Magical anti-counterfeiting

[Britsky]

I was wondering, are there any measures in place to prevent a magic user from just creating money? I'm certain there are spells and such that let you create material, or change one material into another, what stops someone from creating gold and turning it into coins?
Or even just someone with a good craft or forgery skill creating fake gold or platinum coins that could fool most people?

IRL in the modern day the cash we handle has very little intrinsic value, so printing counterfeit money would be cheap and easy if it weren't for the various measure's taken: special materials, holograms, strips, micro printing.
But in a D&D world were the value of money comes from the material it's made from and it's possible for a powerful enough caster to simply make a perfect copy, would there be any measures that could be taken?

[Extra Anchovies]

Well, if the coins are actually made of gold and platinum, then they're literally just normal gold and platinum coins. A commodity-bassed currency is silly in a system where commodities can be created from thin air.

My personal (house-rule) fix: materials produced by [creation] effects have trace magical auras that identify them as such, and those materials quickly break down after the death of the caster of the [creation] effect that produced them. This renders items made from magically created materials significantly less valuable as trade goods, because they have a hard-limited shelf life.

[Britsky]

Well, if the coins are actually made of gold and platinum, then they're literally just normal gold and platinum coins. A commodity-bassed currency is silly in a system where commodities can be created from thin air.

My personal (house-rule) fix: materials produced by [creation] effects have trace magical auras that identify them as such, and those materials quickly break down after the death of the caster of the [creation] effect that produced them. This renders items made from magically created materials significantly less valuable as trade goods, because they have a hard-limited shelf life.

That works, it would need to be something fairly low levels could detect, else a wizard could just pump out money and decimate an economy.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

That works, it would need to be something fairly low levels could detect, else a wizard could just pump out money and decimate an economy.Go look at the price of +5 weapons and dragon hoards and tell me that adventurers doing what adventurers do (that is, adventure) isn't going going to ruin the economy any more than a wizard who basically does the exact same thing but without adventuring.

If regular gaming doesn't break the economy, neither will this.

[EyethatBinds]

I'd say counterfeit coins would work the same as regular ones as far as the average peasant on fire would consider them. If they come back to the king of a land and he has some problem with permanent gold coins not of his kingdom, I expect he'd be in the minority.

Or are you talking about passing temporary fake gold coins to people? If not, I just don't see what the difference is when thinking of a pseudo-medieval era. People used to sail around the world looking for stores of gold and after determining that it was real (by examining the material only) they'd be rich.

I expect the average merchant won't give a fig where you got your money, as long as you part with it.

[ExLibrisMortis]

I wrote a post on magically hardening materials here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21137158&postcount=16). Since the particular strategy outlined there involves an eighth-level power, it's most likely outside the capabilities of most forgers. If you have problems with forgers who do have access to eight-level powers, you should be glad that that's all they're doing with their power, because they could kill you and take your cookie just as easily.

The follow-up:

Imagine this:
Every Royal City has a Royal Mint. Each Royal Mint has a Goldmaster, which is a level 3 cleric. The cleric must be personally present when the unminted gold is brought in, one cubic foot once a month. That day, the cleric purifies the metal, in the presence of the Mintmaster and the journeymen (who are not involved in the process, and watch from behind bars, for security, of course). Because it's a low-level spell, this takes ten minutes and covers only one cubic foot, but that's enough to keep the mint going for the rest of the month.

The Goldmaster's duties also include interviewing the journeymen and apprentices, using zone of truth to improve security; securing the Mint, using arcane lock and alarm; and investigating and reporting any irregularities discovered within the Mint. As such, Goldmasters must be of impeccable honour, and only the most steadfast and dedicated dwarves can hold the position.

And that's why you can trust dwarven gold. Because we care!
In the end, it comes down to the trustworthiness of your magicians, one way or another. That's just how magic works.

[Inevitability]

The point is that magic wins against mundane 99% of the time, and stronger magic wins against magic all the time. Unless your anti-counterfeiters are epic-level casters, there will be people out there able to forge money.

[Deophaun]

My personal (house-rule) fix: materials produced by [creation] effects have trace magical auras that identify them as such
So, Nystul was a forger, then.

and those materials quickly break down after the death of the caster of the [creation] effect that produced them.
At last, the true reason wizards become liches is revealed!

Fortunately, Spellcraft is already an in-game way to identify magically created and shaped materials that can't be defeated with a first-level spell.

Edit:

I wrote a post on magically hardening materials here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21137158&postcount=16).
Just FYI: That post uses an outdated version of glassteel, which was updated in Champions of Valor.

[ExLibrisMortis]

Just FYI: That post uses an outdated version of glassteel, which was updated in Champions of Valor.
Hmm, good point, I didn't know. The updated glassteel is basically mithral, with adamantine's hardness and hit points (but not the DR/- or ability to overcome hardness). It also lost the -4 penalty to Spot checks to see the armour at a distance, which does almost nothing, but still (why remove it? it's the one thing that was special about it). Really weirdly, it costs twice as much as mithral for light armour, but only one-fifth as much by the pound (maybe they forgot a zero).

If you want glassteel to be a relevant option, I would suggest ignoring the update, because the updated version is simply not useful. Before, it was too expensive to be realistically used (outside of AMF-fighters), but at least it was cool.