Greyhawk Coins & Wealth

Sword Coast Coins in Forgotten Realms Wiki

Coins

Lands

Copper Pieces (cp)

Nobles

or

Moons

Silver Pieces (sp)

Thrones

or

Suns

Gold Pieces (gp)

Dragons

Platinum Pieces (pp)

Currency referred to the practice of using items with a somewhat universal value, namely precious metals, gems, and some minerals to determine wealth and in trade for goods and services. The most common forms of currency in everyday transactions among sentient beings were coins (or "pieces"). Usually, most coins were made of gold, silver, and copper. Less frequently, coins made of platinum, electrum, and even iron were also found. In all cases, the standard for measuring wealth was the gold piece, even if neither gold nor coins were involved in a transaction.
A standard gold piece (gp) weighed 0.32 ounces (9.1 grams), so 50 coins weighed about 1 pound (450 grams). Each piece was typically a flat disk 1 1⁄4 or 1.25 inches (3.18 centimeters) in diameter and 1⁄8 or 0.125 inches (3.18 millimeters) thick.
The penalty for counterfeiting was death in most places, since cities, kingdoms, and nations relied on the acceptance and trust of their currency.
When large sums were involved, it was common for traders to use trade bars, which were valued by weight, instead of coins.

Other Forms of Currency

Gems

Gems were even rarer than metals and required great skill in mining, cutting, and polishing. Gems had great value because people desired them for their beauty and often wore them in jewelry. The arcane Arts also required certain gems as spell components, which increased their rarity even more, as they were consumed in the casting of powerful spells.

Pearls

Certain underwater races used pearls as currency rather than coins. The value of this currency changed according to several factors: the size of the pearl, its rarity; and quality. In some locations, the value of a pearl is determined by its color:

White Pearl or "Seyar"
1 cp undersea
2 sp ashore

Yellow Pearl or "Hayar"
1 sp undersea
2 gp ashore

Green Pearl or "Tayar"
1 gp undersea
20 gp on land

Blue Pearl or "Nuyar"
5 gp undersea
100 gp on land

Olive Pearl or "Olmar"
500 gp undersea
over 2,000 gp ashore

Pearls are measured from a standard of 0.25 inches ( 6.4 millimeters ) While the Olmar is measured from 7 inches (18 centimeters) long, 3 inches (7.6 centimeters) wide, and diamond-shaped.

Paper Currency

Mercenary Cards were small cards of parchment about the size of a Talis card, marked on one side with the symbol of a particular mercenary company. The reverse was usually a handwritten scrawl from the troop's paymaster authorizing payment. These became currency by being found in loot caches, won in card games, or stolen from the unwary.
Blood notes were scrolls, letters, or other carvings representing I.O.U.s and promissory notes from the listed person(s) to the holder of the note. They were so called because they must be signed in blood by all parties involved and taken to the local Lord for the affixing of the royal seal. Blood notes could be offered by individuals, adventuring companies, or countries and cities to cover debts. In common usage the debtor was legally obligated to pay when the note was presented. Blood notes from deceased individuals were not binding.
A Letter of Trade was similar to a Blood Note and called for a delivery of a particular item or items to the bearer.
Forgotten Realms Wiki

Edges

Edge - Wealth (TCC 62)

WEALTH

(• TO •••••)

All characters are assumed to have access to their basic needs of sustenance and accommodation — actual poverty is a kind of Challenge — but with this Edge your character has access to disposable funds. A character with one dot has a little spending money for emergency or luxury purchases, while five dots represents a CEO or trust-fund baby for whom budget is barely a concern. The precise details of your lifestyle depend on the context of the setting (Wealth 3 means different things in medieval France, suburban America, and a colony on Communist Mars), but this Edge’s rating serves as a guideline for the Storyguide in what expenditures your character can and cannot easily afford.
Characters can generally make purchases with a cost lower than their Wealth (though obviously this does not allow a middle-class character with Wealth 2 to buy an infinite number of toothbrushes), while a cost equal to their Wealth will temporarily lower the Edge’s rating by one for the rest of the Session. In most cases, financial Complications can substitute successes for cost dots.

Edge - Loaded (TCC 67)

LOADED

Prerequisite: Wealth •••••

Your character is fabulously wealthy. He is one of the wealthiest people on Earth and can easily purchase any object that is for sale, from an office building to a rare work of art, or even a submarine. Your character can also purchase corporations and influence governments. This level of wealth automatically provides him with one dot of Fame (he is well-known to anyone interested in the very rich), as well as being able to guarantee an exceptional level of service from any business that realizes how wealthy he is. The exact amount of your character’s wealth varies depending upon the era — in the 1920s he would have more than $100 million, while in the early 21st century, your character is a multi-billionaire.
Drawbacks: Governments keep track of the activities of the extremely wealthy. Also, wealth can buy immunity to all manner of minor infractions of the law, but no amount of wealth can cause a government to overlook someone sponsoring terrorists, becoming a murderous vigilante, or funding a military coup.

Coins by Hush Naidoo on Unsplash

Content

Type

Coins

Weight

50 coins (1lb)

Base Price

1pp = 10gp = 100sp = 1000cp

Tanzanite Gemstone