D&D 5E "Fixing" electrum pieces - looking for a player's perspective

[Shiroiken]

Here, try this for you next game

1 Gold Guinea = £1 1s = 21s = 252d
1 Gold Sovereign = £1 = 20s = 240d
1 Pound = £1 = 20s = 240d
1 Mark = 13s4d = 160d
1 Crown = 5s = 60d
1 Shilling = 1s = 12d
1 Sixpence = 6d
1 Threepence = 3d
1 Penny = 1d
1 Halfpence = 1/2d = 2 farthings
1 Farthing = 1/4d

Lol. I once suggested the following exchange rate, and everyone pitched a fit about how impossible it would be to remember: 100 cp = 20 sp = 10 ep = 4 gp = 1 pp. Then I pointed out it's just penny, nickle, dime, quarter, dollar...

 

[CreamCloud0]

I personally don’t see much use for introducing it as a silver-gold intermediary unless you especially value that for the worldbuilding, I think it would be interesting to serve as a 1ep=110sp/1.1gp coin specifically intended to trade for rare goods and thereby giving it a purpose to exist and use, meaning to get it and therefore those rare goods you actually need to find somewhere specific to exchange your regular coins for electrum, but it’s not something you want to fill your moneybags with as you couldn’t use it for standard purchases

 

[Vaalingrade]

From the player side of things, once I'm being asked to track encumbrance for my coins, I'm just buying gems anyway.

Also, in this new concept are platinum pieces still a thing?

 

[Lanefan]

Here, try this for you next game

1 Gold Guinea = £1 1s = 21s = 252d
1 Gold Sovereign = £1 = 20s = 240d
1 Pound = £1 = 20s = 240d
1 Mark = 13s4d = 160d
1 Crown = 5s = 60d
1 Shilling = 1s = 12d
1 Sixpence = 6d
1 Threepence = 3d
1 Penny = 1d
1 Halfpence = 1/2d = 2 farthings
1 Farthing = 1/4d

That's basically what I use now:

4 bp = 1 cp (4 farthings to the penny)
12 cp = 1 sp (12 pence to the shilling)
10 sp = 1 ep
20 sp = 1 gp (20 shillings to the pound)
5 gp = 1 pp

 

[Vaalingrade]

That's basically what I use now:

4 bp = 1 cp (4 farthings to the penny)
12 cp = 1 sp (12 pence to the shilling)
10 sp = 1 ep
20 sp = 1 gp (20 shillings to the pound)
5 gp = 1 pp

Didn't know British Petroleum stock dropped that far.

 

[Horwath]

That's basically what I use now:

4 bp = 1 cp (4 farthings to the penny)
12 cp = 1 sp (12 pence to the shilling)
10 sp = 1 ep
20 sp = 1 gp (20 shillings to the pound)
5 gp = 1 pp

personally, I'm fond of 1 PP = 100 GP = 10.000 SP = 1.000.000 CP

It's much easier and you do not need to drag a chest of gold to buy a magic item, just a handful of coins.

 

[Lanefan]

Didn't know British Petroleum stock dropped that far.

Bronze Piece.

Using the old British system allows me to chuck in other small coins such as thrupenny bits and sixpences etc.

Decimal/metric is easier to use, no argument there, but it's also hella boring.

 

[Emerikol]

As a grognard, I understand the purpose of the electrum piece pre-3E. For those of you unaware, it used to be 1000 cp = 100 sp = 10 ep = 1 pp, with 2 ep = 1 gp as today, which (supposedly) was an approximate medieval exchange rate. Gp was still the standard, but you often carried small coins since you never got change and there was typically a charge for currency exchange. However, for reasons unknown, D&D got rid of the ep in 3E when they moved to a metric exchange rate. When reintroduced in 5E as a half-coin, it no longer really seems to fit anymore. I'm considering the following houserule for my next campaign, and I'm curious about how the players on the board would feel about it if suggested for your game.

Rather than having ep be equal to half a gp and 5 sp, I'd simply slide it in as 100 sp = 10 ep = 1 gp. From a mechanics perspective, everything in the PHB that costs "gp" would instead be paid as ep. This would provide an additional coin so that characters can carry around more weath more easily. While many groups have "infinity pockets" that hold coins, I try to hold to both encumbrance and container capacity (a pouch can only hold 600 coins, for example). Having a higher coin rate would make it easier for the players to carry their wealth without having to buy gems/jewelry/art or take up space in a bag of holding.

Edit: since it's been asked a couple of times, copper and platinum would still exist in their normal positions, relative to silver and gold respectively.

I am not disagreeing with anything you say but let me add this...

I use the term gold piece to mean gold piece standard weight. There may be all kinds of coins from different nations that can be expressed in gold piece weight. Same for silver or electrum or copper. It can be fun to find coins from lost civilizations in deep dungeons.

 

[Emerikol]

personally, I'm fond of 1 PP = 100 GP = 10.000 SP = 1.000.000 CP

It's much easier and you do not need to drag a chest of gold to buy a magic item, just a handful of coins.

It would be handy but I don't see platinum pieces being minted at that rate of exchange. Unless prices are radically increased. For example if 1 a silver piece is a days wage then 1 PP is 1,200,000 dollars. We don't have million dollar bills for a reason. Even if a days wage is 10sp (which is high) then you'd have 120,000 dollar bills in 1 PP.

This is why I would allow for banks, moneylenders, and royal families to issue letters of credit for high amounts. Those instruments do exist in those figures but they are rare.

 

[Horwath]

It would be handy but I don't see platinum pieces being minted at that rate of exchange. Unless prices are radically increased. For example if 1 a silver piece is a days wage then 1 PP is 1,200,000 dollars. We don't have million dollar bills for a reason. Even if a days wage is 10sp (which is high) then you'd have 120,000 dollar bills in 1 PP.

prices are really close to 1 GP = 100 SP = 10.000 CP,
but then you make platinum rare or quasi magical material that IS 100x more expensive than gold.