I can never see the point in trying to convert fantasy currency into real world currency because there’s so many factors that affect it. Even in the real world if you’ve spent a good amount of time living and working in a different country you quickly realise there’s little point converting back to your home currency because there’s a different cost of living in the new place and what you earn is (hopefully) suited to that rather than spending your whole time going “wow, that’s cheap/expensive compared to home”
I can see your point when dealing with currency. But when your dealing with precious metals its different. Currency changes value according to the trust in it. World wide gold does not change value from nation to nation. Unless there is some outside extenuating circumstance. Such as owning it is banned.
People that want to know what the gold value is in D&D as compared to what they know in modern day is normal. It makes understanding that what they are getting paid is worth. Could that gold last them into a retirement and beyond or buy that nice little castle they have had their eye on? Or could they earn a pile of cash in the big city and move out to a farm later? Or do they just want to spend it all on song, sex and booze and live like a pirate? They w3ant to know that what they are spending their gold on is at least close to the value they expect.
I think the main takeaway is that you have to then compare it to IN GAME costs to figure that out (even then it's quite flawed). I'm with the others that there is no real reason to try and tie it to currencies where we live for all of the reasons already outlined. There's just no reasonable comparison (even if the beer one is pretty good for... beer).
I can never see the point in trying to convert fantasy currency into real world currency because there’s so many factors that affect it. Even in the real world if you’ve spent a good amount of time living and working in a different country you quickly realise there’s little point converting back to your home currency because there’s a different cost of living in the new place and what you earn is (hopefully) suited to that rather than spending your whole time going “wow, that’s cheap/expensive compared to home”
I can see your point when dealing with currency. But when your dealing with precious metals its different. Currency changes value according to the trust in it. World wide gold does not change value from nation to nation. Unless there is some outside extenuating circumstance. Such as owning it is banned.
That is true to an extent, but the opposite side of the equation isn't: the cost of living and the buying value of the local currency changes quite a bit. You'll have a substantial difference with what you can buy with the same amount of gold in Monaco vs Zimbabwe. D&D doesn't do that and just assumes that all goods and services cost the same amount everywhere in the world because it's not trying to simulate any sort of real economy.
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Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
I can see your point when dealing with currency. But when your dealing with precious metals its different. Currency changes value according to the trust in it. World wide gold does not change value from nation to nation. Unless there is some outside extenuating circumstance. Such as owning it is banned.
Mostly what causes fluctuations in precious metal prices are fluctuations in supply, if a large amount of gold suddenly enters the economy, the price of gold will drop dramatically. There's no particular reason to think that gold is equally common in D&D as it is in the real world, and fairly strong reason to think it isn't (for example, in D&D gold is 100x the cost of copper. The real world ratio varies but is never that low; at the time I'm checking gold is 9400x as expensive per unit weight).
The D&D economy is very very simplified. Because......
But that does not mean that in your games it has to stay that way.
At one point in England the King set ALL prices. The merchants were not allowed to charge more or less for any goods. This worked great for the common man. Prices didn't change. But neither did his pay. It stagnated and fixed the classes into place. The common man had almost no chance of getting into the merchant class. The common man was not allowed to import a good and price his goods below the merchants already in business. Its how the ruling class kept their power.
Today is Sunday February 23. 2025. According to several commodities websites, gold is currently trading for $95.13 per gram. There are 453.592 grams per US pound. So 1 US pound of gold costs $43,150.2096. D&D says coins weigh 50 per pound. So 1 gp = $863. 1 sp = $86.30. 1 cp = $8.63.
So a blanket, or a day's rations, would cost $431.50. A dagger, or a shovel, would cost $1,726. A longsword would cost about $13,000. Plate armor would cost about $1.3 million. And a galley would cost about $26 million. For reference, $26.9 million would buy you the "Black Legend", a 50 meter award-winning Italian super yacht. It has a top speed of 35 knots, and boasts VIP accommodations for 10, two bars, a gym, a cinema, a private office, a DJ booth, and a garage for two chase boats or jetskis.
Fortunately none of that matters because D&D is a fantasy game. I'm just sayin'... I know how I'm gonna spend my next 30,000 gp.
I think the main takeaway is that you have to then compare it to IN GAME costs to figure that out (even then it's quite flawed). I'm with the others that there is no real reason to try and tie it to currencies where we live for all of the reasons already outlined. There's just no reasonable comparison (even if the beer one is pretty good for... beer).
That is true to an extent, but the opposite side of the equation isn't: the cost of living and the buying value of the local currency changes quite a bit. You'll have a substantial difference with what you can buy with the same amount of gold in Monaco vs Zimbabwe. D&D doesn't do that and just assumes that all goods and services cost the same amount everywhere in the world because it's not trying to simulate any sort of real economy.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Mostly what causes fluctuations in precious metal prices are fluctuations in supply, if a large amount of gold suddenly enters the economy, the price of gold will drop dramatically. There's no particular reason to think that gold is equally common in D&D as it is in the real world, and fairly strong reason to think it isn't (for example, in D&D gold is 100x the cost of copper. The real world ratio varies but is never that low; at the time I'm checking gold is 9400x as expensive per unit weight).
The D&D economy is very very simplified. Because......
But that does not mean that in your games it has to stay that way.
At one point in England the King set ALL prices. The merchants were not allowed to charge more or less for any goods.
This worked great for the common man. Prices didn't change. But neither did his pay. It stagnated and fixed the classes into place. The common man had almost no chance of getting into the merchant class. The common man was not allowed to import a good and price his goods below the merchants already in business. Its how the ruling class kept their power.
Today is Sunday February 23. 2025. According to several commodities websites, gold is currently trading for $95.13 per gram. There are 453.592 grams per US pound. So 1 US pound of gold costs $43,150.2096. D&D says coins weigh 50 per pound. So 1 gp = $863. 1 sp = $86.30. 1 cp = $8.63.
So a blanket, or a day's rations, would cost $431.50. A dagger, or a shovel, would cost $1,726. A longsword would cost about $13,000. Plate armor would cost about $1.3 million. And a galley would cost about $26 million. For reference, $26.9 million would buy you the "Black Legend", a 50 meter award-winning Italian super yacht. It has a top speed of 35 knots, and boasts VIP accommodations for 10, two bars, a gym, a cinema, a private office, a DJ booth, and a garage for two chase boats or jetskis.
Fortunately none of that matters because D&D is a fantasy game. I'm just sayin'... I know how I'm gonna spend my next 30,000 gp.
Anzio Faro. Protector Aasimar light cleric. Lvl 18.
Viktor Gavriil. White dragonborn grave cleric. Lvl 20.
Ikram Sahir ibn-Malik al-Sayyid Ra'ad. Brass dragonborn draconic sorcerer Lvl 9. Fire elemental devil.
Wrangler of cats.