Currencies

Note: The people of Delgar use octal math.

For simplicity, when playing D&D 5E, currency denominations are all converted in decimal at 10:1, so 1000 cp = 100 sp = 10 gp = 1pp. Electrum is not used.

Coin weight is usually inconsequential since most people use paper money for values of 10gp or more.

Different currencies are used in different parts of the world, but most of them are pegged to the Belgritian mark due to its near-universal acceptance in global trade. Each currency in wide current circulation is detailed here, as well as some interesting special cases.

Belgritian and Araxian Marks

Belgritian 10₈ gold mark note, featuring a portrait of Father Belger I.

Araxian 100₈ gold mark banknote featuring a portrait of Araxius II

Belgritian and Araxian marks come in six common denominations:

• Copper coins (bits/pixi), the smallest unit
• Silver coins (drakes/draxi), equal to 10₈ (8) copper bits/pixi each
• Gold coins (marks/marxi), equal to 20₈ (16) silver drakes/draxi each
• 10₈ mark banknotes, equal to 8 marks each.
• 100₈ mark banknotes, equal to 64 marks each
• 1000₈ mark banknotes, equal to 512 marks each

Banknotes in larger denominations such as 2000₈ (1024) and even 10,000₈ (4096) exist, but are rarely used.

Use of coins for anything of significant value (10₈ marks or more) is very unusual due to the inconvenience of carrying bags of metal disks around. Use of coins for anything beyond making change usually marks someone as an adventurer (who may be traveling to places where paper money is not accepted, or is trying to pay with ancient coins they dug out of a dragon's lair or something) or as someone who is normally paid in coins (like a shoe shiner).