Do Corpses Have A Listed GP Value?

[Zombulian]

You know me (or probably not), I’ve been looking at the Call Item power again. Those familiar with the power will know that you can use it to call a mundane item to hand according to certain GP values depending on how many power points you spend.
The power specifically disallows “living creatures” among the options of called items. The fact that it specifies “living” indicates to me that dead creatures are totally fair game - unfortunately there’s also the GP limit issue. How much is a corpse?

[Saintheart]

BoVD has spell components which include a certain number of humanoid parts, albeit not entire bodies. On a rough guess, extrapolating from the table, a whole human body apparently isn't worth a lot.

[Dalmosh]

According to the SRD, a pig is worth 3gp, so a fresh Medum humanoid corpse is likely to be worth about as much to a sentient carnivore. I'd expect at least in some extra-planar cities (like Azzagrat or Nishrek for example), corpses would definitely have a standard gold piece value.

A low-level necromancer might pay hireling graverobbers around 1gp ea to procure a corpse from a graveyard or morgue, depending upon risk. Again, cities where necromancy is really common, and animating skeletons for labour is fairly normal, would probably have a standardised value.

According to the Book of Vile Darkness, the heart is the most valuable part (1 sp), at least the bigger bones are worth 1 cp ea, blood is worth 3cp per fl. ounce (probably), hands, eyes and brains (2-4 cp). That of course includes the labour of procuring and dissecting the body, so I think totaling here (likely 4-6gp) is probably too high.

So I'd say, 3gp for a fresh edible corpse, 1-2gp for one that is a bit riper.

[Quertus]

So I'd say, 3gp for a fresh edible corpse, 1-2gp for one that is a bit riper.

Logically, the difference between a fresh corpse and one… less so… is a Purity Food and Drink.

As a 0-level Spell, affecting roughly 60 lbs of water per caster level, purifying us “mostly water” humans should require 3 caster levels for a 180- lb feast. So 3*5=15, 3-15=-12.

Therefore, you should get paid 12 gold for each less than fresh corpse you buy.

Seems only fair that much-maligned Necromancers should get a Wall of Salt level exploit, of getting paid to take care of corpses.

[Duke of Urrel]

I think it's pointless to try to set a general, standard price for corpses. The problem is that there is no general demand for corpses. Corpses are attractive only to a very specific clientele, for very specific reasons. And some of these reasons are quite Evil.

Consequently, trade in corpses is likely to be illegal in many places. The necessity of evading the law when you buy or sell corpses may easily drive up the price of corpses in places where it's against the law to buy and sell them. The corpse market is likely to be underground, and its buyers and sellers have to invest in secrecy (including odor control), security guards, and bribes. And that's not even considering the problem of acquiring new corpses in the first place, which of course often involves murder or at least theft.

In some places that are more tolerant, but still Lawful, you may need a special license to buy and sell corpses. For example, it is easy to imagine that it may be legal in some places to create flesh golems, but illegal to create undead. Wherever the market in corpses is in any way regulated, somebody has to pay for the regulation, for example with some kind of tax. This means that corpses, especially fresh ones, cannot be too cheap, even if they are legal.

[Zombulian]

I think it's pointless to try to set a general, standard price for corpses. The problem is that there is no general demand for corpses. Corpses are attractive only to a very specific clientele, for very specific reasons. And some of these reasons are quite Evil.

Wrong. The point is I need a set gold value so I can summon a dead Gray Render out of some place in space-time and immediately turn it into a skeleton.


Consequently, trade in corpses is likely to be illegal in many places. The necessity of evading the law when you buy or sell corpses may easily drive up the price of corpses in places where it's against the law to buy and sell them. The corpse market is likely to be underground, and its buyers and sellers have to invest in secrecy (including odor control), security guards, and bribes. And that's not even considering the problem of acquiring new corpses in the first place, which of course often involves murder or at least theft.

In some places that are more tolerant, but still Lawful, you may need a special license to buy and sell corpses. For example, it is easy to imagine that it may be legal in some places to create flesh golems, but illegal to create undead. Wherever the market in corpses is in any way regulated, somebody has to pay for the regulation, for example with some kind of tax. This means that corpses, especially fresh ones, cannot be too cheap, even if they are legal.

It tickles me that many of the considerations you listed are true of the meat industry in general.
Also a lot of these considerations are assumptions that we’re working with humanoid corpses. This is not necessarily the case, though it is definitely something to consider as well.

[icefractal]

I'd agree with Duke of Urrel that that it doesn't entirely make sense to talk about a universal price for corpses. That said, if I needed to set one -

The main market for exotic corpses is likely to be necromancers. While there are many types of undead, skeletons and zombies are the most commonly created by a large margin.

Therefore, the price of a corpse is based on its utility as a zombie or skeleton (whichever is more suited). So for example, a Hydra corpse would be much more valuable than most corpses of that size.

What numbers do we have to work with? Well there's the price of onyx. If "corpse A" makes as potent a skeleton at 10 HD as "corpse B" does at 20 HD, then it's worth a minimum of 250 gp more. Probably more than that, because you're saving HD pool as well, but that's a lower bound.

Of course as with any pricing in D&D, it's tricky to apply logic, since the game uses neither supply and demand or the labor theory of value, but rather a "divinely set pricing" where everything has a fixed value regardless of circumstances.

[Dalmosh]

Also a lot of these considerations are assumptions that weÂ’re working with humanoid corpses. This is not necessarily the case, though it is definitely something to consider as well.

Ah. Well that's much easier. Many things do have a set value for their corpse, because people eat them, or (in some cases) use them to make armour. Worth remembering that if you just want something's bones, this will potentially be cheaper than the whole corpse. This is specifically the case for Humanoid corpses, and obviously would be for meat animals too.

Humanoid corpses have specific non-edible value, but I'd imagine the value of a Grey Render corpse specifically would be (-), unless your campaign world has a special role for them. They are fairly rare, solitary, high-level predators. How much would a dead Polar Bear or Orca be worth to a collector in our world?

[spectralphoenix]

I mean, the idea of a "universal price" is a conceit of the game for anything. If you come across a rich man dying of thirst in the desert and he offers to trade you a diamond for a waterskin, would the waterskin be worth hundreds of gold pieces for the purposes of the power? If you tried to use the diamond to cast Stoneskin, would the spell fail because you only paid a silver piece for it?

The only reasonable conclusion is that the corpse has a "price" for the purposes of the spell, which exists independently of whether you could ever actually find someone willing to spend that much on a random monster corpse. What is that price? I could see tying it to the size, CR, and rarity of the monster, but otherwise ask your DM. If you really want a number from a book to start out with, the Eberron Explorer's Handbook suggests that the Wayfinder Foundation buys exotic monster carcasses for 500 gp per HD.

[Zombulian]

Of course as with any pricing in D&D, it's tricky to apply logic, since the game uses neither supply and demand or the labor theory of value, but rather a "divinely set pricing" where everything has a fixed value regardless of circumstances.

This is a great point and is also kinda what I'm trying to get at in this thread. It's a power that is bounded by GP values, which necessarily requires there to be a divinely set price, otherwise you could just Call Items from somewhere in space-time where that item is worth less!


If you really want a number from a book to start out with, the Eberron Explorer's Handbook suggests that the Wayfinder Foundation buys exotic monster carcasses for 500 gp per HD.


According to the SRD, a pig is worth 3gp, so a fresh Medum humanoid corpse is likely to be worth about as much to a sentient carnivore. I'd expect at least in some extra-planar cities (like Azzagrat or Nishrek for example), corpses would definitely have a standard gold piece value.

According to the Book of Vile Darkness, the heart is the most valuable part (1 sp), at least the bigger bones are worth 1 cp ea, blood is worth 3cp per fl. ounce (probably), hands, eyes and brains (2-4 cp). That of course includes the labour of procuring and dissecting the body, so I think totaling here (likely 4-6gp) is probably too high.

So I'd say, 3gp for a fresh edible corpse, 1-2gp for one that is a bit riper.


BoVD has spell components which include a certain number of humanoid parts, albeit not entire bodies. On a rough guess, extrapolating from the table, a whole human body apparently isn't worth a lot.

These are great places to start. Especially the Wayfinder Foundation, that's a great resource! What do they consider to be exotic, I wonder.

[Telonius]

I'd guess it depends on how worried the Necromancer is about getting caught, and how high their intimidate check is.

"Look, I'm offering you a fair deal. 5 copper for the corpse. If you don't think it's fair, I could always make a second one and take them both for free."

[lightningcat]

In the real world, when medical students needed to buy illegal bodies for scientific research, the price of a body was between $5 and $25 dollars. Which at the time was about the same as a week to a month worth of unskilled labor.
Interestingly, that would also place the price of a body at around 5 to 25 silver.

[spectralphoenix]

These are great places to start. Especially the Wayfinder Foundation, that's a great resource! What do they consider to be exotic, I wonder.

Exotic comes from a couple places in Khorvaire beyond the "civilized" world, or from another continent. They're a group of explorers, though, so that's what they're interested in. I could see it as a baseline for anything rare and powerful enough that you'd have to commission a group of adventurers to track it down and kill it.

[Dalmosh]

According to Arms & Equipment Guide, an untrained Owlbear (Large, 5 HD) is worth 3000gp when young.
For comparison, a trained work elephant is worth 2000gp in Oriental Adventures.

A Gray Render has twice as many HD as an Owlbear, and would probably be much rarer. So 3000gp for a dead adult doesn't seem unreasonable.

[Zombulian]

Yeah I saw the same. It’s kinda looking like small animals to possibly humanoids are probably within the 10gp threshold, and anything else scales beyond 1000gp pretty quickly.

[Doctor Despair]

According to Arms & Equipment Guide, an untrained Owlbear (Large, 5 HD) is worth 3000gp when young.
For comparison, a trained work elephant is worth 2000gp in Oriental Adventures.

A Gray Render has twice as many HD as an Owlbear, and would probably be much rarer. So 3000gp for a dead adult doesn't seem unreasonable.

I want to say it's Lords of Madness has prices for purchasing creatures by HD from some sort of evil aberrations. A living 1HD human should probably cost more than the corpse of a 1HD human.

[Inevitability]

I want to say it's Lords of Madness has prices for purchasing creatures by HD from some sort of evil aberrations. A living 1HD human should probably cost more than the corpse of a 1HD human.

Neogi slave rules! The price is 100 times CR squared, iirc.

So yeah, a human commoner is 100 GP as a slave. Interestingly, the cost to feed them (1 SP/day, for poor meals) is equivalent to the cost of just paying untrained hirelings. This implies that slavery is economically pointless in D&D unless you have some source of free food (and even then, it'd require around 1.5 years before they pay for themselves), and the main use of slaves is to nourish vampires/illithid/anything else that needs living humans to feed or reproduce.

[Zombulian]

Neogi slave rules! The price is 100 times CR squared, iirc.

So yeah, a human commoner is 100 GP as a slave. Interestingly, the cost to feed them (1 SP/day, for poor meals) is equivalent to the cost of just paying untrained hirelings. This implies that slavery is economically pointless in D&D unless you have some source of free food (and even then, it'd require around 1.5 years before they pay for themselves), and the main use of slaves is to nourish vampires/illithid/anything else that needs living humans to feed or reproduce.

Wow you pulled that price from memory? Impressive.
I think there's something to be said for something becoming property, rather than a contractor. But also, I have no interest in defending slavery as a practice :)


I want to say it's Lords of Madness has prices for purchasing creatures by HD from some sort of evil aberrations. A living 1HD human should probably cost more than the corpse of a 1HD human.

Great pull. Perhaps Slave Price - some portion of the casting cost of Animate Dead + Onyx gems required?

[Inevitability]

Wow you pulled that price from memory? Impressive.

I've been reading through some old IC entries recently, in the Hoardstealer round someone submitted a character that fulfilled the 'must steal a haul worth 5000 GP' in a creative manner, so to speak.