All joking about the "Odor/Aura" aside...I do and have used scents in my descriptions of various things/places in play. Most notably surrounding clerics casting spells, channeling and/or turning undead ( sometime this is something perceived by everyone in the area...sometimes it's only perceived by the cleric themselves...but they know their deity is "there" by these emanations). Most notably a lil' halfling cleric whose goddess tended to manifest: pine trees, summer rains or breezes and baked goods and/or honey. The goddess of the seas evokes the sounds of either the low rumble or smashing force of crashing waves and the smell of salty sea air. etc...
Not sure where I ever picked that up...but @
Dannyalcatraz 's comment about descriptions of saintly/godly beings having pleasant smells around them is certainly a possibility.
The idea that a semi-divine/mega-potent gold dragon
might actually have an odor that has a magical effect on others is not, really, as far fetched as originally thought...hmmm. Especially since I've touched on the idea [though never really oforced it with writing it down] that that whole "dragonsfear" aura was the result of draconic phermones...
I kinda like the "Grandma's kitchen" thing...so each person in the effect might smell something different that is that special/comfort/warming scent for
them. (OR, @
tuxgeo , alcoholic beverages. For me it would probably be white wine...beer for you...whiskey for someone else...Though I might make this the odor for the "confusion" phermones. lol. Or a charm/sleep/Dex. penalty gas? hahaha.)
Good stuff guys. Everything in here is sparking/has some piece in formulating a really solid idea of what a gold (if not all of them) should/could be.
Thanks to all for the responses. Look forward to more/other thoughts.