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ErskineF
Learned Scribe
USA
330 Posts |
 Posted - 18 Jan 2009 : 05:37:29
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This came up in the Ed Greenwood replies thread, and I wanted to pursue it a little more because it goes with a conversation we were having previously. I'll post it here so as not to clutter up Ed's thread.
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Originally posted by The Sage
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Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
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Originally posted by createvmind
Hello All,
Currency taken from other planes is worth what on faerun, Ed can you tell us of any currency of other planes that may have high value in faerun?
Unless the currency is particularly exotic in form, I don't think it would be worth all that much more than any other non-regular foreign currency. A crystalized flame or a platinum piece with a diamond inset would command some serious money as a curiosity, but a gold piece from say Sigil isn't going to be any more impressive than a gold piece from any other distant land in the Realms. At least, that's my take on it. 
I tend to agree for the most part.
As it is, most of the original TSR fantasy worlds have their own equivalent monetary systems based on the D&D core interpretation -- like gold, silver etc -- and which have standard similar values. So values for common currency types like gold and silver are likely the same across most worlds -- unless there is a particular setting element which can impact upon that. Such as a noted shortage for a material used to craft a particular currency for example. Like steel on Ansalon [in DRAGONLANCE]. Steel actually became more valuable than most metal types [including gold and silver] used for currency on Ansalon because it became rare after being used in armament and tool making. But should a native from Ergoth on Ansalon take his hard-earned steel coins to Waterdeep for example, via some portal travel, he's unlikely to receive the same currency value for his steel pieces on Toril as he would have on Krynn during post-Cataclysmic times.
I think there are two things to remember here. First, coins from other places--not just other planes, but potentially other places on Faerun--are not necessarily the same weight or purity as coins elsewhere. Their value would depend on how they compare in those respects to the coinage where they were being spent.
Second, because those factors are unknown, people would not know how to value the coins. They would probably either refuse them, or only accept them at a deep discount. There are money-changers, though, who specialize in converting currency. Even if they were not familiar with the place from which the coins came, they could subject the coins to different tests to establish their weight and purity. In that way, they could fix a value to them, and change them for local coinage. The value would have to be discounted from the coins' value in its place of origin to pay for the service, and the possibility that the coins are only of value to the money-changer for their constiuent metals. If he cannot change them back into local currency at a profit, then his only other option is to melt them down into ingots. Ingots are worth less than an equivalent weight of coins, because they are not as convenient as a means of exchange.
I don't have any historical examples, but it seems reasonable to have the money-changer discount the coins by 10%-20%. A merchant with no specific knowledge of precious metals would probably discount them by 75%-90%.
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Erskine Fincher
http://forgotten-realms.wandering-dwarf.com/index.php |
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Wenin
Senior Scribe
585 Posts |
Posted - 18 Jan 2009 : 05:50:08
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| Excellent topic. Imagine the difficulties merchants within the remote regions of the Realms would have to deal with. I can imagine a merchant in Shadowdale weight one's foreign coins to obtain their value... but then that wouldn't account for purity. |
Session Reports posted at RPG Geek.
Stem the Tide Takes place in Mistledale.
Dark Curtains - Takes place in the Savage North, starting in Nesmé. I wrapped my campaign into the Hoard of the Dragon Queen, but it takes place in 1372 DR. |
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Arion Elenim
Senior Scribe
933 Posts |
Posted - 18 Jan 2009 : 17:33:44
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I think that you can look at any real world currency system prior to globalization. If you have a Roman gold coin and take it to Spain, it has a weight to it that will make it comparable to their systema and be worth a similar amount.
Of course, this changes from area to area. For example, the above issue with a diamond cut into the center of a coin.
I believe it was in one of Ms Cunningham's novels that the sea elves are flabbergasted with how much the surface folk covet their huge massive pearls and other ocean stones. Ergo, creatures unwittingly living in a diamond mine would disregard the above mentioned diamond coin as valuable, etc. So again, you have the old haunt of DM discretion... |
My latest Realms-based short story, about a bard, a paladin of Lathander and the letter of the law, Debts Repaid. It takes place before the "shattering" and gives the bard Arion a last gasp before he plunges into the present.http://candlekeep.com/campaign/logs/log-debts.htm |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36782 Posts |
Posted - 18 Jan 2009 : 18:02:09
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I once read a sci-fi short story set on a world where it rained diamonds. These storms were a deadly nuisance; the main character just barely got inside in time, and had to have a diamond extracted from his shoulder. Later, as he was outside, shoveling them up, he couldn't believe that in other parts of the galaxy, people regarded the things as valuable.
That's another case similar to what Arion described. |
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jan 2009 : 03:53:24
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Ed has dealt with the question of "strange outlander currencies" in the Realms many times before, including a few times here at the Keep.
Simply put, most caravan merchants happily accept coins they recognize, whatever the original source. They will put on a song-and-dance act to try to take said coins for as low an exchange rate as they can, thereby making a profit later when they spend them in their place of origin (or nearby places that take them at face value).
Moneychanging is usually done by "moneylenders," of which all large trading cities have a number (the struggling ones give better terms, and the big established ones are the only ones who will handle large sums; all moneylenders charge a fee, sometimes called "the poisonous percentage" by longtime players in the Realms, who have run up against Mirt and his ilk before).
So in any large city, or any settlement along a busy caravan route, "odd coins from afar" aren't necessarily a problem.
If you'd like more detail, post queries to Ed in his thread, I'll shuttle them along, and answers will (eventually; Ed is busier than any two other professional writers I know) be forthcoming.
love to all,
THO |
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Arion Elenim
Senior Scribe
933 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jan 2009 : 04:12:33
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I guess all that matters is what something is worth to a culture.
I'm not going to spend 10 grand on a baseball card, but there are some folk who would jump at the chance. |
My latest Realms-based short story, about a bard, a paladin of Lathander and the letter of the law, Debts Repaid. It takes place before the "shattering" and gives the bard Arion a last gasp before he plunges into the present.http://candlekeep.com/campaign/logs/log-debts.htm |
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Lord Karsus
Great Reader
USA
3738 Posts |
Posted - 20 Jan 2009 : 19:44:20
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| -It's wholly divorced from the Forgotten Realms, but in a campaign session I ran, the PCs entered through a portal into Limbo. Being as that Limbo is quite the chaotic place, I had them encounter trees that grew emeralds instead of fruits. Being as that this is, in theory, possible, "planar currency" exchange rates could be quite wacky. I'm surprised Sigil doesn't have such a place, though I am not intimately familiar with Sigil. |
(A Tri-Partite Arcanist Who Has Forgotten More Than Most Will Ever Know)
Elves of Faerūn
Vol I- The Elves of Faerūn
Vol. III- Spells of the Elves
Vol. VI- Mechanical Compendium |
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Quale
Master of Realmslore
1757 Posts |
Posted - 28 Jan 2009 : 17:05:45
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it does have, plenty of bashers lend money, especially some of the Golden Lords (Merkhants), Tear of the Barghest is a tavern favored by moneylenders
in the planes merchants accept any type of coin, a gold piece is a gold piece, no matter its origin, unless it's really tainted, lots of them don't accept copper pieces, and electrum (too exotic)
in some places they don't care about money, Azuth's realm sells magical items for services (quests), in Bytopia work is most valued, in Abbathor's realm there is no money cause all of it is in his vaults
fiends don't care about money that much, larvae are the currency, or gems as soul containers
Baatezu are more interested in having someone in their debt than quickly closing a deal, they use gems as currency with other races, but they prefer they prefer larvae, magic, knowledge, and favors. Similar is with the hags and 'loths, tough they don't need souls, it's about the power gained from the sales.
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Jamallo Kreen
Master of Realmslore
USA
1537 Posts |
Posted - 30 Jan 2009 : 21:36:17
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Busy as I am, could I let a scroll about coin go unremarked? Of course not!
In my present campaign I have had merchants specifying the type of coin with which they want to be paid, with other types comparatively devalued. At the moment Aglarond coins are favored in Mulsantir, but Thayan coins, not surprisingly, are undervalued. It's very little effort to add such a touch to an encounter, but I have found it really gives a good "flavor" to role-playing.
(Back in the day when most DM's had their own game worlds and the D&D "gold piece" weighed 1/10th pound, the canny Imperial rulers of my world decreed that only Imperial coinage was legal tender. The standard gold piece was a "star," weighing about five grams (i.e. it was in the florin/ducat range), and PCs had to exchange all of their nice, heavy off-world gold coins for these little things or be unable to engage in any buying or selling. The Empire happily melted down and reminted those off-world coins, reaping enormous profits from the seignurage! 
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Currency from other Planes
