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Hello All!
The PC's in my campaign have managed to secure a Keep for themselves in an adventure called Base Of Operations. They had a follower, a Dwarf Blacksmith that they rescued in a previous adventure, and decided to make him the Steward of the Keep, to run it and look after it when the PC's are away. What would a fair and just wage be for someone of such importance? The PC's make a good amount adventuring and have already stated that they wish to pay him well. I would like to know a per day wage, I see that there are wages for trained hirelings, but I am not sure if this is appropriate for a Steward. Any help would be good, thank you.
Reference the Profession skill.
Pathfinder economics makes no sense. Just compare it to the hiring prices in ultimate equipment. 3gp for a competent lawyer to 10gp for an experienced lawyer probably being the upper range. If you as a dm were considering having NPCs bribe him, I would mention that he can be bribed, wink, then ask how much they want to pay him.
I would STRONGLY recommend not abusing the trust the PCs are putting in you as a DM with this NPC.
Likewise, unless you have everything accounted for down to the last copper, see what the PCs think would be a fair rate for their Steward, and then move forward from there.
After all, this person was rescued by the party, so that might reduce his fees a fair amount, especially if the PCs are making sure to keep him well-funded for keep maintenance and the like.
Between 5gp and 10gp per day I'd say, based on the hireling section. Probably on the lower end since he's not a freelancer, his pay is guaranteed, the skills tequired are albeit important to the party not as rare, and he gets to live in what I assume are decent housing conditions for free.
You can use the lifestyle upkeep costs as a guide to what you should be paying someone:
Poor (3 gp/month)
Average (10 gp/month)
Wealthy (100 gp/month)
Extravagant (1,000 gp/month)
5gp a day allows one to live in a nice house, eat well, and set aside 60gp a month for savings. You might need more if supporting a family.
5 gp a day, or 150 gp a month, is a pretty good wage. That is in the wealthy range.
Considering that the steward presumably lives rent free in the Keep and probably has food provided, I would say that likely 1 or 2 gold per day is probably more than enough. 30 to 60 gp per month + room and board is fairly good deal, since they wouldn't have any other real expenses.
I'd expect that the guy who runs the Keep should have a "wealthy" lifestyle. If you pay 4gp per day he can maintain that plus put some gold away for retirement.
Considering that the steward presumably lives rent free in the Keep and probably has food provided, I would say that likely 1 or 2 gold per day is probably more than enough.
I feel like that's not usually how it works.
"Well, you're the captain of an aircraft carrier, so your food and accomodation are taken care of. I think we'll pay you $20,000 a year. That's pure profit for you, so it should be more than enough."
Indeed. A keep is worth a lot, you don't put it in the hands of someone at minimum wage even if you provide for his needs.
50gp per month seems like a strict minimum, 100gp per month a fair low end salary, while 150gp seems like what non cheapskates would pay to manage valuable property.
Add extras as necessary if any special skills or risks are involved.
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Considering that the steward presumably lives rent free in the Keep and probably has food provided, I would say that likely 1 or 2 gold per day is probably more than enough.I feel like that's not usually how it works.
"Well, you're the captain of an aircraft carrier, so your food and accomodation are taken care of. I think we'll pay you $20,000 a year. That's pure profit for you, so it should be more than enough."
I'd have to agree.. though pointing out that this is a poor example. But When a job offers room and board (which this would include that for his family as well if he has any) that does come out of the salary, but going from 5g/day to 1-2g/day is a bit excessive. I'd say 3-4g/day would be fair, that still comes to 90-120g/mo. Which is still above avg earnings of a skilled craftsman. That's a pretty significant sum.
The guy is basically getting ~6 figure income, and living in a mansion for free. That's not a horrible arrangement.
Considering that the steward presumably lives rent free in the Keep and probably has food provided, I would say that likely 1 or 2 gold per day is probably more than enough.I feel like that's not usually how it works.
"Well, you're the captain of an aircraft carrier, so your food and accomodation are taken care of. I think we'll pay you $20,000 a year. That's pure profit for you, so it should be more than enough."
60 gold per month puts them somewhere between average and wealthy. Which seems pretty fair to me. It would be closer to probably 60k a year than 20k. A Captain in the US navy makes about $6000 per month. Which is 72k per year.
So yeah, my estimate is pretty good I think.
2gp per day.
Keep in mind this is about 6 times more than average. Not wealthy, but pretty darn well off.
There is all kinds of information on this in the down time rules in ultimate campaign. specifically in the managers section.
It appears manager salaries range from 2 to 5gp per day. A steward is only listed at 2gp, but I think that is more along the lines of the head servant rather than in charge while you're away. A master smith is listed as 4gp/day, so maybe bump him up to 5 or 6 to entice him to take on more responsibilities.
Well, my search puts captains at about 90 000$ after a few year's experience, which is three times the median salary in the US. By that standard one could say average (not quite median) x 3 = 30gp per month.
But I don't think the comparison to modern salaries is appropriate. People who overlook public assets don't get the benefits they used to. Our mayors aren't rich, for example, at least not anywhere near as much as they used to be when they were also the owners of the factories, all of the workers' houses, the only local grocery, the electricity company, and also the local police force, all at the same time, with only landlords (themselves and their families) being entitled to vote.
By the Kingdom Building rules, a "Keep" (depending on how you define it) would be worth a few dozens of thousands of gp, possibly hundreds of thousands of gp.
But really we don't have many details on the keep, on the jobs the PCs expect him to handle, of the challenges to accomplishing it, of their general income, and of how generous they feel, all of which can factor.