I'm just curious what people would charge for certain things. Skilled slaves (such as gladiators, artisans and courtesans) and unskilled slaves (field workers, ditch diggers, etc etc).
-X
Has anyone ever come up with the cost of what buying another living being would be? It's come up several times in the Dark Sun game my friend is running. When I was playing a mul, people would threaten me but then I'd say, "You shouldn't do that, you couldn't afford to replace me."
I'm just curious what people would charge for certain things. Skilled slaves (such as gladiators, artisans and courtesans) and unskilled slaves (field workers, ditch diggers, etc etc).
Very much depends. Common work-slaves can be bought for as low as 25 ceramics, 40 for a young adult. Artisans and such are worth circa 100-150, depending on the skill. The artisans thar are currently the hype of the city-state could reach up to 500-600 ceramics. Gladiators are 200 minimum up to 6-7k for a veteran unbeatable many-times-champion one.
Never forget that if you buy one it's up to you to feed him, clothe him and give him a place to sleep! Remember the water consuption!
I'm just curious what people would charge for certain things. Skilled slaves (such as gladiators, artisans and courtesans) and unskilled slaves (field workers, ditch diggers, etc etc).
Just out of interest, when Sadira is being sold in the slave markets of Tyr the opening offer of 50 gold is stated as being five times that of any other slave sold that day.
Just out of interest, when Sadira is being sold in the slave markets of Tyr the opening offer of 50 gold is stated as being five times that of any other slave sold that day.
That was before Klak died. Inflation had a great impact on Tyr since then since metal started flowing again freely after Kalak and since everyone had more money the prices of slaves rose too.
I seem to recall that there is a document with slave prices on Grummore's site...
Shhhhhhhh... there is something bigger coming about this ;)
That was before Klak died. Inflation had a great impact on Tyr since then since metal started flowing again freely after Kalak and since everyone had more money the prices of slaves rose too.
...except that the slaves were also all freed, except for some of those outside of the city limits such as the slaves of House Vordon (according to the Dune Trader book), so you really can't take inflation into account here. And anyway, prior to Kalak's death a majority of the slaves in the area had been put to work building the ziggurat, so that 5g price for a high-end slave (given the 50g price for Sadira at 5x the next-highest price) was already way inflated.
Of course the lack of slaves meant that nobles and such suddenly had to start paying for people to work the fields, which in turn lowers the available money they have to spend on other things, which in turn does something-or-another to prices...
Call in an economist! My brain hurts.
I just had to ask that because I was like, "Why is it that no where in any book does this information come up?"
Thanks!
-X
I just had to ask that because I was like, "Why is it that no where in any book does this information come up?"
Amusingly enough, Dune Trader specifically lists the price of slaves as "Cost varies greatly. DM makes decision for final price."
Personally I would think that the value of a prized gladiator or concubine could reach much higher values into the 50-500gp range even. Though they would rarely go up for sale. While you can't generally buy magic items on Athas, I think its a good measure to compare slave prices to magic item prices. I think its reasonable to pay the same price for a prize gladiator as you would pay for a high end magic item, like a +3 flaming burst battle axe for instance. Common slave on the other hand might only be worth the price of a potion.
You bring up a good point, although in most cases a more realistic approach would be to judge a slaves value as if they were a beast of burden or a similarly "normal" tool. For instance, a basic worker kank, which domesticated is really only good for herding, runs around 50 cp. Their attributes (aside from intelligence, of course) are just about the same as an average human, so it'd figure that for remedial tasks that require no training, a slave is probably worth an equivalent value. A soldier kank, on the other hand, goes for 250 cp, so if you're paying that much for a slave they better be skilled at some craft or be able to do heavy manual labor - if not, you'd be better off just purchasing the kank and having it plow your field or what-not.
For gladiators and such I think Megatherion's 70gp is low, at least for an arena champion, but I think that putting it up in the thousands is way too much. At Athasian currency rates, a mansion runs 1000gp and and you could buy yourself an entire keep for 1500gp. So probably your 500ish value is a pretty good figure, maybe something like 10-50gp per gladiator character level, depending on their race and combat record.