Electrum had many uses in the ancient world and for a time was actually prefered over pure gold because it was a harder metal. its is an extremely old alloy dating back to the BC era and apparently was used amongst many other things to coat the tops of the pyramids! interestingly it seems electrum was phased out by the introduction of silver coins, i had actually thought it was used instead of silver, but it seems it just became easier to make pure silver coins since it was hard at that time to judge percent composition. you mention that it seems like a way to ruin both metals, but in actuality electrum was considered an improvement because of its extra hardness compared to gold. more over people weren't actually making electrum, it is an natural alloy, so they were finding the metal already in electrum form. So since electrum is a natural metal form and it was harder than gold it made perfect sense for the ancients to use it.
Giving my weekly encouragement guys. This is such an underrated channel. If anyone reads comments, give them some love on Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, and the like. Tell your D&D friends. Guys, I love this podcast. Keep it up. I look forward to an upload every week.
I encourage DMs to rewrite the Deck of Many Things, and bring down the power level, so that later in the game you can bring in the Artifact Deck and your players are prepared for it. For example: - gain darkvision 30' - gain a thick scaly skin, +1 AC, but lose 1 Charisma point - gain resistance to poison damage - the card drains your vitality, you gain one level of Exhaustion, it lasts for 7 days - the card turns into a Grick, which attacks you immediately (CR 2) These are easy to bring into a low level adventure, and shows the players that there are some weird magical items that can alter the game in a single round. Plus, having a physical Deck on hand, that you can shuffle and draw from, makes the fantasy world feel real.
I gave the coins in my world names based on actual currencies from history. The different continents also use different ones. The mechanics are pretty much the same, but I like the bit of flavor it gives the world
I like replacing Electrum with Steel. I say most weapons/armor are iron, with steel coins being slightly more rare and valuable than gold. They really appreciate steel weapons/armor, which usually have slight bonuses akin to lowest level magic items; they also could technically collect steel currency, melt it down, and use it to make weapons/armor. Plus, there have been times in our history where Steel (Damascus Steel) was more rare and valuable than gold, because it required more material and time to process.
The frosty sword you guys talked about is real, in the Legend Of Drizzt books, his scimitar Icingdeath is semi sentient, hates demons and fire, and is frosty, giving him fire/ice resistance.
I purchased a book off of Amazon with random like basic magic items and you can add like a minor property I guess if you wanted to from the Dungeon Master's guide or a major property to make it more powerful but by themselves they're like really weak stuff but like you said you can tweak it and give it some interesting properties and see where it goes.
Oww My Gosh. Fake coins. The group that I DM for is about to hate me. They about to run into a very large group of bandits. Who will now have copper coins that are magically coated with gold.
Pretty late on this one but in my world electrum is very much like bitcoin. It's not an alloy of silver and gold but actually Baatorian green steel. The only way to get your hands on it is to study summoning magic and harvest the ore magically, and when one vein runs out you have to find a new ritual. This ends up making the value of electrum vary based on how much access the world currently has to the ore and ends up being a sort of tool I can use at any time. If the players have some electrum they want to sell and they're pretty strapped for cash otherwise I can artificially inflate the cost of electrum and vice versa.
Electrum in my campaign is a pirate currency and is not accepted at main government ports. Evening showing you have it gets the laws attention. But on the pirate isles it's worth five more then gold.
Your characters are too rich and they settle down... until a dragon here's about their treasure. Or a thief, or a war band comes through. If something becomes a problem isn't it the DMs job to look at problems as opportunity? Keep the story moving. Or make the character a lord and roll a new character who works for them. If wealth ends your game then balance it the DM gives and the DM can take it, as long as its for the story and not to bully your players.
Varying Coinage economies would require that the coins actually weigh different. In D&D the coins are of metals with specific intrinsic values. If you want gold to be worth more or less in various areas, it has nothing to do with the coin itself, but rather the economy and politics of that region. However, you can easily introduce regional currencies where the coins themselves have little to no intrinsic value, but can be taken to the bank or organization that issued it for the equivalent value of intrinsic metals. This is what creates various values of money. An American Dollar is worth more than an Australian dollar because both are fiat currencies created by different organizations, and thus don't actually represent a physical amount of anything. On the other hand, Stocks, Bonds, or Shares of Commodities all represent a specific amount of intrinsic value, which means if 2 different organizations write a Promissory note to the same amount of intrinsic value, then they are worth the exact same amount...though political reasons could mean that one note would be unacceptable to another region due to difficulty in collecting on the note.
Electrum had many uses in the ancient world and for a time was actually prefered over pure gold because it was a harder metal. its is an extremely old alloy dating back to the BC era and apparently was used amongst many other things to coat the tops of the pyramids! interestingly it seems electrum was phased out by the introduction of silver coins, i had actually thought it was used instead of silver, but it seems it just became easier to make pure silver coins since it was hard at that time to judge percent composition. you mention that it seems like a way to ruin both metals, but in actuality electrum was considered an improvement because of its extra hardness compared to gold. more over people weren't actually making electrum, it is an natural alloy, so they were finding the metal already in electrum form. So since electrum is a natural metal form and it was harder than gold it made perfect sense for the ancients to use it.
Thanks for the random history lesson, that was actually very interesting and made my day.
Giving my weekly encouragement guys. This is such an underrated channel. If anyone reads comments, give them some love on Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, and the like. Tell your D&D friends.
Guys, I love this podcast. Keep it up. I look forward to an upload every week.
Thank you for the kind words!
I encourage DMs to rewrite the Deck of Many Things, and bring down the power level, so that later in the game you can bring in the Artifact Deck and your players are prepared for it.
For example:
- gain darkvision 30'
- gain a thick scaly skin, +1 AC, but lose 1 Charisma point
- gain resistance to poison damage
- the card drains your vitality, you gain one level of Exhaustion, it lasts for 7 days
- the card turns into a Grick, which attacks you immediately (CR 2)
These are easy to bring into a low level adventure, and shows the players that there are some weird magical items that can alter the game in a single round. Plus, having a physical Deck on hand, that you can shuffle and draw from, makes the fantasy world feel real.
I'd call that the "Deck of Minor Things" or "Deck of Many Blessings".
Oh dang this is very smart. Well.. Crap. Dang now I need to write these down and brain storm this lol. Thank you for this!
It sould also spark a moment of pants shitting terror in anyone familiar with the true deck of many things.
Wait, I've been watching for 2 minutes and I think there actually in the same room. This is a game changer!
D&D also assumes that the value of the coinage metals relative to each other are constant.
I gave the coins in my world names based on actual currencies from history. The different continents also use different ones. The mechanics are pretty much the same, but I like the bit of flavor it gives the world
Thanks for the Weak Magic Items link and recommendation!
hey guys just wanna say i love the help you provide for us all and thanks.
Thank you man! We love talking D&D and love to hear it helps people :)
I like replacing Electrum with Steel. I say most weapons/armor are iron, with steel coins being slightly more rare and valuable than gold. They really appreciate steel weapons/armor, which usually have slight bonuses akin to lowest level magic items; they also could technically collect steel currency, melt it down, and use it to make weapons/armor. Plus, there have been times in our history where Steel (Damascus Steel) was more rare and valuable than gold, because it required more material and time to process.
Awesome episode as usual. I'm so glad I found your channel
Thank you! Glad you are enjoying the show!
Rogue should clearly have access to the Appraisal skill
The frosty sword you guys talked about is real, in the Legend Of Drizzt books, his scimitar Icingdeath is semi sentient, hates demons and fire, and is frosty, giving him fire/ice resistance.
Everything bullshit in Elven sounds cooler
Brian kept thinking of the deck of illusions.
That he did.
I purchased a book off of Amazon with random like basic magic items and you can add like a minor property I guess if you wanted to from the Dungeon Master's guide or a major property to make it more powerful but by themselves they're like really weak stuff but like you said you can tweak it and give it some interesting properties and see where it goes.
If I where to hit above level 20 I just multiclass to another class and start getting their bonus
Id just say that elves and dragons are often in big boy units epic level
I played a Dwarven merchant he collected coins or currency from different cultures as a hobby.
Imagine going to the feywild and the lords of they fey courts are playing card games WITH a deck of many things.
Don’t know if it was said but the word is denominations.
Oww My Gosh. Fake coins. The group that I DM for is about to hate me. They about to run into a very large group of bandits. Who will now have copper coins that are magically coated with gold.
Investigate check Dragonborn and dwarves could not get tricked by that
Pretty late on this one but in my world electrum is very much like bitcoin. It's not an alloy of silver and gold but actually Baatorian green steel. The only way to get your hands on it is to study summoning magic and harvest the ore magically, and when one vein runs out you have to find a new ritual. This ends up making the value of electrum vary based on how much access the world currently has to the ore and ends up being a sort of tool I can use at any time. If the players have some electrum they want to sell and they're pretty strapped for cash otherwise I can artificially inflate the cost of electrum and vice versa.
One of the harder aspects of the game tackled in great fashion
Gold melts at a lower temperature? Electrum doesn't melt when struck with a fire ball.silver is always useful on lycanthropes.
Wait wait, those this mean that there is a Deck of Many Things in Dungeon Quest Saga? Oh yeaaaaaaa
Electrum in my campaign is a pirate currency and is not accepted at main government ports. Evening showing you have it gets the laws attention.
But on the pirate isles it's worth five more then gold.
I treat copper as a dollar, silver as a ten dollar bill, and gold as a Benjamin
The DMG specifically says you can wear two cloaks
I just use ancient currencies they have the prices and values on line.
Your characters are too rich and they settle down... until a dragon here's about their treasure. Or a thief, or a war band comes through. If something becomes a problem isn't it the DMs job to look at problems as opportunity? Keep the story moving. Or make the character a lord and roll a new character who works for them. If wealth ends your game then balance it the DM gives and the DM can take it, as long as its for the story and not to bully your players.
Varying Coinage economies would require that the coins actually weigh different. In D&D the coins are of metals with specific intrinsic values. If you want gold to be worth more or less in various areas, it has nothing to do with the coin itself, but rather the economy and politics of that region. However, you can easily introduce regional currencies where the coins themselves have little to no intrinsic value, but can be taken to the bank or organization that issued it for the equivalent value of intrinsic metals. This is what creates various values of money. An American Dollar is worth more than an Australian dollar because both are fiat currencies created by different organizations, and thus don't actually represent a physical amount of anything. On the other hand, Stocks, Bonds, or Shares of Commodities all represent a specific amount of intrinsic value, which means if 2 different organizations write a Promissory note to the same amount of intrinsic value, then they are worth the exact same amount...though political reasons could mean that one note would be unacceptable to another region due to difficulty in collecting on the note.
Brian wants things to be horcruxes SO BAD. I feel bad for him because they never are...
If you have copper and silver coins, players will tend to hoard their gold and platinum coins.