How do you handle gems as a GM?

The party finds an onyx (worth 50 gp) and 2 opals (worth 75 gp each). What do you say?

  • You find an onyx and two opals.

    Votes: 14 24.6%

  • You find an onyx worth 50 gp and two opals, each worth 75 gp.

    Votes: 26 45.6%

  • You find 3 gems.

    Votes: 2 3.5%

  • You find 3 gems. One worth 50 gp and two worth 75 gp each.

    Votes: 3 5.3%

  • You find 200 gp.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Other (and perhaps share what that is)

    Votes: 9 15.8%

  • You find gems worth 200 gp.

    Votes: 3 5.3%
  • This poll will close: .

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I do '50gp onyx & 2x 75gp opals' over "3x gems totaling 200gp" because my games tend to allow for crafting. Red gems for fire items, blue water, tiger eye for vision/animal items, etc. I also give the "sale" price of gems by default so they can properly value them as a currency. Between people of a certain economic tier, a handful of gems is far easier to manage over chests of coins.

I do make low level (tier 1) characters make skill checks to appraise but by tier 2 they should be pretty good at guessing the values. Of course, I also think casters are a key driver of gem values (at least pearls, rubies, diamonds) so "appraisal" is often "how many of these rubies would be required to cast Forbiddance?"
 



Ralif Redhammer said:
I go with the second method, but additionally add brief descriptions or even photos if I'm playing online. Because not everyone knows what chrysoprase looks like.
Click to expand...
Good thing Google does, I sure as heck did not. But I see I can get this lot for $12.00

1747347338645.png
 

I'm pretty sure that I only mention gem type if it is something that can be used for a spell. So I might say that you find 3 gems worth 50gp and a diamond worth 500gp. If I don't mention anything and someone says "I need ruby dust, are any of them rubies" then I might say yes, 2 of the 3 50gp gems are rubies (or all of them, I tend to be fairly easy with this stuff).
 



I have a TableSmith table that produces gem results that look like the following:

A large yellow faceted stone (citrine) of superior quality worth 250 gp

A medium yellow cat’s-eye, of superior quality worth 150 gp

A packet of 10 diminutive gems, each a clear faceted stone (rock crystal) of superior quality - total worth 35 gp

A large green faceted stone (emerald) worth 800 gp

A medium yellow-and-orange translucent stone (sunstone) of superior quality worth 150 gp

And my size table for gems is:
# fine = gem chips or seed pearls
# diminutive = <1/4 carat
# tiny = < 1 carat
# small = 1-4 carats
# medium = ~10 carats
# large = ~45 carats (50/lb)
# huge = ~225 carats (10/lb)
# gargantuan = ~1000 carats (1/2 lb)
# colossal = ~4500 carats (2 lb)

EDIT: I have an on-line version posted on Chartopia

Gems for 3.5e D&D - Chartopia

chartopia.d12dev.com chartopia.d12dev.com
 
Last edited:


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