Expenses

From Player's Handbook, page 157; and Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, pages 65, 70, 72, 89, 103, 108, and 153.

When not descending into the depths of the earth, exploring ruins for lost treasures, or waging war against the encroaching darkness, adventurers face more mundane realities. Even in a fantastical world, people require basic necessities such as shelter, sustenance, and clothing. These things cost money, although some lifestyles cost more than others.

Lifestyle Expenses
Lifestyle expenses provide you with a simple way to account for the cost of living in a fantasy world. They cover your accommodations, food and drink, and all your other necessities. Furthermore, expenses cover the cost of maintaining your equipment so you can be ready when adventure next calls.

At the start of each week or month (your choice), choose a lifestyle from the Expenses table and pay the price to sustain that lifestyle. The prices listed are per day, so if you wish to calculate the cost of your chosen lifestyle over a thirty-day period, multiply the listed price by 30. Your lifestyle might change from one period to the next, based on the funds you have at your disposal, or you might maintain the same lifestyle throughout your character's career.

Your lifestyle choice can have consequences. Maintaining a wealthy lifestyle might help you make contacts with the rich and powerful, though you run the risk of attracting thieves. Likewise, living frugally might help you avoid criminals, but you are unlikely to make powerful connections.

Food, Drink, and Lodging
The Food, Drink, and Lodging table gives prices for individual food items and a single night's lodging. These prices are included in your total lifestyle expenses.

Self-Sufficiency
The expenses and lifestyles described assume that you are spending your time between adventures in town, availing yourself of whatever services you can afford — paying for food and shelter, paying townspeople to sharpen your sword and repair your armor, and so on. Some characters, though, might prefer to spend their time away from civilization, sustaining themselves in the wild by hunting, foraging, and repairing their own gear.

Maintaining this kind of lifestyle doesn't require you to spend any coin, but it is time-consuming. If you spend your time between adventures practicing a profession, you can eke out the equivalent of a poor lifestyle. Proficiency in the Survival skill lets you live at the equivalent of a comfortable lifestyle.

Wines of Feolinn
(Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, page 65)

Tropical weather and fertile lands have enabled Feolinn to develop a prosperous wine trade across the Menagerie Coast and beyond. There is fierce competition between local families as well as the rival wineries of Kamordah in the empire, and the numerous wines exported from Feolinn can claim a respectable bit of coin, though the prices might vary depending on the market.


 * Solvia Groves Diamond Plum Wine: 60 gp per botle
 * Oveso Family Dark Red: 35 gp per bottle
 * Rustlecall's Evening Dream Plum Wine: 40 gp per bottle
 * Solvia Groves Sunset White Wine: 30 gp per bottle
 * Cuthras Silver Vineyard Premium Red Wine: 30 gp per bottle

Wines of Kamordah
(Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, page 89)

The natural phenomenon that churns the mud and earth surrounding Kamordah has helped its people cultivate a valuable collection of vineyards. Wines produced by these familes are some of the best in Exandria, often presented as extravagant gifts or a display of wealth. These bottles fetch a hefty sum of gold, with some of the finest listed below, though these prices vary depending on the market.


 * Stassman's Thistle Branch Dark Blood Red Wine: 85 gp per bottle
 * Wagner & Waltz Emerald Embrace Green Wine: 65 gp per bottle
 * Stassman's Truscan Sunrise White Wine: 45 gp per bottle
 * Lionell Vineyard Purple Cedar Red Wine: 30 gp per bottle
 * Errenath Family Private Wish Red Wine: 25 gp per bottle

Herbs of the Othemoor
(Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, page 70)

The rich, primal nature of the Othemoor marsh nurtures a number of rare and highly sought-after grasses and herbs. Herbalists, alchemists, and spice traders often visit Othe to bolster their stores. Below are a number of the herbal goods often found for sale within Othe:


 * Theki Root: This thick marsh root tastes bitter but is thought to aid digestive health. When you use an action to consume a dose, you gain advantage on saving throws against the effects of poisonous or toxic substances for 8 hours. Cost: 3 gp per dose.
 * Muroosa Balm: This paste made from the muroosa bush is known to help prevent sunburn, but it is also a fire retardant. After spending 1 minute applying a quarter pint of muroosa balm to your skin, you gain resistance against fire damage for 1 hour. Cost: 1 gp per dose for sunburn, 100 gp for a full application against fire.
 * Olisuba Leaf: These dried leaves of the Olisuba tree, when steeped to make a tea, can help a body recover from strenuous activity. If you drink a dose of Olisuba tea during a long rest, your exhaustion level is reduced by 2 instead of 1 at the end of that long rest. Cost: 50 gp per dose.
 * Willowshade Oil: A dark blue oil can be extracted from the rare fruit of the willowshade plant. A creature can use its action to apply the oil to another creature that has been petrified for less than 1 minute, causing the petrified condition on that creature to end at the start of what would be that creature's next turn. Cost: 30 gp per dose.

Skyships
(Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, page 72)

Luxurious passage through the clouds themselves — it's a romantic idea cultivated to appeal to the wealthiest citizens of Exandria. As an added bonus, skyship travel avoids the inherent dangers of a journey by land or sea, and is more readily available than teleportation magic. These beautiful airships range in size but generally are the same size as a merchant coaster. Skyships are held aloft and guided with the help of three or more enchanted crystals called brumestones, which are installed along the hull or topside of the ship. The enchantments required to produce and maintain these brumestones are closely guarded by the Alsfarin Union within the distant city of Ank'Harel. While the Alsfarin Union occasionally sells skyships to foreign businesses, they retain absolute control over the maintenance of skyships in operation.

Skyships are reserved for goods and individuals who want to circumvent the slow speed or danger of an ocean voyage and can afford the exorbitant cost of air travel. No commoner can afford to charter a skyship, and the lower classes of Exandria generally see air travel as just another way for the wealthy elite to lord their superiority over the poor. Others, however, see the majestic craft as aspirational and long to become rich enough to afford one, or skilled enough to pilot one.

Port Damali is the only city in Wildemount with an open skyport. The others are in the cities of Ank'Harel, Vasselheim, Emon, and Whitestone. Few skyships in service will deviate from the dedicated shipping routes between these major cities.

Dyolet Fruit
(Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, page 108)

A round, blue fruit roughly the size of a plum, a dyolet is known for its sweet flavor and the mild surge of energy granted to whoever eats it. Dyolets can also be imbued with minor healing abilities, a property kept secret by the gnomes of the Velvin Thicket until recent years. Herbalists and apothecaries can imbue healing within the fruit for a fraction of the time and gold cost of brewing a potion. A dyolet can be imbued with one of the following properties by a character proficient with a healer's kit:


 * You can saturate the fruit with carefully brewed curative draughts to imbue a dyolet with the properties of a Potion of Healing. This process takes 12 hours and costs 15 gp.
 * You can saturate the fruit with strengthened restorative properties to imbue a dyolet with the properties of a Potion of Greater Healing. This process takes 4 days and costs 70 gp.

You can consume a dyolet as an action to gain its healing effect. A dyolet lasts up to 20 days after being harvested before it begins to rot. A rotting dyolet loses its healing properties.

Pride Silk
(Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, page 103)

The hearty silk unique to the region has long been a point of pride with the locals. When processed and woven properly, the resulting cloth is pride silk: an extremely flexible material with the durability of tanned leather. Pride silk has become a favorite cloth for use on military ship sails, war banners, and other utilitarian applications, but has also gained popularity in affluent circles. High-end clothing made from pride silk is both fashionable and protective, leading many nobles and wealthy merchants to seek full outfits and formal gowns made with it. The tailors skilled enough to create such outfits are few and far between, so while pride silk might be expensive as a raw material, outfits made of the cloth are prohibitively expensive for most common folk.

One square yard of pride silk weighs 1 pound and costs 100 gp. An outfit made of pride silk weighs 4 pounds and costs 500 gp. If you aren't wearing armor, your base Armor Class is 11 + your Dexterity modifier while wearing it.

Blightshore Contraband
(Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, page 152)

The unique environs of the post-Calamity Miskath Strand have produced a number of strange new substances that can be cultivated for both noble and illicit purposes. The regulation of these bizarre drugs proves difficult, however, as their exotic qualities often confound those who would subvert their questionable usage. As such, supply and demand remain steady despite the inevitable hazards of production.


 * Black Sap: This tarry substance harvested from the dark boughs of the death's head willow is a powerful intoxicant. It can be smoked as a concentrate or injected directly into the bloodstream. A creature subjected to a dose of black sap cannot be charmed or frightened for 1d6 hours. For each dose of black sap consumed, a creature must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or become poisoned for 2d4 hours — an effect that is cumulative with multiple doses. Black sap is valued at 300 gp per dose.
 * Blight Ichor: This bitter chartreuse concoction is distilled from a fungus native to the Blightshore badlands. The sickly green liqueur harbors potent psychedelic properties. Provided it is neither a construct nor undead, a creature subjected to a dose of blight ichor gains advantage on Intelligence and Wisdom checks, as well as vulnerability to psychic damage, for 1 hour. For each dose of blight ichor consumed, the creature must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or become poisoned for 1d6 hours and suffer the effects of a Confusion spell for 1 minute. An undead creature subjected to a dose of blight ichor gains advantage on all Dexterity checks and is immune to the frightened condition for 1 hour. Blight ichor is valued at 200 gp per dose.
 * Soothsalts: Soothsalts are derived from a naturally occurring crystalline substance discovered throughout the wilds of the Miskath Strand. The crimson crystals have been mined from cavernous veins like those in the mouth of the Miskath Pit and found within smaller geode formations near sites ravaged by the Calamity. Soothsalts are consumed orally in lozenge-sized doses, and frequent users can be identified by the telltale crimson stain around their mouths. A creature subjected to a dose of soothsalts gains advantage on all Intelligence checks for 1d4 hours. For each dose of soothsalts consumed, the creature must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or gain one level of exhaustion — an effect which is cumulative with multiple doses. Soothsalts are valued at 150 gp per dose.

Services
Adventurers can pay nonplayer characters to assist them or act on their behalf in a variety of circumstances. Most such hirelings have fairly ordinary skills, while others are masters of a craft or art, and a few are experts with specialized adventuring skills.

Some of the most basic types of hirelings appear on the Services table. Other common hirelings include any of the wide variety of people who inhabit a typical town or city, when the adventurers pay them to perform a specific task. For example, a wizard might pay a carpenter to construct an elaborate chest (and its miniature replica) for use in the Leomund's secret chest spell. A fighter might commission a blacksmith to forge a special sword. A bard might pay a tailor to make exquisite clothing for an upcoming performance in front of the duke.

Other hirelings provide more expert or dangerous services. Mercenary soldiers paid to help the adventurers take on a hobgoblin army are hirelings, as are sages hired to research ancient or esoteric lore. If a high-level adventurer establishes a stronghold of some kind, he or she might hire a whole staff of servants and agents to run the place, from a castellan or steward to menial laborers to keep the stables clean. These hirelings often enjoy a long-term contract that includes a place to live within the stronghold as part of the offered compensation.

Skilled hirelings include anyone hired to perform a service that involves a proficiency (including weapon, tool, or skill): a mercenary, artisan, scribe, and so on. The pay shown is a minimum; some expert hirelings require more pay. Untrained hirelings are hired for menial work that requires no particular skill and can include laborers, porters, maids, and similar workers.

Spellcasting Services
People who are able to cast spells don't fall into the category of ordinary hirelings. It might be possible to find someone willing to cast a spell in exchange for coin or favors, but it is rarely easy and no established pay rates exist. As a rule, the higher the level of the desired spell, the harder it is to find someone who can cast it and the more it costs.

Hiring someone to cast a relatively common spell of 1st or 2nd level, such as Cure Wounds or Identify, is easy enough in a city or town, and might cost 10 to 50 gold pieces (plus the cost of any expensive material components). Finding someone able and willing to cast a higher-level spell might involve traveling to a large city, perhaps one with a university or prominent temple. Once found, the spellcaster might ask for a service instead of payment — the kind of service that only adventurers can provide, such as retrieving a rare item from a dangerous locale or traversing a monster infested wilderness to deliver something important to a distant settlement.

Adventurer's League Pricing
(Adventurer's League: Dungeon Master's Guide, Version 9.1)

The following information is from the Adventurer's League, which are official games organized by Wizards of the Coast. Your DM may not use this.

During a session, characters can receive spellcasting services from an NPC located anywhere that is town-sized or larger but must be able to travel there. Otherwise, they're available only between sessions.

Acolyte Background. Characters with the Shelter of the Faithful background feature can request spellcasting services at a temple of their faith. Once per day they can receive one spell from the Spellcasting Services table for free (though they must provide the cost of any material component needed). Only some faiths are represented by temples large enough to provide this benefit.

Recurring Expenses
(Dungeon Master's Guide, page 127)

Besides the expenses associated with maintaining a particular lifestyle, adventurers might have additional drains on their adventuring income. Player characters who come into possession of property, own businesses, and employ hirelings must cover the expenses that accompany these ventures.

It's not unusual for adventurers — especially after 10th level — to gain possession of a castle, a tavern, or another piece of property. They might buy it with their hard-won loot, take it by force, obtain it in a lucky draw from a Deck of Many Things, or acquire it by other means.

The Maintenance Costs table shows the per-day upkeep cost for any such property. The cost of a normal residence isn't included here because it falls under lifestyle expenses. Maintenance expenses need to be paid every 30 days. Given that adventurers spend much of their time adventuring, staff includes a steward who can make payments in the party's absence.

Total Cost per Day. The cost includes everything it takes to maintain the property and keep things running smoothly, including the salaries of hirelings. If the property earns money that can offset maintenance costs (by charging fees, collecting tithes or donations, or selling goods), that is taken into account in the table.

Skilled and Untrained Hirelings. See Services for the difference between a skilled hireling and an untrained one.

Businesses
An adventurer-owned business can earn enough money to cover its own maintenance costs. However, the owner needs to periodically ensure that everything is running smoothly by tending to the business between adventures. See the information on running a business on the Downtime Activities page.

Garrisons
Castles and keeps employ soldiers (use the Veteran and Guard statistics) to defend them. Roadside inns, outposts and forts, palaces, and temples rely on less-experienced defenders (use the Guard statistics). These armed warriors make up the bulk of a property's skilled hirelings.