Wealth & Downtime

The primary currencies in D&D are gold pieces (gp), silver pieces (sp), and copper pieces (cp).

• Gold Piece (gp): The standard unit of measure for wealth. A skilled artisan can earn 1 gp per day.

• Silver Piece (sp): Equivalent to 1/10th of a gold piece. Can buy a laborer's daily wage or a flask of lamp oil.

• Copper Piece (cp): Equivalent to 1/10th of a silver piece. Can buy a candle, torch, or piece of chalk.

Other precious metals, like electrum and platinum, exist in the form of coins but are less common. An electrum piece is worth 5 sp, and a platinum piece is worth 10 gp.

• Weapons and Armor: Undamaged weapons and armor can be sold for half their original price. Monster-used equipment is often damaged and not worth much.

• Magic Items: Potions and scrolls are relatively easy to sell, but other magic items can be difficult to find buyers for.

• Gems, Jewelry, and Art Objects: These items retain their full value and can be used as currency. Exceptionally valuable items may require finding a buyer in a larger city or community.

• Trade Goods: Barter is common in borderlands. Trade goods like iron, salt, livestock, etc., retain their full value and can be used as currency.

• Research: Learn the current market prices for the items you want to sell.

• Negotiate: Don't be afraid to haggle with buyers to get the best price.

• Consider Bartering: If you can't find a buyer willing to pay your price in gold, consider bartering for other goods or services.

• Be Patient: It may take time to find the right buyer for your treasure.

Lifestyle expenses offer a simple way to manage the cost of living in a fantasy world, covering accommodations, food, drink, and basic necessities, as well as equipment upkeep. At the start of each week or month (your choice), select a lifestyle from the Expenses table and pay the daily price. To calculate costs over 30 days, multiply the price by 30. Your lifestyle can change based on your funds or remain constant. The choice has consequences—living wealthy can gain powerful contacts but attract thieves, while a frugal life avoids criminals but limits influence.

• Wretched: You live in inhumane conditions, with no place to call home. Sheltering wherever you can, you face constant dangers like violence, disease, and hunger. Your armor and gear are coveted by others, and you are beneath most people’s notice.

• Squalid: You live in a leaky stable, a mud-floored hut, or a vermin-infested boarding house. You have shelter but exist in a violent, disease-ridden environment with little legal protection.

• Poor: This lifestyle means going without comforts. You have simple food and lodgings, threadbare clothing, and face unpredictable conditions. You have some legal protections but still face violence and crime.

• Modest: You live in an older part of town, renting a room in a boarding house, inn, or temple. You don’t go hungry, and your living conditions are clean, if simple.

• Comfortable: You can afford nicer clothing and maintain your equipment. You live in a small cottage or private room and associate with merchants and skilled tradespeople.

• Wealthy: You live a luxurious life, comparable to a successful merchant or favored servant. You have a spacious home or fine inn suite and likely employ a small staff.

• Aristocratic: You live in excellent lodgings, dine at the best restaurants, and have servants attending to your needs. You move among the most powerful people but also face the dangers of political intrigue and treachery.

The Food, Drink, and Lodging table gives prices for individual food items and a single night’s lodging. These prices are included in your total lifestyle expenses.

• Self Sufficiency: The expenses and lifestyles described in this chapter assume that you are spending your time between adventures in town, availing yourself of whatever services you can afford— paying for food and shelter, paying townspeople to sharpen your sword and repair your armor, and so on. Some characters, though, might prefer to spend their time away from civilization, sustaining themselves in the wild by hunting, foraging, and repairing their own gear. Maintaining this kind of lifestyle doesn’t require you to spend any coins, but it is time-consuming.

Characters who don’t eat or drink suffer the effects of Exhaustion. Exhaustion caused by lack of food or water can’t be removed until the character eats and drinks the full required amount.

Adventurers can hire nonplayer characters (NPCs) to assist them or act on their behalf in various situations. Most hirelings possess ordinary skills, while some are masters of a craft or art, and a few have specialized adventuring skills. Common hirelings, such as those listed in the Services table, are often drawn from the local population of a town or city, performing specific tasks as needed. For example, a wizard might hire a carpenter to craft a chest for use in a spell, or a fighter might commission a blacksmith to forge a custom sword.

In addition to these more common services, adventurers can also hire more expert or dangerous professionals. Mercenary soldiers can be recruited to help in battles, such as facing a hobgoblin army, while sages may be hired to research ancient lore or solve complex mysteries. When adventurers reach higher levels and establish strongholds, they might hire an entire staff to manage their estate. This can range from a castellan or steward to oversee operations to laborers who maintain the grounds. These hirelings often enjoy long-term contracts, which typically include housing within the stronghold as part of their compensation.

Skilled hirelings include anyone hired to perform a service that involves a proficiency (including weapon, tool, or skill): a mercenary, artisan, scribe, and so on. The pay shown is a minimum; some expert hirelings require more pay. Untrained hirelings are hired for menial work that requires no particular skill and can include laborers, porters, maids, and similar workers.

People who are able to cast spells don’t fall into the category of ordinary hirelings. It might be possible to find someone willing to cast a spell in exchange for coin or favors, but it is rarely easy, and no established pay rates exist. As a rule, the higher the level of the desired spell, the harder it is to find someone who can cast it, and the more it costs.

Hiring someone to cast a relatively common spell of 1st or 2nd level, such as cure wounds or identify, is easy enough in a city or town and might cost between 10 and 50 gold pieces (+ the cost of any expensive material components). Finding someone able and willing to cast a higher-level spell might involve traveling to a large city, perhaps one with a university or a prominent temple. Once found, the spellcaster might ask for a service instead of payment—typically a task that only adventurers can provide, such as retrieving a rare item from a dangerous locale or traversing a monster-infested wilderness to deliver something important to a distant settlement.

Learning a language takes 8 weeks of in-game play and requires someone in the group to speak the language and they travel together. This is reduced as follows:

-1 week if > 1 other person in the group speaks the language

-1 week if any of the above people speak it natively (a dwarf teaching dwarven)

-0.5 weeks for every point of INT bonus on the student

Your business has a property that requires maintenance each day and a number of skilled or unskilled hirlings. During a break in the adventure you can invest time in the business to increase the likelihood of success. You can invest a number of days up to 30 to give a bonus to your percentile roll. After the result you either pay maintenance costs or make a profit. The total number of days you account for are equal to the days until your last check in.

At the end of your check in you roll 1D100 and account for the result. If you fail to pay the maintenance cost your business suffers and you incur an unpaid debt. For each unpaid debt you have, you have a -10 penalty to subsequent check in rolls until you catch up on your debt.

Your business can take many forms and requires various costs to maintain it and groups to run the business. The bigger the investment the bigger the risk and reward. You add the productivity bonus to your check in roll.