D&D (2024) Uncommon items - actually common?

[tetrasodium]

I mean, that's basically what it is. It's flavor. Diamond for this, ruby for that, some iron filings for that thing over there.

Again, it causes needless complication. It also uses up needless space in the book.

I mean, if they have the means to crush it into dust and not shards, why couldn't they do it. Players have had their characters do that in my game.

P.S. The smaller flintstone is a rubble and they have a bambam to crush diamonds into dust with his club.

Even as a little kid I understood that gen value was heavily dependent on how the gem is cut. I have a hard time thinking anyone old enough to be employed might stumble over that.

The needless complication you cite comes from the result of trying to apply extreme video game logic in order to convert a generally zero weight bit of currency gem 1:1 to gem dust of equal value.

 

[Maxperson]

Even as a little kid I understood that gen value was heavily dependent on how the gem is cut. I have a hard time thinking anyone old enough to be employed might stumble over that.

The needless complication you cite comes from the result of trying to apply extreme video game logic in order to convert a generally zero weight bit of currency gem 1:1 to gem dust of equal value.

So now you want each gem cut to be listed with a separate value? If you want to add this level of realism to your game, go for it. D&D, though, just doesn't need it. 50gp tells you enough and if you want more, you can make it more complicated.

 

[Micah Sweet]

But it doesn't matter is what they are trying to tell you. The book price of X amount of ruby dust is 50g. If you go to an area where rubies are common as spit and with one tenth as much as the book says, you will spend 5gp for 50gp of ruby dust of the same X amount. If you later travel to a place where rubies are sought after for prestige and they cost five times as much, you will be paying 250gp for 50gp of ruby dust of the same X amount.

Why do we need to know that it's 4 ounces or 1/2 an ounce or whatever?

I think it does matter. A price for a commodity should have an amount attached. To me that is obvious. At this point its just an issue of how much realism you want to inject into it. That will always be subjective.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I'm not buying vegetables. I'm playing D&D. D&D uses GP to measure spell component amounts. You can change it, but I'd rather keep it simple than complicate things by needing every gem type in ounces of dust with a value attached to it, and then every type of incense in sticks with prices attached to it, and... You'd need a several hundred page book just to deal with all the different possible components and values.

Why get that complicated when 25gp of incense is sufficient to let you get the exact volume of incense, regardless of local pricing?

The fact that you'd rather "keep it simple" is evidence of subjectivity. It doesn't matter to you.

 

[Maxperson]

The fact that you'd rather "keep it simple" is evidence of subjectivity. It doesn't matter to you.

I just don't want to go back to the tables for everything mentality and books. To me ruby = 50gp or ruby = 500gp is enough of a price for the commodity.

 

[tetrasodium]

So now you want each gem cut to be listed with a separate value? If you want to add this level of realism to your game, go for it. D&D, though, just doesn't need it. 50gp tells you enough and if you want more, you can make it more complicated.

Complaining about realism while engaging in this level of extreme rules lawyering is rich. You are the one complicating things like "50gp diamond" "75gp ruby" "25gp agate" by trying to suggest players can 1:1 convert it to something entirely different simply because those gems aren't complicated in play with things like carat cut & clarity then complaining when people point out that a cut gem has value from more than a single factor contributing to price.

 

[Maxperson]

Complaining about realism while engaging in this level of extreme rules lawyering is rich. You are the one complicating things like "50gp diamond" "75gp ruby" "25gp agate" by trying to suggest players can 1:1 convert it to something entirely different simply because those gems aren't complicated in play with things like carat cut & clarity then complaining when people point out that a cut gem has value from more than a single factor contributing to price.

There's no rules lawyering going on. I'm not "gaming" the system. The system is the way it is. And what am I converting it into that is "something else?" Diamond and diamond dust are the same thing. Diamond.

 

[Micah Sweet]

There's no rules lawyering going on. I'm not "gaming" the system. The system is the way it is. And what am I converting it into that is "something else?" Diamond and diamond dust are the same thing. Diamond.

By that standard, lumber and a hand-carved chair are the same thing. Wood.

 

[Maxperson]

By that standard, lumber and a hand-carved chair are the same thing. Wood.

No. I'm saying water, ice and crushed ice are all water. The state changes, not the item. A diamond and a crushed diamond are the same thing, but different states.

A good analogy for your post would be a chopped down tree and then the fallen trunk cut into pieces. It's all wood.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

No. I'm saying water, ice and crushed ice are all water. The state changes, not the item. A diamond and a crushed diamond are the same thing, but different states.

A good analogy for your post would be a chopped down tree and then the fallen trunk cut into pieces. It's all wood.

Then, why is a 600g diamond worth 2 billions USD (invaluable actually, I just googled for a valuation of the Cullinan) while 600g of diamond dust is 30$ ?

Saying that "diamond dust" and "diamond" is the same price is a great solution, but it's saying that, in setting, there is no particular markup for diamond being big, which is a possibility, and something that is different from our world (flavor! exoticism!) but that should be more apparent, if it's the default choice, than deduced from a rule about the value of a magical component.