Cost of Living

[Zair_Zetross]

Ok so I've been going through the book and found the cost of living per month basis,it seems a little off however mainly poor and average. First I did the math on the living in an Inn and its higher than what it said the monthly cost would be, 30 gp if its a common room and good meals for a month which is very easy to pay for an adventurer looting chests from monster lairs so I won't feel bad asking him to pay for however much downtime there was between sessions for his character. I know the monthly cost system is for gm's that don't want to individual costs for everything but I don't mind however it makes the world more real when the Inn keeper asks for this weeks rent and the players have to pay for their meal when they go to the tavern to eat and discuss their endeavors for the day. My only real question is how much for a player to live in a small one bedroom or large two bedroom house. Book says for small one bedroom is 10 gp for month that won't work so I'm thinking 50 gp since it's only a little bit bigger and better than a inn stay, and for large two bedroom 100 gp twice the space twice the cost seems right. However like I said I'm doing things individually and 15 gp of the monthly inn cost was food which I count separate except between character downtime so the rent for a one bedroom would be 35 gp and a two bedroom 65 gp. Now that I've typed this down got a physical look at it I think I know what I'm going to do I'll post this anyway though and see what you think.

[Deadmanwalking]

Okay, quick question: Which is cheaper, staying a month in a hotel at standard daily rates or paying a month's rent at an equivalently nice place?

Hint: It's not the Hotel.

Even a rather cheap hotel is something like $50 a night. That's $1500 for a month...and way more than a month's rent most places of equivalent classiness.

So renting a small apartment should be quite a bit cheaper than staying in an inn the whole time. And, frankly, hotels offering bargain rates for people staying in them for long periods is also a thing, so reduced prices if paid for a month are also logical.

In short, there's nothing wrong with the prices listed.

[Mark Hoover]

Not only are you saving money on the room, but also think about it: cost of living over the course of a month also takes into account the fact that you're managing some of your own food needs. Day old bread, cheap stuff from street vendors, a single apple off a cart instead of a fruit plate with cheese and fresh bread at an inn.

If you buy a bottle of wine, you spend 1 GP and get 6 glasses. If you buy a glass of wine at a tavern, you spend about 5 SP. Therefore it's cheaper to support yourself with groceries over a month than eating at the inn all the time.

[Snowleopard]

Unless I am mistaken, there are suggestions to what kind of money you need to spend on a monthly basis for Maintenance and what that will allow you to receive without any questions asked whatsoever.
http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/gamemastering.html#_cost-of-living
this tells you exactly what you can do to avoid administration and what will be waved as irrelevant as well as what does need to be tracked.

[LazarX]

The real question is.... how much time do you really want to devote to niggardly details? Next thing you know you'll be scheduling times your character goes to the crapper!

[Velias Scriptweaver]

Another factor to consider is how long the residence will be needed.

In the real world, at least, most rental properties come with contracts of 6 months to a year at least, and leaving early incurs penalties or at least the remainder of the contract's rent. Whereas if you decided to leave a hotel or inn you could do so the very next day without penalty.

If the heroes are living in this city or town and use this as their base of operations, then I can see them renting (or even owning) houses of their own. But if the heroes are simply here for a few weeks or even a few months, they might not be able to find a landlord willing to go through the trouble of fixing a place up for them just for them to leave a few months later (there's no money in it for him). In such case, they might *have* to stay at the inn long-term, even if it does cost more.

LazarX asked about devoting time to the details.... There's nothing wrong with doing so as long as you and your players agree on it. The most important thing is that you all have fun.

[TempusAvatar]

(ex-hotel employee background)

Another point regarding lodging costs:

*note: this involves real-world lodging scenarios, not fantasy-game-world.

Lodging costs are not static prices.

Room prices are adjusted based on the date of sale, and can increase or decrease depending on the day, week, or month. They work similar to a supply/demand market. A hotel's goal is to sell all their vacant rooms. Vacant rooms at the end of the night represent revenue that wasn't achieved. During peak times (for example, a weekend) hotels set their room rates higher because they know demand increases. Likewise, room rates will decrease for Monday night because demand also decreases. They'd rather sell a room at a cheaper rate than not sell the room at all.

If you go to an inn looking for long-term lodging (I've had guests stay at my hotel for a few months) and talk to the management team and tell them, "Hey; we're looking at spending a lot of time here and giving you guaranteed room sales for an extended period of time," they will usually cut you a bit of a deal.