D&D 5E Coins and weights in D&D - the math doesn't add up!

[TheCosmicKid]

Double post. Sorry.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

You are in luck, my friend, we Americans use it all the time in the sciences. Therefore, we have already "started".

If you mean when Americans stop using imperial, well, no, you'll never see that day. It's part of our identity know. Because nothing says free and independent like using the weights and measures of your once imperial overlords.

Better than using the weights and measures of the French.

It's not like the metric system is so hot, anyway -- it just further entrenched our mathematics in base 10, when everyone knows base 12 is the way to go. What's a third of a foot? Four inches. What's a third of a meter? 33.333... centimeters. Awkward...

Seriously, though, Imperial units in the US are defined by Act of Congress in terms of metric units. So technically we're already on the metric system; we just use very weird coefficients.

 

[aramis erak]

AHHH... I forgot there were two different ways of measuring ounces and pounds. My dictionary said 12 ounces to a pound, so naturally I thought there was an error... but the error was mine! Mia culpa...

Actually, more than that...

the German Pfund was 16 Unz, and was defined as exactly 500g in the late 19th C, down from the traditional Viennese Pfund of 560g... often rendered in English as the "German Pound" or "Viennese Pound" or even "Vienna pound"

The Metric Pound is 500 g. It's half a kilogram, and used in a number of countries with legal definitions still stated in pounds due to heritage, but which have endorsed metric otherwise...

At one point, the pound was a similar sized measure to the roman libra... but different in different localities. Practicalities of measurement result in either 12 or 16 subunits...

 

[EvanNave55]

I wonder if I'll see the day when the Americans start using metric...

Man I hope so, I'm an american , but I wish I was raised with metric. It just makes so much more sense logicaally!

 

[EzekielRaiden]

I wonder if I'll see the day when the Americans start using metric...

The thing I always find funny is that America gets mocked for its non-metric units, but nobody seems to comment on the fact that we (effectively) led the charge in terms of "metric"/decimal currency. Although it wasn't within my lifetime, my dad was stationed in Britain during the decimalization of the pound, and people were SUPER po'd about that.

Yeah, it'd probably be good to switch. It'd also be extremely expensive. That's the big reason it hasn't happened--it's going to cost a lot of money, and nobody (not the government, not businesses, not private citizens) is particularly interested in spending, or requesting, the money to do it.

 

[Herobizkit]

This.

Incidentally, UK £1 coins are 46 to the pound, which is a very useful fact when running games here.

Given that TSR once had roots in the UK, I wonder if this was a consideration of Gygax et al?

 

[MG.0]

Given that TSR once had roots in the UK, I wonder if this was a consideration of Gygax et al?

In 1st edition they were 10 per pound. By the time 2nd edition rolled around in 89, Gygax was no longer involved.

 

[Morrus]

Given that TSR once had roots in the UK, I wonder if this was a consideration of Gygax et al?

Only if he could see into the future!

 

[Deathstrike]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-jersey-18579875

 

[Hriston]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-jersey-18579875

Sounds like that comes out to 33 coins per pound.