So while trying to iron out the inventory for a PC of mine who's a super bookish wizard (yeah, I know, kinda stereotypical, but his enthusiasm for it makes it fun), I wanted to add some plane old books to his inventory for flavor reasons. Then I saw that normal books are 25 gp! Traditional D&D settings are definitely advanced enough to have printing presses (even ignoring that gnomes are known for tinkering with all kinds of mechanical stuff, I've heard multiple sources say that the earliest form of the printing press existed long before the rapier was invented, and no one seems to debate rapiers being in D&D), and even if they weren't, I hear there was a cantrip in the alpha version that basically copied written information onto separate pages over time. All that being said, I don't think 25 gp is a reasonable price for a run of the mill book (I don't know the exact in-universe value of a gold piece, but I've heard estimates any where from "1 gp = $20" to "1 gp = $300"). So I've taken on the task of trying to create my own pricing system for books, taking into account the books type, rarity, size, condition, and special features (what type of binding it has, if it's signed by the author, if it's the first copy, etc.). Problem is, I'm having trouble getting feedback from my go-to D&D discord server, and I could use a lot of feedback. I'm very uncertain as to how high I should price the two highest rarity levels, I feel like some of the prices, especially the special feature prices, could use tweaked, and I'm still not sure if I'm interpreting the value of different coins properly. With the current set of tables I've made, I assumed that 1 copper piece = $1, but I feel like I might be wrong and it's silver pieces that equal $1, and copper pieces are more like pennies (or some other fraction of a dollar). I'd very much appreciate some feedback from people more familiar with the currency system, and if anyone could give me an idea of what a collector's item should be priced at, that would especially be helpful. The link at the bottom of this post goes to the Google Sheet I've made with my current custom book pricing tables. Please look it over and recommend changes accordingly (or let me know if you think it's fine as is, reassurance that it's not as bad as I'm worried it might be is helpful as well).
Generic pricing systems are only useful at the most basic level, because the value of any item is only relevant to how much gold the players find or earn. 25gp may sound a lot to you, but in some campaigns the PCs may go off on a tangent at level 1 and somehow end up with thousands of gold. The DM can never guarantee how much money any character will have. I've had characters refuse rewards, give all their gold to the village they saved, or launch crazy get rich quick schemes. I'm afraid that this means that pricing systems are only relevant to the individual game.
At level 6-7 my current PCs had around 4,000gp between 6 characters. I wanted them to be able to buy a few uncommon magical items, so I set the price at 1,500gp for most. This worked for the money that they had. In another campaign I had a cleric (way back in 1997 haha) who had taken over a cathedral in a town and had an income from it, and thousands to his name by level 4.
Fidgeting with economy items can have unforeseen consequences when it can potentially impact in game shenanigans. As an example, your listed price for "Uncommon Almanac" is 20cp, while current game price for one sheet of paper is 2sp (=20cp). Depending on the page count of said Almanac, the price for a sheet of paper and ink just plummeted, which could in turn, allow your wizard friend the ability to stockpile paper and ink for spell scrolls to craft and sell, ....so on, so forth. I'm not sure I would drop the prices so drastically. If you want le' Wizard to have le' booke, maybe turn it into treasure or loot. Restricting the rarity of the item in question might account for it's cost. Maybe literacy is only something for the wealthy and Noble classes? I know you mentioned the printing press being used before the rapier in our world. D&D isn't intended to be a scale model of our physical universe. That said, if you put in printing presses because it furthers the suspension of disbelief for your party, who am I to tell you not to?
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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
It's worth considering that anything in the game worth copper pieces is basically free once you move past level 1. I don't even ask players to track silver pieces after level 3, let alone copper. That hemp rope that almost every adventure starts with is worth 1gp, which translates to 100cp. This game has to involve more exciting things than scrabbling down the back of the sofa looking for spare change.
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So while trying to iron out the inventory for a PC of mine who's a super bookish wizard (yeah, I know, kinda stereotypical, but his enthusiasm for it makes it fun), I wanted to add some plane old books to his inventory for flavor reasons. Then I saw that normal books are 25 gp! Traditional D&D settings are definitely advanced enough to have printing presses (even ignoring that gnomes are known for tinkering with all kinds of mechanical stuff, I've heard multiple sources say that the earliest form of the printing press existed long before the rapier was invented, and no one seems to debate rapiers being in D&D), and even if they weren't, I hear there was a cantrip in the alpha version that basically copied written information onto separate pages over time. All that being said, I don't think 25 gp is a reasonable price for a run of the mill book (I don't know the exact in-universe value of a gold piece, but I've heard estimates any where from "1 gp = $20" to "1 gp = $300"). So I've taken on the task of trying to create my own pricing system for books, taking into account the books type, rarity, size, condition, and special features (what type of binding it has, if it's signed by the author, if it's the first copy, etc.). Problem is, I'm having trouble getting feedback from my go-to D&D discord server, and I could use a lot of feedback. I'm very uncertain as to how high I should price the two highest rarity levels, I feel like some of the prices, especially the special feature prices, could use tweaked, and I'm still not sure if I'm interpreting the value of different coins properly. With the current set of tables I've made, I assumed that 1 copper piece = $1, but I feel like I might be wrong and it's silver pieces that equal $1, and copper pieces are more like pennies (or some other fraction of a dollar). I'd very much appreciate some feedback from people more familiar with the currency system, and if anyone could give me an idea of what a collector's item should be priced at, that would especially be helpful. The link at the bottom of this post goes to the Google Sheet I've made with my current custom book pricing tables. Please look it over and recommend changes accordingly (or let me know if you think it's fine as is, reassurance that it's not as bad as I'm worried it might be is helpful as well).
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1IjEeRNllyAzXyYaYrq5Hih62JbLnm11uVguC1WizDfY/edit?usp=sharing
Generic pricing systems are only useful at the most basic level, because the value of any item is only relevant to how much gold the players find or earn. 25gp may sound a lot to you, but in some campaigns the PCs may go off on a tangent at level 1 and somehow end up with thousands of gold. The DM can never guarantee how much money any character will have. I've had characters refuse rewards, give all their gold to the village they saved, or launch crazy get rich quick schemes. I'm afraid that this means that pricing systems are only relevant to the individual game.
At level 6-7 my current PCs had around 4,000gp between 6 characters. I wanted them to be able to buy a few uncommon magical items, so I set the price at 1,500gp for most. This worked for the money that they had. In another campaign I had a cleric (way back in 1997 haha) who had taken over a cathedral in a town and had an income from it, and thousands to his name by level 4.
Fidgeting with economy items can have unforeseen consequences when it can potentially impact in game shenanigans. As an example, your listed price for "Uncommon Almanac" is 20cp, while current game price for one sheet of paper is 2sp (=20cp). Depending on the page count of said Almanac, the price for a sheet of paper and ink just plummeted, which could in turn, allow your wizard friend the ability to stockpile paper and ink for spell scrolls to craft and sell, ....so on, so forth. I'm not sure I would drop the prices so drastically. If you want le' Wizard to have le' booke, maybe turn it into treasure or loot. Restricting the rarity of the item in question might account for it's cost. Maybe literacy is only something for the wealthy and Noble classes? I know you mentioned the printing press being used before the rapier in our world. D&D isn't intended to be a scale model of our physical universe. That said, if you put in printing presses because it furthers the suspension of disbelief for your party, who am I to tell you not to?
“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
It's worth considering that anything in the game worth copper pieces is basically free once you move past level 1. I don't even ask players to track silver pieces after level 3, let alone copper. That hemp rope that almost every adventure starts with is worth 1gp, which translates to 100cp. This game has to involve more exciting things than scrabbling down the back of the sofa looking for spare change.