APPR Optimization

Optimization of the Alternate Pathfinder Profession Ruleset:

The APPR allows a PC to set up a shop or shopfront in any reasonable environment, usually a town or city matching what they have available. (No opening a guild hall in a town of 5, PC's) The associated costs of doing so are based on the ranks in the profession the PC has, and the size of the business in question, ranging from Mobile to Large. Each size increase further increases the profit of the business by a factor of ten, with the exception of the mobile business. For the sake of this optimization, we will be using a small business unless otherwise denoted.

Running the business to determine profits relies upon the number of assistants the PC has, with each assistant removing the need for the PC to be present 25% of the time while imposing a -1 penalty on the resulting Skill Check for profits, with each business having a minimum and maximum number of employees. Again, unless otherwise denoted, we will be assuming a business with 4 employees, so the PC may go about his business unhindered.
—-------------------------------------

Determination of the monthly profit of a business is determined by a Skill Check of the associated Profession, with modifiers as follows:

Ranks in the Skill THAT HAVE BEEN PAID FOR (discussed below)
Masterwork Bonus (Below)
Wisdom Modifier
Class Skill adjustment
Magical Bonus (Below)
-1 For each assistant (-4 for our purposes)

This result is then multiplied by the profit factor of the business's size (in ascending order: 5, 10, 100, 1000) to determine monthly profits.

Ex: We have a business of Rank 2, with a Wis modifier of 1, non-masterwork, no magic, 4 assistants, class skill. Taking the average roll of 11 gives us 11-4=7 plus 3 plus 2 plus 1 = 13, multiplied by 10 for a profit of 130 gp on average


These modifiers are the core of optimizing this ruleset, and we will examine each below.

Note: The minimum rank for setting up a business is effectively 2, so this is our base cost no matter what.

—--------------------------------


Ranks: These are the core of the setup cost, with each rank costing 10x the monthly profit factor of the business's size. With a basic setup necessity of 2 ranks, the remaining ranks each require at least 10 in game months to return the amount spent on them.
Judgment: Only buy ranks if you are sure 11 or more in game months remain, or you will not make your money back.
—----------
Masterwork: By multiplying the Rank cost by 1.25, you can gain a +2 bonus on the monthly check. This equates to an extra 20 gold per month for a small business, at a setup cost of 50 gold, plus 25 per rank purchased. Thus requiring 2.5 in-game months to pay for itself.

Judgment: Well worth the extra expenditure.
—----------------------
Wisdom Modifier: This is effectively free, requiring no expenses on the part of the pc.

Judgment: Nice to have, but unless you are a Wis Class, don't focus it just to get some extra cash.
—---------------------------------
Class Skill: Free, given you have to have a rank in profession just to make the shop. This amounts to an extra plus 3 on any store except that run by a Barbarian.

Judgment: Why would you take profession as a Barbarian anyways?
—---------------------
Magic: This is where things get sticky, as Magic Items do not make their money back for a small business very quickly, requiring multiple months. Ex: A +1 magic skill boost costs 100 gp. This needs 10 months to make back.

However, when one chooses to upgrade to medium or large, this changes, and magic boosts quickly pay for themselves. For a medium business, a skill item pays for itself in an equal number of months to the boost, and for a large it pays for itself in a number of months divided by 10.

Please note this assumes Buying the item, not crafting it. If one is crafting the item, halve all monthly requirements for magic before profit is made.

Judgment: Skip this for a small business, but a medium or large can make bank with these.
—-----------------------------------------

With this in mind, we can conclude that, until the PC can afford to run a Medium-sized business, the optimal business setup can be achieved at level 2: Purchase two Masterwork ranks and hire 2 extra assistants for a small business. The masterwork ranks combine with the two ranks to negate the extra assistance penalty. This leaves a monthly skill check of 1d20+3+Wis, for an average of 140 gp (plus Wis x 10) per in-game month, with additional ranks purchased IFF the game goes on longer than 10 in game months.

This allows a lvl2 PC to live a Wealthy lifestyle and turn a profit of 40 gp per month (at the risk of not making enough) or an average lifestyle and make a profit of 130 gp per month, with minimum profits of 30 gp.