Talk:5e Trade Goods

Here are the sources I used to derive some of these prices:

• Medieval Price List: 1 shilling is approximately 1 gp.
• Changing Values in Medieval Scotland: A Study of Prices, Money, and Weights and Measures
• Mining, Metallurgy and Minting in the Middle Ages, Volume 3

1 shilling (13th century) appears to be about 1 gp (so 1 pound is 20 gp; 1 pence is just under 1 sp) Marasmusine (talk) 13:38, 15 November 2014 (MST)

• [1] Marseilles, 13th century, I think 1 solidi is the equivalent of a shilling (also 20 solidi in a pound) Marasmusine (talk) 10:31, 16 November 2014 (MST)

I created my own trade-goods list, then used this to enhance and correct it as needed. I have a lot more items I could add, but I'm not locked in to the pricing I have established. I estimated based upon commonality and available sources. Does anyone mind if I add my stuff? It will more than double the size of the list as presently shown! (I may even add more columns to better divide groupings) - Sligo 27-June-2017

Adamantine price

How much would adamantine ore (per lb.) cost? --209.97.85.48 13:32, 4 February 2017 (MST)

Difficult to answer. The DMG lists adamantine armor as an uncommon magic item, which is worth up to +500 gp on the base price. The lightest adamantine armor is 20 lbs, the heaviest is 65 lbs, so offhand I'd reckon adamantine as being between 8 and 25 gp/lb. Mithral is the same. —Proton^[talk] 02:50, 5 February 2017 (MST)

Addendum: For reference, 3rd edition priced both mithral and adamantine at 100 gp/lb, or twice the value of gold by weight (Draconomicon p. 278). —Proton^[talk] 03:29, 5 February 2017 (MST)

My take on mithral and adamantine is that pure material is not used for crafting. I estimate that for every pound of base material, usually alloyed with steel, less than one ounce of adamantine or mithral is needed to give the additional properties. With this in mind, the prices for adamantine and mithral, in my setting are 10k gp and 5k gp, respectively. Unless the prices are very high and availability is appropriately rare, there's nothing to keep low level adventuring parties from converting all their weapons and armor to the best possible alternatives. This goes for magic as well. DMG and PH guidance on this doesn't do proper justice. - Sligo 27-June-2017

Coffee Price

How much would 1 lb. of coffee be? 220.233.94.145 22:55, 19 March 2017 (UTC)

I would figure about the same price as tea. --209.97.85.48 19:44, 15 April 2017 (UTC)

Slave price

I would figure the price of a slave would depend a lot on the skills of the slave. --209.97.85.48 19:40, 15 April 2017 (UTC)

Probably. The slave in the table is a maid. I took the price from a historical document. Marasmusine (talk) 19:44, 15 April 2017 (UTC)

Seems two people keep going back and forth on the "slave" issue. I vote to remove slave from the list as I believe it encourages something that we as players, DMs, and game "designers" shouldn't support. I understand the historical accuracy of slavery, and I know that it is present in some game worlds. However, by including it here, I think it gives the impression slavery is condoned. Especially since it is listed under "livestock." If we want to list labor prices for maid services, farm hands, and other relative types of work, I'm fine with it, but it should be in a different category and shown as a per hour or per day cost. - Sligo 7 July 2017

@Sligo i think you will find slaves don't get a per hour/day cost as when they are bought they become your property. I say that it is necessary to have the price for a slave listed as some people run evil gameplays where they are the bad guys, or a GM might want to know how much his villian had to pay for slaves etc. --Pirahna89 (talk) 03:33, 14 August 2017 (MDT)

Contraband

In my setting, I have 7 contraband trade goods identified. Would this page be a good place to add them? - Sligo 27-June-2017

The prices here are as if the goods are legal. For example, if sugar was to become contraband, it would cost more than 2 gp per lb.

I've also tried to set the prices close to historical (you can see some of my sources in the edit history).

Let's see what your goods are? Marasmusine (talk) 15:01, 27 June 2017 (MDT)

not sure if you want me to list them here or go ahead and add them to the page. I'll list some examples here - Sligo 28-June-2017

• Grains: Amaranth, Barley, Maize (Corn), Millet, Oat, Rye
• Herbs/Spices: Allspice, Black Pepperm Chili, Dill, Mint, etc. (I have 32 total in my list)
• Misc food Items: several varieties of fresh fruits & vegetables, lard, nuts, vegetable oils, vinegar
• Misc non-food, farm items: crafted woods, dye, incense, linen, papyrus, pine sap, tobacco
• Misc building material: brimstone, clay, common (non-precious) crystal, glass, gypsum, marble, mineral oil, quicksilver, tar, thatch

And my contraband items: Black Cat Extract, Cave Butter, Demon Leaf, Fey Dust, Hexweed, Gem Krawler, and Mugwort Oil (some of these may not be permissible to post here... I'd have to check and modify if needed)

Price Check

How much would a pound of seed cost? (I thinking Corn and/or Potatoes.) --Redrum 13:25, 21 October 2017 (MDT)

Issues with some of the pricing

Some of the prices simply don't add up. For example, one quarter of wheat (8 bushels) is listed at 5 silver. In the PHB a pound of wheat is listed at 1cp. A bushel is 60lb, so one bushel SHOULD cost more than the listed price of a quarter.

Other prices seem questionable too, like a single salmon costing 5 times as much as a pound of beef (a rare luxury due to the cost of raising cattle) and 25 times as much as two dozen chicken eggs

Looks like I accidentally put the grain in the 5sp slot instead of the 5gp slot, thanks. I'll look into the other costs but I did derive them from historical sources as noted at the top of this page. Marasmusine (talk) 02:53, 26 March 2019 (MDT)

What is your source for beef being "a rare luxury"? This says that beef was "the main meat consumed".

Looking at the edit history, when I put beef and mutton in, I noted "beef and mutton were about the same price (2 shillings per stone)". I'm not sure what my source was right now (it was 4 years ago), but given 1 shilling = 1 gp, this is 0.14 gp per pound.

I'll try and find my source for the salmon. Marasmusine (talk) 03:24, 26 March 2019 (MDT)

Okay, not sure what it originally was, but from this we have:

• A single salmon averages 10 d (about 5 sp)
• A barrel of salmon (cleaned and salted) averages 12 s (about 12 gp). Marasmusine (talk) 03:42, 26 March 2019 (MDT)

OPEC

Does anyone have an opinion on oil as a Trade Good? --Redrum 18:12, 8 May 2019 (MDT)

If oil exists in the game world then it is a trade good. The cost will depend on supply and demand, which will depend on your game world. In my Vehicle Construction Kit books, I list petrol at 4 cp per lb. This assumes extraction and refinery processes of the industrial era onwards. It was initially more expensive, but the cost of filling fuel tanks seemed to high.Marasmusine (talk) 17:27, 1 February 2023 (MST)

Ale and wine

I advocate that we use SRD barrels (https://dandwiki.com/wiki/5e_SRD:Adventuring_Gear), 40 gallons, 4 cubic feet. Also, a bottle of fine wine (PHB 158) is 10 gold pieces. Should multiple tens of gallons really be 50 gold pieces? https://dandwiki.com/wiki/5e_SRD:Adventuring_Gear AmeyBoop (talk) 20:29, 19 March 2023 (MDT)