GP in D&D?

[101jir]

I saw he examples in the DMG, but I found the examples a little confusing. It would be helpful to get an idea of about how much GP would = $1, or 10 or whatever works.

[Bakkan]

I worked it out in a recent game of mine, and assuming the 1sp/day for common laborers buys a poverty-level but sustainable lifestyle (with farming for your own food, etc), I determined that 1 cp is approximately equal to $1 U.S. So 1 gp = $100, etc. This won't mesh with all of the prices in the PHB for mundane items, but in general I found it fairly useful.

[Urpriest]

I saw he examples in the DMG, but I found the examples a little confusing. It would be helpful to get an idea of about how much GP would = $1, or 10 or whatever works.

Generally speaking they don't correlate. Real-life money and D&D money don't have a ratio like the one you're asking for any more than ancient roman money in ancient rome can be converted to modern money. No matter how many denarii you have in ancient rome, you can't buy an attack helicopter.

If you want to know how much D&D money is worth, look at how much it buys. A good starting point is the fact that the average day laborer earns 1sp a day.

[DukeofDellot]

A good starting point is the fact that the average day laborer earns 1sp a day.

If you live around here, where minimum wage is $7, and a full time job works you forty hours a week (for simplicity let's call a work week five days), that there is $32 dollars a day, but the average wage is slightly higher and average work week is slightly lower...

You know what I'll not bore you, I'd be comfortable saying the average daily wage around these parts is probably 30 to 40 dollars. So a copper piece would be three or four dollars. That means a gold piece is worth several hundred dollars. If you were to go to a store and buy a sword, it probably wouldn't be the same amount that suggests in the players handbook since the demand for them is much lower and the availability is potentially higher... in fact I'd say that the price of items would be quite varied in comparison to what you'd see.

So this statement has little meaning in the long run, but I'd say a DnD GP is worth around three or four hundred dollars. In this area anyways.

Why would you want to know this?

[MickJay]

GP, depending on what sort of criteria you're using, would be somewhere between $55 and a few hundred (but likely below $400).

[hamishspence]

Maybe for a crossover?

If a character is translated from one world to another- and everything gets converted- it might be handy to know what the "exchange rate" is, so to speak.

[The Random NPC]

The 1sp/day wage is for unskilled workers, if you assume your commoners have ranks in profession farmer, they would make d20 + ranks + WIS in gold a week. Assuming the farmer has an 8 in WIS and rolls a 10, he would earn about 12 gold a week.

[Zeta Kai]

The exchange rate is all over the place, which shouldn't be terribly surprising. I mean, for starters, it is a game; designed by professional dice rollers, not economists. Second of all, like with any currency in vastly different times or places, the market is radically dissimilar to the modern day, service-based, interconnected, 24/7 economy of the modern world. The things available are different, their usefulness is different, & their scarcity is different. Nothing is really the same.

A shovel today is much less valuable today, because the priority & necessity are not the same as they were in a medieval setting. The same with a chicken, or a sword. Prices are set because that is what the market will bare for an item, for a number of different reasons, & if you change the reasoning, then the price will radically shift. Therefore, the comparitive worth of two currencies from radically different markets is inherently meaningless.

[Yora]

The problem really is, that prices for common items and prices for weapons and armor are in completely different ranges. Yes, good weapons and armor were really expensive, but five months wages for a sword seems much too high for me. And that doesn't mean you have to save some monney at the side for five months, but the entire monney that feeds your family.

[Salbazier]

The problem really is, that prices for common items and prices for weapons and armor are in completely different ranges. Yes, good weapons and armor were really expensive, but five months wages for a sword seems much too high for me. And that doesn't mean you have to save some monney at the side for five months, but the entire monney that feeds your family.

Well, sword is not made and sold with the labor population as target customer. They are for adventurers, nobles, mercenaries and professional soldiers. The first two generally have more money while merceneries loot left and right. For the last category, they do get loot share and, depend on the culture or employer, may have their weapons supplied.

BTW, how long the time its took to make a sword?

[sana]

Yes, good weapons and armor were really expensive, but five months wages for a sword seems much too high for me. And that doesn't mean you have to save some monney at the side for five months, but the entire monney that feeds your family.

Depending on the century and region...

Yes 5 months of pay as an unskilled laborer is just to little... think more in the range of 1-2 Years.
Oh and while we're at it, a War Horse would be 3-4 Years of pay for a master craftsman.
and yes that would be ALL of the income. There is a reason why war was so expensive and lucrative at the same time. Looting was a good way to pay for weapons...