| Mark Hoover 330 |
PC leaves town for 3 days for an adventure. While they're out their business, a small bookshop containing an Artisan's Workshop (for Craft: Books), Lavatory, Office, Scriptorium, Storage, Storefront, and staffed by a team of Craftspeople, generates mostly GP. However the player says they want the business to take 10 with the +5 from the Scriptiorium going separately towards generating 1 Magic Capital/day while they're away.
Is that possible by RAW?
During the 3 days the rest of the business is earning 3.1 GP or 3 gold, 1 silver/day. However, to pay for a Magic Capital the business generates, the business would have to make 50 GP/day. Does this mean that the business is incapable of making Magic Capital while the character is gone or would the PC just have to pay for the Magic Capital generated when they return?
| Meirril |
Earning capital takes longer, but is much cheaper than just buying it outright. It is easier to keep track of your earned capital if you pay for it as soon as you earn it; otherwise, you also need to track earned capital you don’t yet have (because you haven’t paid gp for it yet).
If the player leaves money in town with a trusted NPC, or with the business, or with a hired Manager for the business, then capital earned should be able to be paid immediately.
But as stated in the rules, the PC needs to be in town to spend the capital. So if the player wants to make a magic item, he needs to "spend" the magic resources in town before he starts.
The quote above implies that the player doesn't need to buy the earned resources immediately. Think of it as making contacts and short term opportunities to acquire various goods and favors. As a GM you might want to limit how long these opportunities last. At a minimum I'd let the opportunity to purchase earned capital last for at least a month, or within 1 week of the PC returning to town. Considering that a business without a manager can go rogue if the player leaves for more than 30 days it seems like a reasonable cut off point.
The big disadvantage of a PC not being there to personally manage a business is that the PC can't react to events that happen while he is away. Again, managers (and cohorts) are useful for such things.