Mage Robes sold by Thalantyr, would cost about $100,000,000 USD!!!

It would also mean that a single night in an inn (8 Gold) cost $80,000 USD.

Surely 3 - 5 Gold is a daily average ($60 - $100 USD) and not a yearly average?

SionIV

Stormvessel said:

Just average salary, basically. How much the average NPC makes a year.

If 3-5 gold is the average yearly salary, then we can estimate that 3-5 gold is equivalent to $30,000 - $50,000 USD in real world money. That would be mean the 500 gold Katana at the beginning would cost $5,000,000 USD, and some of the awesome items in the game, like the Mage Robes sold by Thalantyr, would cost about $100,000,000!!!

It would also mean that a single night in an inn (8 Gold) cost $80,000 USD.

Surely 3 - 5 Gold is a daily average ($60 - $100 USD) and not a yearly average?

As she mentioned the tavern prices wouldn't be that high and would most probably be in copper instead of gold coins. The prices in the game are wrong and don't follow DnD when it comes to things like a room at the tavern.

The game only have one currency because it would be confusing to have several and wouldn't be needed in a game like Baldur's Gate. But when you remove the lesser currencies and only have the highest and most valued one, it won't make much sense outside of the game. It's like if you removed all bills except the 100 dollar one, instead of having a room cost 80 dollars it would end up being 800.

LadyRhian

@SionIV You are correct. What I was really asking is, what is considered an "average" NPC? The Prosperous farmer? A merchant? A Townsman? A Craftsman? The "average" is going to be different depending on the job and the area. It's going to be very different in a small town like, say, Nashkel (which, based on the movie that took place there in the original version of the game, is populated mostly by small farms of peasants) than in some place like Baldur's Gate, a large cosmopolitan city.

A relatively prosperous small town or hamlet might have an "average" yearly income of, say 12 gp. That includes the farmer who is barely getting by and the merchant who lives in town and runs the local general store, plus the blacksmith, who does most of his work shoeing horses for the farmers and couldn't make a sword if his life depended on it (and if he tried, it would be crude and extremely unbalanced-useless for combat).

In a larger town on a main caravan route, it may go up a bit to 40 gp per year. The mayor may make closer to 100 gp, but there are also more people at the lower end, which brings things down a bit. In a city, higher still, may 200 gp. But you have nobles who live there, and the poor which eke out a living on charity- otherwise, they are destitute.

In all cases, keep in mind that most of this isn't going to be actual coins, generally. Some of it is payment in coins (goods and the like). So the merchant may be rich on paper, but his wealth is tied up in his merchandise to sell. For the farmer, his money will come in the form of the crops he's tending and the goods he owns to help him on the farm (Stock like horses and cows, or chickens, farm implements like hayforks, threshers and possibly a wagon to help him take his crops to town or to be sold). His stock of actual coin will be small and hoarded against the possibility of some form of failure or disaster (loss of an animal, breaking of something important). Really small or poor farmers may join together to own something that helps them all, like an expensive plow or a bull to impregnate their milk cows. Even joint ownership of horses to pull said plow can be pulled off- and rotated around to plow fields in the spring among the "owners".

In small towns, a mug of cheap ale or beer might only be a copper or two. In really small towns, there might not even be an inn, and farmwives will brew their own beer. Keep in mind that most of the drinks orderable in the game are generally from far away. Golden Sands Lager appeared in Aurora's Whole Realms Catalogue and is from Calimshan. That's a fair piece away from Baldur's Gate and Amn. Dragon's Breath Beer is from Immersea, Suzale is from Cormyr and Shadowdark Ale is from Shadowdale. All of these are specialty brews- and yet, they are what you are drinking in Baldur's Gate. So it's no surprise that you are paying quite a markup for drinks.

jackjack

What about Bitter Black Ale, (my personal favorite)? I find it's often on the cheaper side of the menu—is it a local brew?

LadyRhian

@jackjack Bitter Black is from Arabel, which is a city in Cormyr.

CaloNord

Wouldn't that make Bitter Black even more expensive? In theory? Having to be imported from Cormyr?

Stormvessel

CaloNord said:

Wouldn't that make Bitter Black even more expensive? In theory? Having to be imported from Cormyr?

Well, Tecate is a beer imported from Mexico and it is cheap as hell.

LadyRhian

No, not if it's cheaper in Arabel. I like "Old One-Eye" myself. It's made from a recipe learned from a cyclops. And "Winter Wine" is a blue-purple color. People joke it's made from grapes that "caught a chill". But the grapes are left on the vine until winter has them frozen, then crushed and made into wine while still frozen.

"Suzale" is the ale made for the household of the Royal Family, and "Elminster's Choice" isn't really such. As Aurora's Whole Realms catalogue says, Elminster will drink "anything this side of Gorgon's milk".

DreadKhan

I know in 3rd the average for a low skill worker is about 1 silver daily. However, a skilled labourer (ie doing a job requiring skill ranks) typically makes 2 sp per day per character level... but thats only for classes that help you with that trade. Most trades people in 3rd are experts, but probably most people are commoners (aka subsistence farming). Its more or less like medieval europe, with a great many people having no extra money to spend, but living reasonably if they could and did work pretty hard. Land was 'rented' from a local gentry, but generally stuff was passed down a family line. These commoners would be capable of many basic aspects of trades, or they went broke. They could build a house, probably a small cart and simple furniture etc if they have some tools (likely handed down). Trades people were different, and usually quite good at their skill, in addition to having the basic skill set everyone had. Important trades were usually run by guilds, especially in more populated areas. This isnt really represented well. I would say in a more dark ages setting, guilds werent as prevelant, but neither was armour! Not a coincidence btw.

Mercenaries earn 1 silver per day per level for low risk work, ie guarding a house, assuming they are Warrior NPC class. Any PC class levels cost 1 gold per level per day, so hiring a fighter costs ~10x as much as a warrior. Maintaining an army is expensive! Note, that price assumes you are supplying and replacing gear needed.

There was a definite attempt in 3rd to make economies kinda reasonable, but things fall apart when you count even mid to low level adventurers. An adventurer with 2k gp in disposable income is pretty wealthy, being wealthier than plenty of nobles (their assets wouldnt be liquid, and land has upkeep costs/nobles have to maintain a minimum standard of living). This is played straight when a 'retired' low level adventurer buys an inn.