Quote Originally Posted by Talakeal View Post
I like having gold be relatively common compared to real life because it allows you to have large treasure hoards like the stereotypical dragon laying on a bed of gold without breaking the game.

In my campaign world gold is a little more common than silver is in real life and most gemstones are roughly on par with new world amethysts.

I also have "orichalcum" which is more valuable than real life gold and is used when I want a single hugely valuable piece of jewelry or high level players want to be able to carry their wealth around with them.
...which is basically D&D gold value. AD&D changed the gp/gp/cp size from 50/lb to 10/lb. So plate mail (50 lb of steel) cost 400 gp (40 lb of gold). Henry VIII equipped a group of soldiers with the equivalent of plate mail for 2.35 lb of silver each. That puts AD&D gold at about 3x the value of copper in 16th cen England. In 3.5e plate mail sells for 600 gp (12 lb), which is still only 1/5 the value of silver in the Tudor England.