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Message: <blockquote data-quote="uzirath" data-source="post: 7857729" data-attributes="member: 8495">Alas, this wouldn't make sense in the context of the adventure. I'll enclose the explanation in spoiler tags just in case anyone is this far downthread who doesn't want to know a minor secret in the adventure:[SPOILER]The alchemist didn't really discover how to convert base substances into gold. He was, however, pretending that he could. So he commissioned some solid gold models of objects. He would present these to people as items that he had supposedly converted with his alchemical powers. It's important, therefore, that the samples be the real deal. If the gold was fake—or thin plating over bronze—the gig would be up.[/SPOILER]In D&D, 50 gp is 1 lb, right? So 50 gold coins weigh 454 grams. The density of gold is approximately 19 grams per cubic centimeter, so we're talking 454/19 ≈ 24 cubic centimeters of gold. That would be a sphere with a diameter of roughly 3.6 cm or 1.4 inches. That seems quite small for a dwarf fist, even if you make the assumption that dwarf fists are smaller than human fists. Of course maybe a "nugget" has impurities and air pockets and whatnot which make it less dense than pure gold. We're within wiggle-room territory, I suppose, but even in this case I would bump the value up  by a factor of three.Honestly, I've never run into problems with too much cash in a game. Most players in my games love to spend freely on lots of impractical things (expensive inns, fancy cabins on ships, gilded armor) that burn through wealth without affecting game balance too much.</blockquote>

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