Coins in D&D

Okay, so being somewhat bored and nerdy, I decided to work out the dimensions of the coins our characters carry around.  There’s also some handy (I hope?) info for DMs, like reasonable strongbox sizes and weights.

Preface

I’m going to need to revisit the following, as I’ve just noticed that the size of a gold coin has been established as “about an eight-inch thick and an inch-and-a-quarter across” in the 3rd edition campaign setting book (p 91). This means that the gold and very likely the other coins are definitely alloyed with lighter metals. I’ll update this page as I get around to it.

Assumptions

The first assumption is made in one of the Player’s Handbooks: all coins have the same weight… when they’re minted, at least.  Any combination of 50 coins weighs 1 lb.  This is noteworthy simply because it’s heavier than you might expect.  The US quarter weighs 5.7 grams; a euro is 7.5 grams.  A D&D coin is 9 grams.  For something heavier, a US half‑dollar is 11.3 grams.

Second assumption is the composition of the coins.  In “real-world terms” it’s not reasonable for coins to be pure elemental platinum, gold, etc.  According to the internet, smelting metal from ore goes back to at least 10,000 BCE, and by 2500 BCE we were making bronze (copper+tin) weapons.  So NPCs in a medieval campaign are certainly up to the task of making coins which are a shiny veneer over cheap filler material.  However, the golden rule (K.I.S.S.) suggests that it’s okay (for a first draft, at least) to assume that coins are made entirely of the metal they’re named for — a gold piece is 100% gold, for example.  Don’t worry about seigneurage, or about where all that gold is coming from, because the size of the coins wouldn’t change that much if they were made more cheaply, and that’s all I’m concerned with at the moment anyway.  There are simpler assumptions to be made.  If you want to, you can declare that all coins have the same volume and therefore all round coins will be the same size, all square coins will be the same size, etc.  I wanted to create a little variety, as a beginning of the journey toward verisimilitude.  This has the immediate advantage of allowing, for example, the blind to distinguish between round coins of different metals by touch.

Finally, the diameter-thickness ratio. Coins should look and feel durable.  I arbitrarily decided that a ratio of 12 was good.  This is in-between a US nickel (10.9) and penny (12.5).  This ratio varies in real-world coins… for whatever reason.  For simplicity, I kept the 12:1 ratio constant.

Finding the Right Electrum

One of the fun bits was figuring out the electrum piece.  Electrum is an alloy of gold and silver — 20‑80% of each metal.  Gold is worth ten times as much as a like quantity of silver, and the combination needs to be worth five times silver.  It’s not rocket science; it works out to 4/9 gold plus 5/9 silver.

Show Me the Money

Copper: a copper coin is 25 mm (1 inch) across and 2.1 mm thick.  This is slightly larger than a US quarter, but smaller than a 1‑dollar coin.

Silver: a silver coin is 24 mm (0.9 inch) across and 2 mm thick.  This is close to the diameter of a Canadian 25‑cent coin.

Electrum: an electrum coin is 21 mm (0.8 inch) across and 1.8 mm thick.  This is the diameter of a US or Canadian 5‑cent coin.

Gold: a gold coin is 19.3 mm (0.8 inch) across and 1.6 mm thick.  This is slightly larger than a US or Canadian 1‑cent coin. (See the note in the Preface above).

Platinum: a platinum coin is 18.6 mm (0.7 inch) across and 1.6 mm thick.  This is the diameter of a US or Canadian 10‑cent coin.  This is naturally the smallest of the D&D coins because platinum is the heaviest of the metals.

Other Possible Coins

If you’re inclined toward using other materials…

Lead: 23 mm diameter, 1.9 mm thick.

Nickel: 25 mm diameter, 2.1 mm thick.

Tin or iron: 27 mm diameter, 2.2 mm thick.

Zinc: 27 mm diameter, 2.3 mm thick.

Malachite: 33 mm diameter, 2.8 mm thick.  Oo purty!

Basalt: 36 mm diameter, 3 mm thick.

Agate: 38 mm diameter, 3.1 mm thick.

Obsidian: 39 mm diameter, 3.2 mm thick.

I’ve kept the constant diameter-thickness ratio on the mineral coins here, but I’m inclined to reduce them to make the coins more durable.

Strongboxes

When looking to box up a bunch of coins, any size will do; if one box isn’t big enough, you can get a bigger one or two smaller ones.  But logically, some boxes are designed to hold coins, and I’m going to call those strongboxes here… even though I never use that word in actual play.

One logical way to build a strongbox is to start with the size of the coins.  You want your box to be just big enough to hold a number of efficiently arranged stacks of coins.  So at least two of the box’s measurements will always be multiples of the diameter of the coins to be stored in that box.  This is why the measurements and capacities of strongboxes may seem arbitrary.

Strongbox construction is by nature a proprietary process for each craftsman, and there are too many variables for me to declare any hard & fast costs here.  I’m just talking dimensions and capacities.  Speaking of which, the following measurements are interior dimensions.  The weights are given for coins only, assuming the boxes are fully loaded.

  1. The smallest practical strongbox measures 53x53x86 mm or 2.1×2.1×3.4 inches on the interior.  It will hold over 300 gold pieces, weighing up to 2.9 kg or 6.4 lbs.
  2. The next size measures 70x70x113 mm or 2.7×2.7×4.4 inches.  It will hold over 800 gp, weighing up to 7.5 kg or 17 lbs.
  3. 87x87x140 mm or 3.4×3.4×5.5 inches.  It will hold over 1500 gp, weighing up to 14 kg or 31 lbs.
  4. 103x103x167 mm or 4x4x6.5 inches.  It will hold over 2750 gp, weighing up to 25 kg or 55 lbs.
  5. 120x120x194 mm or 4.7×4.7×7.6 inches.  It will hold over 4600 gp, weighing up to 42 kg or 94 lbs.
  6. 137x137x221 mm or 5.4×5.4×8.7 inches.  It will hold over 7000 gp, weighing up to 65 kg or 142 lbs.
  7. 153x153x248 mm or 6x6x9.7 inches.  It will hold over 9600 gp, weighing up to 87 kg or 193 lbs.
  8. 170x170x275 mm or 6.7×6.7×10.8 inches.  It will hold over 13,600 gp, weighing up to 123 kg or 272 lbs.
  9. 187x187x302 mm or 7.3×7.3×11.9 inches.  It will hold over 18,500 gp, weighing up to 168 kg or 370 lbs.
  10. 204x204x329 mm or 8x8x12.9 inches.  It will hold over 24,400 gp, weighing up to 222 kg or 490 lbs.

If you need a larger capacity, custom sizes can be special-ordered from your friendly local specialty strongbox supplier for a nominal premium!


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5e Player’s Handbook Errata

As of today, there doesn’t seem to be an official errata page on the Wizards of the Coast website. So I’ll start my own list.

Player’s Handbook

Here are a couple of things I’ve noticed.

  • Destructive wave is a 5th level paladin spell, also available to Tempest clerics. It’s misnamed destructive smite on the paladin spell list on page 209.
  • Trap the soul is listed as an 8th level wizard spell, but it has no description. Either it shouldn’t be on the list, or it should be described on page 283.
  • There are seven spells that are on the Sorcerer lists, but not on the Wizard lists: daylight, dominate beast, earthquake, enhance ability, fire storm, insect plague, and water walk. I’m a fan of sorcerers having some spells that nobody else has, but these are not thematically related to sorcerers. There’s no believable reason why wizards shouldn’t have access to these spells. Maybe in the future we’ll see some wild magic spells and draconic stuff that should give the sorcerers some legitimate toys-that-nobody-else-has. In the meantime… wizards can cast these spells too right?

Psionics

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At a Glance

Psionics


Sources

Passing Mention
Other Resources

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Undead (5e)

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At a Glance

Undead is —in 5e D&D— one of 14 monster types. The others include aberration, beast, celestial, construct, dragon, elemental, fey, fiend, giant, humanoid, monstrosity, ooze, and plant.


Examples


Sources

See individual examples.


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Plant (5e)

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At a Glance

Plant is —in 5e D&D— one of 14 monster types. The others include aberration, beast, celestial, construct, dragon, elemental, fey, fiend, giant, humanoid, monstrosity, ooze, and undead.


Examples


Sources

See individual examples.


Disclaimer

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Ooze (5e)

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At a Glance

Ooze is —in 5e D&D— one of 14 monster types. The others include aberration, beast, celestial, construct, dragon, elemental, fey, fiend, giant, humanoid, monstrosity, plant, and undead.


Examples


Sources

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Disclaimer

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Monstrosity (5e)

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At a Glance

Monstrosity is —in 5e D&D— one of 14 monster types. The others include aberration, beast, celestial, construct, dragon, elemental, fey, fiend, giant, humanoid, ooze, plant, and undead.


Examples


Sources

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Disclaimer

Wizards of the Coast, Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, Forgotten Realms, and their logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast LLC in the United States and other countries. This blog is not affiliated with, endorsed, sponsored, or specifically approved by Wizards of the Coast LLC.

Humanoid (5e)

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At a Glance

Humanoid is —in 5e D&D— one of 14 monster types. The others include aberration, beast, celestial, construct, dragon, elemental, fey, fiend, giant, monstrosity, ooze, plant, and undead.


Examples


Sources

See individual examples.


Disclaimer

Wizards of the Coast, Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, Forgotten Realms, and their logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast LLC in the United States and other countries. This blog is not affiliated with, endorsed, sponsored, or specifically approved by Wizards of the Coast LLC.

Giant (5e)

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At a Glance

Giant is —in 5e D&D— one of 14 monster types. The others include aberration, beast, celestial, construct, dragon, elemental, fey, fiend, humanoid, monstrosity, ooze, plant, and undead.


Examples


Sources

See individual examples.


Disclaimer

Wizards of the Coast, Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, Forgotten Realms, and their logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast LLC in the United States and other countries. This blog is not affiliated with, endorsed, sponsored, or specifically approved by Wizards of the Coast LLC.

Fiend (5e)

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At a Glance

Fiend is —in 5e D&D— one of 14 monster types. The others include aberration, beast, celestial, construct, dragon, elemental, fey, giant, humanoid, monstrosity, ooze, plant, and undead.


Examples


Sources

See individual examples.


Disclaimer

Wizards of the Coast, Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, Forgotten Realms, and their logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast LLC in the United States and other countries. This blog is not affiliated with, endorsed, sponsored, or specifically approved by Wizards of the Coast LLC.