======Expenses======
What could be more exciting in a game of Dungeons
& Dragons than charting downtime expenses? These
rules cover the cost of food, lodging, and various
services like getting equipment repaired.

Many of these expenses are tied to
the economy of downtime days, the time that (in some
campaigns) takes place during adventures. They exist
in part to balance the income of characters practicing
a trade; their function is not simply to add accounting.

Many campaigns either don’t use downtime (their
adventures tend to run back-to-back) or won’t want to
keep track of petty incomes and outlays. This is fine.
But if your campaign does have downtime, and it does
add income for the regular artisanal or professional
activities during downtime days, remember to balance
that income against certain expenses. A person’s cost
of living typically consumes half of his or her normal
income.
=====Lifestyles=====
The official rules provide seven levels of lifestyle
quality, each with an associated daily cost.
To use these rules, choose a lifestyle level to live
at, and pay in advance to cover it. Lifestyle costs can
be paid daily, or they can be paid a week or a month in
advance. Ideally, the DM predetermines how many
downtime days will pass until the next adventure and
calls for expense payments based on that number.

A character proficient in the Survival skill or
possessing the Wanderer background feature can live
in the wilderness, sustaining a “poor” lifestyle without
paying for it, so long as the land offers berries, small
game, water, and so forth.

Lifestyle choices have no set mechanics that
affect the game. But the DM may create consequences
in the form of downtime encounters or plot twists
related to lifestyles. The lower the cost of your
accommodations, the greater your risk of interacting
with people who are poor, covetous, diseased, exiled,
or otherwise dangerous to you. The higher your cost
of living, the greater your chance of interacting with
the cream of society, the movers-and-shakers who
might try to enmesh you in their political intrigues.

===Lifestyle Expenses===
^ Lifestyle ^ Price/Day ^
| Wretched | — |
| Squalid | 1 sp |
| Poor | 2 sp |
| Modest | 1 gp |
| Comfortable | 2 gp |
| Wealthy | 4 gp |
| Aristocratic | 10 gp minimum |

===DESCRIPTIONS===
These descriptions also apply to the individual
components of lifestyles, priced in the sections below.
The nature of meals, boarding, and stabling are of the
same type, even when acquired piecemeal.

Aristocratic. Living among the very well-to-do
allows you to rub elbows with the elites of society.
Your food and lodging are top-notch. Servants are
available to attend your every need. Your clothing is
the cutting edge of fashion. This lifestyle is
appropriate for politicians, guild leaders, high priests,
and nobles.

Comfortable. Your accommodations allow you to
easily maintain your clothing and equipment, keeping
them in good repair and proper appearance. You may
have your own cottage or other living area. This
lifestyle is appropriate for merchants, skilled
tradespeople, and military officers.

Modest. You can afford to live in a part of town
where violence is not common. Your living conditions
are clean, but simple. This lifestyle is appropriate for
soldiers with families, laborers, students, priests, and
hedge wizards.

Poor. A stable option, this lifestyle provides the
bare necessities for civilized society. Your threadbare
clothing still betrays your status as one of the poor
inhabitants of the area, but you are not kicked out of
shops or denied the protection of the law. This lifestyle
is appropriate for unskilled laborers, street venders
and peddlers, thieves, and mercenaries.

Squalid. This lifestyle provides the most basic
form of shelter, a hut, a boarding closet, or a
temporary shelter run by a local temple. The food is
barely palatable and hardly nutritious. This lifestyle is
appropriate for successful street gangs and other
unfortunates.

Wealthy. This lifestyle includes spacious
accommodations in a good part of town, with a healthy
(or even excessive) diet. It includes the security and
comforts available only to those with significant
wealth. This lifestyle is appropriate for successful
merchants, favored servants of nobles, or the owners
of successful businesses.

Wretched. A wretched lifestyle has no associated
cost. The character must beg, scavenge garbage, or
otherwise provide her own food from anything freely
available. Without a home, the character is exposed to
myriad dangers associated with the poorest elements
of society. This lifestyle is appropriate for beggars.

=====Food, Drink, and Lodging=====
Characters paying for days of lifestyle have food,
drink, and lodging included; the following need not be
bought separately.
====Descriptions====
Food, drink, and lodging are described below.
Ale. A sweet, full-bodied beer balanced with
fermented gruit or hops.

Banquet. A bountiful, multi-course meal suitable
for a noble’s table.

Bread. A baked mix of flour and water. Bread is a
nearly-universal food staple.

Cheese. A congealed, solid byproduct of milkfat.

Meat. Meat cooked and ready for eating.
A chunk is a cut of meat suitable for a single meal,
while a flank is a portion of the animal equivalent to
15 cuts.

Pastry (any). Pastries are flaky, baked bread
pieces containing cheese, fruit, or meat.

Spirits. An alcoholic beverage created by
distillation and fermentation, usually followed by a set
period of aging. The removal of diluting components
like water gives spirits a high alcoholic content by
volume.

Stew. A watery meal of stewed meat and
vegetables, served out of a common pot or cauldron,
typically one that simmers over a fire all day (or all
week, depending on the quality).

Wine. A common type of alcohol made from
grapes with little or no additives. The better the
production and the longer the aging, the more
expensive a bottle of wine will be. Wine is sometimes
made from different fruits, rice, or other sources.

===Food and Drink===
^ Item ^ Cost ^
| Ale |
| Mug | 4 cp |
| Gallon | 2 sp |
| Keg | 2 gp |
| Banquet (per person) | 10 gp |
| Bread, half loaf | 1 cp |
| Bread, loaf | 2 cp |
| Cheese, hunk | 1 sp |
| Cheese, wheel | 1 gp |
| Meat, chunk | 3 sp |
| Meat, flank | 3 gp |
| Pastry, fruit or cheese | 2 sp |
| Pastry, meat | 4 sp |
| Spirits |
| Common (flask) | 1 gp |
| Aged (flask) | 10 gp |
| Premium (flask) | 50 gp |
| Stew, bowl | 2 cp |
| Wine |
| Common (pitcher) | 2 sp |
| Fine (bottle) | 10 gp |
| Exceptional (bottle) | 100 gp |
===Room and Board===
^ Item ^ Cost ^
| Inn stay (per day) |
| Squalid | 7 cp |
| Poor | 1 sp |
| Modest | 5 sp |
| Comfortable | 8 sp |
| Wealthy | 2 gp |
| Aristocratic | 4 gp |
| Meals (per day) |
| Squalid | 3 cp |
| Poor | 6 cp |
| Modest | 3 sp |
| Comfortable | 5 sp |
| Wealthy | 8 sp |
| Aristocratic | 2 gp |
| Stabling (per day) |
| Poor | 5 cp |
| Comfortable | 5 sp |
| Aristocratic | 2 gp |
=====Services=====
The pay shown on the chart is a minimum; some expert
hirelings require more.
====Descriptions====
Services are described below.

Coach Cab. A coach is a passenger cart with
flexible suspension, designed to provide a smooth,
comfortable ride for passengers. A “coach-and-four”
or a “coach-and-six” are descriptions that include the
number of horses (or similar animals) pull the vehicle.

Hireling, Skilled. Skilled hirelings have training
with weapons or tools, including artisans,
mercenaries, scribes, and so on.

Skilled hirelings typically have proficiency with a
type of tool and a score of 14 in the related ability.
Skilled hirelings have the “stat blocks” of commoners.
Soldiers instead use the details for bandit, guard, or
tribal warrior. (See pages 343-350 of the Monster
Manual.)

Hireling, Untrained. Untrained hirelings
perform menial work without noteworthy skill. These
include laborers, maids, porters, and similar workers.
Untrained hirelings have the “stat blocks” of
commoners. (See page 345 of the Monster Manual.)

Hireling, Long-Term (any). Long-term hirelings
are those to whom you give steady work. You take
these people into your household or bring them along
on your adventures.

Long-term hirelings receive less pay because the
work is steady and because you are expected to see to
their room and board. If you do not supply these
things, double the cost of the hireling’s services.

Messenger. Messengers are familiar with the
area they work in and pride themselves on being able
to deliver messages quickly and to the right recipient.
They are suitably dressed to avoid trouble and to get
into places where the rabble are excluded.

Toll, Road or Gate. A common taxation system for
civilized societies includes tolls for people passing
through confined access ways like gates, bridges, and
the like. Loaded wagons are typically charged an
additional toll.

Government employees like soldiers and tax
collectors are typically exempt from tolls, as are
members of the nobility and royalty.

Ship’s Passage, Ferry Crossing. Ferries can be
private or government run. For government ferries,
the fee is typically in the nature of a toll, making some
classes of people exempt.

Ship’s Passage, Passenger Vessel. On large
rivers or the open sea, passenger vessels follow set
routes between cities or other well-inhabited points.
Passenger vessels provide a slim measure of comfort
for travelers, including food.

Ship’s Passage, Shipping Vessel. Shipping
vessels often ply routes that passenger vessels do not.
They are sometimes chosen as transport because the
fare can be had for a much lower cost. Sometimes
these lower costs include the understanding that a
passenger will work alongside the crew. The
accommodations aboard a shipping vessel are often
cramped and miserable.

===Services===
^ Service ^ Pay ^
| Coach cab |
| Between towns | 3 cp per mile |
| Within a city | 1 cp |
| Hireling, long-term |
| Skilled (groom, guard) | 1 gp per day |
| Untrained (porter, valet) | 1 sp per day |
| Hireling, short-term |
| Skilled (physiker, researcher) | 2 gp per day |
| Untrained (laborer) | 2 sp per day |
| Messenger | 2 cp per mile |
| Road or gate toll | 1 cp |
| Ship’s passage |
| Ferry crossing | 4 cp |
| Passenger vessel | 1 sp per mile |
| Shipping vessel | 1 cp per mile |

====Spellcasting Services====
Spellcasters are usually not transactional with their
magic. Nonetheless, it is possible to hire magical
services under the right circumstances.

Availability. The expected availability of a
spellcaster varies based on the local population. (See
also the Buying Power by Population chart, above.)
Cantrips and 1st-level spells are available in most
small villages, but a larger village is needed for a 2nd-level spell. Towns of various sizes will probably have
spellcasters able to manage 3rd-level and 4th-level
spells. Anything higher-level almost always requires
looking for the service in a city of some size, or
perhaps following a lead to an isolated wizard’s tower
or druid’s hermitage. Sometimes a spellcaster with
greater capabilities chooses to reside in a place with a
low population. These anti-social spellcasters tend not
to make themselves available for such services but, if
you can find one, they might be cajoled into providing
a spell.

Cost and Multiplier. The Pay column on the chart
below indicates the minimum price that spellcasters
charge for their services. The formula used here,
adopted from the Adventurers League system, is the
square of the spell’s level, multiplied by 10. For
example, 4 squared is 16, multiplied by 10 is 160. A
fourth-level spell thus costs 160 gp to have cast. This
value does not contemplate the additional expense of
costly material components.

The multiplier indicates a general rarity for the
spell’s level. If characters don’t have time to seek out
the best price, perhaps needing spells cast the same
day, multiply the base cost in the Pay column by up to
the indicated multiplier number. Spellcasters don’t
like to be rushed and are often willing to inflate their
costs to whatever the market will bear. This multiplier
can also be applied for various other reasons. Perhaps
the person seeking spellcasting services annoys the
spellcaster, or the spellcaster normally keeps his
services to members of a specific race or religion.
There are any number of reasons that such a markup
could apply; the Pay column simply represents an
ideal cost derived from ideal circumstances.

===Spellcasting Services===
^ Spell Slot ^ Pay ^ Multiplier ^ Availability ^
| Cantrip | 2 gp | x1 to x2 | Small village |
| Level 1 | 10 gp | x1 to x2 | Small village |
| Level 2 | 40 gp | x1 to x3 | Village |
| Level 3 | 90 gp | x1 to x3 | Town |
| Level 4 | 160 gp | x1 to x4 | Large town |
| Level 5 | 250 gp | x1 to x4 | City |
| Level 6 | 360 gp | x1 to x5 | City |
| Level 7 | 490 gp | x1 to x5 | Major city |
| Level 8 | 640 gp | x1 to x5 | Major city |
| Level 9 | 810 gp | x1 to x6 | Major city |

Material Components. It is typical for spellcasters to use their own material components. This ensures that the components are on hand when needed, and are of the right type and quality for the spell to succeed. If a spell requires a costly material component, the person receiving the service must bear 
the cost. This is in addition to the basic price of the
spellcasting service based on the spell’s level. When
looking for spellcasting services, it’s no good bringing
your own material components; a spellcaster that
makes her casting commercially-available has already
invested in the components and won’t look kindly on
you trying to reduce the expected fees that way.

If a costly material component is not used up in
the casting, the customer must pay one-tenth of the
component’s value. For example, the 100 gp pearl
required for an identify spell is reusable, so the caster
charges only one-tenth (10 gp) of its acquisition price.
After a while, the spellcaster may recoup the
investment cost of having such a component on hand,
and might eventually turn a small profit on it.

If the material component is one that is consumed
in the casting, the customer must pay double the
component’s value. For example, the 500 gp value in
diamonds needed for a raise dead spell would require
the buyer to lay out double the expense (1,000 gp).
Casters who market their spells invest serious coin to
acquire these components, tying up that wealth until
the right customer comes along. They expect to be
compensated for holding onto these expensive
inventories, having them ready at a moment’s notice.

Gratis Spellcasting. Some spellcasters will
perform these services without collecting the price on
the Pay column. This often means a local cleric who
uses spells to support and assist a congregation. A
member of a faith who finds the right temple can
expect to receive low-level spellcasting assistance for
free, the only cost being the basic value of any costly
material components consumed in the casting. Many
clerics see this sort of thing as their duty and don’t
mind supplicants who supply their own material
components. Some clerics also see this as a great
opportunity to proselytize, not restricting their services
to worshipers of their own deity.

Another way to get free spellcasting is to perform
tasks or quests for the spellcaster. This is a
particularly-appropriate exchange when the spell
needed is a high level and the characters are too low
level to afford it. For example, if a low-level party
needs a member raised from the dead, they might need
to go on a quest to repay the cleric who casts the spell.
(In this case, the cleric might cast the spell first, on
condition that the party complete the quest, taking this
“payment” after casting so they have better odds of
success.)

Wish Spells. Because there is a 33% chance that a
spellcaster casting wish will never be able to cast the
spell again, this spell is essentially unavailable for
purchase through spellcasting services. This “finality
effect” does not apply when duplicating other spells,
so a spellcaster might be hired to cast wish with the
spell-duplication functionality. This might be useful
when only a wizard is available for hire and the party
needs a cleric spell cast. Otherwise, the party could
simply pay the lower cost to have the lower level spell
cast directly.

=====Maintenance Costs=====
Among the most notable expenses are the extensive
maintenance costs for properties, garrisons, and
businesses.

A small chart in the Dungeon Master’s Guide on page 127 reflects costs for structural maintenance. But normally, such facilities produce more income or tax revenues than their maintenance costs, so this chart is only showing half of the picture.

Properties and other investments, including their maintenance costs and returns, are more fully addressed in Investments.