Nurn currency and materials

In Nurna, the sucessive Destructions led by the Dark One had kept the world in a pristine state. Most civilizations still use stone, and most metals are rare in Nurna. They know that iron exists, but they doen't know how to use it properly and, just as gold and silver, it is treated as a sacred material. Bronze is the most advanced material for warfare (whose technology is known by dwarves), but is quite as rare as iron, which has made of copper quite a valuable material in Nurna. Rare materials like platinum is completely unknown, and most alloys like steel or electron are yet to be discovered.
Instead of metals, most civilizations in Nurna still use bone, wood and stone for weaponry, including sylex, obsidian, alabaster and jade, and also deer antlers. This make things like weaponry and currency quite special in Nurna.

NURN CURRENCY

As we have said, metals are rare, so metallic money is rare. Most Nurn civilizations use exchange for trade, and only the Naacal Empire uses some sort of currency, whose system is widely accepted in the whole continent. However, this sytem isn't based in gold or silver. They use copper instead and one persihable material: fermented cocoa beans.
Thus, the Naacal system currency comes in two forms:

• Copper, which comes in the form of hatchets (from now on they will be abreviated as "ch", copper hatchets). Each copper hatchet is worth 8000 cocoa beans.


• And cocoa beans, that can be traded separately (in this case we will talk of "cb", cocoa beans), or inside little sacks that remind of the cocoa pods (in this case we will talk of "cs", cocoa sacks). Each cocoa sack is made in order to carry exactly 24000 cocoa beans, which is the lowest dividend of the Naacal system.

. Gold and silver can also be used in trade, in the form of chunks, but they are quite rare, and very expensive. For Nurns, trade gold or silver is like trading jewels.

• Gold is known as Gods' Sweat in Nurna, and one chunk of gold of 1 pound of weight is worth 100 copper hatchets.


• Silver, on the other hand, is know as Moon skin and one chunk of silver of 1 pount of weight is worth 10 copper hatchets.

Thus, the Naacal system use the following standard exchange rates:

Each group of 1000 cocoa beans weighs 1 pound, for a total of 24 pounds for a cocoa sack. Each group of 10 copper hatchets weighs 1 pound. Gold chunks and silver chunks weigh 1 pound per chunk.
Prices shown in the book: for all the prices shown in the D&D 5e Player's Handobook (or any other book) for weapons, armors, goods and items just use the following rule:

• All prices in platinum pieces (pp) should be treated as they were in silver chunks
• All prices in gold pieces (gp) should be trated as they were in copper hatchets (ch)
• All prices in electron pieces (ep) should be treated as they were in cocoa beans, but multiply the resulting number by 50
• All prices in silver pieces (sp) should be treated as they were in cocoa beans, but multiply the resulting number by 10
• All prices in copper pieces (cp) should be treated as they were in cocoa beans (cb)

OPTIONAL RULE: PERSIHABLE MONEY
Cocoa is not eternal, and it decays over time. Forming treasures with cocoa is imposible, for it decomposes after a year. Players shouldn't rarely find treasures made of cocoa beans, and shouldn't treasure their beans for a long time. If a year has passed during the game reset all the cocoa beans that players could have to zero.
The good part is that cocoa might be perisable, but it's also edible: players could make chocolate using their beans, a mortar and hot water. 10 cocoa beans and a cup of hot water are worth a cup of hot chocolate. It can be seasoned with chili peppers, mint or vanilla.

WEAPON MATERIALS IN NURNA

As already stated, Nurn civilizations don't know how to make steel, and iron is very rare. They often use weapons made of bone, wood, and diverse types of stone, like sylex, obsidian, jade or many other precious materials like quartz, alabaster, turqoise, variscite, lapislazuli or cornaline. Bronze is known, but only the dwarves had mastered it. And copper is usually disdain for weaponry, for they use it as currency.
This material are just as good as steel for combat, but they lack some properties of this alloy. Bone and wood can become broken, and the stones are heavier than metal.
For game purposes, all weapons described in the D&D 5e Player's Handbook are treated as they were made in bronze when they contain any metal. However, they will cost twice their prize to purchase them.
Stone weapons will cost the same, but they will weight twice their weight (except when they are made of obsidian). Weapons made of jade, alabaster, quartz and other precious stones different from sylex or obsidian will be treated as magical
Wood and bone weapons will cost half the price, but they become broken anytime the player rolls a 1 during an attack or a damage roll. This doesn't count for weapons that were already made of wood, like clubs or arrows.
Some weapons can also be made of meteoric iron, which is a sacred material in Nurna. These weapons are considered magical, and they cost twice their price. However, their damage is reduced to a half.
It is important to remember that weapons in Nurna are different than those in the manual. See below for more details.

NURN WEAPONRY

In Nurna, technology might be primitive, but warfare is not. Many races have been in war with other creatures for centuries, and they have developed mighty weapons for doing so. However, the weapons made for war in the jungle or in the forest are different of those made by city-bound civilizations.
This list summaries what weapons of the D&D 5e Player's Handbook are allowed in a Nurna campaign, but with changes to their look or use, and what weapons are NOT allowed in a Nurna campaing. If a weapon doesn't show in the list remains unaffected except for the material rules:

• Handaxes can be treated as tomahawks. A tomahawk is a throwing axe that can be used to make either slashing or bludgeoning damage. Tha DM should mark what type of the two will that tomahawk will be made for
• Crossbows (either light, hand or heavy crossbows are not allowed
• Flails are not allowed
• Greatwords, Longswords and Shortswords are subtituted by Great Machuitl, Long Macahuitl and Short Macahuitl. They work the same, but they can't be used in order to make piercing damage. The macahuitl or macana is a sword consisting of a vertical wood shaft with obsidian, bronze, bone or sylex "teeth" at each side of the weapon.
• Rapiers are not allowed
• Scimitars are not allowed

NURN ARMORS

Just like with the weaponry, Nurn armors are also adapted to the environment. Heavy armors could make fighting in jungles or mountains quite difficult, so most Nurn civilizations use light armor o no armor at all when in combat. Since there's no metal techniques, all armors are made of either animal lether, tapestry, wood or even bird feathers.
Only the following armors can be used in Nurna campaigns:

• Padded Armor
• Leather Armor
• Hide Armor
• Breastplate (it should be treated at if its were made of stone or bronze, following the rules for these materials shown above)
• Ringmail (it should be treated at if its were made of precious stones as turqoise or feathers, following the rules for these materials shown above. Treat feathers as bone)

Optional homebrew rules
All of the rules shown in this article are completely optional, and were made in order to make games more interesting. If you're not interested in weapons that break down, or having to count how many cocoa sacks is worth something, you can use this rules instead:
For currency: just treat each one of the coins in the core rules as follows:

• Platinum piecies (pp) = gold chunks (gc)
• Gold pieces (gp) = silver chunks (sc)
• Electron pieces (ep) = cocoa sacks (cs)
• Silver pieces (sp) = copper hatchets (ch)
• Copper pieces (cp) = cocoa beans (cb)

And use the exchange rates just as the Player's Handbook shows.
For weapon materials: just treat all weapons of the Player's Handbook that are made of metal as they were made of either bronze, sylex, obsidian or any special stone, and the weapons made of wood as they were made in wood, iron or bone. Discard the rules for breaking or the changes in damage, weight or price.