Currency Exchange Rates to D&D 5e

Gold may be worth more but silver is the lubricant of society.
— Duke

When it comes down to it adventurers love treasure. Generally speaking, most adventurers can afford to be great explorers. By definition, this means they're relatively wealthy in most campaign settings, usually, if an NPC had the same level of items, power, and wealth they'd be considered rich merchants, minor nobles, or in my experience major nobles. The interesting part is how they tend to not actually understand how extremely wealthy they are. They might help the kid find their way home, save the planet from doom, or kill the monster terrorizing a village. In the end, they always count their bounty and head to a tavern where they drop some gold for rooms. I'm pretty sure the innkeepers know how wealthy they are and bump the prices just a bit.

Our Duianna Currency Exchange Rates to D&D 5e

The core D&D 5e reference books use equipment, goods, and services costs that are on the "inflated fo rich adventurers" side but still within reason level. And as a timesaver, it is handy to use the D&D 5e reference materials directly. The detailed calculations are below, but this simple exchange rate between the Duianna currencies and the D&D common coins works great. Note: In villages, townships, and small cities the most common currency is the humble copper ring (aka "coppers," "rings," "rounds," "half-penny"), and hard-working silver chira" (aka "silver piece", "shilling," "silver," or "dram"). If there is merchant trade in the area clipped crowns (aka "gold pieces", "quid", usually just called "pieces") will be used in the major merchant locations. Only in major cities or government centers will whole gold crown coins be found. Tax collectors will attempt to buy up as much of the raw nuggets, worn/clipped/shaved coins in circulation as possible for re-minting.

Duianna to D&D 5e Simple Exchange Rates

The largest discrepancy between the 5e currency and Duianna "real world" values is in the gold piece to gold crown exchange. The golden crowns are roughly 3.5x more valuable than the D&D 5e gold pieces. This represents that almost everything is done in smaller denominations and it is rare to actually use gold coins. An easy fix to this is to adjust the game to use primarily the copper rings (1 to 1 relationship to copper pieces), the silver chera (.94 to 1 so just make it 1 to 1 relationship to silver pieces), and then round up the 3.6 to 1 relationship between crowns and gold pieces. Simply divide any GP value by 4 and always round up to whole units. That means there is no math unless gold is involved.

Currency	CP Value	SP Value	GP Value	Silver Cross Value	Silver Chera Value	Copper Pence Value	Copper Ring Value	# coins for 1 lb
Gold Crown (G)	400	40	4	20	40	200	400	25
Gold Piece (GP)	100	10	1	5	10	50	100	100
Silver Cross (S)	20	2	1/20	1	2	10	20	70
Silver Chira (C)	10	1	1/40	1/2	1	5	10	140
Silver Dram (d)	10	1	1/40	1/2	1	5	10	variable
Palladium Tyme (T)	5	1/2	1/80	1/4	1/2	2 1/2	5	100
Copper Pence (P)	2	1/5	1/200	1/10	1/5	1	2	75
Copper Ring (R)	1	1/10	1/400	1/20	1/10	1/2	1	150

Quick Exchange Cheat Sheet

1 Ring (R) = 1 Copper/Copper Piece (CP)/round/half-penny
2 R/CP = 1 Copper Penny (P)/Penny (plural of penny is pence) 10 R/CP or 5 P = 1 Chira (C)/silver dram (d)/Silver Piece (SP)/Shilling
100 R/CP or 50 P or 10 Chira/d/SP = 1 Gold Piece (GP)/quid (plural is usually pieces)
400 R/CP or 200 P or 40 Chira/d/SP or 4 GPs = 1 Gold Crown (G)/Sovereign

Coin Encumbrance Cheat Sheet

For player encumbrance use 100 coins = 1 pound The rest of these values are for treasure hoard logistics calculations (e.g. travel, merchant trains, shipping, aka "hauling it back to town"): Quick and dirty with gold 125 coins = 1 pound, without gold 140 coins = 1 pound 150 Ring = 1 pound
75 Pence = 1 pound
200 Bell = 1 pound
100 Tyme = 1 pound
140 Chira = 1 pound
70 Cross = 1 pound
25 Crown = 1 pound
100 GPs = 1 pound
250 drams = 1 pound

Currency Descriptions

<blank> Piece

a clipped coin or rough chunk of metal that provides enough of the precious metal value in weight to match a legal currency. These are used in barter in small villages, rural areas, and have trade value with anyone who is willing to take them. In larger communities, they must be taken to an official (or black market) coin exchanger, banker or fence to be replaced by genuine currency.

Gold Piece

As the Duianna Crown contains a considerable amount of gold its overall value is generally too high for general use by the average citizen. However, long ago, someone figured out that if it was cut into forths those were worth exactly 10 chiras. This made it very usable in smaller cities and merchant trade routes. The practice of cutting the coins was accepted and the crown coin was changed to a square with an indented diagonal cross marker to assist in cutting. Each triangular quarter part of a Duianna Crown has a unique image, a dagger, a panther in profile, a well, and a shield. Triangular crown quarters, equivalent weight gold coins, and gold nuggets are generally referred to as gold pieces and worth 10 chiras each.

Silver Piece

a half-clipped silver cross, silver nugget, or locality minted silver coin that provides one silver dram of 99% pure silver.

Copper Piece

Copper Rings have been the lowest Duianna currency since time immemorial. They have been referred to as penny (more than one penny are called pence), coppers, rings, rounds, and many other terms. Many local nobles mint their own copper coins and to prevent arguments as well as Imperial enforcement issues they ensure the local coins meet the Duianna copper content requirements for a Ring.

Silver Dram

A "dram" or (d) is roughly ¹⁄₃₀th of an ounce of 99% pure silver. Drams of silver are not an actual currency but the value of silver nuggets, coins, bars, and materials is computed by determining the number of drams of silver. The imperial-based (Duianna currency) Silver Chira contains one silver dram and is the fundamental currency of most areas where any amount of silver is referred to in silver weight as silver pieces, drams, or chiras.

How Currency May Enhance Gameplay

Stop, thief!

Picking an adventurer’s pocket has never been more satisfying. You can be stealthy (empty one player’s coin bag between sessions) or brazen (reach across the table, open a bag, and help yourself). When the player squawks “Hey, where did my money go?” look innocent and say “Well, when did you last see it?” Trust us, the adventurer will want to find the thief. Maybe it was stolen for a good purpose, maybe it was a gang who work the markets.

Alms for the poor

Life is hard in the city, and some struggle to get by. Begging for coins brings out an adventurer’s charitable side. Perhaps the beggar remembers the favor and can repay it later with local knowledge, or help when it is most needed (“quick, hide over here!”).

Raising a ransom

As a story idea, someone might be kidnapped, and the odds of rescue are near impossible. A ransom must be paid before a deadline. Gathering money in a limited time is compelling if the players are counting coin by coin.

Buying information

The adventurers start making inquiries about a mystery they are trying to solve. An NPC says in a low voice, “I saw something last night…” When the players lean in close to hear the information, open your palm. “And I could tell you if it’s worth my while…”

Highway robbery

“Stand and deliver!” A gang might hold up the adventurers to steal their gold at swordpoint in broad daylight. The party will not rest until they find the robbers’ lair.

Your reward awaits

When an NPC hires the adventurers to undertake a quest, layout the reward in 1000 Gold coins, one after the other. Clink, clink, clink. Pause at the end, and then add one more. “Plus this, if you can bring him back alive.”

D&D "Coins"

D&D 5e fixed some of the insane issues with the original AD&D currencies. However, when compared to the real world (which is primarily what Niya-Yur is carefully modeled on) there are some discrepancies. Luckily the slight discrepancies may be either overlook for ease of gameplay or corrected with just a little bit of the DM's thumb on the scales (aka a little fudging.) Since the beginning of Dungeons & Dragons, the primary currency is measured in metal coins, specifically gold coins. The exchange rate is well known to every player.

10 Copper Pieces (cp) = 1 Silver Piece (sp)
10 Silver Pieces (sp) = 1 Gold Piece (gp)
2 Electrum Pieces (ep) = 1 Gold Piece (gp)
10 Gold Pieces (gp) = 1 Platinum Piece (pp)
50 coins of any type = 1 pound

The references needed to make a fair exchange rate chart are all internally consistent in the core D&D 5e books. All of the relevant data can be found on page 143 of the Players Handbook, where it says:

"A skilled (but not exceptional) artisan can earn one gold piece a day."
"A silver piece buys a laborer's work for a day, a flask of lamp oil, or a night's rest in a poor inn."
"A single copper piece buys a candle, a torch, or a piece of chalk."
"A standard coin weighs about a third of an ounce, so fifty coins weigh a pound."

Using that reference and some nicely researched data from bjornbob1234 on the D&D 5e forums we can achieve the following table. Again this table is choosing simplicity over strict accuracy. It is using a direct form of a poll tax. Every commoner over the age of 14 pays a set tax based on his social status, not his actual income. The chart assumes a kind ruler, with a tax rate of 10 %. You can obviously set it as high or low as you want according to the avarice of your ruler or whether or not money is needed for an incoming war/building of a giant statue. The commoners will start losing money at 17 %. (from https://www.reddit.com/r/DnDBehindTheScreen/comments/3o2ydl/5e_commoner_life_and_economy/)

Expanded Income Chart including 10% taxes

Social status	Min income / mo	Lifestyle / mo	Upkeep / mo	Taxes / mo	Profit / mo
Poor (unskilled labourer, costermongers, peddlers, thieves, mercenaries)	6 gp	3 gp	2 gp	6 sp	4 sp
Modest (soldiers with families, labourers, students, priests, hedge wizards)	30 gp	15 gp	10 gp	3 gp	2 gp
Comfortable (merchants, skilled tradespeople, military officers)	60 gp	30 gp	20 gp	6 gp	4 gp
Wealthy (highly successful merchants, a favoured servant of the royalty, or the owner of a few small businesses)	120 gp	60 gp	40 gp	12 gp	8 gp
Aristocratic (politicians, guild leaders, high priests)	300 gp	150 gp	100 gp	30 gp	20 gp

Nearly Accurate Exchange Rate between Duianna Currence and D&D 5e

Given that the world of Niya-Yur is based on Earth's historic details. Historic data heavily affects the game price vs what it would really cost in a functioning society. Combining the above references and the original coin details from the Duiannan Currency article the following exchange table is produced. Again note that this table is rounded to even numbers for the sake of simplicity in gameplay.

Currency	Weight (oz)	To CPs	To SPs	To GPs	To Crosses	To Pence	# coins to 1 lb
D&D 5e platinum piece (pp)	0.333	1000	100	10	55	660	50
D&D 5e gold piece (gp)	0.333	100	10	1	5.5	66	50
D&D 5e electrum piece (ep)	0.333	50	5	0.20	2.75	33	50
D&D 5e silver piece (sp)	0.333	10	1	0.10	0.55	7	50
D&D 5e copper piece (cp)	0.333	1	0.1	0.01	0.055	1	50
Duianna gold crown (g)	0.089	360	36	3.6	20	240	180
Duianna silver cross (s)	0.229	18	1.8	0.18	1	12	70
Duianna silver chira (c)	0.114	9	0.9	0.09	1/2	6	140
Duianna Palladium Tyme (t)	0.145	4.5	0.45	0.045	1/4	3	110
Duianna Palladium Bell (b)	0.073	2.25	0.2250	0.0225	1/8	1.5	219
Duianna Copper Penny (p)	0.178	1.50	0.15	0.0150	1/12	1	90
Duianna Copper Ring (r)	0.044	1	0.1	0.01	1/48	1/4	364

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