In my campaign the players have voiced that they would like to buy a piece of property in Cauldron. I told the party that there were several properties available in different parts of town depending on how much they wanted to spend. I based the prices I gave on the cost of different ships in the PH, thinking it was about the same amount of labor and material to build a ship as a house. When I gave my players the cost they spit and sputtered and decided that the inn was just fine. I was thinking about revising the house found in The Whispering Cairn to be a house severely damage during Flood Season, which would be bestowed upon the party for all the hard work they have done.
I was wondering what all of you have done in your campaigns, and how much should property in Cauldron cost?
By the book, a simple house costs 1,000 gp (DMG pg. 101) and there's no reason that houses in Cauldron should be any different. However, there's a lot of ways you can make this price seem lower for your spitting and spluttering players.
You could offer them a run down home that has been vacant for some time at, say, half the normal cost (500 gp) and let them know that they will need to make some repairs to get it "up to code." The repairs can be spread out over a bit of time... 60 sp for carpenters and thatchers to rebuild and re-thatch the roof, 280 gp for a cleric or druid to cast repel vermin to rid it of a nasty vermin infestation, 10 gp for stonemasons to repair the damaged foundation, etc. The total should eventually total up to another 500 gp when everything is finally done.
You can also award the PCs property in place of monetary rewards for their valorous deeds. Property is one of those rare items that can be resold for the amount it is actually worth rather than the half cost rule that most items fall under. Or possibly even more if they have made some significant improvements to it.
Sometimes, evil villains end up dead at the end of a character's sword. The bad guys usually own property. Many government officials may see simply awarding the PCs the bad guy's land as a good way to protect the city's coffers while ensuring that the land taxes for the property continue being paid - a win/win situation for both sides.
A small thorp in my own campaign was recently decimated (see the Destiny Stone in Campaign Journals) by crawling claws and the PCs destroyed the creatures. As a reward, the Archbaroness of that area rewarded the PCs each one of the now-empty cottages as a way to somewhat ensure its future protection and as a way to draw new citizens to the thorp. Though the PCs may never actually settle there, commoners may feel more secure knowing that brave adventurers are supposedly living there.
Anyway, there's a few tips. Hope they help.
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Funny, my PCs went looking for a home to rent right after the first AP adventure -- they ended up renting a villa from Petrus Borenti (whom they befriended)!
Rather than charging them 50,000gp up front for the home (which is rented, so that's silly), I just use the upkeep rules from the DMG p.142 -- each PC has to give up 100gp per month for rent, food, clothing, incidentals, etc.
When the city taxes start going up, so will their upkeep -- and won't that offend them!
In my campaign the players have voiced that they would like to buy a piece of property in Cauldron. I told the party that there were several properties available in different parts of town depending on how much they wanted to spend. I based the prices I gave on the cost of different ships in the PH, thinking it was about the same amount of labor and material to build a ship as a house. When I gave my players the cost they spit and sputtered and decided that the inn was just fine. I was thinking about revising the house found in The Whispering Cairn to be a house severely damage during Flood Season, which would be bestowed upon the party for all the hard work they have done.
I was wondering what all of you have done in your campaigns, and how much should property in Cauldron cost?
I used the 1000gp rule from the DMG, but then modified it by "ring" level on Cauldron's city streets. Ash and lower are half-price, next ring up is 750gp, next ring is 1000gp, and the ring after that is very expensive and hard to find a vacancy as of yet. They're living in a hovel on Ash, which they charmingly refer to as their "Ash-hole."