D&D 5E silver standard

[pukunui]

Every so often I come across someone who says they've switched to a silver standard for their D&D economy instead of the default gold standard. For some reason, the idea appeals to me, although I'm not entirely sure why, because I don't know what all it entails. Would someone please be so kind as to enlighten me? Thanks.

 

[Wik]

Well, when I did it, I just made sure that I made most transactions in silver pieces. When you do that, you start getting a bit more precise when you do prices - what would normally be a 10 GP per week stay at a nice inn is now 115 silver per week... while the one down the street is 110 silver, but they don't do your linens (or whatever).

Ultimately, it comes down to whether you want PCs getting 100 GP each, or 1000 silver marks each. I like the latter, if only because it makes me think of real world monetary systems. I might even one day name them "Sesterces" and go with a strong roman vibe.

 

[Gilladian]

I switched 25 or more years ago. Just read any GP amount as SP, SP as copper, and copper as a farthing (1/4 of a CP). It just feels more real.

 

[mlund]

Every so often I come across someone who says they've switched to a silver standard for their D&D economy instead of the default gold standard. For some reason, the idea appeals to me, although I'm not entirely sure why, because I don't know what all it entails. Would someone please be so kind as to enlighten me? Thanks.

You just replace all the GP values with SP. Everything starts to make much more sense. I also prefer realistic GP coins - thin, dime-sized coins like the Solidus. D&D just has no grip on the scarcity of gold or how much it actually weighs. If you made a golf ball out of solid gold it would weigh 2lbs - as much as a Short Sword or a Flail! Also, considering how much a pound of gold was worth in Antiquity and the middle ages, the idea of a random great sword or longbow costing a pound of solid gold (50GP by the PHB) is downright risible. Even the idea of 10 longbows costing a pound of gold seems pretty crazy, so I pushed the coins-to-weight ratio back to closer to the roman standard - 72 Solidi to the Roman Pound, or 100 to the Modern (D&D) Pound instead of 50.

Marty Lund

 

[pukunui]

Looks like there are two different ways of doing it:

1) Converting all GP prices to the equivalent SP amount (10 gp = 100 sp)

2) Replacing "GP" with "SP" (10 gp = 10 sp)


Hmm ...

 

[jrowland]

Looks like there are two different ways of doing it:

1) Converting all GP prices to the equivalent SP amount (10 gp = 100 sp)

2) Replacing "GP" with "SP" (10 gp = 10 sp)


Hmm ...

I think option 2 is the most common. At least, that's what most discussions revolve around

 

[pukunui]

OK. Thanks. I'll give it some thought.

 

[MG.0]

In 1st edition the ridiculous prices were acknowledged in the PHB and said to be caused by high demand for equipment and over-supply of coinage. Essentially it is assumed that adventurers are bringing in hauls of the stuff all the time, sending the local economy into something like that of the California gold rush: http://michaellamarr.com/grprices.html

 

[TheCosmicKid]

In 1st edition the ridiculous prices were acknowledged in the PHB and said to be caused by high demand for equipment and over-supply of coinage. Essentially it is assumed that adventurers are bringing in hauls of the stuff all the time, sending the local economy into something like that of the California gold rush: http://michaellamarr.com/grprices.html

Even if there's no active gold rush type situation, the simple narrative necessity that there be enough gold readily available for a satisfying-looking dragon hoard implies that the metal is far more common in D&D than it is in real life.

 

[thalmin]

Maybe it is causative, maybe it's a byproduct, but it more than coincidence that dragons and magic exist on worlds where so much gold exist.