Finding Things

Here's part of an idea I'm working on: a unified research, training, and advertising costs table. The idea: roll 2d6 once, secretly, to get the total cost. Players don't know how much it will cost: they can give up too soon, or overspend without realizing it. Very common things, like putting the word out that you are looking for porters and teamsters to take care of gear during an expedition, cost one-tenth as much as the listed price; building a magical library or searching  for a rare ingredient, on the other hand, costs ten times as much.

Research/Training Costs

2d6	Base Cost	3rd Level	5th Level
2	1,000	4,000	16,000
3-5	850	3,400	13,600
6-8	450	1,800	7,200
9-11	150	600	2,400
12+	30	120	480

The columns are rated by level. Since it's really easy to double a number, the even numbered levels were skipped: double the base cost for researching a second level spell, for example.

Spells are the main thing that are rated by level, but a few other things could be, too. For example, unusual hirelings might have level ratings. Digging for information about something that has a level rating -- villain, dungeon level -- might be equivalent to half the target's rating, so an eyewitness account of someone who's been to the fifth level of the Scary Dungeon might be 2nd level information. Things that cause damage are effectively one level per dice of damage. Most non-magical things, however, will all be lumped together as 1st level.