Normalizing Skerples' Medieval Price List

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I wanted to normalize Skerples’ list of medieval prices to make it easier to compare items! I took copper as the standard, so silver pieces are multiplied by 10 and gold pieces are multiplied by 100. That being said, there are probably many costs listed that are probably better accounted for in silver or gold (too expensive, probably, for a commoner to even fathom).

Keep in mind that the minimum wage, so to speak, seems to be maybe 50 copper pieces a month or 600 pieces each year. If we assume, for convenience's sake, that one-twelfth goes to the state and another twelfth to the church (not an exact tithe, but whatever), we can say that a commoner has maybe 500 copper / 50 silver / 5 gold to spend each year. (If this were OD&D, that would be a nice 100 silver / 10 gold).

Normalized Medieval Prices

Food & Cooking Town Country
Animal Feed 3 2
Beer, Small 2 1
Cheese (20 lb.?!)
 50 40
Cookpots 10 20
Eggs (12 c.) 7 3
Fruit (1 lb.) 20 10
Herbs 3 1
Lard 1 1
Meal, Fancy 30 —
Meal, Standard 5 3
Travel Rations 10 5
Wine, Skin or Bottle 5 10

Armor Town Country
Leather Armor 250 500
Chain Armor 1,000 —
Plate Armor 10,000 —
Shield 50 50

Weapons Town Country
Light Weapon 50 50
Medium Weapon 200 500
Heavy Weapon 500 1,500
Sling 30 30
Bow 250 250
Crossbow 500 500
Arrow/Bolt 5 5

Light Sources Town Country
Candle, Small 1 1
Candle, Night 5 5
Lantern 30 50
Oil, Flask 5 5
Tinderbox 10 50
Torch 1 1

Animals Town Country
Cattle 100 80
Chicken 2 1
Dog 100 50
Hawk 1,000 —
Hog 50 30
Horse, Riding 1,000 1,000
Horse, War 7,500 6,500
Ox 900 700
Sheep 900 700

Tools Town Country
Anvil 200 300
Axe 40 30
Bellows 400 600
Block & Tackle 30 30
Chisel 10 20
Drill 50 50
Hammer 10 20
Hoe 30 20
Iron Plough 1,500 1,700
Nails (12 c.) 3 4
Pick, Heavy 60 120
Pick, Medium 30 60
Prybar 20 20
Shovel 30 20
Soap 1 2
Specialty Tools 200 —
Spike, Iron 3 4
Spike, Wooden 1 1
Tub, Wooden 20 10

Adventuring Gear Town Country
Air Bladder 10 10
Bedroll 20 10
Caltrops 40 —
Fishing Gear 10 10
Grappling Hook 30 50
Holy Water 250 250
Ladder (10’) 60 30
Pole (10’) 10 5
Rope (50’) 30 30
Tent, 3-ling 100 150
Tent, Personal 50 100
Vial or Bottle 20 —
Waterskin 10 10
Whistle 5 5

Clothing Town Country
Furs 5,000 —
General 50 20
Noble 3,000 —
Poor 10 5
Winter 100 50

Books & Vain Items Town Country
Book, Blank 300 —
Book, Magic 3,000 5,000
Book, Reading 600 —
Holy Symbol, Plain 2 2
Hourglass 1,000 —
Ink 1 5
Mirror, Silver 2,000 —
Scroll Case 10 30

Hirelings (Monthly) Town Country
Useless Peasant 20 10
Laborer 50 50
Scribe 60 —
Archer/Infantry 100 100
Mason 100 100
Camp Follower 150 150
Armorer/Blacksmith 200 —
Master Builder 500 500
Barber-Surgeon 600 600
Galley Crew (60 c.) 3,000 —

Transportation Town Country
Sailboat 60,000 —
Cart 300 300
Raft 50 50
Wagon 1,500 800
Galley (60 oars) 80,000 —

Lodging (Nightly) Town Country
Inn 50 30

Closing Notes

Player-characters must already be pretty rich to afford all their equipment! For comparison, Skerples' equipment costs tend to be around 7 gold pieces / 70 silver / 700 copper (an amount that aligns well with the assumption that characters start with ~100 silver). This might mean that a silver standard might be more apt for costs on this scale, though it's kind of annoying how many costs are so minor anyway. Here's some quick bundling costs:

  • Animal Feed (Weekly): 1 silver
  • Travel Rations (Weekly): 5 silver
  • Arrows/Bolts (x20): 10 silver (!?)
  • Torches/Candles (x10): 1 silver
  • Oil Flasks (x2): 1 silver

This gives us a consolidated price list something like below:

Item Cost (s.p.)
Ammunition (x20) 10
Animal Feed (Weekly) 1
Armor, Leather 25
Armor, Chain 100
Armor, Plate 1,000
Axe 4
Bedroll 1
Block & Tackle 3
Book, Blank 30
Bow 25
Caltrops 4
Chisel 1
Crossbow 50
Drill 5
Fishing Gear 1
Grappling Hook 3
Lantern 5
Melee Weapon, Light 5
Melee Weapon, Medium 20
Melee Weapon, Heavy 50
Oil, Flask (x2) 1
Pick 5
Pole (10’) 1
Rations (Regular, Weekly) 5
Rations (Iron, Weekly) 10
Rope (50’) 3
Scroll Case 1
Shield 5
Shovel 3
Sling 3
Tent (Fits 1) 5
Tent (Fits 3) 10
Tinderbox 1
Torches (x10) 1
Waterskin 1

Anything else might as well be handled like whatever.

Comments

  1. HarbowoputraSeptember 7, 2023 at 7:55 PM

    thanks, this is very useful!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Stuart WatkinsonSeptember 9, 2023 at 2:03 AM

    This is a genuinely excellent resource. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Rata RastreraOctober 4, 2023 at 3:31 PM

    Excellent resource! As someone obsessed with this kind of stuff, I’m always searching for ways to implement the little economic History nerd stuff in my game without pushing it down my player’s throats. Standardizing in copper is also a good idea, in my opinion: gives a more down to earth perspective in costs and also is pretty useful for those (like me!) who use different gold:silver:copper ratios. Once again, wonderful job!

    ReplyDelete

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