FR Setting: Money Trouble

[missmvicious]

I'm running an experimental solo campaign. It's my first attempt using the Forgotten Realms setting, and we're both trying new stuff with characters, maps, monsters, combat, extended resources (most of our campaigns before now have stuck to core or core adjacent).

My PC gave me advanced warning that she intends to spend some of her hard-earned PP to invest into some shops at The Hap, after it got torn to rubble in an Athach raid.

I'd never thought of that...

She wants to purchase the supplies necessary to help rebuild and receive interest payments in return, effectively making her a private investor for the whole town. That's one way to become a mayor, I suppose.

I assume, based on the free-spirited nature of the townsfolk of The Hap, that many of them will refuse the help. But enough of them are screwed enough that they may have to take the offer, which means she will soon become the proud owner of up to 1/3 of the businesses and farms in and around The Hap.

My question is, how do I calculate costs for that? How do I know how much a good investment would be? Is 200 GP enough to keep a Butcher shop alive and kicking? Or should it be more like 200 PP? What about a farm or ranch?

I have to assume that an Expert would be able to afford their own business, so a king's ransom, say 20,000 PP would be stupid. But setting the bar too low means selling out the town to a Chaotic Neutral PC with too much CHA who has every intention of becoming the secret ruling power behind that town when all is said and done. Allowing this would be fun, but I want to make sure the price is right.

In the PHB it says that sometimes you can win land and use it to make money, but it doesn't say how or how much. Are there any rules somewhere regarding how much a settlement is worth, how much a business is worth, how much a farm or ranch is worth? I'm sure I could wing it from there.

[The Gilded Duke]

First off, completely avoid the business rules in DMG II. They require way too much initial investment, the only business worth your time is "shop", and the random encounter table is stupidly horrible. Out of 25 events, only five are good, two outright destroy your business, others add penalties or cost thousands of gold to resolve.

Instead I'd use the property values in Cityscape page 34 as a guideline.

Residence Costs:
Fine Residences 20-160 gp /month to rent 2,000 to 16,000 to buy
Average Residences 10 - 40 gp /month to rent 1,000 to 4,000 to buy
Poor Residences 1 - 4 gp / month to rent 100 to 400 to buy

Shop Costs:
Poor Shop 200 - 800 gp to buy
Average Shop 2000 - 8000 gp to buy
Fine Shop 4,000 - 32,000 gp to buy

If she wants to go into home rental, it looks like each building would take eight years of rent to break even. You could maybe set up a similar 1% per month return on the businesses? One thing that might give even more incentive is letting the player occasionally sell things through her businesses at full price (instead of half price). Or adjusting the return rate depending on plot, and as a quest reward. Could also have working in a shop give a +2-6 circumstance bonus on craft or profession checks. Maybe knowledge too checks if she invests in libraries.

[Mnemnosyne]

I think the rules in Frank & K's tomes for businesses actually seem pretty decent for the most part, as do the rules for making profits with profession and such.

Ignore the parts about planar currencies and all that, though. They're based on the assumption that everyone who can is chain-binding efreetis and running a wish-based economy, so you need a currency that can't be wished for.

[missmvicious]

I don't have Frank & K's Tomes, but I do have Cityscape. It seems to cover pretty much what I need, and there's some other stuff in there that could broaden my skills as a DM by quite a bit.

Thanks!