Forums » RP Discussion » Kritarchy of Dei Iuris Discussion. (Closed)

(TLDR personal answer at end)

Actually, partly for my own entertainment I went over some numbers using the 100 silver offer earlier in the RP, D&D prices, and real world prices to try and figure out an answer. This *does* make assumptions as to how overpriced Kidd's merchant made the item. Again, just my own thoughts on it. Not my shop, nor my city, so it's really up to them.

Saffron is an expensive herb even by today's standards. A pound can go from $500-$5000, and retail 5k-10k. For current purposes I'm going to set it at 500, assuming that even though it is a rare spice, the demand is not super high (most people couldn't afford to use much anyway). It also comes from Eastern Mediteranean, so it's likely this city has a closer proximity to the spice than other kingdoms.

If Ramez tried to sell his fake ingredient at half the price of a pound of saffron, he would be selling it at about 7.5 gold by D&D standards, or 250 USD by our standards. This brings us to the following:

100 Silvers = 7.5 Gold = $250
Or
1 Silver = 0.075 Gold = $2.5
13.33 Silvers = 1 Gold = $33.33
0.4 Silvers = 0.03 Gold = $1

Prices seem to add up pretty well, and saffron has made for a great reference material so far. Next I'm using D&D spell books as reference before checking it and making adjustments.

A spell book in D&D 5e is 50 gold. It sounds like it is more of a magical textbook that a book used as a focus, so let's only add a few spells to it. The equivalent of 3-5 D&D spells should do well for a magical book that details magic usage. I'm going off of the 'very valuable magic book' part here. Let's call it an even 4 spells, which comes out, at 50 Gold/spell, to 200 gold.

So for a spell book with 4 spells in it there would be a value of:

3332.5 Silvers = 250 Gold = $8332.5

I'm no magic book expert, but unless it can summon solid gold pancakes, that seems a bit over priced. Let's assume it's very minor in magic and relies more on being an enchanted instruction manual. I'll do just the spell book, and the spell book with one spell.

The spell book alone is 50 Gold. One spell adds another 50 Gold. So the new prices come out to:

666.5 Silvers = 50 Gold = $1666.5
And
1333.3 Silvers = 100 Gold = $3333.3

---

Final (Personal) Answer:

Around 666.5 to 1333.3 Silvers.

That said, Copal in today's market is much cheaper. However assuming that there is much greater distance between them (it is Central American), and thus trade in low-Tech settings would be harder for such objects, we can assume the price would be a bit higher. I found a google listing that was higher than the others at $6/.5 oz, that sounds like a reasonable price in a fantasy setting to me! Using the typical D&D vial size of 4 oz (usually for liquids but it's almost 2 AM and I don't feel like finding another reference, bite me ), then 4x2x6 is $48 (or 19.2 Silvers), the price for a vial of the stuff.

I could have read it wrong, but it seemed that this fake herb was claimed to be four times more powerful (half as much does twice as much, yes?), so if you multiply the price by the same amount, you have $192, or 76.8 Silvers.

Taking into account that it "must've sounded like a lot", and is from the faaaaaar east to make it exotic and such, double the price for a shrewd attempt at making a buck. Add another 23.2 Silvers (30.21% increase for being exotic and over priced), and you have 100 silvers. So it -could- work if wanted.

Lmao that is wonderful math that i cant keep up with.

Also it's totally okay to offer a low price. :> Screw fair, this guy probably stole ya book! He should be lucky you're paying him at all! He'll probably try to barter a higher price anyway

AAAAH DONT MIND MY MISTAKE ILL ASK FOR IT TO BE REMOVED UM.

Gamers, you're occasionally a bit scary and this is great. (Actually, though, wouldn't the saffron have some increased demand, though, for necromantic purposes?)

that's okay Khaeos.

Yes that is true, assuming magic is not used to increase supply. If you want to raise the amount all you needa do is change the variables, I'm assuming the dollar side should be enough. I went with its cheapest price I saw because I liked the 1 Silver to $2.5 ratio.

Well actually, if you like the ratio, the price of the saffron increases, but the basics of the rest stay the same. The fake item is just no longer valued at half a pound of saffron.

Question! Ilyse and Edlin have gone on their way, so I'm guessing it's Ishmael Elazan is hearing running up behind him. Just want to make sure, as he is wearing sandals but I'm chalking that up to a minute detail missed.

Also Designated Number Cruncher spotted. Relegate all maths to DNC Gamers for processing.

I was actually planning to have Ilyse and Edlin meet up with Elazan so he'd stop interacting with himself in every single post Things didn't go that way, though, but it's fine. Honestly, I dunno - I mean, technically speaking Ishmael was leading the way so he probably was ahead of Elazan.

Riiight? But things got left behind, so let's rework the wibbly wobbly fiction. Ishmael didn't find the pair quite yet, and sadly won't interact with Elazan for very long in pursuit of them. We are almost at Ramez's Rug- the convergence of all this mischievous! Hold out lonely wizard.

Hope we're allowed to curse IC. I've left my guy in a state of mystery to pop into the tent of wonders when it is appropriately dramatic. I mostly just want Elazan to catch up and more Ramez haggling before Ishmael tries to smuggle Edlin and Ilyse as far away as possible.

I mean, as long as it's not the f word and that... other one, I forgot, but it's in the site's RP rules- then it should be good

I'm gonna start working on the post now.
I might be away for a while from the 16th onwards, though, so I'm not sure if I really want to have Elazan interact with the rest of the gang for now since I might leave things hanging.

Edit: I think that curse was fine, coke.

It's chill, we'll be hanging out in the tent for a couple months until it Elazan is ready to blow up the pyramids. Anyone brought a deck of cards?

A'ight, finally done.

Hey guys, sorry for the disappearance. I started a new job and I've been catching up with friends I haven't seen in a long time. But I'll have a post up today!

And finally posted. :> Hope it's okay.

RL comes before RP in my book. Congrats on the job, and the post seemed pretty good to me.

Is Ramez wearing what is on his profile picture? If so, I'll have Ilyse try and buy his headcloth to replace her current one, as she's here to try and change the clothes she was wearing when she attacked the cart.

Nah, it's cool! Congrats on the job!

(On another note, Elazan's robes are pretty black )

Yes, what Ramez is wearing in his picture is what he's wearing. :> That'd work for me