Value of a gold piece IRL

[Mike Garrison]

1000 gp is 1 kg according to the inventory, so I wondered what that made the value of a gold piece IRL. About $85 for one gram of gold as of today's prices.

Although, I suppose we don't know how pure a gold piece is. Could be maybe only half purity or something.

[@%thesock10150alpha49]

And today's value is greatly reduced in comparison to our medieval counterparts, so somebody with a dead rat and a backpack is probably carrying the GDP of Spain.

[Shale]

D&D's economy is notoriously busted. I like to imagine some ancient wizards tried to get rich quick by magically creating a metric f*ckton of gold, producing the amount we see in these settings and crashing the value so bad that it can be used as a standard coin the same way we don't use any special or rare metals for our coins today.

[NorthernDavid]

Nah it was those pesky dragons, see they like to sleep on piles of gold so they magic some up, and it sticks around after they die. Seriously there are two factors at work, 1) gold is more common in D&D the wizard or dragon did it. And 2) modern currency does not have anything but the government who printed it backing it. Rather than when a dollar represented a fixed amount of gold, and so the price can change more.

[KRON]

Gold in D&D apparently has more value than IRL, because even gods and devils use gold as currency.

[belgix]

Originally posted by Mike Garrison:

Although, I suppose we don't know how pure a gold piece is. Could be maybe only half purity or something.

It can be anything between 99.99% (24K), 75% (18K), 58.5% (14K) or less. In jewelry, common gold alloys are made with copper (18K red gold = 75% gold, 25% copper) and silver (18K rose gold: 75% gold, 22.25% copper, 2.75% silver). Alloys with other metals are also possible.

The problem I have with 1 gp = 1 g is the size of the coin. The coin would have roughly a diameter of 11 mm (7/16 in) with a thickness of 0.85 mm (1/32 in). Don't put in in your pocket, pure gold is so malleable, it will bend as soon you apply a force to it. Just to compare a US penny (post 1982) is 2.5x heavier than a gp in BG3.

There is also a spell in AD&D 2nd edition to transmute copper coins in gold coins for a time (Fool's Gold - 2nd level alteration spell) but that's good old time.

[Sentient_Toaster]

Coins are supposed to be 50 per pound if using the 2014 rules as written, so perhaps Larian made them a lot lighter because that's a simpler solution to take compared to using what would be done in tabletop. Players with a lot of wealth might exchange coins for valuable trade goods like gemstones and art objects; rules as written, they retain full value when sold and can be used as currency. A lot of parties might be carrying diamonds with a much better value:weight ratio, anyway, for tables that care about material components. And, of course, there's a bank in the city of Baldur's Gate...

For comparison re: values... you might look at lifestyle expenses. A 'modest' lifestyle is supposed to be 1 gp/day, while 'comfortable' is 2gp, wealthy is 4gp, aristocratic is >= 10 gp.

A loaf of bread is priced at 2 cp in the 2014 PHB. It's no Big Mac but that might be a reference point. :D

If you're having a skilled hireling do some home improvement or other contract work for you, that's 2 gp/day.

[Heu, Iterum Id Feci]

Originally posted by Sentient_Toaster:

For comparison re: values... you might look at lifestyle expenses. A 'modest' lifestyle is supposed to be 1 gp/day, while 'comfortable' is 2gp, wealthy is 4gp, aristocratic is >= 10 gp.

A loaf of bread is priced at 2 cp in the 2014 PHB. It's no Big Mac but that might be a reference point. :D

If you're having a skilled hireling do some home improvement or other contract work for you, that's 2 gp/day.

Which just illustrates how nonesensical conversion to modern currency is...
Putting a loaf of bread from a bakery (not talking about the cheap massproduced stuff) at around 4€ it would mean around 200€ per gp...
200€ per day certainly isn't "modest" around my parts.
And a skilled Hireling making 400€ per day...I dunno, sounds rather optimistic...^^

[Popsicles]

It's all based off the Faerunian gold standard.

[jonnin]

For a long, long time D&D had "change" and prices made more sense. There were copper, silver, gold, and platinum coins with a conversion. It was tedious and annoying to deal with, and at some point everyone just agreed to use a single type of coin. When that happened, the prices were adjusted poorly such that a gold piece was suddenly worth around what a silver piece was before, or less.

really old coins were paper thin because the coin producers were allowed to keep the excess gold after making a coin. They are pretty crazy looking "coins". Each one had to be weighed as the weights were all over the place.

[Metallicus]

I usually use the ‘silver standard’ in my games and gold is used more for rich folks and trade. I also retained copper as it was a mainstay of the economy in medieval times. Just keep in mind that just because Wizards of the Coast makes a bad decision doesn’t mean you need to use it in your games.

[Ghost]

There was a similar discussion ages *ago, and there have been numerous breakdowns on trying to figure it out based on value/services and value/goods.

Worked out to either 1 gold = $100 USD or $20 USD, but either way still busted.

Originally posted by jonnin:

For a long, long time D&D had "change" and prices made more sense. There were copper, silver, gold, and platinum coins with a conversion...

You left out electrum. And then there are the different currencies...
It's also still part of D&D though, just not typically in video games.
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*It keeps coming up, here's one of the more recent ones based on oil barrels: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1086940/discussions/0/6874265117956040069/

[Mike Garrison]

Originally posted by Sentient_Toaster:

And, of course, there's a bank in the city of Baldur's Gate...

A bank that lets any random adventurer party walk in and rob everything inside it?