D&D 5E Copper piece value in U.S. dollars?

[machineelf]

What would a copper piece in 5th edition be valued at in current U.S. dollars?

 

[Ace]

Assuming 80% purity and 50 coins to the pound, 1 copper piece is worth about 3 and a half cents US

A silver piece at the same weight and purity is about $4.25

A gold piece is around $250 at the same specs

This is exclusive of brokerage fees or taxes.

 

[machineelf]

Assuming 80% purity and 50 coins to the pound, 1 copper piece is worth about 3 and a half cents US

A silver piece at the same weight and purity is about $4.25

A gold piece is around $250 at the same specs

This is exclusive of brokerage fees or taxes.

Thanks for the reply, but I didn't mean what actual copper is worth in the real world in U.S. dollars. I meant, what the buying power of a copper piece in D&D 5th edition would translate to in real U.S. dollars. So for example, if it takes 5 copper pieces for an average stay at an inn (not sure if this is right, don't have book in front of me), and it takes say $90 for an average stay at a hotel, then that would be $18 per copper piece. But I don't know what values I should use to do the calculation.

 

[mach1.9pants]

I read the title as "cod piece value in U.S. dollars?" Blackadder would recommend The Black Russian, apparently it always scares the clergy!

 

[Nergal Pendragon]

I would say a single copper piece is probably valued at about 10 cents, based upon the rarity of goods it buys for the era. That puts a silver piece at about a dollar. You can't really rely upon hotel stays and such for value, as modern currencies put more weight on service industries than DnD currencies do.

Now, if you want fun with the idea of intrinsic value, then you get into discussions of fiat currency, philosophy of economics, and a bunch of other sticky questions. To summarize, modern currencies do not translate into precious metal currencies with anything remotely resembling ease.

 

[machineelf]

You can't really rely upon hotel stays and such for value, as modern currencies put more weight on service industries than DnD currencies do.

Right. That's why I didn't think an inn stay would be the best frame of reference. But there must be some commodity that would be a good comparison in terms of value. I think. And I'm not necessarily arguing for intrinsic value, but a commodity that would share subjective value compared with the fantasy world and the current real world.

 

[KarinsDad]

Based on cost of living, a CP = about $1. Many items also fall into this ballpark. Some do not.

 

[Laeknir]

Based on cost of living, a CP = about $1. Many items also fall into this ballpark. Some do not.

Yes, pretty sure it's this. I think one of the manuals estimates 1gp to be about $100 or so. If it's 10 copper to 1 silver and 10 silver to 1gp, that would be 1cp = $1, roughly.

Local prices and availability of items/services might be different from one country to another or even city to city, but this seems pretty roughly accurate. D&D economics don't always translate well.

 

[Nergal Pendragon]

Right. That's why I didn't think an inn stay would be the best frame of reference. But there must be some commodity that would be a good comparison in terms of value. I think. And I'm not necessarily arguing for intrinsic value, but a commodity that would share subjective value compared with the fantasy world and the current real world.

The closest to that is the candle, and even then you're going to have a difficult time tracking down the same kind of candle being used in both technology sets for a price comparison.

I'm basing my pricing on local store prices, where I can get ten candles for about a buck. But, I doubt those candles translate well into their pricing standards either. Just about everything else has had rarity and/or pricing altered by changes in technology and, often, changes in materials.

You could go with the cost-of-living comparison, but keep in mind the differences between how they live and how we live outnumber the similarities. Plus, the core handbook itself notes that pure cost-of-living doesn't even use currency; the peasantry typically use barter (page 143 of the Player's Guide). This makes cost-of-living potentially impossible to calculate, since the effective cost-of-living can be nearly nonexistent.

It would be far easier to calculate a comparison by how prevalent a currency is; in the U.S., this is the individual dollar bill. Page 143 of the Player's Guide notes this is the silver coin for the typical DnD world. So, that makes the silver coin the most likely dollar equivalent.

 

[KarinsDad]

Right. That's why I didn't think an inn stay would be the best frame of reference. But there must be some commodity that would be a good comparison in terms of value. I think. And I'm not necessarily arguing for intrinsic value, but a commodity that would share subjective value compared with the fantasy world and the current real world.

It's not just inn stays. It's transportation (40 GP to 450 GP for various quality of horses). It's single target weapons.

10 cents for a road toll? 10 cents for a cab per mile? 20 cents for a gallon of ale? Common clothes for $5? Traveler's clothes for $20? If anything, clothes made by hand should cost more than mass produced ones.

10 cents a CP is way too little for most goods and services when one wants to compare to the real world prices people have in their heads.