This appears to have been pulled verbatim (and incompletely) from Volo's Guide to All Things Magical. So, if you would like the complete list, I recommend that official source.
These three sources establish the value of gold per pound and that the value of coin quantity to pure metal quantity is flat (there's no 'value added' by making the coin).
Player Handbook, Chapter 5: "A standard coin weighs about a third of an ounce, so fifty coins weigh a pound."
Player's Handbook, Chapter 5: "50 gp = 1 lb. of gold"
Player's Handbook, Chapter 5: "... Rather, the gold piece is a standard measure of value, and the actual exchange is in gold bars..."
These sources establish the exchange rates for the metals not included in the original PHB chart (iron, mithral, and adamantine).
Iron: Player's Handbook, Chapter 5: "1 sp = 1 lb. of iron". Dungeon Master's Guide, Chapter 1: "...iron is normally valued elsewhere (1 sp per pound)."
Adamantine:Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, Chapter 4: "The characters can purchase a 10-pound adamantine bar for 1,000 gp." (this sets the price of 1 pound of adamantine equal to 2 pounds of gold)
Mithral: Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage, Chapter 6: "One character can strip 1 pound of mithral in 15 minutes. Each pound of the metal is worth 50 gp." (this sets the price of 1 pound of mithral equal to 1 pound of gold)
The mithral and adamantine prices are also confirmed on this tweet, which unfortunately doesn't make it clear that he's talking about pounds.
Having said all that, Tomb of Annihilation, Chapter 2 has a very different price for adamantine. "Each adamantine ingot is worth 10 gp and weighs 1 pound." So here, 1 gp = 5 adamantine pieces (adamantine is significantly cheaper than gold in this section). It does say the ingots are "refined adamantine". I think its easy to explain this off as local market dynamics (a 'nonstandard' exchange rate) or the fact that these specific ingots aren't fully refined. Also note that Tomb of Annihilation doesn't have this regional pricing adjustment for iron as the exchange rate is that listed in the chart above "each iron ingot is worth 1 gp and weights 10 pounds).
Extracting ore isn't extracting metal, extracted ore doesn't magically becomes bar, and ore will have impurities.
Adamant is not Adamantine, Adamantine is the high purity Adamant, or in alloyes form.
So no you don't extract 50 gp worth of mithral in 15 minutes. (Or if you do, then mithral as purified bar is many times more expensive than 50 gold pieces/coins)
Also do not expect to process mithral and especially adamant in a village smith's shop, you won't be able to smelt them.
Why do you think Gauntlygrym means alot to Dwarves. Lore sources state 2280 celcius degrees as the melting point of adamant(older sources even state 3100+ celcius degrees) popular opinion is adamant melts around 3100-3400 celcius degrees and becomes workable around 2200-2400 celcius degrees.
So, yes ore of these are valuable, but purifoed metal bar and ore prices are nowhere near close.
For ease of understanding, treat adamant as tungsten(wolfram) and mithral as naturelly occuring high purity cobalt and steel alloy.
I would also want to see reference to that tin price, as tin mines are not really much common in Faerûn(at least in sources)
(For people trying to make sense of why crafting is so expensive for smithing, it is simply due to price of nickel, chromium, molybdenium, manganese and such, except nickel these alloying additives are too rare and expensive, for example material necessary for a breastplate is like 22 libres of alloy, plus a padded armor, and leather straps, which should total 200 gp, in our games we devised 2 alloys, which equate to that one is a high performance steel alloy another is a cupronickel variant of Corinthian Bronze, which is more than half nickel, 4 percent gold and rest copper, which performs better than bronze age Greek material for breastplates, and hits the 200 gold coin mark if nickel is priced twice the silver, which is conservative pricing as pure nickel was much more expensive during time of Netheril)
Also when smithing keep in mind that what you get for 1 sp is an iron bar, not a steel bar, theese are very different things in terms of crafting. And what you get for 400 gold is not an iron breastplate it is made of alloys that are superior both in corrosion resistance, durability, yield and tensile strength to iron.
A steel bar has no fixed price, as the type of steel can have very different components.
In fantasy settings it is fair to imagine alloying is not very advanced and people hide their secrets.
Mithral/mithril in bar form might as well be a naturally occuring cobalt/iron alloy. (Unlike Tolkiens) though this doesn't explain the ire colour even if it explains the resulting metal colour with blue hue.(and weight as maraging steels and high cobalt steels will have much less weight for equal mechanical values)
Adamant ore might be tungsten which explains it's strength very well.
People often think common sense doesn't apply and dnd is never internally coherent, but that is not the case.
(Why do chain armors cost that cheap comapred to plate, well, that is beyond me 😅)
Metal. Cost per ibs
Platinum. 500gp
Gold 50gp
Electrum. 25gp
Silver. 5gp
Copper. 5sp
Steel. 4sp
Bronze. 4sp
Cold iron. 4sp
Brass. 3sp
Tin. 3sp
Lead. 2sp
Iron. 1sp
This all my opinion if you have any questions please contact me.
ENJOY
Hi Im the nimble king
Your forgot adamantite, often considered the best metal.
This appears to have been pulled verbatim (and incompletely) from Volo's Guide to All Things Magical. So, if you would like the complete list, I recommend that official source.
These three sources establish the value of gold per pound and that the value of coin quantity to pure metal quantity is flat (there's no 'value added' by making the coin).
These sources establish the exchange rates for the metals not included in the original PHB chart (iron, mithral, and adamantine).
Mithral: Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage, Chapter 6: "One character can strip 1 pound of mithral in 15 minutes. Each pound of the metal is worth 50 gp." (this sets the price of 1 pound of mithral equal to 1 pound of gold)
The mithral and adamantine prices are also confirmed on this tweet, which unfortunately doesn't make it clear that he's talking about pounds.
Having said all that, Tomb of Annihilation, Chapter 2 has a very different price for adamantine. "Each adamantine ingot is worth 10 gp and weighs 1 pound." So here, 1 gp = 5 adamantine pieces (adamantine is significantly cheaper than gold in this section). It does say the ingots are "refined adamantine". I think its easy to explain this off as local market dynamics (a 'nonstandard' exchange rate) or the fact that these specific ingots aren't fully refined. Also note that Tomb of Annihilation doesn't have this regional pricing adjustment for iron as the exchange rate is that listed in the chart above "each iron ingot is worth 1 gp and weights 10 pounds).
Guide to the Five Factions (PWYW)
Deck of Decks
Thank you for this it is supper helpful
How much copper would it take to plate a 5'x5' floor section, say the thickness of a coin or perhaps half that???
Watch your back, conserve your ammo,
and NEVER cut a deal with a dragon!
3 lbs = 1 square foot at a thickness of .0647" A US penny is .06"
75 pounds of copper is need to cover a 5x5 space.
Thank you. Building a Bastion and plating a hallway as a trap/defense. 😁
Watch your back, conserve your ammo,
and NEVER cut a deal with a dragon!
Extracting ore isn't extracting metal, extracted ore doesn't magically becomes bar, and ore will have impurities.
Adamant is not Adamantine, Adamantine is the high purity Adamant, or in alloyes form.
So no you don't extract 50 gp worth of mithral in 15 minutes. (Or if you do, then mithral as purified bar is many times more expensive than 50 gold pieces/coins)
Also do not expect to process mithral and especially adamant in a village smith's shop, you won't be able to smelt them.
Why do you think Gauntlygrym means alot to Dwarves. Lore sources state 2280 celcius degrees as the melting point of adamant(older sources even state 3100+ celcius degrees) popular opinion is adamant melts around 3100-3400 celcius degrees and becomes workable around 2200-2400 celcius degrees.
So, yes ore of these are valuable, but purifoed metal bar and ore prices are nowhere near close.
For ease of understanding, treat adamant as tungsten(wolfram) and mithral as naturelly occuring high purity cobalt and steel alloy.
I would also want to see reference to that tin price, as tin mines are not really much common in Faerûn(at least in sources)
(For people trying to make sense of why crafting is so expensive for smithing, it is simply due to price of nickel, chromium, molybdenium, manganese and such, except nickel these alloying additives are too rare and expensive, for example material necessary for a breastplate is like 22 libres of alloy, plus a padded armor, and leather straps, which should total 200 gp, in our games we devised 2 alloys, which equate to that one is a high performance steel alloy another is a cupronickel variant of Corinthian Bronze, which is more than half nickel, 4 percent gold and rest copper, which performs better than bronze age Greek material for breastplates, and hits the 200 gold coin mark if nickel is priced twice the silver, which is conservative pricing as pure nickel was much more expensive during time of Netheril)
Also when smithing keep in mind that what you get for 1 sp is an iron bar, not a steel bar, theese are very different things in terms of crafting. And what you get for 400 gold is not an iron breastplate it is made of alloys that are superior both in corrosion resistance, durability, yield and tensile strength to iron.
A steel bar has no fixed price, as the type of steel can have very different components.
In fantasy settings it is fair to imagine alloying is not very advanced and people hide their secrets.
Mithral/mithril in bar form might as well be a naturally occuring cobalt/iron alloy. (Unlike Tolkiens) though this doesn't explain the ire colour even if it explains the resulting metal colour with blue hue.(and weight as maraging steels and high cobalt steels will have much less weight for equal mechanical values)
Adamant ore might be tungsten which explains it's strength very well.
People often think common sense doesn't apply and dnd is never internally coherent, but that is not the case.
(Why do chain armors cost that cheap comapred to plate, well, that is beyond me 😅)