D&D 5E What's the point of gold?

[pemerton]

Actually as the mark was a silver coin, technically it would be 1 sp.

The mark was 13 silver shillings, which I think are the basis for D&D's sp - 10 cp (almost pennies) to 1 sp (shilling), 20 shillings to 1 pound (gp). So the mark is a very large silver coin - hence approx 1 gp (given that a gp can be 20 sp or 10 sp depending on edition).

 

[Hussar]

Or, if you have one, use the 1e numbers from the DMG. In a number of cases, I've found them better than the 3e numbers. Frankly, eyeballing both may be of value.

Honestly I was using the 3e numbers because that's what I had access to. Although, does OSRIC have the 1e values?

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For those who think the 3e equations work for 3e, why won't they work in 5e? Can you point me to some specific examples of where the equations would flat out break down and give nonsensical answers?

 

[pemerton]

That does make me wonder what the comparative value of said coin was at that time.

The reference I am using is Ian Mortimer, 'The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England' (Vintage, 2009). On pages 149-51 Mortimer sets out two inventories, with valuations, of merchants' houses: one from London in 1337, one from Boston, Lincolnshire in 1383.

I'm not going to type up the lists in full, but here are some highlights:

One old linen sheet 1d
Two pillows 3d
Five cushions 6d
Seven linen sheets 5s
Eight pairs of sheets £2
Six blankets and one serge 13s 6d

One iron spit 3d

One great basin 6s 8d

Three brass pots 2s
One brass pot 6s
Three brass pots 40s

Six silver spoons 6s
Six plates of silver £2 10s

Six casks of wine £4
Firewood 3s

Two hawks and a gentle falcon £10​

Now this around 300 years after the sale of the relic, and so inflation will certainly have had some effect. (Though presumably the black death also caused deflation in respect of some goods, as demand dropped dramatically.)

Nevertheless, it suggest to me that 1 mark is not all that pricey for a luxury item.

And obviously some relics were valued much higher, as evidenced by the rather extravagant reliquaries built to house them.

I think that you might have reversed cause and effect here. The extravagance of the reliquary establishes the value of the relic; it is not an expression of the relic's prior (commercial) value.

 

[Riley37]

I would say that's very much campaign-dependent, and thus situational. There's plenty of work for legitimate mercenaries and trouble-shooters in the Sixth World. I once played in a DocWagon campaign that was a lot of fun.

I must have missed something, by skipping to page 50 of this thread. What are these event categories of which you speak?

Fair enough. My first SR PC had a DocWagon job, before getting recruited for some under-the-table work. He didn't tell his real name, as in his pre-Goblinization name, to *anyone*; the name and SIN under which DocWagon paid him, were not the ones issued at birth. Also, he didn't give DocWagon patients enough personal info that they could track him down at home, either. He wore a crash helmet with faceplate down, when on the job. You get my drift? It's a playstyle thing, not a built-into-the-game thing. YMOV.

As for the event categories, that's my best take-away so far from this sometimes-messy topic, so I'm gonna start a new thread on it, in the 5E forum.

 

[Wicht]

I think that you might have reversed cause and effect here. The extravagance of the reliquary establishes the value of the relic; it is not an expression of the relic's prior (commercial) value.

In some cases that might be true, but my reading led me to believe that in several cases it was indeed the relic that was valued before the reliquary. Of course, in all actuality it was probably a bit of both in many cases. The relic was perceived to be genuine, effectual and powerful and thus was given prominent display, said display only serving to heighten the value. Sainte-Chapelle for instance was built as a reflection of the pride Louis IX had in his relics bought from Byzantium, but said reliquary was itself a thing of beauty destined to attract sightseers.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I guess we're interpreting the same sources differently - the English city carry law you quote allows for a lot of exceptions (eg anyone entering or leaving the city - which would cover most adventurers), and in the later Roman empire pretty much every non-slave permanent inhabitant was a citizen.
Even today in England, which has some of the most repressive laws in all human history, I've just been out and about this morning with a 4' staff of chestnut wood that could give anyone a good crack - entirely legal since it's my 'walking staff'.

The video presenter explicitly explains 2 minutes in that 90% of the people of a city were effectively disarmed by this law. Then he explains how the exceptions you noted really do not swallow the rule.

The section about the "entering and leaving" the city is at 3:30- upon entering the city, you were directed by city guards* to store your weapons in your place of lodging and would be permitted to carry that far, but no farther.

And by carry, it is highly possible that the law meant just that- remove the weapons from their ready storage on the hip, back or what have you, and carry/transport them like your other possessions. (This IS speculation on my part, but based on his "90%" figure.)

Travelers (our adventurers) who were in temporary housing would be forced to leave bigger weapons in the care of the innkeeper, whose legal duty was to store & safeguard those weapons. Only upon leaving that lodging for another place were the weapons to be returned.

If my prior speculation was correct, that meant you could carry your weapons as a possession, but not wear them at the ready, until you were at the city boundaries, ready to leave. If you were merely changing lodgings within the city, you could not legally kit up on your travels between the two locations.











* many of whom were probably former adventurers with knee injuries from arrows.

 

[Shasarak]

If my prior speculation was correct, that meant you could carry your weapons as a possession, but not wear them at the ready, until you were at the city boundaries, ready to leave. If you were merely changing lodgings within the city, you could not legally kit up on your travels between the two locations.

Just bribe a bureaucrat to get a "Weapon Pass" or rescue a Princess or something.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Because of discretion and corruption, there is ALWAYS a gap between "the law" and enforcement. Well, almost always.

 

[Hussar]

I'm curious if anyone has crunched the numbers. In 3e, a 7th level character is worth about 16000 gp iirc. What is the expected wealth by level in 5e? If they line up then using the 3e prices would be pretty easy.

 

[CapnZapp]

And that, right there, that quote right there, is why you will likely never, ever see such a list. Because if you put five people together and asked them to price a given item, you would get six different answers.

Why are you still at it?

Instead of letting people play the game they want to, you resist our needs every step of the way.

This particular argument is laughable. If it were true, you would never see any game at all!

There would be no fighter since everybody disagrees on that class. There would be no elf because nobody can agree on that race.

And so on for every single part of D&D.

Why are you embarrassing yourself? Why not simply move on and enjoy the game since you have nothing constructive to add, since your only reason to be here is to say "no" to others interests, be negative, and a killjoy?