The biggest expense landed nobles usually face is the cost of supporting their large entourages. Even if the lord commands such loyalty or fear that people will serve him for free, his servants still need food, shelter, and clothing. Soldiers need food, clothes, medicine, and all sorts of supplies.
There is some economy of scale. Its cheaper to hire a few cooks to make food for a hundred people than to prepare a hundred individual meals. This reduces costs.
For appearances, noble retinues generally need to have nicer food and clothing than similarly skilled workers elsewhere. Among other things, common laborers working in a lord's castle are expected to be cleaner than common laborers working elsewhere at the very least. This increases costs. It mostly balances out.
Lordly manors and castles have pets, livestock, and steeds. For simplicity, I'm assuming the cost of feeding and grooming the animals is factored into the costs of supporting the people. The kennel master probably makes a lower salary than the court jester, but his dog's food probably cost more than the jester's props.
Servants cost per agricultural month
Basic servants: stable boys, serving wenches, porters
6 silver pieces/month
Low Mid level servants: ladies in waiting, pages, squires, cooks, scribes
9 silver pieces/month
Mid level servants: kennel masters, horse trainers, chefs, jesters/entertainers
30 silver pieces/month
High level servants: sages, alchemists, rare experts (people with ●●●● or ●●●●● dots in a useful ability).
60 silver pieces/month
Low level courtiers: Landless nobles with mediocre skills but prestigious family names
50 silver pieces/month
high level courtiers: Landless nobles with exceptional skills, mages and theurgists (highborn or not)
100 silver pieces/month
One would ask, "Wouldn't a powerful mage or theurgist command more wages than a neophyte?"
Yes, but not as much as you'd think. Most of the magic a noble household needs cast every day or every week is at the ● or ●● level.
Also, at a certain point, powerful mages and theurgists are unimpressed by more money. Many of them are retired adventurers that are quietly have a big bag of gold under their floor boards bigger than anything a king or duke would give them. They probably want non-monetary favors. Non-spellcasters who happen to have multiple high level abilities are in a similar boat.
Powerful theurgists probably want the duke or lord to pass laws that align with their interest of their deity and their dogma. They want a right to veto court appointment of people they view as unpious.
Powerful mages want a say in local laws regulating magic. They want to make sure there are no barriers to them taking on the best students as apprentices. They want to make rival mages get a stony welcome.
It is also noteworthy that spell-casters have more leeway breaking rules of decorum. Many show up late to meetings or show up at court underdressed. They are often less obsequious than other courtiers.
Soldiers cost per agricultural month
Soldiers on "reserve" have military training, but they actively practice another profession other than soldiering, but they are expected to be ready very quickly if called upon. They probably drill a few weeks a year at least. They may have their own weapons, or their weapons may be stored in the lord's armory.
Soldiers that are "active" are operating as soldiers full-time, but they are staying on or near their lord's land. They are probably serving on guard duty, or police duty, or are escorting convoys and the like. If the homeland is fending off an invasion, any soldier fighting back is "active".
Soldiers on campaign are off fighting enemies of the crown in foreign lands or accompanying adventurers as friendly red shirts. While they may not be actually entitled to extra pay, it does cost a lot to supply them. The costs below assume campaigning soldiers aren't pillaging...much.
Militia, on reserve: 5 copper pieces/month
Militia, active: 80 copper pieces/month
Militia, on campaign: 160 copper pieces/month
Men at arms, reserve: 15 copper pieces/month
Men at arms, active: 20 silver pieces/month
Men at arms, on campaign: 40 silver pieces/month
Elite soldier, reserve: 5 silver pieces/month
Elite soldier, active: 50 silver pieces/month
Elite soldier, on campaign: 100 silver pieces/month
Lifestyle
In some ways, a lord's or lady's lifestyle is measured by how big their entourage is. A lord with fifty servants probably has more creature comforts than a lord with five servants. But the costs above assume normal operations.
Lords usually want to show off their status to their peers, show off their generosity to their lessers, and show off their piety to the Nonagon.
More often than not, lords try to spread their public displays of wealth between their fellow nobles, the masses, and the Nonagon but there are exceptions.
There are pious lords who put most of their discretionary funds towards the Nonagon, there are populist leaders who put most of their discretionary funds towards helping the people, and there are political schmoozers who put most of their discretionary funds towards impressing their peers and betters.
Unlike a normal person's
a commoner's cost of living, it doesn't make a large difference if a landed noble has a large family or a small family. This is factored into the cost of supporting their staff, so for simplicity we are not adding additional expenses for family members. Besides, just like with commoners, noble households put their older family members to work for free labor, which in this case means help running the realm.
Miserly: A miserly lord eats roughly the same food that his peasants do, just larger portions. His clothes are probably made of fancy materials but a little worn or patchy.
He doesn't invite other lords to his halls unless he wants something very badly and he probably gives the Nonagon a pittance at best.
He does not make public appearances before his subjects unless something very important is happening. As long the peasants aren't dying, he's probably not going to spare a copper piece to help them...even then.
This doesn't mean a miser lord dislikes his peasants or visa versa. Some miserly lords are beloved by the people because they keep the taxes low and don't interfere much with their daily lives. Though a lord that behaves like a miser and imposes high taxes is sure to be hated.
Miserly lords have a 0.8 modifer.
Frugal: A frugal lord lives day-to-day very similarly to a miserly lord but will set aside special occasions every year to splurge. These special occasions are generally planned well advanced and are common knowledge to all the locals.
In most cases, a frugal lord sponsors one event for the peasantry per year (often a festival or play), one event for his noble peers (such as a feast or tournament), and one event for the Nonagon. Alternatively, instead of hosting a single large event for the Nonagon, a frugal lord may simply make public donations to all the temples he likes and skip the fanfare.
Frugal lords have a 1.0 modifer.
Typical: A typical lord eats fine spiced meals regularly and gets new clothes tailored regularly. His castle or manor house probably has a fine garden and lovely tapestries.
There is probably a means of communication for struggling subjects to make requests to address a courtier or advisor if not the lord personally. Not every request is granted, but many are.
The lord probably hosts at least four or five events a year such as feasts, festivals tournaments, displays of patronage of the art, or religious cerenomies. The lord probably gives out free food to the peasants on his birthday or his heir's birthday. At the very least, the local priests and priestesses are very polite to his face because he donates a fair bit to them.
If the lord has a wedding coming up in his family, everyone looks forward to it, nobles and commoners alike.
Typical Lords have a 1.2 modifier.
Generous: Generous lords
Extravagant: There is usually a crowd of people waiting outside the lord's castle chanting his name because everywhere he goes, he throws gifts at the cheering crowd.
Nobles look forward to receiving invitations his lavish feasts and extravagent entertainments. Peasant children count the days to his amazing festivals. The local priests and priestesses are constantly licking his boots, metaphorically speak of course.
Extravagent Lords have a 1.5 modifier
If you one needs to figure out how much a nobleman spends on lifestyle (normally only necessary for very important recurring NPCs). Add up the total monthly cost of paying his non-military staff and multiply it by the ruler's lifestyle modifier to figure out much he spends on his lifestyle.
This is separate from military expenditures because it is easily possible to have a ruler cut back on his personal lifestyle to fund his miltary forces or visa versa.
It is also separate from big ticket purchases. If a ruler wants to comission a new magic sword, rennovate his castle, build a warship, or add a second wall around his capital city, that needs to be paid with a separate fund.
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