According to my 4E books, an Astral Diamond is worth 1,000,000 GP (not sure if I got the number of zeros right, I'll check back on it). Owning one of these suckers will save you having to carry a big bag of loot around (especially if you don't happen to own a Bag of Holding!). Just don't get robbed...
Astral Diamond
Fri, 2008-06-13 13:58
#1
Astral Diamond
Fri, 2008-06-13 15:07
#3
Astral Diamond
10,000 Gold or 100 Platinum per Astral Diamond. Pretty useful mechanic as far as im concerned.
Makes more sense for the 'reality' of the game from a large traders point of view. It actually says in the book that they are used as "currency for transactions involving staggering amounts of wealth"
Fri, 2008-06-13 15:27
#4
Astral Diamond
It makes perfect sense, I've been using similar types of thing for ages. You should search for the Dungeonomicon since he explains it far better. Mind you this is based on 3e and prior material and things are different in 4e.
But in short there are essentially two economies in D&D. The low-level economy where materials (gold/silver/etc) are valuable and have currency. Then the high-level economy. In the high level economy ordinary materials aren't really worth anything because a couple spells can produce up to 15000gp of material. This is the cut-off point, anything magical in nature worth less than 15000gp can be bought with ordinary currency. Beyond that currency is worthless since a few spells can produce it 15000gp at a time. So anything magical in nature and worth more than this amount requires special currency, raw chaos, souls, magic gems, high-level spell scrolls, other magical devices of similarly high value, etc.
It's a way of allowing the material wealth and low-level items to proliferate while still maintaining balance of high-level items that are more likely to upset the campaign.
Fri, 2008-06-13 15:34
#5
Astral Diamond
Agreed,
And I know AF made the comment "Just dont get robbed" but surely its easier to run from a mugger with 50 astral diamonds than half a million gold 
I might just be having a special moment, but didnt an official book actually highlight the problem with rewarding players with mass treasure? Surely this way we can now have characters investing in property and even becoming traders.
I know it was said in jest Eldan but why not have the characters not buy a kingdom, but maybe estates and entire regions or have them rebuild and rule over an area after they are done finishing off the evil tyrant they just brutally murdered in blood so cold the paladin is left whimpering and stroking his holy symbol? (That was a fun session! We actually managed to make the Paladin player cry hehe)
Fri, 2008-06-13 16:24
#6
Astral Diamond
Oh, sure. Nothing against that, really. I've played epic before, and even made one emperor once. Nothing wrong with that.
What I meant was that a million GP is just a little muchl, because, honestly, who has that much money except from maybe Hades? Now, if it's 10'000, that makes more sense, and I'm completely fine with it.
Fri, 2008-06-13 16:39
#7
Astral Diamond
It is 10.000 gp, not 1 mill.
Thu, 2008-06-19 15:29
#8
Residuum
Also there's Residuum (hope I spelled that right), the dustlike substance you're left with when you disenchant a magical item. It's worth quite a bit, too (but not as much as the original item - only 1/5th as much, but you can use Residuum as a component in rituals, and as a form of currency. A berk that might have no use for that particular magic item might be more than happy to buy that Residuum from you!) Another way to carry a large sum of money without carting around a bunch of coins... 
Thu, 2008-06-19 20:44
#9
Astral Diamond
Also there's Residuum (hope I spelled that right), the dustlike substance you're left with when you disenchant a magical item. It's worth quite a bit, too (but not as much as the original item - only 1/5th as much, but you can use Residuum as a component in rituals, and as a form of currency. A berk that might have no use for that particular magic item might be more than happy to buy that Residuum from you!) Another way to carry a large sum of money without carting around a bunch of coins...
Are you kidding me? There's something almost exactly like that in WoW, albeit with a different name. So, who ripped off whom?
Thu, 2008-06-19 20:52
#10
Astral Diamond
Are you kidding me? There's something almost exactly like that in WoW, albeit with a different name. So, who ripped off whom?
Gah!
You don't disenchant magical items in D&D, you keep them, sell them, or give them to PCs/NPCs you like! Yuck!
Wed, 2008-07-16 21:00
#11
Unless, of course, the item
Unless, of course, the item in question is cursed, or aligned opposite to your own belief (e.g., "we slag the unholy reaver!")
Thu, 2008-07-17 12:56
#12
And has anybody noticed that
And has anybody noticed that Platinum pieces are worth more in 4E? In 3E and prior editions, 1 Platinum piece=10 Gold pieces. Now, 1 Platinum piece=100 Gp! I think maybe they are taking into account the difficulty of mining platinum, and bringing it into the game...
Thu, 2008-07-17 14:32
#13
Actually, in 2E (and
Actually, in 2E (and before), 1 platinum was 5gp. I thought moving it to 10gp in 3E was a good idea at the time.
Of course, I also use Mithril pieces for the 100gp denominations. Some civilized nations also have been known to put a magical stamp on gemstones, which certifies their value.
Mon, 2008-07-21 18:50
#14
Mi Culpa; you are correct of
Mi Culpa; you are correct of course!
Rather silly, I think. I mean, that would give you, what, 100'000 cows? 200'000 sheep? Find one of these and by a middle-sized kingdom.