I was just curious about the cost of fabrics, and after a quick Google search, assuming fabrics are sold by the yard (I just figured 35" width), I came up with these prices based on some of the clothes in the PHB:
First, let's assume that a shirt requires 2-3yd of fabric, and the same for a pair of pants, average 2.5yd each. For a shirt and pants together, you'll need about 5yd of fabric total. Looking in the PHB a set of common clothes is 5sp. If we figure 8cp per yard of fabric, that gives us 4sp for 5yd of fabric, and we can chalk the last 1sp up to a 20% service charge.
Common/Basic Fabrics: 8cp/yd with a 20% service charge
For higher quality stuff, like fine clothes (silks and such), obviously fabric is more expensive but you could also up the service charge. So to make a set of fine clothes I imagine there may also be extra fabric (because why not), so figure about an extra yard of fabric because "Fancy Clothes"(tm). So average for a whole outfit is 7yd. Fine clothes cost 15gp, so we can figure roughly 1.5gp/yd, making 10.5gp so far. Figure the other 4.5gp as a service charge (30%) and boom, 15gp.
Fine Fabrics: 1.5gp/yd (aka 1gp, 5sp/yd) with a 30% service charge
Idk I just thought it would be fun to have a formula for figuring prices on the fly like that. Then while you're doing the math you can rp it as the merchant trying to figure the price as well.
"Cheats"...ha! I know he has a list there and I do to but a voice and reasonable pricing of items so the players can RP with vendors is...next level.
Listen to talk radio and practice mimicking the voices you hear by talking back to the radio. You’ll be doing some level of voices in no time flat. But you gotta practice even if you feel ridiculous or it won’t feel/sound smooth when you do it.
Photocopy/scan/bookmark/photograph/whatever the price pages from the PHB to have on hand.
As for the Magic Items, just decide on a scale common, uncommon, rare, very rare, legendary what things cost and wing it. It gets easier the more you do it.
Even if you price high or low on any given occasion they won’t know, and even if they figure it out who’s to say that vendor isn’t charging that price on that day for that item. Ever shop around for a better price? Harder to do when there’s only on vendor in Ye Olde Pseudomedieval Village.
If you priced too low, turn it into an adventure hook or side quest because they (or their favorite merchant or whatever rando merchant it was) “received stolen merchandise.”
If you priced too high you can always make it up to them in some other way. You control the flow of treasure after all. (Malevolent laughter) *Wrings hands villainously.*
"Cheats"...ha! I know he has a list there and I do to but a voice and reasonable pricing of items so the players can RP with vendors is...next level.
(To be honest, I have an even easier method for pricing. 1cp=1$ USD circa 1996-1999. What could I buy for 1$ back then? 3 Cheeseburgers at MacDonalds; 1.1 gallons of gasoline; 1 pint of beer.... 1sp=10$ same time frame. What could I get for that? The rest sorts itself out. You could pick 1cp/sp=1$/€/£/¥ in today’s money if you want, whatever’s easy for you. As long as you give them the right amount of wealth for that economy it’s no big deal. 🤫)
This is phenomenal. Exactly the kind of data that I’m talking about. Thank you for this!
I will use this but I’d love to see a digital tool/generator for this kind of thing. I know that nobody wants to work for free so I’m not sure how we get to that level. Eek!
The way I treated it in game is that shopkeeper was out and their kid was minding the store and didn’t have a good grasp of cost. I RP’d it with the kid offering prices almost as a question. The players knew I was making it up and we all laughed so it was good but I am going to want to have legit shops.
Another wrinkle to my line of questioning on this is how to price custom stuff. Players roll into the blacksmith and ask to have something made...Eek!
Another wrinkle to my line of questioning on this is how to price custom stuff. Players roll into the blacksmith and ask to have something made...Eek!
If you hired a blacksmith to make you armor today it would probably cost between $4,000-$8,000. Maybe up to 15,000-20,000 for something real fancy. At 100$/gp that’s 400-800gp up to 1,500-2,000 go. What does a suit of Armor cost in the PHB? 400-750gp up to 1,500 for full plate. All quality armor was custom made back then to fit the wearer or else it would chafe or hinder their movements.
If you use 1gp = $100 US, and just go by today’s prices you should always be in the right ballpark at least.
Hey ElvishImpersonator, I'm currently making 160 stores in Sigil on Foundry for my campaign, here's some of the ways i've classified the stores: Category 1: General stores (all include health potions, rations, a way to make light, some type of container for liquids, some type of bag of holding, and rope) this category includes Food stores, Fisher's market, Farmer's market, Brewery, Winery, Inn, Tools shop, Kits shop, Mount shop, Adventurer shop, Herborist's shop, Clothes shop, Cape shop, Hats shop, Belts shop, Shoemaker shop, Artisan shop, Art shop, Music shop, Thief shop.
Category 2: Magic stores. They all include a spellbook, a spell casting focus, a staff, ink pen, paper and potions. This includes Healer shop, Poison shop, Acid shop, Arcane shop, Parchemin shop, Scrolls shop, Books shop, Spells shop, Jewelery shop (some specialized in rings, amulets, circlets, brooch etc., Gems shop, Crystals shop, Druid shop, Elven shop, Necromancer shop, etc. The more specialized the store is, the more likely it will include a rare, very rare, magical or wondrous item.
Category 3: Armor stores. This includes Leather shop, Studded leather shop, Plate armor shop, Scail mail shop, Chain mail shop, Shields shop, Mithral shop, Adamantine shop, Elven armor shop, Dwarven armor shop, Demonic armor shop, Natural armor shop (for druids with leather, dragon, bulette hides, cloth mail, barks) etc.
Category 4: Weapons stores. This includes Barbarian shop, Fighter shop, Rogue shop, Ranger shop, Artificer shop, Cleric shop...Dwarven, Elven, Dragonborn, Thielfling shop...and Axe shop, Sword shop, Guns, Staffs, Crossbows, Bows, Daggers, Darts, Flails, Maces, Clubs, Ammunitions shop, Arrows shop, Explosives shop, Tribal shop, Light weapons shop, Medium weapons shop, Heavy weapons shop, Finesse Weapons shop, Ranged weapons shop, Melee weapons shop. I like to give each shop a basic set of choice with a +1 and a +2 weapon and some specialized stores might get a +3 option, or a magical weapon or wondrous item. The more specialized the store is the more special some items will be, for example the special arrows will be found in the Arrows store, not the Ranged weapons or Ranger shop that have the more standard choices. I like to play with racial animosity too, like the Orc slayer Sword that has a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls might be found in the Elven shop or the Belt of Hill Giant Strength, made from a giant's skin, might be found in the Dwarven Shop. I like to play with the quantities available too. A Food store will have 150 rations 200 wheat and 20 chicken where a Farmer's shop will have 40 ration 800 wheat and 200 chicken. On some items i will change the price a little, for example the rations are 0.5 gold in the Farmer's market but 1.5 gold at the Inn. So for the players that pay attention, they can buy the max quantity at the Farmer and sell them at the Inn for profit as the quantities reset every day. I also added two wandering merchants that make their rounds everyday on the same path, shady characters with items hidden in their coats, they always hang out in the same part of the city but you never know where exactly, they have the more obscure, very rare, wondrous or magical items, often out of price stuff, the items often work but sometimes...they are broken and need to be fixed haha. Hope this gives you some ideas!!
As a DM, the players shopping trips are one of my banes. I have one player who almost always looks for the Magic Shop and seems of the mind that a magic shop in D&D should be like in a video game, with a plethora of assorted items to choose from. I had tried, at one point, to populate shops with some items, but found I would spend a couple hours finding items and listing them, to have the players pass on almost all. Now, my magic shops have some very basic items, (+1 or +2 weapons/armor maybe, occasional wand of zappity) They are learning to keep their "wish list" updated so the stuff they want is found. Usually I sprinkle their wanted items into treasure or loot from enemies, so I have less headache with shopping.
SO far as handling it, RP or hand wave, it depends heavily on the locale. in the first place they went, they forged a bit of a relationship with the Smith and the Fletcher, but the General Goods spot was generic, with no named NPC and they just deducted the proper amount of gold to buy their goods (Rope, Rations, etc) I have a potion shop they will likely revisit, based on past settings, where a quirky, odd NPC runs the shop and they pop in periodically to not only shop, but sometimes JUST to interact with him. As someone else mentioned, if the party returns to a shop for anything BUT supplies, you've likely done well in creating the sop and it's owner.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Talk to your Players.Talk to your DM. If more people used this advice, there would be 24.74% fewer threads on Tactics, Rules and DM discussions.
One "shop" I always feature is a stable, either as DM or as a player. I believe getting into a friendship with the Stable master would get you access to news about unusual or important people entering or leaving town. It is open almost all hours so even if someone doesn't need to use the stable, the stable hands can watch out for arrivals and departures.
My first GM always rped even shop visits. I thought that was part of the fun. Somewhere around 3e/Pathfinder groups I played with started just handling shopping off camera. With pretty much anything they could afford even magic items available. I was never a fan of that. But the time saved was nice.
Then when I hit Critical Role I enjoyed watching the players enjoying shopping.
In my games these days I visit Donjon. Pick a few shops for a city. But then I also consider the economic factors. A small town in the middle of no where is gonna have higher prices on Adventure Gear and its not going to be well stocked. So I have the Shop Keeper, the store and the premium items that the NPC might show them if they deserve it. But I will also have a mark up % as well as an availability % for mundane items magic stuff is randomly created by Donjon. So the prices are 15% higher than list price in the PH and there is a 75% chance any gear, simple weapons or light armor is available. There is a 35% chance martial weapons, and medium/heavy armors are available.
Most of the time they lean into the Role play and start to haggle or ask to see special items.
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I was just curious about the cost of fabrics, and after a quick Google search, assuming fabrics are sold by the yard (I just figured 35" width), I came up with these prices based on some of the clothes in the PHB:
First, let's assume that a shirt requires 2-3yd of fabric, and the same for a pair of pants, average 2.5yd each. For a shirt and pants together, you'll need about 5yd of fabric total. Looking in the PHB a set of common clothes is 5sp. If we figure 8cp per yard of fabric, that gives us 4sp for 5yd of fabric, and we can chalk the last 1sp up to a 20% service charge.
Common/Basic Fabrics: 8cp/yd with a 20% service charge
For higher quality stuff, like fine clothes (silks and such), obviously fabric is more expensive but you could also up the service charge. So to make a set of fine clothes I imagine there may also be extra fabric (because why not), so figure about an extra yard of fabric because "Fancy Clothes"(tm). So average for a whole outfit is 7yd. Fine clothes cost 15gp, so we can figure roughly 1.5gp/yd, making 10.5gp so far. Figure the other 4.5gp as a service charge (30%) and boom, 15gp.
Fine Fabrics: 1.5gp/yd (aka 1gp, 5sp/yd) with a 30% service charge
Idk I just thought it would be fun to have a formula for figuring prices on the fly like that. Then while you're doing the math you can rp it as the merchant trying to figure the price as well.
Listen to talk radio and practice mimicking the voices you hear by talking back to the radio. You’ll be doing some level of voices in no time flat. But you gotta practice even if you feel ridiculous or it won’t feel/sound smooth when you do it.
Photocopy/scan/bookmark/photograph/whatever the price pages from the PHB to have on hand.
As for the Magic Items, just decide on a scale common, uncommon, rare, very rare, legendary what things cost and wing it. It gets easier the more you do it.
Even if you price high or low on any given occasion they won’t know, and even if they figure it out who’s to say that vendor isn’t charging that price on that day for that item. Ever shop around for a better price? Harder to do when there’s only on vendor in Ye Olde Pseudomedieval Village.
If you priced too low, turn it into an adventure hook or side quest because they (or their favorite merchant or whatever rando merchant it was) “received stolen merchandise.”
If you priced too high you can always make it up to them in some other way. You control the flow of treasure after all. (Malevolent laughter) *Wrings hands villainously.*
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
(To be honest, I have an even easier method for pricing. 1cp=1$ USD circa 1996-1999. What could I buy for 1$ back then? 3 Cheeseburgers at MacDonalds; 1.1 gallons of gasoline; 1 pint of beer.... 1sp=10$ same time frame. What could I get for that? The rest sorts itself out. You could pick 1cp/sp=1$/€/£/¥ in today’s money if you want, whatever’s easy for you. As long as you give them the right amount of wealth for that economy it’s no big deal. 🤫)
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
This is phenomenal. Exactly the kind of data that I’m talking about. Thank you for this!
I will use this but I’d love to see a digital tool/generator for this kind of thing. I know that nobody wants to work for free so I’m not sure how we get to that level. Eek!
This is great advice.
The way I treated it in game is that shopkeeper was out and their kid was minding the store and didn’t have a good grasp of cost. I RP’d it with the kid offering prices almost as a question. The players knew I was making it up and we all laughed so it was good but I am going to want to have legit shops.
Another wrinkle to my line of questioning on this is how to price custom stuff. Players roll into the blacksmith and ask to have something made...Eek!
This is a nice system as well. I’ll consider this one too. Thank you!
If you hired a blacksmith to make you armor today it would probably cost between $4,000-$8,000. Maybe up to 15,000-20,000 for something real fancy. At 100$/gp that’s 400-800gp up to 1,500-2,000 go. What does a suit of Armor cost in the PHB? 400-750gp up to 1,500 for full plate. All quality armor was custom made back then to fit the wearer or else it would chafe or hinder their movements.
If you use 1gp = $100 US, and just go by today’s prices you should always be in the right ballpark at least.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Hey ElvishImpersonator, I'm currently making 160 stores in Sigil on Foundry for my campaign, here's some of the ways i've classified the stores:
Category 1: General stores (all include health potions, rations, a way to make light, some type of container for liquids, some type of bag of holding, and rope) this category includes Food stores, Fisher's market, Farmer's market, Brewery, Winery, Inn, Tools shop, Kits shop, Mount shop, Adventurer shop, Herborist's shop, Clothes shop, Cape shop, Hats shop, Belts shop, Shoemaker shop, Artisan shop, Art shop, Music shop, Thief shop.
Category 2: Magic stores. They all include a spellbook, a spell casting focus, a staff, ink pen, paper and potions. This includes Healer shop, Poison shop, Acid shop, Arcane shop, Parchemin shop, Scrolls shop, Books shop, Spells shop, Jewelery shop (some specialized in rings, amulets, circlets, brooch etc., Gems shop, Crystals shop, Druid shop, Elven shop, Necromancer shop, etc. The more specialized the store is, the more likely it will include a rare, very rare, magical or wondrous item.
Category 3: Armor stores. This includes Leather shop, Studded leather shop, Plate armor shop, Scail mail shop, Chain mail shop, Shields shop, Mithral shop, Adamantine shop, Elven armor shop, Dwarven armor shop, Demonic armor shop, Natural armor shop (for druids with leather, dragon, bulette hides, cloth mail, barks) etc.
Category 4: Weapons stores. This includes Barbarian shop, Fighter shop, Rogue shop, Ranger shop, Artificer shop, Cleric shop...Dwarven, Elven, Dragonborn, Thielfling shop...and Axe shop, Sword shop, Guns, Staffs, Crossbows, Bows, Daggers, Darts, Flails, Maces, Clubs, Ammunitions shop, Arrows shop, Explosives shop, Tribal shop, Light weapons shop, Medium weapons shop, Heavy weapons shop, Finesse Weapons shop, Ranged weapons shop, Melee weapons shop. I like to give each shop a basic set of choice with a +1 and a +2 weapon and some specialized stores might get a +3 option, or a magical weapon or wondrous item. The more specialized the store is the more special some items will be, for example the special arrows will be found in the Arrows store, not the Ranged weapons or Ranger shop that have the more standard choices. I like to play with racial animosity too, like the Orc slayer Sword that has a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls might be found in the Elven shop or the Belt of Hill Giant Strength, made from a giant's skin, might be found in the Dwarven Shop. I like to play with the quantities available too. A Food store will have 150 rations 200 wheat and 20 chicken where a Farmer's shop will have 40 ration 800 wheat and 200 chicken. On some items i will change the price a little, for example the rations are 0.5 gold in the Farmer's market but 1.5 gold at the Inn. So for the players that pay attention, they can buy the max quantity at the Farmer and sell them at the Inn for profit as the quantities reset every day. I also added two wandering merchants that make their rounds everyday on the same path, shady characters with items hidden in their coats, they always hang out in the same part of the city but you never know where exactly, they have the more obscure, very rare, wondrous or magical items, often out of price stuff, the items often work but sometimes...they are broken and need to be fixed haha. Hope this gives you some ideas!!
Dont forget about taverns and bars even though they are techniqually not a marketplace
As a DM, the players shopping trips are one of my banes. I have one player who almost always looks for the Magic Shop and seems of the mind that a magic shop in D&D should be like in a video game, with a plethora of assorted items to choose from. I had tried, at one point, to populate shops with some items, but found I would spend a couple hours finding items and listing them, to have the players pass on almost all. Now, my magic shops have some very basic items, (+1 or +2 weapons/armor maybe, occasional wand of zappity) They are learning to keep their "wish list" updated so the stuff they want is found. Usually I sprinkle their wanted items into treasure or loot from enemies, so I have less headache with shopping.
SO far as handling it, RP or hand wave, it depends heavily on the locale. in the first place they went, they forged a bit of a relationship with the Smith and the Fletcher, but the General Goods spot was generic, with no named NPC and they just deducted the proper amount of gold to buy their goods (Rope, Rations, etc) I have a potion shop they will likely revisit, based on past settings, where a quirky, odd NPC runs the shop and they pop in periodically to not only shop, but sometimes JUST to interact with him. As someone else mentioned, if the party returns to a shop for anything BUT supplies, you've likely done well in creating the sop and it's owner.
Talk to your Players. Talk to your DM. If more people used this advice, there would be 24.74% fewer threads on Tactics, Rules and DM discussions.
One "shop" I always feature is a stable, either as DM or as a player. I believe getting into a friendship with the Stable master would get you access to news about unusual or important people entering or leaving town. It is open almost all hours so even if someone doesn't need to use the stable, the stable hands can watch out for arrivals and departures.
Great idea, thanks. Right now i am making my first "proper" campaign and this is really helping
My first GM always rped even shop visits. I thought that was part of the fun. Somewhere around 3e/Pathfinder groups I played with started just handling shopping off camera. With pretty much anything they could afford even magic items available. I was never a fan of that. But the time saved was nice.
Then when I hit Critical Role I enjoyed watching the players enjoying shopping.
In my games these days I visit Donjon. Pick a few shops for a city. But then I also consider the economic factors. A small town in the middle of no where is gonna have higher prices on Adventure Gear and its not going to be well stocked. So I have the Shop Keeper, the store and the premium items that the NPC might show them if they deserve it. But I will also have a mark up % as well as an availability % for mundane items magic stuff is randomly created by Donjon. So the prices are 15% higher than list price in the PH and there is a 75% chance any gear, simple weapons or light armor is available. There is a 35% chance martial weapons, and medium/heavy armors are available.
Most of the time they lean into the Role play and start to haggle or ask to see special items.