Page 20 - Dungeon Master's Guide

electrum pieces are moons, gold pieces are dragons, Trade Bars. Large numbers of coins can be difficult
and platinum coins are suns. The city's two local coins to transport and account for. Many merchants prefer
are the toal and the harbor moon. The toal is a square to use trade bars-ingots of precious metals and alloys
brass trading-coin pierced with a central hole to permit (usually silver) likely to be accepted by virtually anyone.
it to be easily strung on a ring or string, worth 2 gp in Trade bars are stamped or graven with the symbol of the
the city and nothing outside Waterdeep. The harbor trading company or government that originally crafted
moon is a flat crescent of platinum with a central them. These bars are valued by weight, as follows:
hole and an electrum inlay, named for its traditional
• A 2-pound silver bar is worth 10 gp and is about 5
use in the docks for buying large amounts of cargo at
inches long, 2 inches wide, and 1/2 inch thick.
once. The coin is worth 50 gp in Waterdeep and 30 gp
A 5-pound silver bar is worth 25 gp and is about 6
elsewhere.
inches long, 2 inches wide, and 1 inch thick.
The northern city of Silverymoon mints a crescent-
A 5-pound gold bar is worth 250 gp and is about the
shaped, shining blue coin called an electrum moon,
size of a 2-pound silver bar.
worth 1 gp in that city and 1 ep elsewhere. The city also
issues a larger coin called an eclipsed moon, which The city of Baldur's Gate mints large numbers of
looks like an electrum moon combined a darker silver silver trade bars and sets the standard for this form of
wedge to form a round coin worth 5 ep within the city currency. The city of Mirabar issues black iron spindle-
and 2 ep outside it. shaped trade bars with squared ends weighing about
The favored form of currency in the kingdom of 2 pounds each, worth 10 gp in that city, markedly less
Cormyr is the royal coinage of the court, stamped with in nearby trade centers, and as iron is normally valued
a dragon on one side and a treasury date mark on the elsewhere (1 sp per pound).
other. There, coppers are called thumbs, silvers are Odd Currency. Coins and bars aren't the only forms
silver falcons, electrum pieces are blue eyes, gold pieces of hard currency. Gond bells are small brass bells worth
are golden lions, and platinum coins are tricrowns. 10 gp in trade, or 20 gp to a temple of Gond. Shaar
Even city-states mint their own copper, silver, and gold rings, pierced and polished slices of ivory threaded
pieces. Electrum and platinum pieces are rarer in these onto strings by the nomads of the Shaar, are worth 3 gp
lands. Smaller states use coinage borrowed from other per slice.
nations and looted from ancient sources. Travelers from
CREATING YouR OwN
certain lands (notably the wizard-dominated realms of
As shown in the previous examples, currency doesn't
Thay and Halruaa) use the currencies of other realms
need to obey a universal standard in your world. Each
when trading abroad because their own coins and
country and era can have its own coins with its own
tokens are feared to be magically cursed, and so are
values. Your adventurers might travel through many
shunned by others.
different lands and find long-lost treasures. Finding
Conversely, the coins of long-lost, legendary lands
· six hundred ancient bed oars from the rule of Coronal
and centers of great magic are honored, though those
Eltargrim twelve centuries before offers a deeper sense
who find them are wise to sell them to collectors rather
of immersion in your world than finding 60 sp.
than merely spending them in markets. The coins of the
Varying names and descriptions of coins for the
old elven court of Cormanthyr are particularly famous:
thalvers (coppers), bedoars (silvers), thammarchs major contemporary and historical realms of your world
(electrum), shilmaers (golds), and ruendils (platinum). adds an additional layer of texture. The golden lions of
These coins are fine, numerous, and sometimes still Cormyr convey the noble nature of that kingdom. If a
used in trade among elves. nation mints gold coins stamped with leering demonic
faces and called torments, that currency expresses a
distinct flavor.
Creating new coins connected to specific locations,
like the toals ofWaterdeep or the eclipsed moons of
Silverymoon, provides another level of detail. As long as
you keep the value of these new coins simple (in other
words, don't invent a coin worth 1.62 gp), you add local
flavor to key locations in your world without adding
GoLD CoiN undue complexity.
LANGUAGES AND DIALECTS
When fleshing out your world, you can create new
languages and dialects to reflect its unique geography
and history. You can replace the default languages
presented in the Player's Handbook with new ones, or
split languages up into several different dialects.
ELECTRUM COIN
In some worlds, regional differences might be much
more important than racial ones. Perhaps all the
dwarves, elves, and humans who live in one kingdom
SILVER COIN PLATINUM Co1N speak a common language, which is completely different

CHAPTER 1 I A WORLD OF YOUR OWN
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