It's just inflation. Think about it. Dwarves have been mining constantly since 1e, flooding the economy with gold and devaluing the market. These prices just reflect that.
Indeed, there is a dwarf faction in Ghosts of Saltmarsh who have begun a new mine not far north of the haunted mansion. Perhaps the market for gold has tanked in anticipation of the coming glut of fresh dwarf gold. Maybe "gold pieces" aren't even made of gold anymore but the name has stuck out of nostalgia. Of course, then a haul of actual gold gold pieces might have value as antiques. Pesky economics!
Another possibility: The alchemical process does not really work 'as advertised'. The items glitter and sparkle and look expensive but have low value because they are made of iron pyrite: "fool's gold".
I suspect the WotC designers simply have a habit of undervaluing gold. For instance, in Tomb of Annihilation, it's possible to find a nugget of gold "the size of a dwarf's fist" that is somehow only worth 50 gp.
that seems pretty close. They aren’t saying it’s worth $50, they are saying it’s worth 50 gold pieces. Stack 50 gold on a table. How much cubic volume is that. How much is a dwarves fist? Then also factor in the value to take that raw ore, and make 50 coins from it.
Another possibility: The alchemical process does not really work 'as advertised'. The items glitter and sparkle and look expensive but have low value because they are made of iron pyrite: "fool's gold".
Alas, this wouldn't make sense in the context of the adventure. I'll enclose the explanation in spoiler tags just in case anyone is this far downthread who doesn't want to know a minor secret in the adventure:
The alchemist didn't really discover how to convert base substances into gold. He was, however, pretending that he could. So he commissioned some solid gold models of objects. He would present these to people as items that he had supposedly converted with his alchemical powers. It's important, therefore, that the samples be the real deal. If the gold was fake—or thin plating over bronze—the gig would be up.
that seems pretty close. They aren’t saying it’s worth $50, they are saying it’s worth 50 gold pieces. Stack 50 gold on a table. How much cubic volume is that. How much is a dwarves fist? Then also factor in the value to take that raw ore, and make 50 coins from it.
In D&D, 50 gp is 1 lb, right? So 50 gold coins weigh 454 grams. The density of gold is approximately 19 grams per cubic centimeter, so we're talking 454/19 ≈ 24 cubic centimeters of gold. That would be a sphere with a diameter of roughly 3.6 cm or 1.4 inches. That seems quite small for a dwarf fist, even if you make the assumption that dwarf fists are smaller than human fists. Of course maybe a "nugget" has impurities and air pockets and whatnot which make it less dense than pure gold. We're within wiggle-room territory, I suppose, but even in this case I would bump the value up by a factor of three.
Honestly, I've never run into problems with too much cash in a game. Most players in my games love to spend freely on lots of impractical things (expensive inns, fancy cabins on ships, gilded armor) that burn through wealth without affecting game balance too much.
Alas, this wouldn't make sense in the context of the adventure. I'll enclose the explanation in spoiler tags just in case anyone is this far downthread who doesn't want to know a minor secret in the adventure:
The alchemist didn't really discover how to convert base substances into gold. He was, however, pretending that he could. So he commissioned some solid gold models of objects. He would present these to people as items that he had supposedly converted with his alchemical powers. It's important, therefore, that the samples be the real deal. If the gold was fake—or thin plating over bronze—the gig would be up.
In D&D, 50 gp is 1 lb, right? So 50 gold coins weigh 454 grams. The density of gold is approximately 19 grams per cubic centimeter, so we're talking 454/19 ≈ 24 cubic centimeters of gold. That would be a sphere with a diameter of roughly 3.6 cm or 1.4 inches. That seems quite small for a dwarf fist, even if you make the assumption that dwarf fists are smaller than human fists. Of course maybe a "nugget" has impurities and air pockets and whatnot which make it less dense than pure gold. We're within wiggle-room territory, I suppose, but even in this case I would bump the value up by a factor of three.
Honestly, I've never run into problems with too much cash in a game. Most players in my games love to spend freely on lots of impractical things (expensive inns, fancy cabins on ships, gilded armor) that burn through wealth without affecting game balance too much.
Seems like the error isn’t in saying a fist sized nugget is 50gp value, but that their weight of gold is way off. Those are awfully small coins if you can get 50 of them out of an inch and a half diameter sphere because 50gp is one pound. In most depictions of coins on D&D, they are about the size of silver dollars. So I’d posit 50 coins weighs a lot more than one pound. I suspect that was for ease of gaming tracking and because they didn’t want to limit how much treasure a PC can carry to realistic weights
Seems like the error isn’t in saying a fist sized nugget is 50gp value, but that their weight of gold is way off. Those are awfully small coins if you can get 50 of them out of an inch and a half diameter sphere because 50gp is one pound. In most depictions of coins on D&D, they are about the size of silver dollars. So I’d posit 50 coins weighs a lot more than one pound. I suspect that was for ease of gaming tracking and because they didn’t want to limit how much treasure a PC can carry to realistic weights
50 coins per pound is probably a more accurate and appropriate value than the old 1e AD&D 10gp per pound. Even the Eisenhower dollar, as big and heavy as it is, is only about 23 g and that means there's about 20 per pound. The very well known Greek drachma of antiquity was only 4.3 grams. You could have a little over 100 of them in a pound.
