D&D 5E D&D Lied To Me. Gp vs Sp

[Shiroiken]

You need a "diamond worth 300gp", not "diamond weighing 3oz".

So the size of the diamond is adjusted based market value. If diamonds are rare, then you just need a speck. If they are common, you need a big one.

Given that the "average" diamond is valued at 5,000 gp (per the DMG), the diamonds used for magic are the equivalent to industrial diamonds: small and unrefined.

 

[DEFCON 1]

We should also think that fishermen would be a much more lucrative profession-- all the ones who go oyster-digging-- what with all those Wizards going to them looking for pearls for their Identify spells.

 

[aco175]

Last, but not least, it's not the real world and is using modern metrics is pointless.

Well, we do know that using metric is pointless.

I do have different sizes for the coins in my games and a gold is much smaller than a silver and copper. This also makes the 10 coins to a pound of weight off. My games tend to have more like 50 coins.

Historically, for instance, (on Earth ) Egyptians prized silver more highly that gold because silver desposit were considerably rarer in the regions they traveled and occupied. In gold rush boom towns, where gold was common (enough anyway), it had less value locally than food comparitively.

I remember seeing that one of the most valuable items in ancient Egypt was an aluminum plate the Pharaoh had. Interesting how things change with technology.

 

[Zardnaar]

That is assuming modern extraction and refinement techniques, which don't exist in your game world. There's also purity of the metal in the coins to be considered.

True I knew gold was worth more than silver by a large ratio wasn't expecting 75-1.

 

[Zardnaar]

Except that Diamonds are Dirt Common in the Universe. They're just pretty.

Aren't emeralds and rubies rarer?

 

[Zardnaar]

Well, we do know that using metric is pointless.

I do have different sizes for the coins in my games and a gold is much smaller than a silver and copper. This also makes the 10 coins to a pound of weight off. My games tend to have more like 50 coins.

I remember seeing that one of the most valuable items in ancient Egypt was an aluminum plate the Pharaoh had. Interesting how things change with technology.

That would be stupidly rare back then.

 

[Squared]

Honestly D&Ds gold pricing has always bugged me, even just calling it a gp rather than a Crown or Mark also bugs me. I much prefer Warhammer 1e or 4e, based on historical pricing. 1 Crown (GC) = 20 Shillings (s) = 240 Pence (d). With one pence buying a cheap beer. A pence would still be made out of silver though, just less of it than a shilling. A copper farthing would be 1/4 of a pence.

It always seems ridiculous when gp gets thrown around like dollar bills, especially with the inflated prices for things like armor. A 1500 gp for plate? A gp should be something that a commoner will likely never see in their life times, mostly used for international trade, taxation, ect.

If wanting to use a decimal system, to make it easier to remember. I like the way Righteous Blood Ruthless Blades (based on China) does it: 100 coins (copper) = 1 silver coin, 10 silver coins = 1 gold coin. All transactions are just in "coin" the copper denomination, larger sized currency would just be easier to carry or be a part of loot.

^2

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

Given that D&D is WILDLY pathetic as any kind of economic simulator, I never found it to make a shred of difference what the value ratio between gold and silver and copper might realistically be, or how large the coins should be, or any of that. It's all made up and it serves no GAMING purpose (other than spending unnecessary time on useless stuff someone nonetheless considers interesting) to attempt to make ANY of it realistic. Other than its use as a factor for PC encumbrance when carrying fantastical amounts of dead weight in metals, I never saw any point to making a thing of it.

But if it makes YOUR game better for the participants - game on and be happy.

 

[Oofta]

Honestly D&Ds gold pricing has always bugged me, even just calling it a gp rather than a Crown or Mark also bugs me. I much prefer Warhammer 1e or 4e, based on historical pricing. 1 Crown (GC) = 20 Shillings (s) = 240 Pence (d). With one pence buying a cheap beer. A pence would still be made out of silver though, just less of it than a shilling. A copper farthing would be 1/4 of a pence.

It always seems ridiculous when gp gets thrown around like dollar bills, especially with the inflated prices for things like armor. A 1500 gp for plate? A gp should be something that a commoner will likely never see in their life times, mostly used for international trade, taxation, ect.

If wanting to use a decimal system, to make it easier to remember. I like the way Righteous Blood Ruthless Blades (based on China) does it: 100 coins (copper) = 1 silver coin, 10 silver coins = 1 gold coin. All transactions are just in "coin" the copper denomination, larger sized currency would just be easier to carry or be a part of loot.

^2

Whether or not a working class person ever saw a gold piece in the real world isn't particularly relevant. D&D isn't a real world simulator, it's not even close. Can a commoner afford cook's utensils which sell for 1 GP? For some it might be a fairly significant expense in some campaigns depending on economic assumptions. In other campaigns it's not cheap, but it's still a relatively minor expense. If you want to do things as they were regularly done in the past, a lot of things were barter, trade and favors not cash. But that gets too complicated for a game.

As far as the label, the whole reason to have GP, SP and so on is so that if you want to go to that level of detail in your campaign you can. Most ignore it. But a GP is a GP wherever you go, but the name of currencies vary wildly in the real world. Labeling it just a GP gives you options to add a little flavor even just going one country to the next.

 

[tetrasodium]

Given that D&D is WILDLY pathetic as any kind of economic simulator, I never found it to make a shred of difference what the value ratio between gold and silver and copper might realistically be, or how large the coins should be, or any of that. It's all made up and it serves no GAMING purpose (other than spending unnecessary time on useless stuff someone nonetheless considers interesting) to attempt to make ANY of it realistic. Other than its use as a factor for PC encumbrance when carrying fantastical amounts of dead weight in metals, I never saw any point to making a thing of it.

But if it makes YOUR game better for the participants - game on and be happy.

It goes beyond economics & the OP doesn't use meaningful values. Here are some examples of how changing the coin : coin & coin : pound ratio enough provides a meaningful impact on gameplay

• Right off the bat is the easiest one. Change it from 50 coins per pound to 5 coins per pound and suddenly a gem or bit of artwork/pottery/etc has a significant value even if it's only worth 10 or 50gp per pound.
  • Likewise finding hundreds or thousands of gp while assaulting the bbeg's keep or a dungeon is a problem to solve that is going to have an impact on the party's options until they can get back to town and stash it someplace safe that the players are now very much incentivized to care about keeping protected even if it would be an inconvenience to rush out & deal with a town threatening problem at some future point in time... In fact they probably care about the town enough that they might have gone off to deal with the problem before it got ignored & grew into a town threatening one.
• Change it from 10:1 coins to 100:1 & up prices accordingly, now it really matters when players find some platinum coins
  • Mid & high level players who want to dump the entire GDP of nations on low level or even elite guards need to do it with cartloads of coins hard to splitartwork/gems/etc still awkward trade goods or use high value coins that trigger a believable "woah! WTF? You trying to get me killed? Where would I even spend those! get away!" rather than hard to believe computer/AI levels of bribe resistance because it's a wildly inappropriate bribe.
  • Trade goods gems & artwork are suddenly valuable because it's easy to carry them around in large enough sums to afford extremely expensive stuff like magic weapons & armor while not being trivial to carry & use on cjeap & low end stuff.