Ashiel's Simplified RPG Economics The Mechanics of Labor

There's a lot of talk about RPG economics. Mostly Since I run a d20 based game, I tend to build off of
about how completely nonsensical they are. There the Pathfinder RPG system, which in turn was
have been many attempts at reconciling the heroic built off the 3.5 D&D system. Since I'm using
adventuring and loot gathering aspects of the game those systems as a base for all the mechanical stuff
while giving some semblance of livelihood to the here. When I discuss suggested house rules and
denizens of the world, in ways that both make the how to tweak the dials to get your economy just
world feel like it continues on around the players, like you want it, it will pertain to these systems.
and also to figure out how a town of dirt farmers
can pay adventurers hundreds of gold to slay Of course the general gist of this manual may be
goblins. adapted to other RPGs. I can't say for certain
which ones because different RPGs have wildly
There have been some very impressive articles and different expectations and ideas as to how wealth
essays written on the subject in the past. Entire and money work, but feel free to enjoy it anyway.
supplements have been released to try to make the
economy more “realistic”, or trying to set prices of The Value of Production: In the d20 system,
things based on what the values of those items there are three skills that can be used to earn a
historically were (such as trying to determine the living in the game. Craft, Perform, and Profession.
relative value of gold at different points in human Perform is a very self-contained skill and won't be
history). A great deal of time, effort, and research mentioned much throughout this manual (but it
went into those things that will forever mark them will be mentioned), while Craft and Profession
as great works in the name of bringing will serve as the core of our concerns.
verisimilitude to RPGs.
The basic mechanics of each are pretty simple.
This is not one of those. This is my method. It's You make a d20 check, apply a modifier, then
simple, dirty, and I'd dare say effective, but it divide the result in half. That's the number of gold
could just as easily make an economist frown pieces you earn for you work in a given week in
disapprovingly as it could make them laugh at the profits. Simple enough. The Craft skill can further
notions expressed herein. I like it because it works be used to determine how production creates
for me. It works because it lets you build a wealth in that you can use it to turn something of
framework for the campaign that meshes with lesser value (the materials) into something of
things like the 3.5 or Pathfinder item creation greater value (a product). By default, an artisan
rules, and it's easy to adjust for to tweak your purchases materials costing one-third the final
campaign to be like you'd prefer it without value of their produced product, which literally
extensive house rules changing the way everything means that through their labor they have created
is priced from the ground up. more wealth than they began with.

I'm writing this because my friend Klara kind of This is the core of the simplified RPG economy.
inspired me to do so by chatting about D&D Production produces wealth, and wealth is
economics with me, and showing me a copy of redistributed through the trading of goods and
“Grain into Gold: A Fantasy World Economy”, an services.
83 page book about handling an economy in D&D
and similar games. A bit fascinated, I decided to So how do we determine the value of production?
share my take on these things, which is infinitely Well it mostly comes down to the modifier, and by
less impressive than those that have come before. proxy the skill and means of the laborer making
the check.
– Ashiel
Skilled vs Unskilled Labor: Since the mechanics
of the Craft and Profession skills assume that with
the same skill modifiers you earn the same wages, per year. So even though the two professions are
let's discuss what counts as skilled vs unskilled producing something using the same mechanics,
labor in terms of our economy. In general d20 on average one profession makes drastically more
terms, this usually means whether or not you have money than the other as far as the game world's
invested at least one skill rank into your skill. economy is concerned.
However, for the purposes of this document, we're
more concerned with the end modifier. The sum of That's not to say that there might not be a few
all your skill and resources. bakers in the world that rival blacksmiths in terms
of production. A particularly skilled baker may
The modifier is important because it determines make fancy and expensive cakes for the wealthy
the amount of applied skill it takes to get a specific (requiring higher checks to produce), or they may
result and we're going to use that to gauge how have improved their efficiency and can produce a
skilled a professional needs to be to perform their larger supply in a shorter period, or have learned
basic functions in the campaign world, and see how to be more efficient at keeping costs low and
how that reflects on the average earned income for production high. However, since the minimum
their labor. entry point for the profession is lower, we'll
assume that the average wages are lower as well.
In the D20 System, it describes the difficulty class
(the required check result of 1d20 plus modifiers) Interpreting the Modifiers
to achieve a specific result as follows: 0, very While modifiers determine how much wealth you
easy; 5, easy; 10, average; 15, tough; 20, can produce from
Behind the Screen
challenging; 25, formidable; 30, heroic; 40, near your labor, it's A Note on Skill Ranks
impossible. Similarly, the average difficulties for helpful from a In d20, skill ranks are measured
craft skills are 5 for simple items, 10 for typical world building between 0 and 4 at 1st level, where
items, 15 for high quality items, and 20 for stand point to the majority of the population are
complex or superior items, with some measures of determine how we assumed to reside. This gives a lot
of room for variance as each rank
variance between these (for example, some items arrive at these
effectively increases the yearly
are set as DC 12, and most armors range between specific modifiers. earnings of the individual by 24
DC 11 to DC 19 to create). gold, up to 96 gold per year.
The two primary
It's important to note that unless something odd is factors for In Pathfinder, you measure skills
between 0 and 1 at 1st level, and a
going on, individuals are assumed to be taking determining
+3 modifier is applied if you have
their time and doing routine work, which means modifiers are the at least one rank in the skill and it
they take 10 in place of the d20 check, and then laborer's associated is a class skill (which it is for
apply a modifier. So a blacksmith who must ability scores (Int everyone), meaning that skill
routinely meet a DC 15 check result needs at least for Craft, Wis for ranks add either 0 gold or 96st gold
a +5 modifier in their skill to meet the demands of Profession) and the to your yearly earnings at 1 level
and nothing in between.
their trade. Meanwhile, if baking a simple loaf of skill points they
bread is only DC 10, then the average person can have invested in the Such is the price paid for reducing
make a loaf of bread with no special training and skill (which usually the number of ranks to keep track
thus only needs a +0 or better modifier to meet the represent practice of when adventuring.
demands of their profession. So assuming a or special training
minimum of competency, your average baker in the task).
earns 5 gp per week, while any blacksmith capable
of making a martial melee weapon (such as an axe These two factors are very important from a world
or sword) typically earns 7.5 gp per week. A building perspective. While d20 assumes that
significant difference as we'll come to see later, but humans average to 11 and 10 in all of their ability
for now notice that this means the baker earns only scores, it's important to understand that individuals
240 gp per year, while the blacksmith earns 360 gp can vary significantly from these averages, and as
a world builder you can keep these averages in week. Rather, you could imagine he has produced
mind and create contrast in your world by using 5-7 gp worth of trade goods of equivalent value.
the high and low end of these averages. So instead of actual coin, perhaps he has produced
the wealth in the form of grains, livestock, spices
For example, in a medieval setting where most or other produce such as wool and eggs.
people live rugged, mostly self sufficient lives, Behind the Screen
with little formal education, you might find that Similarly, the Abstracting the Abstraction
the general population has below average mental miner that digs The way that gold is produced in d20
ability scores while having more robust physical iron out of the is an abstraction. Of course, you may
ability scores. Similarly, those with less physical ground might be find that some trades don't really lend
themselves well to weekly measures.
demands to survival and better general education producing an
might find themselves with their scores slanted in equivalent Farmers for example probably make
the other direction. amount of iron most of their income seasonally as
ore, which is they harvest their largest cash crops
Further, the quality of tools used for the trade then traded for and then take them to market.
Because of this you may decide that
influence the value of it as well. Tools for a craft his wages. Or you might want to total the results of
or profession cost 5 gold in d20, and 50 gp for an the weaver the farmer's results over the course of
extra +2 modifier to the modifier. Making do with making bolts of the season to represent and deliver the
improvised tools incurs a -2 penalty on the check linen or silk final amount in one lump sum.
(so a baker with a stocked bakery would have no cloth.
For example, a farmer growing a crop
penalty, while a baker with the best tools would that takes a month to mature might
have a bonus, and a baker baking in their house It is in fact this make a Profession (farmer) check for
without trade tools would incur a penalty to their interpretation of each week of the season, and then at
productivity). wealth that sets the end of the season check to see the
the mood for the results of the harvest. So if he would
earn 7 gold per week, at the end of the
Finally, things like feats and circumstances can game's economy. month he instead has produced 28
influence the productivity of the individual. The This is because gold worth of grains for trading.
skill focus feat can provide further specialization the goods that
for a truly impressive professional. Untrained are produced by Similarly, in the case of growing and
assistants using the aid-another skill might be able some trades are raising lifestock such as sheep, cows,
and goats, you might track the time
to improve productivity. And of course, the GM in turn used to over a period of time for the animals
may decide that circumstances provide a bonus or justify the goods to grow and mature.
penalty to certain checks (such as applying a produced in
penalty to farming checks if the weather has been other trades as is explained next.
particularly unkind to crops).
The Production of Wealth
All of this culminates to provide a very wide The d20 system assumes that when an item is
breadth of potential productivity that can be found fabricated, or a service requiring some sort of cost
in the general populace, and allow you to ensure expenditure is rendered, that you produce
that while most people will make fairly average something that is worth more than the costs to
wages, there will be both poor and affluent people produce it. In turn, the total wealth that has been
working relatively normal jobs. generated increases as one profession produces
something of value, then another uses that to
Interpreting Wealth: While the d20 system can create something of greater value, and the society
allow you to make gold with your skill checks, it's becomes more wealthy as this trend continues.
important to note that it represents your generated
wealth. Because trade goods can be used in place For example, in d20 the Craft skill requires you to
of gold, you don't have to imagine a farmer use a third of the value of an item you intend to
magically making 5-7gp appear out of thin air in a create in raw materials. That means if a blacksmith
intends to create a sword worth 15 gold, he must servants out of your pocket) for simplicity.
first have 5 gold worth of materials to work with.
So if the miner produced 5 gold pieces worth of Destitute (0 gp) – Basically living off the
iron, and the smith uses that to produce a sword generosity of others, living solely off the land, or
worth 15 gold pieces, overall wealth has increased. starving in the streets. This is the lifestyle of
Behind the Screen dependent characters such as
Similarly, a gemcutter might cut a Cost of Production children or the homeless.
gem worth 10 gold and make it The d20 system assumes that you expend
into a gem worth 30 gold, which one-third the market value of an item to Poor (8.4 gp) – Living primarily
is then purchased by a jeweler be created with a Craft skill. While this off of poor meals consisting
book uses that formula as its baseline for
who uses it and a silver ingot examples, it's certainly not necessary. In
heavily of vegetable soups,
worth 5 gold to produce a regal fact, as a regular house rule I make the bread, eggs, and some chicken,
circlet worth 105 gold, which is cost in materials equal to half the market while living in cheap housing
then purchased by a magician and value of the item to make it fit more in conditions (such as in the
used as part of the raw materials line with the mechanics for magic item slums).
creation.
in the creation of a magical item.
This also means that generally you won't It assumes 28 days of poor
It's important to note that it make money off of creating specific lodging and meals. This is a
doesn't really matter what goods items and then selling them for ½ price, practical lifestyle for most artists
are being produced, nor does it and thus speeds up gameplay a bit as relying on perform checks, as
well (since you just assume you create
matter the cost of the items items people want and make profit based
well as those who aren't well
individually. All that really on your check results). suited to a Craft or Profession
matters is you have a trail of (less than a +0 modifier).
supply that connects to the If you use a different costs or production
finished product. You can even values than core d20, that's okay. All it Mid Class, Low (16.8 gp) – At
does is change the amount of wealth that
modify the costs of individual this level you no longer have to
is theoretically produced by the
items to suit your campaign if economy, but doesn't really change the live communally and can live in
you feel something doesn't quite mechanics of the economy itself. modest but comfortable
make sense. lodgings.
For example, if a blacksmith spends
three months earning 84 gold, you might
Cost of Living It assumes 28 days worth of
say he produced and sold five
One of the most important longswords worth 15 gp each as part of common lodgings and poor
aspects of the economy is the cost his income. If longswords were instead meals. This is a practical
of living. Specifically, just how fifty gold, you might say he sold one as lifestyle for most people who
much value do you need to part of his income. If they were only 5 can work at a craft or profession
generate in the economy to gold, you might say he sold 16 of them. (at least a +0 modifier).
support a specific quality of life. The point is, he still made 84 gold worth
This is primarily determined by of goods which is all we need to know Middle Class (22.4 gp) – You
how much you should expect to for our purposes. Thus we can modify live on your own and can afford
spend on a place to live and food the value of items as appropriate for the
to eat your fill of poor and
to eat. flavor of our campaigns. common meals as you desire,
and can afford to occasionally treat yourself to
For your convenience I have included summaries some fine meals and wine, even if it's not an
of an average cost of living for a 28 day period (4 everyday occurrence.
weeks) below. Note that while the costs here are
based on the lodging costs of living in an Inn, it's It assumes 28 days of common lodgings and
assumed that similar expenses arise renting from meals. This is a practical lifestyle for most people
landlords or owning your own home (as you have skilled at a craft or profession (with a +2 or higher
to see to repairs, maintenance, and pay any modifier).
 value to the household).
Mid Class, Upper (28 gp) – As with middle class,
except you can regularly eat fine meals and enjoy Poor (+2.8 gp / month) – You eat poor meals
a comfortable lifestyle. You can throughout the month.
Behind the Screen
easily come up with some spare The Communal Family
coin by eating a bit lighter for a If you want to get an idea as to how folks Modest (+5.6 gp / month) – You
few days. would live in the fantasy setting, we can eat equal amounts of poor and
look at a family of bakers and their common meals throughout the
It assumes 28 days of common lifestyle and productivity to get a better month.
picture of how communal life works.
lodging and good meals. This is a
practical lifestyle for people Baker Family: We're assuming that the Common (+8.4 gp / month) –
doing very skilled Craft or baker family, named for their profession You eat common meals
Profession work (with a +4 or of baking, has four members in its house. throughout the month.
higher modifier). The father, a baker, a mother with no
particular profession, and a pair of
children with no particular profession.
Good (+11.2 gp / month) – You
Wealthy (70 gp) – You live in eat equal amounts common and
very comfortable lodgings, such In this case, the father's expenses are good meals throughout the
as a fine house or mansion with included in the regular cost of living, month.
servants, or the finest rooms at an while his dependents (wife, and children)
inn and dine on the finest foods. each add a value based on common
meals, giving us a total cost per month of
Wealthy (+14 gp / month) – You
Very few people can afford to live 47.6 gp per month. dine on the finest meals
in this way aside from celebrities throughout the month.
or land owners that collect taxes The baker has a +2 modifier in his skill,
from those in their domain. earning 24 gp per month. The wife and A Note on Perform: The
children aid in this process by either
helping out in the bakery, or by doing
Perform skill in d20 can be used
Includes 28 days worth of good some other productive chores (such as to earn money, but it's very
lodging and good meals. This is repairing damage to their home, raising different in the way it works
an unusual lifestyle for anyone garden crops, collecting eggs or plucking compared to Craft or Profession.
except nobles or other wealthy chickens for dinner). For this purpose, From a world building
we'll assume the wife has a +0 modifier
individuals as making enough perspective, Perform does not
(+20 gp / month), and the children a -2
money to keep up such a lifestyle modifier (+12 gp / month), giving them a create wealth in any direct sense
on you requires you to be a true total combined income of 68 gp per as it doesn't produce or transport
paragon of your art (with a +20 or month, or 20.4 gp per month after the goods. Rather, the artist is
better modifier). cost of living. themselves the commodity and
others pay them to partake.
The baker family is doing pretty good for
Communal Lifestyles: If you themselves. They can put a little money
live with someone else, such as in away each month for emergencies or the From a mechanical perspective,
a family, the cost of your living is ever open hand of the tax collector. Perform has very specific
then primarily decided by how breakpoints. Even skilled
much it costs to feed you at a certain quality of life performers do not make much money if their only
point. means of income is their performance, but
exceptionally skilled performers can quickly
Many commoners form into communal lifestyles become extremely wealthy by normal standards as
naturally, with the most common being the family celebrities.
consisting of a mother, father, and children, with
one parent working a profession and the rest of the Averaging out what a performer makes every 28
household doing various chores, gardening, or days based on the average income of the perform
helping with the family business (which allow check result, assuming they're taking 10 to reliably
them to make their own checks to determine their hit the DC each day.
 collection (which is often a poor way to prepare
DC 10 (1.54 gp) – Essentially begging, it won't for things like droughts, famines, or goblin raids).
even put a roof over your head, but it could get
you some food now and then. Below is more or less guidelines if you're doing
some world building and want to get an idea as to
DC 15 (15.4 gp) – A skilled performer, they can how taxation affects the general populace. If you
live a modest life below the middle class on their don't care, skip to “quick and dirty taxes” below.
perform skill alone.
How people are taxed is usually irrelevant to the
DC 20 (46.2 gp) – An local celebrity, they can live economics of the game when compared to how
a very comfortable upper middle class life with a much people people are taxed overall, but it can
lot of disposable income. help you decide where, when, and how the tax
money is coming. Government owned services
DC 25 (98 gp) – A national celebrity, they can live (such as public bath houses or restrooms) might
a wealthy lifestyle with much disposable income, incur a tax, or a government might tax incomes, or
and can enjoy the finest of goods and services. it might tax consumption, or it might tax land
ownership (and in turn the owners tax their tenants
DC 30 (294 gp) – A world renowned celebrity, to pay for those taxes), or it might tax those who
they have enough money to do more or less as use roads and bridges, or any number of other
they wish while enjoying the finest of things things (or any combination of these things).
wherever they may go. They could easily pay for a
wealthy lifestyle for themselves and several other For simplicity, what we really need to know is
people without trouble. how heavy are the taxes in the community and
how much does that increase the cost of living.
Taxation We will do this with a %-tax based on the cost of
By default, simply making enough money to living, and make a note of how much gold per
survive isn't very hard at all. A typical family can month this generates per average citizen (it's
be live a rather comfortable lifestyle without much assumed that on average citizens earn 5 gold per
trouble and even have extra money left over for week, 20 gold per month, and live a lower middle
things like clothes and entertainment. class lifestyle). Each member of a household must
pay this value each month in addition to their
Of course, then there's taxes. They serve a usually normal costs of living.
necessary function in the life of the common man.
Generally communities pay for protection and Since it's probably fair to assume that people won't
infrastructure out of the tax money collected by pay taxes that aren't applicable to them (someone
their governments, which is then enjoyed by all living a destitute life of homelessness isn't going to
those who live within those communities. That's be paying property taxes, as an example), we will
the ideal anyway. In truth, tax money is frequently assume that the homeless won't pay any usual
misused or spent frivolously by those in charge of monthly taxes as part of their destitute lifestyle
the communities, which is often the tell-tale sign (though in some societies you might still be
of a good ruler versus a poor one. expected to pay, and failing to do so may lead to
forced labor of some sort).
Taxation is one of the great “dials” that you have
as a GM to determine how your world feels, even Light Taxation (15%) – Light taxation tends to
region to region. If the tax man's collection box is generate about 2.52 gp per month per citizen, and
too deep, it can drive anyone into the depths of is gentle enough that common laborers can usually
poverty, but too little taxation and the community live a decent life on their owns, and a successful
leadership lacks the funds to pay for tasks that life as a family.
would benefit the community without taking up a
Moderate Taxation (30%) – Moderate taxation
tends to generate about 5.1 gp per month per While the despotic taxation seems to be the most
citizen, and usually forces most people to group profitable per citizen by all accounts, the citizens
together into communal relationships to maintain a simply cannot afford to pay such taxes and keep
comfortable lifestyle. maintaining their lifestyle, and in turn they are
driven into poverty despite their skills. As a result,
Heavy Taxation (45%) – Heavy taxation tends to you can very easily lose tax money in the process.
generate about 7.62 gp per month per citzen, but
rapidly destroys the middle class of its peoples, Let's look at another example. From a mechanical
forcing almost everyone into poverty which can perspective, we know that you will not find many
have ruinous results for a community and even for people in the game that will fall below the middle
the government. class naturally (it's fairly routine to generate 20 gp
per month, while a lower middle class lifestyle is
Despotic (60%) – Despotic taxation tends to only 16.8 gp per month), so only those with less
generate about 10.08 gp per month per citizen, but than a -1 modifier (18 gp / month) on their check
leaves its citizens in abject poverty, often leading would be poor without taxation.
to rebellion and much of the income being spent to
oppress a community that is essentially enslaved So it would probably be fair to assume that in a
by their ruler. This level of taxation can quickly population of 100 people, the vast majority of
turn a prosperous kingdom into a wanting them are actually in the middle class range, with
wasteland. maybe 10% occupying the “poor” position, and
maybe 5% occupying the “wealthy” position, and
It's very possible that raising taxes too much may we'll say the rest are a spread of 25% low, 50%
actually lower the overall tax income by pushing mid, and 10% upper middle class.
families into lower lifestyles and thus placing
people in a position to spend less, which in turn This means the moment we introduce a light tax of
causes the economy to flounder, and generates less 15% to the community, we lose little to none of
tax money for their governing systems. our middle class to poverty, and now generate 12.6
gp per month from the poor, 63gp from the low,
For example, look at the chart below which shows 168 gp from the mid, and 42 gp from the upper
the gp per month value of a citizen based on their middle class, and 52.5 gp from the wealthy class,
lifestyle. for a total of 338.1 gp per month in taxes.

Tax Value Per Citizen by Lifestyle However, introducing a despotic tax would throw
Lifestyle Light Moderate Heavy Despotic nearly everyone except the top 10% into poverty
(and would reduce most celebrities to the middle
Poor 1.26 gp 2.52 gp 3.78 gp 5.04 gp
class), now almost everyone except the extremely
Mid, Low 2.52 gp 5.04 gp 7.56 gp 10.08 gp wealthy can only afford poverty conditions, and
Medium 3.36 gp 6.72 gp 10.08 gp 13.44 gp you're only generating around 739.2 gp per month
Med, High 4.2 gp 8.4 gp 12.6 gp 16.8 gp in taxes as a result (an increase of about 401.1 gp
or about 2.2 times more gold, but you've raised
Wealthy 10.5 gp 21 gp 31.5 gp 42 gp
taxes to four times what they were at light
Dependents Light Moderate Heavy Despotic taxation).
Poor 0.42 gp 0.84 gp 1.26 gp 1.68 gp
Modest 0.84 gp 1.68 gp 2.52 gp 3.36 gp As living conditions deteriorate, the community
gets worse as a result. When harder, more skill
Common 1.26 gp 2.52 gp 3.78 gp 5.04 gp
intensive work doesn't lead to a higher quality of
Good 1.68 gp 3.36 gp 5.04 gp 6.72 gp life, fewer people gravitate towards those trades,
Wealthy 2.1 gp 4.2 gp 6.3 gp 8.4 gp which in turn means after a few years the few
people that were left in the lower middle class will such as to buy food for the community in the case
disappear and be subsumed into the poor class, and of a bad year, or to pay adventurers to rid the local
the community will lose valuable members of the farmers of goblin squatters killing their livestock.
society such as smiths, doctors, and alchemists.
For example, let's say that you're a GM and you
Worse yet, the community may begin to shrink as want to make a little low level adventure wherein a
the members seek greener pastures by attempting village of about 200 people are having some issues
to move to new locations where they can make a with some orcs that have been causing trouble and
better life for themselves, or may even cause the want to hire the adventurers to help them. Simple
land to fall into political unrest as the government and strait forward, but you want to know what the
and its people become bitter enemies. community can afford to pay the adventurers.

In an ideal environment, the governing power will So we decided the community has an equally
tax its people no more than absolutely necessary, small government consisting of a mayor and a
to promote growth within their communities. In town council and is lightly taxed as a result, giving
any case, this can give you a fair idea as to how them 600 gp per month in their budget. Out of that
much money a community can generate in taxes they pay 20 town guards to keep the peace (400
based on its population. gp) and also pay about 5 town employees (maybe
three clerks to keep the town's ledgers and
Quick and Dirty Taxes: If you only need a rough government services going and two school
idea as to how much money is collected in taxes teachers, another 100 gp) and the mayor pays
each month, but don't want to micro-manage the himself for an upper middle class lifestyle with
community down to its exact demographics, just some spending money (say about 30 gp), leaving
multiply the population by 3 gp if it's lightly taxed, the town with about 70 gp per month to stockpile.
4 gp if it's moderately taxed, 5 gp if it's heavily
taxed, and 6 gp if it's despotically taxed, rounding Why is this important? Well, you know that the
down to the nearest 5 gold. town has to be pretty self sufficient. It takes the
town about four months to pay four adventurers 70
This method doesn't give as detailed results as gp to get rid of some orcs nearby. If the adventure
breaking it all down yourself, but most of the time company asks for something like 1,000 gold to get
you don't need to know how much every man, rid of the orcs, you'll know the only way that the
woman, and child is worth in taxes because you're town could even try to pay that would be to take
more interested in the heroes rescuing dragons and up a collection among the population, or find some
slaying damsels or something. other way of dealing with the orcs.

Using Tax Money Wages and Earnings

It would be out of this money that the community As was noted before, this is by no means showing
must budget certain things such as the number of the maximum that someone of a particular trade
town guards it has on staff, the wages of clerks, could earn. Merely that it's the minimum entry
judges, etc. Any service, utility, or function that point in the trade and thus the wages are based on
the state provides, it must pay out of the tax fund. that trend, since it would be reasonable to assume
that there are likely far more people earning lower
Naturally, any money that is left over becomes a amounts in those professions than higher amounts.
surplus and can be used in a state of emergency,
 Trade Skill Mod | DC Monthly Lifestyle Light Moderate Heavy Despotic
Earnings No Taxation Taxation Taxation Taxation Taxation
Baker +0 | 10 20 gp Lower Mid Lower Mid Poor Poor Poor