So... I'm gonna be the jerk DM that taxes the treasure that the heroes bring back to the keep. Obviously, they can hide a great deal of it, but it's tax evasion to do so, if they get caught. It's low level and low magic. It's not a permanent thing. I'm implementing it so I can take it away as an award that will happen fairly quickly.
What is a suggestion for the amount? I was thinking like 2 or 3%.
A level 1 adventurer will make 1000gp in taxable income. a 2% tax is a whole 20gp. At around level 2 or 3, we stop tracking purchases that are that small.
I played in a campaign where there were two adventurer guilds: the LG government and the independent corporate one. Their dues were 10% and 7%. Our group joined the government guild because 10% made for easier book keeping :p
In any case, the tax is a bit of a red herring, since the game expects that they will end up at appropriate wealth by level. Whether the tax is 9% or 90% :)
That's cool. Maybe I'll do 5%. Enough to be annoying, but not enough to cause them problems, either. It's probably only going to be this one time, anyway. They bagged a doppleganger at first level and the guard has never even seen one before. That'll impress the Castellon enough to get them a job and avoid the tax all together.
It is not worth the accounting. Taxes and all sorts of other stuff is factored into the selling back at 50%.
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It is not worth the accounting. Taxes and all sorts of other stuff is factored into the selling back at 50%.
Agreed. This is the kind is thing that happens in the background. If I wanted this as a thing, I'd give out extra gp to cover the 'tax' and just tell the party the after tax amount they get. This way no one has to do extra math and the exact amount doesn't matter.
But the people I play with aren't really excited about tax code and and other minutia. If tracking spell components, ounces of encumbrance and that kind of such is your thing I guess you can do it.
Pretending anything regarding wealth makes sense is in itself a touch silly.
Now, it looks like you are using the tax as an incentive to enter service to the NPC. If that is the case, go higher than 5%, 10 to 20% will look scarier and make the party more likely to leap at service. If you have contrarian players it is also likely to get more heartbreak and pushback.
Pretending anything regarding wealth makes sense is in itself a touch silly.
Now, it looks like you are using the tax as an incentive to enter service to the NPC. If that is the case, go higher than 5%, 10 to 20% will look scarier and make the party more likely to leap at service. If you have contrarian players it is also likely to get more heartbreak and pushback.
If you raise the taxes too much, the party might just figure it's easier to rob the obviously rich NPC that's collecting all that cash... Time to play 'robin hood!'
Maybe showcase some NPC vassals of the tax lord doing actual good works: healing the sick, feeding the hungry, teaching the kiddies, reforming goblins and kobolds and tieflings, sheltering orphans, paying priests to raise a dead adventurer, installing a magical sewer desanitizer, reinforcing walls and gates, etc.
That way, the tax lord doesn't seem totally douchey, just mostly douchey.
Alternatively, it's the funding for the local healing/res-fund for adventurers... sure, it may take a while to get fully vested, but once it happens, one can make their deductible by having an errant encounter... and the kingdom is there to res them, since it's already been paid for.
Less of a hygiene product there, imo?
Thanks for the suggestions!
I went ahead and did 10% and the gruff corporal of the watch explained that the tax was because adventurers go out and piss of a bunch of monsters and unsavories then come back behind the walls of the keep where the guards make sure they're safe. They'll, more than likely, head out on the next adventure (having just brought in some bandits for a bounty) then come back to find the Castellan looking for them and offer them a job and make them exempt from the adventurer's tax.
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Historically, taxes are levied on things that you can enforce. Modern day sales and income taxes are really modern; they require an educated and sophisticated tax collection agency that can keep track of what everyone is selling and earning.
Rather, you get a tax for the number of hearths your house has (a reasonable indication of your household size and ability to pay for fuel), and a tax on products passing the city gates (a place everyone needs to pass through, easy to check). Those are taxes that you can levy with relatively little effort and bureaucracy - you don't need hordes of civil servants that can really read.
Adventurers are notoriously difficult people to tax. They're violent, well-armed people, used to solving their own problems. The amount of money they have is proportional to their danger level. An adventurer who's easy to tax (not too physically dangerous, not too good at Bluff) probably doesn't have much money. Trying to tax a high-level adventurer might result in them getting pissed off and Dominating or Possessing your tax collectors and wrecking your administration from the inside out.
As a government, if you want to stay in power, you need to come up with a plan on what to do about all those powerful well-armed individuals. One solution is to recruit them into your government. Offer them various benefits - a nice home, tax breaks, maybe marry a princess. All they have to do is do what they're good at: keep a corner of the kingdom safe (and loot anyone they defeat in the process of peacekeeping). Basically, feudalism.
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Kill that loot. 25%. Make it part of the plot though.
I had a party take out a dragon in the swamps near a town. They came back and brought the head and bragged about it in all the taverns. Well, a local Baron's spy heard it and reported back to the (evil) Baron. The Baron invited them to visit him. It was melodramatic, and he tried to tempt them with knighthoods and whatnot. Then he offered them graciously the opportunity to pay the king's tax on their newfound income. Blam 25% gone. Enemy burned into the coin purses of their eyes.
Why an enemy for a lawful taxation? That's a good question, because every citizen of the realm should expect to pay their fair share. The party knew the baron was borderline treasonous and would be unlikely to send the full amount to the king. However, they were lawfully bound to pay a government representative.
From a gaming aspect, this shouldn't be a problem. The DM determines how much players get. Factor this in. Make it clear up front, too. It doesn't have to mean they get less, but it -can- mean they get integrated into the political scene via taxation. That's as fun a hook as any.
And, that's basically what I'm doing. There's monsters out there. I'm doing the Keep on the Borderlands. The original Basic D&D adventure. I'm aware of how taxes traditionally worked. I've seen adventurer taxation used before. I just had this idea to make it more attractive to work for the Castellan. They're all level 1. If they wanna try and take out the baron, they won't have much of a chance and they know it. Also, even high level characters shouldn't just thumb their nose at the tax. There's always somebody stronger... and who can be paid to take out rogue adventurers that think they can walk all over towns and cities and do as they please and pay what taxes THEY think are fair.
Like I said, it's just gonna be the one adventure that they get taxed on... maybe one other. Then they get to get paid to do what they already want to do and not get taxed for it.
The Baron was the Black Eagle.
Oh! The Black Eagle Barony. I remember his name was Baron 'something' von Hendriks... weapon was the "axe". LOL
I'm not actually running a campaign set in Karameikos. I'm using vague terms for places. Like someone from "West Haven". I stuck Quasqueton near the Caves of Chaos. After they finish all of that, they'll be summoned to the north in Quest for the Heartstone (one of my favorites) and along the way, get sucked into Castle Amber. After playinhg a lot pf Pathfinder, and playing in a 2e campaign on a message board, I felt nostalgic and dug out the original stuff started with. I need a few less rules and a little more freeform.
Expect that if that Baron ever needs a job done, the adventurers will remember the tax and up the fee. Or possibly flat refuse.
It'll be fine. Part of their pay is that they get to keep all the loot... tax-free. They won't refuse because the job is to take out the bandits, which they will do, anyway. Plus clear out the Caves of Chaos... which they will also do. Only, working for the Casellan, they get to keep everything, as I said, tax-free.
Rich people don't pay taxes.
And successful adventurers are richer than rich!
But I like your idea of removing an annoying tax as the carrot. A lot. The players like it, because the math is easy, and the characters like it because they get to keep all their treasure.
That would be perfect, Coidzor. But, I'm doing it abruptly just this once. Maybe in my second 2e game, I'll do that. I like that idea. I might have orcs and goblins start retaliating so buildings have to be repaired and more food has to be imported, plus increased guards. All of which cost money. Then, they start getting taxed until they take out the tribes. Not to mention, dumping a bunch of gold into a town all of a sudden will wreck the economy, but I won't go into all of that. LOL
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Just remember that most players don't play D&D/PF because they enjoy the minutiae of accounting. They want to fight monsters and villains, explore dungeons and wildernesses, and talk to peasants and princes.