A dragon hoards his treasure.
The following is heavily related to GURPS mechanics. The point being made, however, is not exclusive to GURPS. This is intended to be the postulation for a manner by which to simulate the standard wealth, cost of living, and income of a low, middle, or upper-class citizen in a high fantasy world within the confines of a roleplaying game system.
Currency
Since this post is based on rules for my campaign set in the world of Golarion, the typical nomenclature and currency inherited from a D&D setting will be used here. Any exchange rate, however, can be employed here. Just change the values accordingly and you should get something that hopefully makes sense.
Currency in Golarion is a collection of four denominations. These three coins are coinage for all nations of Golarion but are stamped by the respective rulers or governing faction and display their insignia. Corresponding conversion to the money found in the GURPS rules is made below.
| $ (GURPS) | Coin(s) |
|---|---|
| 0.1 | 1 copper piece (cp) |
| 1.0 | 1 silver piece (sp) |
| 10.0 | 1 gold piece (gp) |
| 100.0 | 1 platinum piece (pp) |
Copper coins are used by common folk. Silver is the smallest coin and is the common denomination of transactions. Most common amongst adventurers or Wealth 1-2 individuals would carry gold coins; these are worth five-fold more. Commonly in the hands of nobility, most commoners cannot make change for platinum. Platinum coins are the rarest and most valuable – they are generally only used in very large transactions and are only present in a small subset of the nations of Golarion. Larger organizations and merchants are known to make bars of these metals to trade, but these are heavy, quite valuable, and harder to sell off.
Cost of Living
Cost of Living rules (B265) will be used as is except for the following changes to the Cost of Living table.
| Status | Weekly (gp) | Monthly (gp) |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | 1000 | 4000 |
| 3 | 200 | 600 |
| 2 | 50 | 200 |
| 1 | 20 | 60 |
| 0 | 10 | 40 |
| -1 | 5 | 20 |
| -2 | 2 | 8 |
Jobs
Inspiration and some content for this section comes from GURPS Fantasy. Page references will be provided to this title if content is used verbatim from this supplement. Refer to the below table. Pay is monthly in gp. Roll for success at the job is always the minimum of all prerequisite skills; if there are none, it defaults to an appropriate skill – for example, for a Beggar this would be Streetwise. See GURPS Fantasy for more details.
If a character has been in some settlement for a great deal of time, it is not very feasible of them to have been living without a source of income in order to offset their cost of living. Therefore, these jobs are most appropriate for them. Realize that these are not very relevant for wanderers or adventurers who are, for all intents and purposes, equivalent to a very capable mercenary.
| Job Name | Prerequisites | Pay (gp) | Wealth Level | Page |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Actor | Acting 13+ | 60 | Average | – |
| Artisan | Artisan Skill 13+ | 100 | Comfortable | F138 |
| Beggar | <= Status -2 | 4 | Poor | F138 |
| Barmaid | Savoir-Faire (Servant) 11+ or Sex Appeal 11+ | 15 | Struggling | F139 |
| Barrister | Law 12+, Status 3+ | 1500 | Very Wealthy | – |
| Cartographer | Cartography 12+, Status 2+ | 600 | Wealthy | – |
| Courtier | Savoir-Faire 14+, Status 3+ | 1100 | Very Wealthy | F139 |
| Diplomat | Diplomacy 13+, Public Speaking 12+, Status 3+ | 1500 | Very Wealthy | – |
| Farmer | Farming 11+, HT 10+ | 18 | Poor | F139 |
| Fisherman | Boating 10+, Fishing 11+ | 18 | Poor | F139 |
| Guard | Any Weapon Skill 11+, HT 10+ | 50 | Average | – |
| Innkeeper | Merchant 11+, Bartender 11+ | 125 | Comfortable | F139 |
| Lackey | Savoir-Faire (Servant) 11+ | 24 | Struggling | F139 |
| Mercenary | Any Weapon Skill 12+, HT 10+ | 50 | Average | F139 |
| Merchant | Merchant 12+, Finance 11+ | 90 | Average | – |
| Politician | Politics 12+, Status 3+ | 1000 | Very Wealthy | – |
| Priest | Religious Ritual 11+, Theology 11+ | 150 | Comfortable | F139 |
| Scholar | Research 12+, Writing 12+, Status 3+ | 1600 | Very Wealthy | – |
| Woodsman | Survival 12+, HT 10+ | 24 | Struggling | – |