Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Vyshaan 03-17-06, 01:54 AM	More Wal-Mart fun... Money makes the World Go Round. Here's how to get all of it. Well not all. Just most. The most profitable business in the DMG II is a shop. This is because it has low resources and high risk, which means you have virtually no operating costs. High risk is the most important, because assuming you make your profit check by 2, it provides far more cash than a medium business. Low resources means you get a +1 to your check. Now, as long as your passing your checks, its most profitable to place your business in the wilderness (assuming you're not paying for your building, see below). This is because you can afford 16 shops in the middle of no where as you could in Waterdeep. So, even though a shop in waterdeep will make more than 700 gold than a shop in the High Forest, 16 shops selling to wood cutters will make 800 gold x the success on your check, so even one success will earn you more than you would have gotten if you put that shop in a city. Also, the single most important feat for this build is Landlord, from the Hero-Builder's guildbook. This feat allows you, at 20th level to get 800 of these shops for only the cost of your initial capital (2,000 gold). You're going to need three skills: Profession (Shopkeeper), Appraise, and Sense Motive. As a matter of pride... I am not going to increase this check with aid another checks or other optimization tricks, because then this is no challenge. At 20th level, this will be 23 for shopkeeper, and the other two at 15. Also, I'm going to keep it elf, but whatever race can give you the highest ratio of wisdom bonus to level adjustment will of course give you the best check. Your Wisdom will be 34 (and you're going to sorely miss the 163,500 in gold it cost you, it won't be for long)You're going to be a Merchant Prince, by the way, which will give you a +2 bonus to your checks, +3 for the Skill Focus required, +2 for Favored in Guild, Business Saavy and Master of Commerce (class ability) that gives you a +12 bonus total, and buy and item for +15 in a skill (the max offered in the DMG, although I suppose I could buy higher) for 22,500 (or 186K of your starting cash, total). Now, your skill check for Profit is 23+12+2+3+2+12+15, or +67. Now, factor in specialists (always take 5 specialists for a high risk business... every specialist bestows a +2, which nets you 100 gold for a high risk business. Your fifth specialist costs 90 gold, so your six would cost you more than you make). Five specialists cost 250 gold (which is like a -5 penalty) and gives you a +10, so you can just add +5, or +72. You have +3 ranks in the secondary skills, and you are, of course, in a guild, +1, and this is a low risk business, which adds up to +4 or 76. Your specialists can make one aid another check to increase a profit check as well (I'm going to assume you can only get that modifier once, since its on Table 6-5 in the DMG II). So you get a +78. Subtract 10 for being in the wilderness, or +68 Now, remember there's a time constraint. If you do nothing but aid your businesses' growth, and are an elf (4 hours of sleep a night), you have 20 hours a day, and 30 days a month (thereabouts) to spend on your business. That means you have 600 hours, or 75 businesses a month, on which you can avoid the negative -8 penalty for neglecting your business. But this will be a while before you need to worry about it. Now, you have spent 186 K, and have 574K to play with. So... buy 287 shops. With a +68 check on the seventy-five shops, you can take 10 and get a check of 78, or 2650 per shop (78-25=53*50) for a total of 198,750 gold. The remaining 212 shops each have a -8 profit check penalty, and only earn 1850 per shop, or 392,200 gold. So 590,950 gold per month. Which you can then reinvest... buying 285 more shops (and having 950 left over). The next month you make 1,118,200 gold. You can buy 911 shops (you'll only have 150 gold but oh well, wait a month) because the cost goes up to 3K per shop after 800. All you need for this to work is wilderness... actual economics are not really considered in the game rules. 911 shops earn about 1.7 million... if you keep investing, you can get 71,103 shops (you'll be selling to mermen by then, maybe, but hey, that's wilderness) in a year. At that point, your making over 1.3 billion a month. Also, if you have Leadership, all your social skills are made with an influence bonus in five or six figures, so you can probably get good discounts at your local market, too.
DDogwood 03-17-06, 10:47 AM	I don't have the DMG II, but I find this highly amusing. The idea that a shop is the most profitable business available is funny, and the idea that you can make a shop more profitable by sticking it out in the middle of the forest is even funnier. I don't think I will be able to convince my boss that we should start opening shops in the wilderness and staffing them with highly-trained specialists, though.
frayedknot 03-17-06, 11:12 AM	Vyshaan you are my hero. :cheer: :w00t: :dancin:
Vyshaan 03-17-06, 11:17 AM	Vyshaan you are my hero. :cheer: :w00t: :dancin: Thank you :)
Endarire 03-18-06, 02:50 AM	So very LOL. -EE
tsuyoshikentsu 03-18-06, 11:46 PM	Minor point of contention: Landlord is from the Stronghold Builder's Guidebook. Other than that, I applaud your work on economic theory. I hereby dub you Adam "Vyshaan" Smith, D&D economist.
Vaelan 03-19-06, 02:48 AM	You're ignoring Business Events. Since you're running high-risk businesses, you'd normally incur 2 per month for each of your businesses. Not only do Business Events slow down your profits considerably, but they also begin to kill your empire the moment you stop expanding as there are events that require interminable payments and you'll hit them multiple times per month.
Endarire 03-19-06, 03:41 PM	A ring of sustenance would grant you two more hours daily to devote to your empire. -EE
Vorlir 03-19-06, 04:22 PM	I'm sure your friendly neighborhood orc/goblin/dragon/ogre/giant/etc. would appreciate that shop as well and would pay well too
Aeson 11-22-06, 11:52 AM	Monopoly in Faerun. Buy houses or buildings and rent them. See if you can own all of Park Place and Boardwalk.
ChristopherGroves 11-22-06, 11:58 AM	Hmmm. Wonder if this has the same restrictions as craft / etc. that started to arise because of the non-sleeping Warforged. If not, the Warforged Mercantile Exchange nets you all 24 hours of solid work. Booyah.
skydragonknight 11-22-06, 03:08 PM	1. Hold bi-weekly meetings with your management staff on the Astral Plane so that you can keep all your affairs in order and use the least amount of time doing so. Might want to buy property there as well. 2. Buy out the gnome inventors and patent anything they invent so that you get a cut of the profit. 3. It is absolutely necessary that you buy out the entertainment industry of your planet. Entertainment= bars/pubs next to your shop = drunken populace who get a penalty on the save for the suggestion spell the bards who work for you give them to buy from your shop. :D