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Hey guys just had a thought of something that might come up in a future game.
How much would a character earn a month if they owned an inn? Is there any mathematical way to work out this depending on the size of the village/town/city the inn is located in? How about for any other type of business?
Thanks in advance
Reebo
that would depend on the size of the city, where said inn/tavern. guild of whatever was located and how well the service was.
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that would depend on the size of the city, where said inn/tavern. guild of whatever was located and how well the service was.
Yeah I would assume so but there's no rules advising how much turn over the business would make.
I have a feeling one of my players will offer to take over the running of an inn (he's deity is the God of Wine and Fun) and I'd like to tell him how much operational costs are and how much he could make a month.
Reebo
Hey guys just had a thought of something that might come up in a future game.
How much would a character earn a month if they owned an inn? Is there any mathematical way to work out this depending on the size of the village/town/city the inn is located in? How about for any other type of business?
Thanks in advance
Reebo
Quickest answer: Profession (innkeeper) skill check, earn half the skill check divided by two in gp per the rules. Net income's more than that, but the rest goes to expenses, wages, taxes, theft (if you have a bad skill at it, not all the adventurer levels in the world will make a bar make money, believe me).
Want to make more? Moonlight doing real work.
The DMG2 has some business rules. I don't particularly like them, but you might check those out.The DMG2? Is that out already or are you referring to the 4th edition one?
If I remember correctly, there are some good "running a business" rules in the Complete Seductress (its for Brothels, but should apply to most other businesses...and what self respecting adventurer WOULDN'T want to run a brothel)
An ex-adventurer working at an inn would probably complain about the lack of income and reminisce about the easy money he made as an adventurer...a month of income couldn't compare to the loot acquired from a dragon's lair.
He'd probably sit on the front porch and call every snot-nosed young punk looking for a mysterious stranger in the corner of the tavern floor whippersnappers too. :P
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"An honest living, how much would an ex-adventurer earn?"
Not much. They have no experience with that sort of thing. They'll probably kill the first guy who makes any trouble - and it will be imagined trouble, like "He's going for a weapon!" when he wants to get the coppers for the ale out.
Quickest answer: Profession (innkeeper) skill check, earn half the skill check [..] in gp per the rules. Net income's more than that, but the rest goes to expenses, wages, taxes, theft (if you have a bad skill at it, not all the adventurer levels in the world will make a bar make money, believe me).
That's my answer, too.
Quickest answer: Profession (innkeeper) skill check, earn half the skill check [..] in gp per the rules. Net income's more than that, but the rest goes to expenses, wages, taxes, theft (if you have a bad skill at it, not all the adventurer levels in the world will make a bar make money, believe me).That's my answer, too.
It's amazing the things the rules actually cover.
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innkeeper check. possibly with a bonus or negative based on city location/size, business location, business size, and notoriety from adventures.
if he saved the local village and had a statue in his honor, i'd give him a +5 bonus. if he didn't do any thing famous +0, maybe -2. big port city? +5. rural pass threw town? +2. inn in the swamp -5, ect.
i'd cap the total bonus at +10, but no cap for the negatives.
thats my 2cp
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The way I see it adventurers are sort of sports stars and retired generals all in one. On the flip side they are also likely to have a high maintenance lifestyle.
So my answer is they will earn enough to maintain their wealth level at retirement plus maintain a fairly nice home base. How nice the home base and the nature of it depends on the character level.
What I don't see is characters retiring from adventuring and being able to significantly increase their character wealth over time though a low risk career like inn-keeping or running a magic school.
Do not forget that an adventurer will be able to supplement their lifestyle by selling off no longer used magical equipment.
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Do not forget that an adventurer will be able to supplement their lifestyle by selling off no longer used magical equipment.Unless they're permanently retiring... are you really going to give up that magic blade? Especially when one of the enemies you've made in your career might decide to drop in for a "chat about old times"?
I think the Profession and Craft checks work well. Now, the more exotic the players get, however, the more they will earn. Obviously a normal Inn run by a normal person would use the Skill Check for what they earn, and the rest gets ploughed into the buiness. A Fighter who has managed to buy the Inn, has staffed it with his Aasimar daughters and has his Lilend Wife cooking out back is going to ask a hell of a lot more than 2 gold per day for a room, but then he can provide a hell of a lot more than the level 2 expert shmuck.
I love businesses in games. I had a Necromancer who bought controlling-shares in every 'hard luck' tavern and Inn he came across, giving the former owners some hard rules they had to follow, and would supply some mean capital for them to renovate the structures. And if they tried to skint him, well, a quick summon of a Lemure and saying "See that? That's what happens when a thief and a contract-breaker dies. They go to the Nine Hells and become a slave for every Devil and half-assed Sorcerer with delusions of Godhood. Now, go back and do what I tell you to do so you can avoid this fate, yes?".
Gave them minor magical items that helped with the day-to-day running of the Inns and Taverns (You have no idea how much fun people can have with a Mop of Cleaning (Prestidigitation + mop = very clean floors in one hour) and with the promise of a powerful Wizard ready to smite thieves, and later on sending Tin Golems to serve the owners as door guards and assistants, the Wizard was getting a good 3-4k in gold per week at 14th level, and towards 16th level I had basically complete ownership of the Innkeeper's Guild and was uing that network to keep tabs on our enemies. I also had high ranks in (Alchemy) so I was also churning out strange magical brews when we took breaks which people loved. Flying Beer. Whiskey that granted +1 Hitpoint per HD. So on and so forth.
But as always, it's important in normal adventures that businesses rely upon trusted friends and employees of the Adventurers, unless you are running a spy campaign or similar and such 'cover' is necessary, nay vital, to the players' desire to remain upright and breathing while under-cover. Take a look at Silk from the Belgariad series and tell me PCs cannot use a business for their own ends, and not just the cash-flow!
Actually the more exotic... the more risks being taken as well.
Indeed; high-end businesses go bust as often as low-end businesses, I imagine.
Dont forget return on investment, profession checks are at zero capital investment.
Ofcourse gilding & gemstudding the walls of your inn wont convince customers its worth to pay 5000gp a night ;) Meaning there are limits.
Generally one can also make good investments or bad ones.
In general some 5%/month for modest investments and 1%/month for more extensive ones. And for the gilded walls 0% return on investment :D
Otoh not having ANY decoration might be a bad idea too.
So a profession check could tell you what would be smart to invest in and what would be dumb.
Below DC 10 0,2%
DC 10 0,5%
DC 15 1%
DC 20 2%
DC 25 3%
DC 30 4%
DC 35 5%
etc.. DC 50 at 8% monthly return on investment max? (youd be the business genius who makes everything perfect).
And max investment at those levels can be done to DC check * 1000 gp.
Above that twice the investment for half the profit percentage and so forth.
A while ago I ran a few modules (Into the Haunted Forest, Hallow's Last Hope, Crown of the Kobold King) for my players and added in a Children's Campaign (where they played out the misadventures of the kidnapped children in Falcon's Hallow). They fell in love with the settlement and truly wanted to better it. Together they bought out Jak'a'Napes (an already established inn) and re-branded it "The Green Drake" after a monster they slew nearby that was terrorizing farmers.
We used the downtime mechanics introduced in Complete Campaign to figure out how much it would cost to buy, remodel, and reopen the Green Drake. Not only did they pool their resources to create an amazing inn/tavern, but they also made it their base of operations while they "cleaned up" Falcon's Hallow (to the chagrin of many a bad guy). The players even when so far as to design a menu, drink specials, and even the logo for the sign. I am talking about an outpouring of creativity and whimsy.
They hired many of the down on their luck townsfolk as well and, rather than specialize themselves in the various skills required to run the business, they hired existing NPCs to act as managers. After figuring in all the bonuses and penalties to their checks each week, they didn't end up making a while lot of gold, but the capital they earned (see the system for goods, influence, labor, and magic capital descriptions) was impressive.
Also, the Green Drake served as a launching point for all manner of quest. For example, they found someone who wanted to sell them a new recipe for "royal mead" which is a fermented wine made from the royal honey of giant bees. This led them into an adventure to get this precious ingredient (all the while avoiding killing the bees so they could harvest more later).
So, yeah, you could do a Profession (Innkeeper) skill check or... you can kick the lid off of convention and serve up a frothy mug of awesome. Your choice.
PAz
I'm with Pheoran and HalfOrcHeavyMetal. Never underestimate the celebrity value of the retired (?) adventurer(s) behind the establishment.
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...Guys? This thread was made four years ago.
...Guys? This thread was made four years ago.
G-G-G-Ghost thread! *runs away*
All I'm going to say is that the four years of dust and cobwebs in this inn are going to have somewhat of an effect on how much money it brings in.
Hey guys just had a thought of something that might come up in a future game.
How much would a character earn a month if they owned an inn? Is there any mathematical way to work out this depending on the size of the village/town/city the inn is located in? How about for any other type of business?
Thanks in advance
Reebo
Quickest and easiest (10+Profession:Innkeeper)*2 gold per month
Complex decipher Downtime rules
...Guys? This thread was made four years ago.
FLMAO I almost answered this too.
All I'm going to say is that the four years of dust and cobwebs in this inn are going to have somewhat of an effect on how much money it brings in.
Maybe he wants to know how much he has made in those four years...
easy solution: send a copy of ultimate campaign back to 2010 via a temporal anomaly
problem solved