Anyone else a bit ticked off that most items are 1000+G? You got any idea how heavy and bulky the groups money pouch has to be after a good day. This whole 10-1 ratio is way to low. IMO I think it should be 100-1. That way when you go to buy gear and pots you just slide 3 gold over. The 3 gold equaling up to 300,000. No more 500lb coin pouches with just enough gold to cover a wagon.
I think that's why gems are so popular as currency replacements. I'm carrying around a couple of dozen gems ranging from 50 gp to 1000 gp. Really cuts down on the weight.
"The gold piece is the standard unit of measure for wealth, even if the coin itself is not commonly used. When merchants discuss deals that involve goods or services worth hundreds or thousands of gold pieces, the transactions don't usually involve the exchange of individual coins. Rather, the gold piece is a standard measure of value, and the actual exchange is in gold bars, letters of credit, or valuable goods."
Because that particular party decided not to? Because they keep it in a seperate bag of holding type container? Because they use banks, vaults, stashes, and assets? Because the economy system that the DM put in doesn’t accommodate that?
If you have this problem, bring it up with your players or DM.
I mean, in all the campaigns I've played/DMed, nobody's really worried about the weight/size of GP.
In the campaign I'm DMing, if I say to my players "you find a 500gp diamond, a 1000gp pearl, and two 50gp stone carvings" the players will just add that up to get 1600 gp, divide by the four players, and each add 400gp to their character sheet. Nobody's particularly interested in doing the accounting of who's actually carrying a 1000gp pearl and who's got the "IOU" saying "I own 40% of Player 1's Pearl".
In some campaigns, optimizing loot recovery is an interesting part of the game, and then you care about whether you're carrying a tiny but valuable diamond or a huge bag of copper pieces. But in others, nobody cares so you just treat "GP" as a unit of measurement and know that "500gp" on a character sheet means "500gp worth of easily carryable tradeable items."
The 'gp' is just a standardised way of measuring value, there is one denomination higher; the platinum piece
The lowest denomination is a copper piece, which is 100 to the gold, just like most western currencies. If a cp was a penny, a gp would be a dollar
Coins are small, like half an inch across maybe, and weigh 1/3lb each. That means 100pp would fit in the palm of your hand and weigh about as much as three cans of coke
Trade bars are a thing; these are blocks of metal (usually just gold and silver) that can carry much more value than their volume in coinage. They're also much easier to store and transport
If you have a stupid amount of wealth to transport, gems are an option. A 500gp diamond is probably smaller than a grape and weighs about as much. Diamond value doesn't scale just with size, but with quality. A pouch of high quality diamonds might weigh less than a can of coke, fit in your back pocket and be worth tens, if not hundreds of thousands of gp.
'IOUs' and promissory notes can exist. If you have a banking group or family that exists in multiple cities, they can write you notes of value that you can cash in at their other institutions.
The thing you have an issue with is literally how currency based economies functioned before first paper money, and then electronic money.
Financial operations in D&D is what it is. I don’t get caught up in the minutiae of details like this. Certificates of Deposit ie IOUs are probably the best solution if your worried about it. The best thing about games like D&D is making up your own set of standards when dealing with situations in your world.
Get yourself a Living Loot Satchel tied to a vault back at your headquarters. Everything stays safe in your Scrooge McDuckian vault back home until you need to make a withdrawal for a large purchase.
Also it's worth noting that in 5e magic items aren't required, the way they essentially were in 3.5. They're extra ad-on's you'r DM can reward you with, and as such, are a little rarer and not often found in shops, so you're not often going to be dealing with gold in those quantities unless you're buying a stronghold or something.
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Anyone else a bit ticked off that most items are 1000+G? You got any idea how heavy and bulky the groups money pouch has to be after a good day. This whole 10-1 ratio is way to low. IMO I think it should be 100-1. That way when you go to buy gear and pots you just slide 3 gold over. The 3 gold equaling up to 300,000. No more 500lb coin pouches with just enough gold to cover a wagon.
I think that's why gems are so popular as currency replacements. I'm carrying around a couple of dozen gems ranging from 50 gp to 1000 gp. Really cuts down on the weight.
From the PHB, Equipment > Wealth > Coinage.
"The gold piece is the standard unit of measure for wealth, even if the coin itself is not commonly used. When merchants discuss deals that involve goods or services worth hundreds or thousands of gold pieces, the transactions don't usually involve the exchange of individual coins. Rather, the gold piece is a standard measure of value, and the actual exchange is in gold bars, letters of credit, or valuable goods."
so why then doesn't the party walk around with IOU's. even still gold bars get heavy AF and the valuable goods get bulky.
Because that particular party decided not to? Because they keep it in a seperate bag of holding type container? Because they use banks, vaults, stashes, and assets? Because the economy system that the DM put in doesn’t accommodate that?
If you have this problem, bring it up with your players or DM.
I mean, in all the campaigns I've played/DMed, nobody's really worried about the weight/size of GP.
In the campaign I'm DMing, if I say to my players "you find a 500gp diamond, a 1000gp pearl, and two 50gp stone carvings" the players will just add that up to get 1600 gp, divide by the four players, and each add 400gp to their character sheet. Nobody's particularly interested in doing the accounting of who's actually carrying a 1000gp pearl and who's got the "IOU" saying "I own 40% of Player 1's Pearl".
In some campaigns, optimizing loot recovery is an interesting part of the game, and then you care about whether you're carrying a tiny but valuable diamond or a huge bag of copper pieces. But in others, nobody cares so you just treat "GP" as a unit of measurement and know that "500gp" on a character sheet means "500gp worth of easily carryable tradeable items."
There's a few things you've got to remember
The thing you have an issue with is literally how currency based economies functioned before first paper money, and then electronic money.
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D&D Beyond FoundersIf you're interested in using gems for your currency needs, don't forget that D&D Beyond has you covered there!
You can add say 2 emeralds and a peridot to your character sheet, instead of 2500 gold pieces.
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Financial operations in D&D is what it is. I don’t get caught up in the minutiae of details like this. Certificates of Deposit ie IOUs are probably the best solution if your worried about it. The best thing about games like D&D is making up your own set of standards when dealing with situations in your world.
Get yourself a Living Loot Satchel tied to a vault back at your headquarters. Everything stays safe in your Scrooge McDuckian vault back home until you need to make a withdrawal for a large purchase.
Also it's worth noting that in 5e magic items aren't required, the way they essentially were in 3.5. They're extra ad-on's you'r DM can reward you with, and as such, are a little rarer and not often found in shops, so you're not often going to be dealing with gold in those quantities unless you're buying a stronghold or something.