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

[Bagpuss]

And in the present.

And assuming the same mass of the coins, and the coins are 100% pure.

 

[Alzrius]

I instead treat it as a very rare and magically imbued alloy. Electrum pieces are hard to come by, and usually traded amongst wizards. They could be used to purchase magic items, or spell services. Like the coins in John Wick or something.

I use mithral or adamantine coins for similar purposes in my campaigns.

 

[Willie the Duck]

As noted by many posters already, gold being about ten times as valuable as silver is pretty historically accurate.

But the biggest issue with D&D money, is how little value any of these precious metals have. A sword literally costs its weight in silver! I always revalue the money, dividing all prices by ten. That produces way more reasonable prices.

Longswords have cost 15 gp when the gold coins weighed 1/10 lb. and when they weighed 1/50 lb.

Of all the 'gamist conventions' mentioned (and I generally agree with what people have said), the one I'm most comfortable with is that the coins/weight decision is completely gamist. 50 silver coins are 50 silver coins*, not a pound of silver. Much like games never marrying combat movement/seconds-per-round to reasonable IRL movement; or a system's longest weapon's range equaling a 6-foot/2-meter game table*; this is an artifact of the game using weights and measures for main system concerns and the occasional disjunct like sword value to bulk precious metal** just not coming up enough to rectify.
*cue argument about silver being undervalued in games that like gold pieces
**resulting in Battletech mechs with sub-kilometer artillery ranges, or the like.
***which, as mentioned, shouldn't exactly equal coins of the same weight anyways.

For me, it's the value of the sword vs. the cost of a smith to exist/be hired (and thus how many swords they must be making per unit time) and such that frustrate me.

 

[cbwjm]

I don't know where I saw it at.. Probably reddit but I like the idea of making Electrum a special rare currency. It's actually a gold and silver alloy that, like you said acts as a middle piece in the currency chain.

I instead treat it as a very rare and magically imbued alloy. Electrum pieces are hard to come by, and usually traded amongst wizards. They could be used to purchase magic items, or spell services. Like the coins in John Wick or something.

That sounds similar to the guinea (1 pound, 1 shilling) which was used to pay artists or gentlemen in the past whereas a common tradesman apparently was simply paid 1 pound.

I could see electrum being used similarly for paying for wizard services, though perhaps with more value attributed to them.

 

[ezo]

As a player, I don't get particularly excited when my character is bedazzled by golden showers of coins and sparkling gems. (Not to self: Reconsider phrasing before submitting for publication.) There just comes a point where I really can't buy anything nicer for my characters and the game doesn't really offer a lot of support for building strongholds, managing guilds, or governing. Plus it's an adventure game and I don't really want to do any of that stuff anyway.

 

[ezo]

As a player, I don't get particularly excited when my character is bedazzled by golden showers of coins and sparkling gems. (Not to self: Reconsider phrasing before submitting for publication.) There just comes a point where I really can't buy anything nicer for my characters and the game doesn't really offer a lot of support for building strongholds, managing guilds, or governing. Plus it's an adventure game and I don't really want to do any of that stuff anyway.

When I get to play, I feel much the same. Even as DM, I don't focus much on the gold, etc. I hand out.

As much as I track things like time, food, and water for my groups; recently I've been thinking of shifting gears.

When you consider that classes offer starting equipment, which is coupled with background equipment, as a simpler and more stream-lined approach to equipment your PC, treating later "equipment upgrades" as rewards makes sense in some ways. Instead of getting 1500 gp for plate, a quest you did has the local noble commission the armor to be made for your PC. Silvered weapons, spyglasses, and anything beyond the basic level of equipment can also be handled this way.

PCs don't need to track or accumulate wealth unless there is a goal, but even most such goals can serve as rewards for adventuring. Consider a small town plagued by enemies. One of the local tavern's owner was killed and they have no heirs. Part of the town rewarding the PCs include granting them the tavern, which could be used as a local base or as a "place to retire" when a PC is done adventuring. That player doesn't have to accumulate enough gold to purchase or build such a tavern, the story provides one as an adventure.

So, other than regions where food might be hard to come by, rations might get depleted, etc. such mundane concerns are quickly losing their appeal. Unless part of the adventure really is the possibility of running out of supplies, there seesm little need to track it, or the money PCs would use to resupply themselves.

 

[MGibster]

When I get to play, I feel much the same. Even as DM, I don't focus much on the gold, etc. I hand out.

Last time I was a player in a campaign, we started at 5th level and the DM said, "Don't worry about gold. You always have enough gold to buy whatever normal items or services you need." And throughout the campaign we pretty much skipped out on any treasure in the form of gold, gems, and other such valuables

When you consider that classes offer starting equipment, which is coupled with background equipment, as a simpler and more stream-lined approach to equipment your PC, treating later "equipment upgrades" as rewards makes sense in some ways.

The DMG, that little book nobody reads, does include some ideas for rewarding the players with something other than gold. Maybe an NPC ends up teaching a character some skill and now they have proficiency in it. That kind of thing. But, yeah, remember that duke you helped out a few levels back? Turns out he commissioned a suit of plate for you and it's ready for you to pick up.

Part of me thinks that the pattern of kicking down doors, killing the bad guys, and looting everything that isn't nailed down is something that should be kept in D&D. The problem with 5th edition, and maybe it started earlier, is that there's nothing much to do with all that gold. So what's the point of collecting it? WotC should really do something about making treasure fun again.

 

[ezo]

WotC should really do something about making treasure fun again.

It'd be nice, but since I haven't heard much in 2024 about it, I doubt we will see anything.

 

[MGibster]

It'd be nice, but since I haven't heard much in 2024 about it, I doubt we will see anything.

Agreed. I'm not going to fault them too much for that because I think my attitude about gold is in the minority.

 

[ezo]

Agreed. I'm not going to fault them too much for that because I think my attitude about gold is in the minority.

Oh, I don't know about that. I won't fault them, simply because they have to focus on what they think most players will benefit from. I recall one of my favorite 2E splat books was the Castle Guide, but 5E just doesn't support domain developments, strongholds, temples, etc. like AD&D did as part of the progression for the higher-level PCs.