For any players who fancy themselves an entrepreneur or those who would like to engage in commerce on the side - talk with your DM to see if they allow the following.
What to make: By RAW a bastion order allows the Workshop Special Facility to create "1 item per bastion order... " we'll that's a bit of a downer really as there are not as many items that you can readily make profit from. Say it takes a bastion turn (technically 5 days) for the Workshop to create a heavy crossbow. It all depends on the setting as to how much you can sell it for. Most games I played in allow me to sell the item back (if in good condition) at the price indicated in the PHB - that is 50GP. At other time - half that price (25GP)... but it cost 25GP to make the crossbow in the first place so you'd make 25GP at best or at worst, break even...
To ensure that you turn a decent profit I propose that you arrange to have the Workshop hirelings work on making the "Silk" trade good worth 10 GP per lb (2024 DMG - Chapter 7: Trade Goods). As far as I can tell you're not limited to creating just 1lb of silk but you should discuss with the DM first before going further as the rest assumes that you got the all clear from the DM to do so.
In addition to the 3 hirelings that come with the Workshop Special Facility - hire 4 more hirelings at the expense of (at least) 2 GP per day (2024 PHB - Chapter 6: services-> Hirelings). I'll assume that the wage is 2GP per day for argument sake and you can do the math to match your setting to see if it's worth it. The idea is to have your hirelings make silk for the storehouse special facility to sell. The hirelings should be able to create the silk trade good at half the cost + labour that you can use the Storehouse Special Facility to "sell" at 10% profit at level 5, 20% at level 9 and 50% at level 13. The number of hirelings you should have on contract should be proportionate to the amount stock the storehouse can sell at any given bastion turn - that is to say 500 GP at level 5, 2,000 GP at level 9 and 5,000 GP at level 13.
Given the option of creating just under or over the storehouse limit, pick 1 hireling under as any surplus stock will do you no good. At level 5 you'll be paying 301 GP in costs for labour and material to create 490 GP worth of silk which will sell for 539 GP when sold for a profit of 238 GP - a far cry better than 50GP for each bastion turn.
Things to bear in mind:
This method requires DM approval at multiple stages - good luck in getting the OK for this
You should purchase the initial 500 GP worth of trade goods (doesn't have to be silk) before obtaining the bastion so that your storehouse has something to sell on the first bastion turn
You are using two Special facilities to create a profit of 238 GP a bastion turn between the levels 5-8
The DM may ask that you pay for a weaver's tool per additional hireling beyond the 3 free that comes with the Workshop Special Facility. Work with the DM to see if hirelings can work in shifts. Worse comes to worse the Weaver's tools are only 1 GP each so consider it an initial overhead cost.
DM may rain on your parade by introducing the "over supply argument" but to that I say, "poor form". China's silk industry didn't just keel over and die because other countries produce their own silk.
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For any players who fancy themselves an entrepreneur or those who would like to engage in commerce on the side - talk with your DM to see if they allow the following.
What to make:
By RAW a bastion order allows the Workshop Special Facility to create "1 item per bastion order... " we'll that's a bit of a downer really as there are not as many items that you can readily make profit from. Say it takes a bastion turn (technically 5 days) for the Workshop to create a heavy crossbow. It all depends on the setting as to how much you can sell it for. Most games I played in allow me to sell the item back (if in good condition) at the price indicated in the PHB - that is 50GP. At other time - half that price (25GP)... but it cost 25GP to make the crossbow in the first place so you'd make 25GP at best or at worst, break even...
To ensure that you turn a decent profit I propose that you arrange to have the Workshop hirelings work on making the "Silk" trade good worth 10 GP per lb (2024 DMG - Chapter 7: Trade Goods). As far as I can tell you're not limited to creating just 1lb of silk but you should discuss with the DM first before going further as the rest assumes that you got the all clear from the DM to do so.
In addition to the 3 hirelings that come with the Workshop Special Facility - hire 4 more hirelings at the expense of (at least) 2 GP per day (2024 PHB - Chapter 6: services-> Hirelings). I'll assume that the wage is 2GP per day for argument sake and you can do the math to match your setting to see if it's worth it.
The idea is to have your hirelings make silk for the storehouse special facility to sell.
The hirelings should be able to create the silk trade good at half the cost + labour that you can use the Storehouse Special Facility to "sell" at 10% profit at level 5, 20% at level 9 and 50% at level 13.
The number of hirelings you should have on contract should be proportionate to the amount stock the storehouse can sell at any given bastion turn - that is to say 500 GP at level 5, 2,000 GP at level 9 and 5,000 GP at level 13.
Given the option of creating just under or over the storehouse limit, pick 1 hireling under as any surplus stock will do you no good.
At level 5 you'll be paying 301 GP in costs for labour and material to create 490 GP worth of silk which will sell for 539 GP when sold for a profit of 238 GP - a far cry better than 50GP for each bastion turn.
Things to bear in mind: