Build Me An Economy! (General Challenge)

[Reltzik]

To begin with economy, I believe we first need to model the society that will be using it.

I believe that the two are so linked that I could not provide one without creating the other. Economy dictates society. Society dictates economy. Thus, we need invent both.

... well, we don't NEED to. This is more a cross between a hobby and OCD.

What is the Basic Monetary Unit (BMU) in your world?

[snip]

Inserting magic into this particular setting will be tricky, as it has much potential for unbalancing things. To begin with, I suggest pruning the spell lists for any permanent creation spells and putting tight restrictions on item creation feats - maybe make a Magecrafter PrC with a high level entry prerequisite and make them as rare as the Three-Horned Wildebeast.

Characters of a certain level are supposed to have a certain amount of money for a certain amount of equipment, otherwise they will suck mightily against the various monsters they encounter in their career.

The true value of coinage is dependent on the supplies of the various precious metals, the difficulties of minting them, and a host of issues regarding the authority which mints them. It also helps if the coins are suitably shiny and impressive. But these are PART of the economy.

So instead, let's talk in terms of Credits. Credits will be an abstract evaluation of worth, of which the members of the society we are examining are completely ignorant, but which, if they WERE aware of, they would treat like current monetary units. Let's assume a fixed money supply of 1k Credits per individual, meaning that if the average worth of a population goes up, the number of Credits remain fixed but the value of each Credit, compared to various goods (and currencies), also goes up. Naturally, they won't all have 1k; it'll clump around the wealthy and powerful.

Now, as for magic. I'm not for pruning the spell list. The challenge here is to figure out how the spell list (and other aspects of DnD) can fit into an economy. In particular, the value of each spell as a service should be established. If some spells are particularly valuable, that produces some interesting economic features -- such as prohibitive pricing, the limited supply of casters, the demand for more casters, the view of casters as a plutocratic cast which must be cast down by the proletariat, et cetera. If another spell of the same level is not as powerful, it still exists, but no one's interested in learning it, save for a few collectors. Or, on the other hand, you may have wizards guarding the valuable spells from their apprentices, or each other, extra-jealously, producing an even more limited supply. ALL of this serves to reduce the impact of various spells on the world economy, because there just aren't enough to go around. (It's sorcerors that break the system, with power for free. Kinda explains why there's this incipient hatred towards them.)

The wealth by level guidelines? Ignore them! People get whatever they grab... though the higher-level individuals will, undoubtedly, be more capable at the grabbing. Elite classes can't take on dragons without the right equipment? Well, then, they can't take on dragons. They're underpowered and suck mightily? Well, then, they're underpowered and suck mightily. Dragons win and rule the world.

I've been mulling this over and how it stacks with a +1 sword costs 500 gp without putting the actual masterwork cost in there. How can you even spend that much gold when there is hardly any market to accept that much wealth. You see in D&D, wealth is tied to two things, land and magic.

[sniparoony]

Anyhow, my three changes are just a way of illustrated, the consequences of me trying to come up with an economic system just fleshed out enough to allow me to suspend my disbelief but not enough to hamstring playability or force me to change the market price of magical items (or of every single product and service in the DMG).

As a friend pointed out to me. By definition, the market price can't be wrong because it's what the invisible hand determined.

But does that work out? What percentage of the population are casters, and how powerful? What percentage is sufficeint to support that middle class?

And that hand? It isn't invisible. It's Monty Cook's hand, and it needs a manicure.

So very true. Just take one example - moving goods around in the middle ages: you really had only two options - land animal transport (eg carvans etc) or boat. Add magic and magical beasts and the options of flying, teleporting etc must be taken into account. These are safer, faster, and more importantly, generally only available to those with magical power. How would traditional merchants compete with a wizard's guild bringing spices from the other side of the world via teleportation circles and bags of holding?

In a magical world, Wizards win at everything, not just combat.

Bags of holding are expensive. Teleportation requires a mid-level caster, which could be pretty rare. These factors alone will REALLY drive up the expense of such methods, limiting their impact on the world. They'll have some impact, though.

The true challenge is creating a system where this is all accounted for.

In my campaign world I added a huge series of spells related to agriculture, fishing, hunting, and animal husbandry. Going all the way from zero level spells (such as Fowl Blessing, which makes a single chicken produce 3 times as many eggs for life), to 8th level spells such as "Ultimate Blessing of Agriculture" which I will simply detail below.

[snip]

Well, that raises the question of how many casters capable of casting level 8 spells are handy to go around blessing crops, and what they'd rather be doing with their time, and just how much of a fee it takes to tempt them to bless crops rather than do what they'd rather be doing.

[Sniiiiiip]

Holy Crapole, I was joking about that OCD part!

Okay, a few thoughts. First, the value of spell-casting components MIGHT vary with location. One possibility is that the diamond is bartered with the local spirits for power. Near a diamond mine, with lots of gem cutters, it'll take a very fancy gem to tempt the local spirits. Far away from such centers, though, the spirits are more impressed.

But yes, providing more detail to spells like these (and to the creation costs of magic items) is something we need to do... not just here in the thread, but also as DMs.

Wonderful insights, though.

Oh, and since someone brought it up -- my economics background is limited to a high-school class. However, I've got a degree in CS and a minor and almost-degree in math. So while I might not understand economic systems in particular, I understand systems in general... especially how they do or do not break.