A Money System for Exalted

While I've found the money system used in Exalted worked well in my various past Storyteller system games, I like something a bit crunchier for my Exalted Games. I've run through various byzantine versions of this system, and this is the current iteration.

Edition Notes

8/20/04 -- Made some revisions due to deciding I wanted better coin names and to simplify one or two bits while making other things more complicated.

The Coins

Imperial coinage is the standard of the world; while every nation issues its own coins, the Realm's money is accepted everywhere and tends to define all other money systems.

Each category of coins is worth 10 of the one below it.

Copper Yen: The Copper Yen is a small copper coin about the size of a RL penny; it is embossed with the mint mark on one side, and the word ‘Yen’ on the other. Many farmers will rarely ever touch a coin beyond this one. On the other hand, it means almost every farmer knows how to write ‘Yen’.
Silver Obol: The Silver Obol has the mint mark on one side and the word ‘Obol’ on the other. It is about the size of a RL quarter. A lot of petty mercantile business is transacted largely in Silver Obols.
Golden Shekel: The Golden Shekel has the mint mark on one side and the word ‘Shekel’ on the other. It is about the size of a silver or golden dollar. Many mid-level transactions are carried out in gold.
Jade Koban: The Jade Koban is a Jade coin about the size of a dime. It is typically embossed with the symbol of the element of Jade that it is made from. 25 Jade Koban together weigh one pound. Jade Kobans are issued in two forms: Coins and Bars. The Solo (1), Fang (5), and Scale (25) Koban come as coins. The Talon (125), Dragon (500), Talent (1000), and Legion (5000) come as bars. It is common, however, to issue and trade ‘Scrip’, which is a form of paper money backed by bars of talents. Scrip is especially used by Merchants and in the realm due to certain Restrictions, seen below.

The Koku

The Koku is a unit of account in the Realm, not an actual coin, used for computing taxes and certain duties. Technically, ‘one Koku = about five bushels of grain’—rice, wheat, mullet, etc. It is one year’s supply of grain for one person. One Koku is worth 50 Copper Yen or 5 Silver Obols. Every peasant pays about one Koku worth of his produce as taxes, rents, fees, out of an average income of 3 Koku.

The Koku is frequently used as a unit of account for measuring both income and for measuring salaries. In regions low on money, it may be used as a literal form of currency as well.

Resources 1--3 Koku / year
Resources 2--30 Koku / year
Resources 3--300 Koku / Year
Resources 4--3000 Koku / Year
Resources 5--30,000 Koku / year

Sumptuary Laws, The Guild, The Realm, and Paper Money

The Realm forbids anyone lower in rank than a Patrician to touch Jade. There are no restrictions, however, on touching paper money backed by Jade. The result is the heavy use of paper money for mercantile and large-scale dynastic transactions. Paper Money exists both for Gold and Jade; it is rarely used with Silver and Copper.

Any transaction involving weapons, armor, artifacts, sorcery, and certain other activities must be conducted in Jade; licensed thaumaturges take payment in gold and silver, because they are mortals.

Outside the Realm, Realm tributaries abide by the Realm’s laws on who can touch Jade and make heavy use of Realm Scrip. Outside those areas, the paper money of the Guild, usually based on Gold, is common. Many kingdoms issue their own coins, but they usually follow the Realm’s model.

Resources

Each level of Resources gives you a certain level of steady income, and a certain amount of savings at character creation.

Resources 1: 10 Copper Yen / Month
Resources 2: 10 Silver Obols / Month
Resources 3: 10 Golden Shekels / Month
Resources 4: 10 Jade Kobans / Month
Resources 5: 100 Jade Kobans / Month

You begin with savings equal to three months disposable income (calculated as if you had lived at that Lifestyle level for those 3 months).

Resources 1: 6 Copper Yen
Resources 2: 9 Silver Obols
Resources 3: 12 Golden Shekels
Resources 4: 15 Jade Kobans
Resources 5: 180 Jade Kobans

Lifestyles

There are six levels of lifestyles. If you are living in civilized company, you need to spend a certain amount of money each month to maintain that lifestyle. Otherwise, you will have to spend less and live more poorly with all the problems thereunto.

You are assumed to be living at a life style equal to your resources at character generation.

It costs this much to support the life style for one month:

Lifestyle 0: 'Free'
Lifestyle 1: 8 Copper Yen
Lifestyle 2: 7 Silver Obols
Lifestyle 3: 6 Golden Shekels
Lifestyle 4: 5 Jade Kobans
Lifestyle 5: 40 Jade Kobans

Resources 0 lifestyle is that of the penniless beggar. You wear tattered rags and crouch in an alley. You smell bad, you have no food, and you are probably sick. A character who begins play with no resources has nothing but the clothing on his back and whatever he can convince the Storyteller he managed to steal. But hey, it's free.

Because you live in the gutter and don't eat adequately, you must check for infection every week at a difficulty of 2. You suffer two penalty dice to all resistance and endurance checks, because you aren't eating enough.

Resources 1 lifestyles (Marginal)

Earn 10 Copper Yen a month.
It costs 8 Copper YenJohnBiles/Month to live a Marginal Life Style.
This means you effectively have 2 Copper Yen/month disposable income.
You live in a hovel or a one-room apartment, you have one suit of clothing, and you have a few tools suitable to your trade. CHEAP tools.
You must check once a month for infection, difficulty 1.
You eat enough to survive. Just not to survive tremendously well. You suffer one penalty die to all resistance and endurance checks, because you aren't eating enough.

Examples of Resources 1 Lifestyles: Poor Farmer, Day Laborer, Common Foot Soldier, Apprentice, struggling peddlar

Resources 2 lifestyles (Comfortable)

Earn 10 Silver Obols a month.
It costs 7 Silver ObolsJohnBiles/Month to live a Comfortable Life Style.
This means you effectively have 3 Silver Obols/month disposable income.
You have a nice little farmhouse or a small multi-room apartment. You own decent tools relevant to your trades, and you have several sets of clothing, though most days you wear the work clothes.
You eat meat every day. Maybe only once a day, but you get plenty of bread, vegetables, fruit, and cheese too. You can afford to buy some sugar for special occasions.
You eat well enough and live in a clean enough space that you are not much more prone to get sick than those of higher lifestyles.

Examples of Resources 2 Lifestyles: Successful Farmer, Artisan of Middling Skill, low-ranking Military officer, recently-graduated Dragonblooded on initial stipend, lowest level government bureaucrat, successful peddlar

Resources 3 lifestyles

Earn 10 Gold Shekels a month.
It costs 6 Golden ShekelsJohnBiles/Month to live an affluent Life Style.
This means you effectively have 4 Gold Shekels/month disposable income.
You live in a substantial farm house or else a small city townhouse, which is probably a large apartment over your ground floor workshop or store. You have a nice set of formal clothes, several sets of reasonably nice clothing for business situations, and some casual clothing as well. You have all the tools of your trade, well made.
You eat three meals a day and can have meat at all of them if you like. You can afford to drink reasonable amounts of wine if you want to. And you can afford to have some sort of small dessert with every meal.

Examples of Resources 3 Lifestyles: Prosperous Farmer, Master Artisan, mid-ranking Military officer, stipend level of experienced Dragonblooded, average government bureaucrat, local merchant

Resources 4 lifestyles (Wealthy)

Earn 10 Jade Kobans a month.
It costs 5 Jade KobansJohnBiles/Month to live a Wealthy Life Style.
This means you effectively have 5 Jade Kobans/month disposable income.
You have a substantial town house or a small country villa, with servants. You have multiple high quality outfits, and many, many others suitable for your normal hob-nobbing.
You have a riding horse and stable. You may have serval horses and a carriage.
You eat very well, drinking as much wine as you like and consuming sweets as you desire.

Examples of Resources 4 Lifestyles: High-Ranking Bureaucrat, stipend level of elder Dragon-Blooded, landed nobles, Wealthy Merchant, high-ranking Military officers

Resources 5 lifestyles (Very Rich)

Earn 100 Jade Kobans a month.
It costs 40 Jade KobansJohnBiles/Month to live a Very Rich Life Style.
This means you have 60 Jade Pieces of disposable income each month.
Your home is a small palace, city or country, and you have a small fleet of servants who tend to your needs. You dress like a king.
You also eat like a king.
You have multiple horses, several carriages and possibly some exotic pets.

Examples of Resources 5 Lifestyles: Powerful landed nobles, top-ranking Guild members, heads of Realm bureaucratic branches, Imperial Satraps,

Prices

You can convert standard prices with the following table; the prices here have sometimes been tweaked a bit for various reasons.

A General Guideline:

Resources 1 is 1 Silver Obol
Resources 2 is 1 Golden Shekel
Resources 3 is 1 Jade Koban
Resources 4 is 10 Jade Kobans
Resources 5 is 100 Jade Kobans

Clothing and Jewelry:

Monk Robes and Potato Sacks: 1 Copper Yen
Plain Clothing: 1 Silver Obol
Fancy Clothing (Custom Tailored): 1 Gold Shekel
Courtly Clothing (Silk): 1 Jade Koban
Royal Raiment (Cloth of Gold studded with Gems): 10 Jade Kobans
Sturdy SYen: 5 Copper Yen
Sturdy Boots: 1 Silver Obol
Nice SYen: 5 Silver Obols
Nice Boots: 1 Gold Shekel
Exotic Substance Boots: 5 Gold Shekels and up.

Peasant Jewelry (Carved wood or worked iron): 1 Silver Obol
Commoner Jewelry (engraved copper): 1 Gold Shekel
Noble Jewelry (Silver and pinhead gems): 1 Jade Koban
Royal Jewelry (Gold and pea-sized gems): 10 Jade Kobans
Imperial Jewelry (Orichalcum and Pigeon's egg gems): 100 Jade Kobans

Religious Iconography and Decorations:

Small Copper Statuette: 1 Silver Obol
Small Silver Statuette: 1 Gold Shekel
Small Gold Statuette: 1 Jade Koban
Small Jade Statuette (thin layer): 10 Jade Kobans
Small Solid Jade Statuette: 100 Jade Kobans

Simple Tapestry: 1 Gold Shekel
Nice Tapestry: 1 Jade Koban
Ornate Tapestry: 10 Jade Kobans
Regal Tapestry: 100+ Jade Kobans

Expected Donative at Immaculate Temple to get Special Treatment:

Resources 1: 2 Copper Yen
Resources 2: 4 Silver Obols
Resources 3: 6 Gold Shekels
Resources 4: 8 Jade Kobans
Resources 5: 100 Jade Kobans

(Halve that for normal treatment. Donating below that on a visit tends to earn displeasure.)

Slaves, Animals, and Professional Services

Unskilled Slave:
- Purchase: 1 Golden Shekel
- Monthly Support: 8 Copper Yen
Skilled Slave (Elite level skills)
- Purchase: 1 Jade Koban
- Monthly Support: 7 Silver Obols
Average Concubine:
- Purchase: 1 Jade Koban
- Monthly Support: 7 Silver Obols
Elite Concubine:
- Purchase: 10 Jade Koban
- Monthly Support: 6 Gold Shekels
Mongrel Pet (Dog, cat, fish, etc) or small farm animal (chicken)
- Purchase: 3 Copper Yen or even less if you just find one on the street
- Monthly Support: 4 Copper Yen, possibly less if catches own food
Pure-Bred Pet (Dog, cat, fish, etc)
- Purchase: Anywhere from 1 Silver Obol to 1 Jade Koban depending on breeding level and rarity
- Monthly Support: 1 Silver Obol, possibly more if you want the best food or less if it hunts a lot.
Domestic Animal (Horse, camel, ox, pig)
- Purchase: 1 Gold Shekel
- Monthly Support: 1 Silver Obol / 1 Gold Shekel if huge (elephants and the like)
- Stabling CostJohnBiles/Week with food away from home: 1 Gold Shekel, so 4 Gold ShekelsJohnBiles/Month away from home
Fine CamelJohnBiles/etc
- Purchase: 1 Jade Koban
- Monthly Support: 1 Silver Obol
- Stabling CostJohnBiles/Week with food away from home: 1 Jade Koban, so 4 Jade KobansJohnBiles/Month away from home

Saddle and Tack (Basic): 1 Gold Shekel
Fancy Saddle and Tack: 1 Jade Koban

Shave and a Haircut: 1 Copper Yen
Respectable Grooming: 1 Silver Obol
A day at the high-class salon: 1 Gold Shekel
A day at the exclusive Salon: 1 Jade Koban

Retain a low-end Lawyer (per day): 4 Silver Obols
Retain a low-end Lawyer (per month): 1 Jade Koban
Retain a middling Lawyer (per day): 4 Gold Shekels
Retain a middling Lawyer (per month): 10 Jade Kobans
Retain a high-end Lawyer (per day): 4 Jade Kobans
Retain a high-end Lawyer (per month): 100 Jade Kobans

These prices assume you have the lawyer's full attention due to legal action in progress. Many people who need a lawyer a little frequently, but not in large amounts, make contracts for a 4-day retainer, where the lawyer bills them for 4 days work a month and is constantly engaged in various low-level legal work for them.

Retain a professional Thaumaturge for a day: 4 Silver Obols
Retain a professional Thaumaturge for a month: 1 Jade Koban
Retain a junior Sorceror for a day: 4 Gold Shekels
Retain a junior Sorceror for a month: 10 Jade Kobans
Retain a senior Sorceror for a day: 4 Jade Kobans
Retain a senior Sorceror for a month: 100 Jade Kobans

Hire a bodyguard (elite mortal) for a day: 1 Gold Shekel
Hire a bodyguard (elite mortal) for a month: 2 Jade Kobans, 5 Gold Shekels
Hire an elite bodyguard (heroic mortal or junior DB) for a day: 1 Jade Koban
Hire an elite bodyguard (heroic mortal or junior DB) for a month: 25 Jade Kobans

General Guideline:

Retain someone with an ability at 1 for a month: 1 Silver Obol
Retain someone with an ability at 2 for a day: 4 Copper Yen
Retain someone with an ability at 2 for a month: 1 Gold Shekel
Retain someone with an ability at 3 for a day: 4 Silver Obols
Retain someone with an ability at 3 for a month: 1 Jade Koban
Retain someone with an ability at 4 for a day: 1 Gold Shekel
Retain someone with an ability at 4 a month: 3 Jade Kobans
Retain someone with an ability at 5 for a day: 4 Gold Shekels
Retain someone with an ability at 5 for a month: 10 Jade Kobans

This should be adjusted for how common the ability is. Lawyers are rare; farmers are common.

Ships and Property:

Buy a small farm you can work to get Resources 1: 9 Koku (45 Silver Obols)
Buy a Farm that Conveys Resources 2: 90 Koku (45 Gold Shekels
Buy an Estate that conveys Resources 3: 900 Koku (45 Jade Kobans)
Buy an Estate that conveys Resources 4: 9000 Koku (450 Jade Kobans)
Buy a swathe of Estates that convey Resources 5: 90,000 Koku (4500 Jade Kobans)

Purchased land normally comes with an already built house on it, which may need renovations.

Setup a small workshop (R2): 1 Jade Koban
Setup a master's workshop (R3): 10 Jade Kobans
Setup a large workshop (R4); 100 Jade Kobans

Build a small hovel (R1 dwelling): 1 Golden Shekel
Build a nice farm house (R2 dwelling): 1 Jade Koban
Build a shop with upper living area or a very small country villa (R3 dwelling): 10 Jade Kobans
Build a Townhouse or Country Villa (R4 Dwelling): 100 Jade Kobans
Build a Palace (R5 dwelling): 1000 Jade Kobans

Spartanly Furnish an R1 Dwelling: 1 Copper Yen
Plushly Furnish an R1 Dwelling: 1 Silver Obol
Spartanly Furnish an R2 Dwelling: 1 Silver Obol
Plushly Furnish an R2 Dwelling: 1 Gold Shekel
Spartanly Furnish an R3 Dwelling: 1 Gold Shekel
Plushly Furnish an R3 Dwelling: 1 Jade Koban
Spartanly Furnish an R4 Dwelling: 1 Jade Koban
Plushly Furnish an R4 Dwelling: 10 Jade Kobans
Spartanly Furnish an R5 Dwelling: 10 Jade Kobans
Plushly Furnish an R5 Dwelling: 100 Jade Kobans

(Note on Staffing—These costs are built into the Resources background, so this applies if you are operating sans resources or decide to build extra shops, etc, etc.)

Staff a Master's Shop (R3 Dwelling): 2 Gold Shekels
Staff a Townhouse or Country Villa (R4 dwelling): 2 Jade Kobans
Staff a Palace (R5 Dwelling): 20 Jade Kobans

R1 Feast for 25: 1 Copper Yen
R2 Feast for 25: 1 Silver Obol
R3 Feast for 25: 1 Gold Shekel
R4 Feast for 25: 1 Jade Koban
R5 Feast for 25: 10 Jade Kobans

R1 Entertainment for 25: 1 Copper Yen
R2 Entertainment for 25: 5 Copper Yen
R3 Entertainment for 25: 5 Silver Obols
R4 Entertainment for 25: 5 Gold Shekels
R5 Entertainment for 25: 5 Jade Kobans

Manses:

Erect a Level 1 Manse: 10 Jade Kobans
Erect a Level 2 Manse: 30 Jade Kobans
Erect a Level 3 Manse: 60 Jade Kobans
Erect a Level 4 Manse: 100 Jade Kobans
Erect a Level 5 Manse: 300 Jade Kobans

Travel:

Inner Sea (Stuffed in Hold): 1 Copper Yen / 40 miles
Inner Sea (Comfortable): 1 Copper Yen / 10 miles
Other Waters (Stuffed in Hold): 1 Copper Yen / 10 miles
Other Waters (Comfortable): 1 Copper Yen / 2 miles

Buy a fishing boat: 1 Golden Shekel
Buy a small sailing ship: 1 Jade Koban
- Crew and provender small. Ship: 1 Jade Koban
Buy a Yacht or medium sailing ship: 10 Jade Kobans
- Crew and Provender Yacht: 1 Jade Koban
- Crew and provender med. Ship: 10 Jade Kobans

Mercenary Forces:

Fang costs 5 Silver Obols / Month
Scale costs 3 Gold Shekels, 5 Silver Obols / Month
Talon costs 1 Jade Koban, 8 Golden Shekels, and 5 Silver Obols / Month
Wing costs 4 Jade Kobans, 7 Golden Shekels / Month
Dragon costs 10 Jade Kobans, 4 Golden Shekels/ Month
Legion costs 114 Jade Kobans / Month

Multiply the cost by 10 for Elite Forces

Realm Expenses:

Price of Commission (Fang): 2 Silver Obols
Price of Commission (Scale or Talon): 2 Gold Shekels
Price of Commission (Wing or Dragon): 2 Jade Kobans
Price of Commission (Legion): 20 Jade Kobans

Donatives to buy a petty Imperial office: 2 Gold Shekels
Donatives to be named to a significant prefectural level office: 2 Jade Kobans
Donatives to be named an Imperial Prefect: 20+ Jade Kobans
Donatives to be named an Imperial Satrap: 200+ Jade Kobans

Education for child at a good Primary School: 1 Gold Shekel per month
Education for child at an excellent Primary School: 3-5 Gold Shekels per month

Education for child at one of the four elite secondary schools: 2 Jade Kobans per month

Artifacts:

Level 1: 3 Golden Shekels
Level 2: 3 Jade Kobans
Level 3: 30 Jade Kobans
Level 4: 300 Jade Kobans
Level 5: Usually not for sale.

Mundane Weapons and Armor:

Level 1: 2 Silver Obols
Level 2: 2 Gold Shekels
Level 3: 2 Jade Kobans
Level 4: 20 Jade Kobans
Level 5: 200 Jade Kobans

Step the Level Up by one if the item is exceptional quality.

The System in Use

Thoric is an ex-Patrician who has fled the Realm after his Solar Exaltation. Fortunately for Thoric, he managed to make arrangements before this which gave him Resources 3, thanks to some wise investments. He lives about as well as an experienced Dragon-blooded.

This means Thoric has an income of 10 Gold Shekels a month, of which he has to spend 6 a month to keep his Affluent lifestyle, giving him 4 Gold Shekels a month of disposable income. He has 12 Gold Shekels in savings.

Let's say Thoric decides to buy a Straight Sword. That's a Resources 2 item, so it costs 2 Gold Shekels. He can easily aford that. But if he wanted a Chopping sword, which is resources 3, he would need to cough up 2 Jade Kobans (20 Gold Shekels). This would bankrupt him and send him into debt; he may need to buy that on the installment plan.

If Thoric decides to throw a party for his 25 closest friends, that will cost him 1 Gold Shekel for the food, and 5 Silver Obols for the entertainment. He can't afford to do that every day, but he can afford to throw a few parties.

Banking and Mercantile Transactions and Taxation

Banking in the Realm is both easy and difficult at once. It is easy if you are a Dragon-blooded and chose your customers wisely; it is difficult if you are a mortal or a foolish Dragon-Blooded. Most successful bankers cater to a specific house and make sure the head of that house is on their side, paying whatever level of bribes is necessary. Mortal bankers generally only prosper by avoiding much Dragon-blooded notice, as Dragon-Blooded have a tendency to default on loans and to try to require people to 'lend' them money.

Most bankers are either wealthy Dragon-Blooded who loan out money to their fellow nobles, or wealthy mortal merchants who run moneylending as a side business. Some unscrupulous members of the Thousand Scales also engage in money-lending from the public coffers.

Interest rates vary from friendly (about 5%) to average (10%) to extortionate (20% or more), generally varying according to how trustworthy the person being lent money appears to be. Mortals being lent money by Dragon-Blooded usually end up paying higher interest rates as well.

Money-Lending is not always voluntary; many mortal merchants get shaken down to a greater or lesser extent by the Houses; in the past, those with connections could appeal to the Thousand Scales in some cases, but these days, there are few to protect them.

The highest levels of Realm commerce make a fair amount of use of paper credit, which is then converted to coinage at the end of each month; below that level, most mercantile business is done either directly in coin or in very short-term paper exchange. Such paper credit is essentially a transferrable IOU.

Taxation in the Realm is more regular than outside it, though various aspects of its system are common outside it. There are two primary components of the Realm's taxation—Land Tax and Commerce Tax. Land Tax is assessed as a percentage of the value of land. Before the Empress vanished, fairly realistic assessments of the value of noble and peasant lands had been made. Nobles typically each paid a percentage of the value of their estates, while peasants were typically grouped into villages which were assessed a collective flat tax, which they raised in whatever manner they saw fit. There was some degree of tax evasion, but evaluations were regularly updated. There has not been a proper census since the Empress vanished, and now reality and the evaluations are drifting out of line, especially as more and more assessors take bribes to tamper with the records. This is especially bad for peasants in villages which are not prospering (and many are not), as they are stuck paying taxes they increasingly cannot afford.

The other major source of taxes is on commerce. Imports and exports are taxed, and some roads charge tolls on merchants. The latter is becoming more common, while the former is becoming harsher, but also more irregular. The Realm also sometimes issues 'monopolies', grants of exclusive rights to a field of commerce in some limited area. The guilds in major cities all have monopolies. A yearly fee is paid to keep the monopoly.

In addition, there are a variety of fees for government services, court fees, and licenses.

For peasants another common form of taxation is rents. Most villages have long-standing agreements with some house or noble to whom they pay rent, usually either a fixed amount for the whole village or individual rents. In both cases, this often takes the form of some percentage of the harvest.

Most adventurers will only end up paying taxes if they go into commerce or land ownership. There is no 'income tax' in the Realm, simply because it would be too hard to track, given the state of bookkeeping and the irregular nature of many incomes. Tolls and in some cases, licenses are the most common. Basic taxation is figured into the costs to maintain a given lifestyle.

Outside the Realm, taxes vary hugely from location to location, too much to give many details.

Like Familiars, I'm pretty sure other people have toyed with this before, just in case you want to check out their ideas. Only one I can remember by name is LorienFeanturi/Microeconomy. I'm pretty sure there's a Discussion too.
~ Shataina

I've seen a couple of systems around which helped inspire me to develop this, yeah. JohnBiles

JohnBiles/MoneySystem

Contents