I´m currently working on a society with public transport available from one city to another. It´s magic based and the ride costs a 1st level spell per person/per 200kg of freight riding. The spells get cast into a network of arcane batteries that power the train. However if you are not a magic users, or dont want to deplete your wizzard for it, the locals sell their spells to you to enable you to ride. So how much would a 1st level spell be in copper/silver/gold? Would it follow to make it 2 passengers for 2nd level and 3 for 3rd level or maybe double it like 2 for 2nd level and 4 for 3rd level... until 9th level being 256 passengers (Of course this is theory because if you have access to 9th level spells you wouldnt take the train :D)
For context: Magic is common in my world to an extent. Basically anyone can learn magic but powerful magic users are rare. 1st and 2nd level spells will be quite common especially among higher society but upwards from that it gets more and more rare. The gnomes occupying the 2 cities in question are genreally more magically gifted than most other races, so its even more common there. Hence the fact that they sell their spells to have a secondary income.
Estimates will be more than enough but if you feel like you have to analyze this mathematically feel free to.
That depends here entirely on what those sold spells do. If it’s just “battery power for machines” you can probably make a calculation based on what sounds fair or even a case by case basis.
if they can straight buy spell slots for their own spells in some way… that’s a different ball game.
Luckily the PHB has a couple of things fairly close together that might help you out.
Spellcasting Services and the paragraph preceeding it Services. Drawback to both of these is that they are assumed to be in a normal or low magic setting and could cause the cost/value to be thrown way out of whack. I'm pointing them out to you so that you might use them as a template for how this works in your world.
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“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
As a player you would basically come up to the station, give some coin to a local and that guy casts whatever spell into the system to pay for the ride. The spell slots cannot be added to the players slots or recharge their spent ones. What spell is cast doesn´t matter because the spell effect doesn´t really come into being. The machince attracts the arcane energy and absorbs it. (Maybe ill add a bug in the system if someone tries to be funny and pay with a counterspell or dispel magic ;D) The train covers a bit more than 200m miles in 4 hours which would take about a week on foot according to the first travel calculator i found on google.
Luckily the PHB has a couple of things fairly close together that might help you out.
Spellcasting Services and the paragraph preceeding it Services. Drawback to both of these is that they are assumed to be in a normal or low magic setting and could cause the cost/value to be thrown way out of whack. I'm pointing them out to you so that you might use them as a template for how this works in your world.
Thank you very much. I hadn´t seen that paragraph. This helps out a lot.
I think Xanathar's guide for Scribing a Spell Scroll probably gives you the idea of the value for a typical dnd setting. Spells above 3rd level are usually prohibitively expensive because they can include things like absolute mind control we can be very dangerous. Keep in mind spells of those levels are the kinds of spells that let you kill dozens of townsfolk at once, turn people into slaves or bring back the dead.
If spells are available for purchase, I go with 50 x Spell level squared. I don't make spells available for purchase above 3rd level, but if they were it would be as follows:
1st level: 50gp
2nd level: 200gp
3rd level: 450 gp
4th level: 800gp
5th level: 1250gp
6th level: 1800gp
7th level: 2450gp
8th level: 3200gp
9th level: 4050gp
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I´m currently working on a society with public transport available from one city to another. It´s magic based and the ride costs a 1st level spell per person/per 200kg of freight riding. The spells get cast into a network of arcane batteries that power the train. However if you are not a magic users, or dont want to deplete your wizzard for it, the locals sell their spells to you to enable you to ride. So how much would a 1st level spell be in copper/silver/gold? Would it follow to make it 2 passengers for 2nd level and 3 for 3rd level or maybe double it like 2 for 2nd level and 4 for 3rd level... until 9th level being 256 passengers (Of course this is theory because if you have access to 9th level spells you wouldnt take the train :D)
For context: Magic is common in my world to an extent. Basically anyone can learn magic but powerful magic users are rare. 1st and 2nd level spells will be quite common especially among higher society but upwards from that it gets more and more rare. The gnomes occupying the 2 cities in question are genreally more magically gifted than most other races, so its even more common there. Hence the fact that they sell their spells to have a secondary income.
Estimates will be more than enough but if you feel like you have to analyze this mathematically feel free to.
Well, for one thing, the power of a spell slot doesn't scale linearly: a third level spell slot is more powerful than three first level slots.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
That depends here entirely on what those sold spells do. If it’s just “battery power for machines” you can probably make a calculation based on what sounds fair or even a case by case basis.
if they can straight buy spell slots for their own spells in some way… that’s a different ball game.
Luckily the PHB has a couple of things fairly close together that might help you out.
Spellcasting Services and the paragraph preceeding it Services. Drawback to both of these is that they are assumed to be in a normal or low magic setting and could cause the cost/value to be thrown way out of whack. I'm pointing them out to you so that you might use them as a template for how this works in your world.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
As a player you would basically come up to the station, give some coin to a local and that guy casts whatever spell into the system to pay for the ride. The spell slots cannot be added to the players slots or recharge their spent ones. What spell is cast doesn´t matter because the spell effect doesn´t really come into being. The machince attracts the arcane energy and absorbs it. (Maybe ill add a bug in the system if someone tries to be funny and pay with a counterspell or dispel magic ;D) The train covers a bit more than 200m miles in 4 hours which would take about a week on foot according to the first travel calculator i found on google.
Thank you very much. I hadn´t seen that paragraph. This helps out a lot.
Thanks to the other responders aswell.
I think Xanathar's guide for Scribing a Spell Scroll probably gives you the idea of the value for a typical dnd setting. Spells above 3rd level are usually prohibitively expensive because they can include things like absolute mind control we can be very dangerous. Keep in mind spells of those levels are the kinds of spells that let you kill dozens of townsfolk at once, turn people into slaves or bring back the dead.
If spells are available for purchase, I go with 50 x Spell level squared. I don't make spells available for purchase above 3rd level, but if they were it would be as follows: