Issue 427 of the DDO Chronicle is now available!

[peng]

Of course they're the same size. Rust monster droppings are always the same size, regardless of what they ate. You... did know that coins are rust monster ****, right?

[Annex]

The coins I collect differ in purity, shape, size, and stamp, even amongst coins of the same general type. Almost every political entity that supports a trade system mints coins. The political entity creates laws that define the attributes of each coin, raises a work force to make them, trains officials to test coins for adherence to standards, and finally distributes them to the population in exchange for goods and services. As long as coins meet the standard, people can ascribe a real value to the coins and use them instead of barter.

Each political entity has access to different quantities of precious metals and will use the ones most readily available. Purity will depend on the smelting technology available. Size, shape, and stamp will vary based on cultural preferences, often determined by the ruler or rulers of the political entity. Since coins vary so widely, a person may immediately know the origin of a coin based on appearance, or at least know that a coin is foreign.

Coins from very large political entities with very reliable coin making standards eventually become predominant far beyond the limits of the state's borders.

Given the limited technology available for testing, counterfeit coins often exist in large numbers. These coins match the appearance of state minted coins but utilize more readily available materials, especially lead. People will often test a coin by biting it, slicing into it, or weighing it.

An adventurer who travels widely will ultimately acquire many thousands of different coins.

[Jango-EX]

Yes they are. Way easier to figure out how much they weigh this way.

[EnragedBears]

Yes, the same number of pixels

[Mavnimo]

the same size and the size of fruit loops

[Drahxor]

All the same, i have only chocolate doubloons

[rfachini]

All the same size. No need to waste system resources on small change.

[slayson]

Of course they are different sizes. Who would bother to shave a copper or silver coin.

[mbartol]

They all look the same other than color in the UI.

[GretelGarbow]

Egads, I never touch them, that's why we have hirelings. Who knows what KoboldKrud is stuck to them.

[Kelledren]

Silly question... copper and silver (and electrum) are all smaller due to the amount you need to carry for common purchases.. 5 copper for an ale-you need a lot of those. Gold and platinum are a little larger, and if you do have thousands of gold/platinum then you are rich enough to buy a bag of holding, or pay a poor guildie, or buy a pet halfling to carry your stuff for you.

[Jiirix]

1 platinum piece (pp) = 10 gold pieces (gp) = 100 silver pieces (sp) = 1,000 copper pieces (cp)
Platin isn't worth 10 times more than gold, so the coins are of diffent sizes I suppose.

[Hollermann]

no they are not the same size, besides it is not the size that matters but the worth and how many potions you can get from them

[ideal_insomnia]

Different sizes. Coppers are so tiny no one even bothers dealing in them.

[wiliamsane]

Different size and different stamp on them for easy recognition . Also silver gold and platinum ones have only trace amount of rare metals to avoid being hoarded by kobold as shinies. Only its names stayed same.

[nordlav]

The coins are all different sizes. Variety is the spice of virtual life...........

[PsychoBlonde]

I'd assume that one would coin copper, silver, gold, and platinum coins in different sizes simply because that makes it harder to accidentally hand someone a platinum piece when you meant to give them a copper piece. It also makes it significantly more difficult for someone to palm off a copper piece as a platinum piece by painting it or using a cantrip to modify the color.

That's assuming that this is actually struck coinage with a specified denomination and they don't just approximate out the metal value by weight, in which case the sizes are going to be different because gold and platinum are denser than silver and copper. And also assuming that all four types of coins are all struck by the same minting facility, which is by no means guaranteed or even likely. Minting has NOT always been considered the exclusive provenance of the federal government as it mostly is today. House Kundarak and the Coin Lords may both have their own mints, in which case you'd expect their coins to have different sizes and denominations. Droaam probably has their own coinage, as well as non-dragonmarked civilized races like the Hobgoblins. The Giants and Drow likely have their own currencies. And, of course, you'd assume that Eveningstar has its own minted currency that comes from somewhere in Cormyr. Cormyr is the human kingdom, too, the dwarves in Eveningstar may have their own currency and run their own mint.

If you actually go back and read the really old AD&D books, it's mentioned that the denomination of money is shorthand merely meant to *represent* currency values, that the actual coinage may come in many variants depending on the local fiscal structure.

[DoctorOfLiterature]

They used to be different sizes until Update 45. Now they are all the same because it is easier to code.

[SirShen]

Different sizes. So that i can put them in the donkey to make it move faster. O wait that a mechanical bull. Now i know why my donkey don't like me.

[Arayot]

My coins are virtual. Since my wizard does necromancy, he uses "crypt"ocurrency.