D&D (2024) Should 1D&D introduce silver standard for prices?

[MGibster]

I don't have any objections to a silver standard, and I don't even need a rational economic system, but I would like to see D&D move away from the treasure treadmill for character motivation. While many of my characters care about accumulating gold, I, as a player, do not. Give us other motivations for adventuring.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I tried incorporating a silver standard in one of my old 5E games... and I soon discovered that while I intellectually liked the idea of using SPs as the base currency-- in actual play it made no difference whatsoever. No one cared what the baseline currency was, including myself. So it end up just being easier to stick with the gold piece as that's what everything was written towards.

Switching to the silver piece would be something for a whole new edition and have the entire series of games and books written with that in mind. Swapping to it for 2024 would prove to my more trouble than it was worth, especially when running up against all the older 5E books still geared to the GP.

 

[nevin]

Right now we have classic, 1GP=10SP=100CP,

but prices of those metals are not in that range,

if we go to 1GP=100SP=10,000CP we would come pretty close to real prices for those metals.

also it would make CP and SP meaningful in campaigns, right now SP is maybe used at 1st level, and CP in next to unheard of.

also it would make transporting large amount of wealth more easier.

Fullplate costing 15GP is more manageable transaction than 1500GP, carrying around 30lb of gold is a hassle. 15 coins still can fin inside a pocket.
I can hardly imagine a blacksmith having chests full of gold after a busy day

then platinum can be made as some magic crafted metal that can hold magical essence for enchanting and have 1PP=100GP.
Platinum would only be used as magical currency or royal exchange.

common person would never see a platinum coin in a life probably, and only occasionally see a gold coin.

Doesn't matter money means nothing in 5e.

Its my biggest complaint of the system. Either DM throws money at you and you have tons to buy nothing with, or they forget it because its not important and you just dont buy stuff.

 

[reelo]

I've been thinking about that for a looong time already. Working on something based on medieval England. This is super-simplified, though, but it does make sense (to me, at least)

This would make the CP a "farthing", a SP a "penny", an EP a "shilling", a GP a "crown" and a PP a "pound".

 

[Clint_L]

I don't have any objections to a silver standard, and I don't even need a rational economic system, but I would like to see D&D move away from the treasure treadmill for character motivation. While many of my characters care about accumulating gold, I, as a player, do not. Give us other motivations for adventuring.

I agree with this. Honestly, moving from a gold to a silver standard seems pointless to me - who cares about real world analogies in the fantasy setting? It's a wash in terms of actual gameplay.

The deeper issue is the treasure motivation, which lies deep in the heart of D&D. Back in the day, treasure was super important because it was how you gained most of your experience points. So I think the game started with a culture of treasure=winning, and that has kind of stuck around.

That said, obviously character development remains a key part of the game, and loot is one way to make your character better, through letting you purchase new equipment, spells/spell components, etc. So it remains a good story driver, but maybe doesn't need to be as central as it sometimes seems to be. I suppose that ultimately comes down to each table's preference.

And I have to admit that I am quite looking forward to the upcoming "Heists" book! (plus Heists are a situation where the weight of the coinage could well become a fun story element).

 

[Clint_L]

I've been thinking about that for a looong time already. Working on something based on medieval England. This is super-simplified, though, but it does make sense (to me, at least)

This would make the CP a "farthing", a SP a "penny", an EP a "shilling", a GP a "crown" and a PP a "pound".

Dude, I appreciate your personal interests here, but my game needs a system based on English coinage like it needs a hole in the head. Like, maybe for your table it would be amazing (are you British?), but that just looks super confusing to me (much like English coinage) and I don't see how it makes game night better, unless players having to get out calculators to buy a potion is compelling story.

 

[Horwath]

I've been thinking about that for a looong time already. Working on something based on medieval England. This is super-simplified, though, but it does make sense (to me, at least)

This would make the CP a "farthing", a SP a "penny", an EP a "shilling", a GP a "crown" and a PP a "pound".

nice effort for simplifying, but anything with currency that is not based in decimal system gets a hard pass from me.

 

[Azzy]

Despite the rationale that some posters give for this, I just don't even see the benefit of this. What real-world values are irrelevant, and players don't care about gold being the base. This is a solution in search of a problem.

 

[reelo]

Dude, I appreciate your personal interests here, but my game needs a system based on English coinage like it needs a hole in the head. Like, maybe for your table it would be amazing (are you British?), but that just looks super confusing to me (much like English coinage) and I don't see how it makes game night better, unless players having to get out calculators to buy a potion is compelling story.

Well, for non-D&D games like Pendragon, Chivalry&Sorcery, or even Mytras (if set in medieval times) it's certainly a plus.

 

[reelo]

nice effort for simplifying, but anything with currency that is not based in decimal system gets a hard pass from me.

The advantage in basing currency on the number 240 is, it has 20 divisors total: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 15, 16, 20, 24, 30, 40, 48, 60, 80, 120, and 240, more than any previous number.

Try dividing 10GP evenly among 3 party-members.