So I've made other threads on the rules for spending limits on capital during downtime activities (i.e. whether it's per party or per PC, how the limit interacts with construction times for purposes of queuing up rooms). But now I have another question. xD
Ultimate Campaign on pg. 80 states:
"The following numbers represent the limit of how much Goods, Influence, and Labor you can utilize in the settlement each day. Even if you have a lot of Goods and Labor at your disposal from favors and such, a tiny settlement might have only a few hands to spare to turn that capital into finished projects."
However, this raises an important question, is the limit for each individual capital type, or for all types of capital combined? So in a small town, can you utilize 15 Goods, 15 Influence, and 15 Labor each day? Or just a combination of the three totaling 15?
Now, odds are, the intent of the writer was for the latter, but it doesn't make much sense logically speaking. Simply put, the hands that would utilize Goods would most likely NOT be the same hands that provide Labor, and certainly not the same hands that you would use Influence for.
One could interpret utilizing Goods as getting people to gather the raw materials (lumberjacks, miners, etc.), utilizing Labor as getting carpenters and stonemasons to construct a building, and utilizing Influence as getting the permits and paperwork processed needed to get things done. Very clearly, this would represent three vastly different groups of people, so why would it stand to reason that the capital spending limit would apply to all three types collectively instead of separately? How would spending Influence on downtime tasks like Gather Information or Research Facts and Lore preclude you from spending Goods or Labor on a construction project when the labor forces involved would be totally different?
Is this an interpretation that holds water given the language of the text? Are there any reasons you can think of that would disprove my reasoning? Would this be a sound house-rule? What are your thoughts?
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I have always read as "you can use up to X points of each of the kinds of capital available". The guy with Profession Herbalist that is gathering magical goods isn't the guy with Craft Mansory that is building a house.
Keep in mind that the whole downtime part is more guidelines than hard rules (like the magical crafting rules are guidelines). They give some hard rules, but a lot of GM input is needed.