I've seen a lot of d20 material offering treasures, but not too many show you how the value was determined -- no formula. Some of the printed material seems to offer prices that are too high in cost and too extreme in their differences for like goods.
The Book of 101 treasures does this:
1 gem ring = 15 gp worth of gold plus 750 gp for the gem stone plus 1000 gp for artisty/craftsmanship, total 1765 gp.
Not bad, but how did they determine this (the 1000 gp)? The DM's guide suggests a simple gold ring's base cost is 30 gp. While a ruby ring would be 7000 gp.
Yikes! Most Large Towns do not have that amount of cash on hand (GP Limit is around 4000). Are adventures just that easily suckered into buying these excessively expensive things? If not, who is? What market can support this in Greyhawk? I know that a dragon's horde should, but...
Anyway here are my thots on a fix.
The craftsman's
age,
race,
(perhaps gender),
location (what the area can support - Thorpe vs Major City),
tools,
quality of materials,
reputation (recommendations/current or former patrons)
and skill
should all be computed into the "artistry/craft" costs.
I'm not sure of what these factors would be exactly but I am working on. I could use your imput, please. Did I leave anything out?
Yes, I have a PC jeweler/lapidary & whitesmith in my game who wants to know what she'll get paid for making a wedding ring. Initially I thot of Skill Roll x 10 gps for the artistry alone (not gold or gem), but when I saw prices in published materials, this seemed to fall short.
The Arms & Equipment guide only offers rates for retaining a jeweler at 4 sp per day or week.
Perhaps some Greyhawk references would be helpful and more specific. I'm looking.
It is about the Baroque period in Italy, but it does give a good general idea of an artist's needs. An artist wants status not just from his art but from his lifestyle which results in living above his means. Rich clothing, food, home and unnecessary servants will drain the artists income quickly. With that in mind, using 3.5 D&D figures, a limner (painter) hireling makes 6sp a day. This would be quick enough to use in a pinch but isn't accurate to how an artist works when you are talking about Dukes and Clerics wanting rich artwork done. If artists were paid by the day, they would never finish, that is why their pay should be based on the value of the artwork, which appears to be shown in that article. An initial bid-negotiation is made, then when the piece is finished it is appraised to see if it must be redone or if the artist could get a bonus.
So...off the cuff you could use the Town GP Limit rules and the Art Object Chart in the DMG to see what the FINAL value of a commissioned piece will be. Of course an artist won't get the full price for a work of art, its value increases over time. So an easy way to handle his payment is changing the whole number to silver (i.e. a 1000gp painting is paid as 1000sp not 10,000sp. 1000sp then could also be used to determine how long the artist takes according to crafting time rules. Generous patrons could reward the artist for good rolls or even dock him for failed rolls.
It is about the Baroque period in Italy, but it does give a good general idea of an artist's needs. An artist wants status not just from his art but from his lifestyle which results in living above his means. Rich clothing, food, home and unnecessary servants will drain the artists income quickly. <snip>
So...off the cuff you could use the Town GP Limit rules and the Art Object Chart in the DMG to see what the FINAL value of a commissioned piece will be. Of course an artist won't get the full price for a work of art, its value increases over time. So an easy way to handle his payment is changing the whole number to silver (i.e. a 1000gp painting is paid as 1000sp not 10,000sp. 1000sp then could also be used to determine how long the artist takes according to crafting time rules. Generous patrons could reward the artist for good rolls or even dock him for failed rolls.
Interesting ideas. Basically, the craftsman gets 10% of the final value of the art object as his commission. That would have to be an average: poor craftsmen or unknown craftsmen probably take a hit while famous or excepetional craftsmen command high premiums.
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