Topic: Alchemy Material Costs

[Prince Finnion]

If you've read any of my other posts you know that my players love the accumulation of wealth through use of a market.  Previously it was a shipping company but now they want to kill monsters and harvest organs, claws, teeth, etc.  The problem is I can't seem to find a base cost for the raw goods and I don't want to tip the scales in either direction.

Recently they managed to kill a young cold drake.  These are pretty low level so it was just a matter of getting in a killing strike on a the critical table, which one of the players did in the first round of combat.  They also harvested some of the creature's teeth and skin.  The Ranger took a few acid crits but insisted on continuing and it worked even at "sheer folly."

So fast forward to them reaching a large city with a drum full of drake hide, frozen daily by the mage, and several teeth they want to sell to an alchemist or other dealer.

Now, since I don't actually have a base cost to go on I winged it and made an offer they accepted but I don't know if it was actually a fair offer.  I'm not sure if I over paid or under paid, although I'd prefer the later.

I only use the 2nd addition and Classic and in the Alchemy Companion of 1992 all I've found is a list of the "Alchemical Inertia Factors" on pg 51, but no actual cost conversion.

Based on the AIF it seems that the more valuable metals and gems the more work to get the AIF down to 0.  Same with biologicals.  A cow hide is 8 while a Balrog hide is 0.

I'm not sure if I can use this or not as a basis for assessing a price or not.  Perhaps I should factor in the level of the creature or if I'm just chasing a rabbit down its hole.

Is there a resource I'm not aware of? Perhaps in the standard system or newer content?

[jdale]

RMU Treasure Law has prices for dragon horn. It also has notes but not cost for dragon scale, although it suggests that armor made from dragon scale should cost 10x. Personally, I think that is too low unless there are a lot of dragons being killed, but it's a starting point.

[Prince Finnion]

I agree, the risk of being burned alive and scarred by acidic blood seems to warrant more than a simple 10x cost...

Thanks though, I'll check it out.

[Peter R]

If the rewards are too great there would not be any young drajes left of any variety.

[jdale]

If the rewards are too great there would not be any young drajes left of any variety.

That's fair, but part of the cost of a finished item can be the difficulty of working the materials, not just the value of the materials themselves. The value of the materials will also be suppressed if few people are able to use them (so there's very little competition, no one to outbid the low buyer).

If drakes are their own treasure (in terms of horns, scales, etc), it might also make sense to reduce their piles of treasure.

[Spectre771]

This topic is very similar to other threads inquiring about economy in different gaming worlds and settings.  The ultimate answer comes down to the economy of your setting.  Do you have a high power economy?  Is the party dealing in major trading cities or port cities?  What is the base of your economy?  (In my setting, it's silver, not gold.)   Is the party dealing with Dwarfs who love gold?  Are they dealing with smaller towns who maybe have 20 gold coins in the entire town?  Everything is relative.

My party has taken to trading for what is "of value" to them.  Items, services, info, contacts, etc.  Those are things that may not have a coin value but are worth a lot more to the party than 100 GP.

As the GM, you get to control the economy.  Do you want your players drowning in gold?  Literally a problem for one of my PC's who was carrying so much gold, he nearly drowned.  He had to leave the sacks of gold in the river to swim to the surface.  Some places may not have the resources to pay for a dragon horn or dragon scales, however...  A skilled dwarf smithy may fashion a suit of armour for a party member if he gets to keep the remaining scales.  AN alchemist may produce 10 doses of dragon horn elixir if he's allowed to keep the rest.

[Prince Finnion]

My setting is an alternate form of Celtic Europe, so silver is the base but there is some gold.

I never thought about trading for other goods or services.

Dwarves haven't been "discovered" yet, nor elves.

My players are motivated by coin. I haven't convinced them otherwise yet, but I'm working on it.

Thank you for the insight!

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