Custom Currencies
While standard coins, like silver and gold pieces, are used almost everywhere not every setting wants to use them as the currency. We have gotten lots of requests for custom currencies and it is now possible to create your own currencies. While it is simple to create new currencies there are some details that you may need to understand to make sure that they work as expected. Shard tries to make sure that even when different currency types are mixed that everything works together.
Creating Currencies
Currencies are just a special item type and are defined by creating an item for each currency type.
Fields:
Item Type: Currency
Short Name: the name that is used when referencing the currency. For example: a Gold Piece is known as gp. This is used in buying and selling UI, on the character sheet and when giving values for items.
Weight: weight for each unit of the currency
Count per GP: this defines the exchange rate using gold pieces as the universal standard. Currencies that are more valuable than an gp will have a value < 1 and ones that are less valuable than a gp will have a number > 1. Default is 1 meaning equivalent in value to 1 gp.
Using Currency
Once a currency is defined, other items can have their value specified in units of that currency. Just specify a value a number followed by the short name of the currency, for example 2 gp.
Treasure can include the new currency types just by adding them like any other item. On the character sheet the default coin types will be replaced to include any of the new currency types that are found in equipment.
New currencies on the character sheet will replace the standard coins if the character doesn’t have any of those coin types. Once the new currency is in the equipment then those currencies will be available to use when purchasing equipment. The exchange rate defined on the coin ensures that the currency can be used to purchase any item with a known currency type.
Selling items will always default to selling in the currency defined for the value of the item being sold.
Setting Currencies
It isn’t possible to create a setting that forces the use of a different set of currencies, but it is possible to have a setting mostly function in that fashion.
Have adventurers find treasure that is either some set of the alternate currencies or that has the value of the items specified in the alternate currencies.
Direct players to shop for items from lists that only contain items with the alternate currencies.
Grant starting equipment and currency using the alternate currencies.
The buy and sell dialogs will try to always use the currencies specified on the items or currencies that characters already have.