Remember when your character found his or her first platinum coin or that chest of 500 gold pieces? Then there were the hundreds of thousands of coins in the dragon’s hoard. At some point in your character’s career, coins become more of a problem than they are worth. Large numbers are difficult to transport, and a significant fraction of a coin’s weight could be lesser metals.

When large values of metal are needed for trade or crafting, something besides coins is essential. Ingots, quantities of nearly pure metal cast into a variety of shapes, are a common solution.

Assumptions

Value of Metals: The standard exchange rates of 100 cp = 10 sp = 1 gp = 1/5 pp are still valid.

Purity of Coins: Coins are assumed to be an alloy with 20 percent worthless metal. The value of a pound of gold coins is 48 gp. The value of a pound of gold is 60 gp.

Rounded Weights and Dimensions: Weights and lengths are rounded to be easier to use in play.

Ingot Shapes

Roughly rectangular or trapezoidal bricks are the most common form for ingots, and these bricks are created by pouring the molten metal into a mold. A standardized mold is better for a variety of reasons, including ease of use and transport, but a campaign setting might have variations in the molds to serve world-building purposes. A mark of the ingot’s purity, manufacturer, or ownership is sometimes stamped into the top. Ingots of denser, or more valuable, metals will tend to be smaller.

The value of an ingot is its weight in pounds multiplied by the value per pound of the metal. Table 1 shows the values of precious metals commonly found in fantasy settings.

Table 1: Metal Values

Metal	Value per Pound
Iron	1 sp
Lead	2 sp
Copper	6 sp
Silver	6 gp
Gold	60 gp
Platinum	300 gp
Mithral	1,000 gp
Adamantine	10,000 gp

 

Trade Bars: In civilized lands, copper and metals such as lead and tin are often poured into a common mold that is about 3 inches x 5 inches x 12 inches. These trade bars are used to transport and exchange metals for use in craft and industry. Trade bars of different metals will have different weights; a lead trade bar is 70 lbs., while a copper one is only 55 lbs.

Bullion: Bullion ingots are smaller than trade bars and are intended as currency rather than crafting. Because of this, bullion is measured by gp value instead of weight.

Bun Ingots: These squat cylinders, flat or slightly concave on one end and rounded on the other, are not unusual. This is because they can be made easily by pouring molten metals into depressions dug in sand.

Hacksilver: Perhaps the most expedient way to distribute loot is to take an axe and hack the jewelry, utensils, and other items into portions of equal weight. Historically Vikings left many hacksilver hoards behind and at least one Saxon “hackgold” hoard has been found.

Oxhide Ingots: These ingots get their name from their distinctive shape: They are large, flat rectangles with a “handle” sticking out of each corner, resembling a spread out ox skin. Researchers have speculated these handles make it easier for two or four people to carry the ingot. They could also offer lashing points to attach the ingot to a camel or donkey’s packsaddle.

Rods: The high melting point and small quantities of adamantine make traditional ingots impractical. Adamantine can be drawn into a thin rod that has a 1/8-inch diameter. Decorative finials are sometimes applied to the ends of the rod to show who owns it or to indicate from where it came.

Many of the above ingot types have a historical basis, though standardized trade bars and decorated rods of a rare metal are fictional creations. Table 2 shows some common fantasy ingots with their values, weights, and dimensions.

Table 2: Common Ingots

Ingot	Value (GP)	Weight (lbs.)	Size (in.)
1 gp Copper Bullion	1	1-2/3	5 × 2 × 1/2
5 gp Copper Bullion	5	8-1/3	7 × 3 × 1-1/4
Large Copper Bun	11	18	6″ diameter and 2″ thick
Copper Trade Bar	34	58	12 × 5 × 3
Copper Oxhide	50	84	24 × 11 × 1-1/2
Iron Trade Bar	5	51	12 × 5 × 3
Lead Trade Bar	15	74	12 × 5 × 3
5 gp Silver Bullion	5	3/4	5 × 1-1/4 × 1/4
Small Silver Bun	36	6	4-1/2″ diameter and 1″ thick
100 gp Silver Bullion	100	16-2/3	9 × 4 × 1-1/4
100 gp Gold Bullion	100	1-2/3	5 × 1 × 1/2
100 gp Platinum Bullion	100	1/3	4 × 1/2 × 1/4
500 gp Platinum Bullion	500	1-2/3	5 × 1-1/4 × 1/4
1 oz. Mithril Bar	63	1/16	2 × 1/2 × 1/2
Adamantine Rod	600	1/16	6″ long and 1/8″ diameter

In Your Game

Given the convenience of ingots when dealing with big values, characters should see them in any large treasure hoard. This is particularly true of treasure collected from merchant caravans or trade ships. Even humanoid tribes will hack looted jewelry up to allocate shares or melt it down into crude buns for bartering.

Characters with metalworking skills could readily buy the material they need. In contrast, those characters with magic item creation feats will need to acquire rare and expensive metals. These metals are available only in cities where you can buy magic items that are worth the cost of one pound of the metal. As a result, characters may have to travel to a larger city or go on specific adventures to acquire the raw materials for their latest project.

It is possible to cheat and make ingots out of alloys or use a core of a lesser metal. Anyone trading in improper ingots would have to be stopped. Additionally, the characters might get annoyed if the creation of an expensive magic item failed because the mithral they used wasn’t pure.

Further, don’t forget mines aren’t the only source of metal in a fantasy setting. Melting the coins from a dragon’s hoard into bullion not only reduces the weight by 20%, it would also help mask where it came from in the first place. A small boomtown might even spring up around the entrance to a particularly large hoard, as the gold and silver are carted out and processed for trade.

Proclamation I

Be it here by known that the parties of Ulrich Eberhard, Werner von Urslingen, Karistos Mondaviak, Porphyrys Cadorna, and Bishop Braccio of Tyr do hereby formally claim ownership of the city of Phlan and all its attendant lands and districts, on this the 21st of Eleint, The Year of the Turret, 1360 DR, and do hereby appoint themselves as the Council of New Phlan, and apportion to themselves the power to lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts, and Excises, to pay the Debts and to provide for the common Defense.

Proclamation IV

Be is here known that the Council of New Phlan, finding it necessary to hire and retain exceptional talent in the fields of murder, magic, and the acquisition of property, do hereby agree to ignore and expunge all records of misdeeds from all jurisdictions outside of New Phlan for all individuals who, hereafter, shall become citizens of New Phlan. Likewise, let it be known that no citizen of New Phlan shall be extradited on charges from any jurisdiction outside of the bounds of New Phlan.

Proclamation V
Be it hereafter known that the following offenses shall constitute capital crimes against the City of New Phlan, punishable by confiscation of all property and banishment from the limits of New Phlan by method of being thrown from the walls of New Phlan between the hours of the Second Dog Watch and the First Watch, regardless of the jurisdiction under which they were committed:

1. The killing, be it willful or accidental of any member of the Council of New Phlan, its clerks, its agents, or its soldiers. This shall be read to include all members of the Red Plumes of Hillsfar operating within the walls of New Phlan, all members of the Church of Tyr operating within the walls of New Phlan, as well as Councilmembers, Clerks of the Council, and Council-appointed agents operating either within or without the walls of New Phlan.
2. Maliciously causing bodily injury to another by any means with intent to maim, disfigure, disable, or kill, and knowing or having reason to know that such other person is a member of the Council of New Phlan, a Clerk of the Council of New Phlan, or a Soldier or Law-enforcement officer in the employ of the Council of New Phlan as defined under article 1.
3. Any “Act of terrorism”, defined as any act of violence as committed with the intent to influence the conduct or activities of the Council of New Phlan through intimidation.
4. Penetrating the walls, gates, or harbors of the City of New Phlan without express written charter issued, registered, and notarized by the Clerk of the Council of New Phlan. Accepted charters for passage into and out of the City of New Phlan are limited to the following: (i) a document of citizenship in the City of New Phlan issued by the Clerk of the Council of New Phlan, (ii) a Charter of Adventure issued by the Clerk of the Council of New Phlan, (iii) a Charter of Passage issued to a ship in the service of the Council of New Phlan and passengers thereon, or (iv) a Writ of Diplomacy issued by the Council of New Phlan to a foreign dignitary. If the document be not in one’s possession, or be not notarized by the Clerk of the Council of New Phlan, the bearer shall be in violation of the Law Capital.

Proclamation VI
Be it hereafter known that the following offenses, when committed within the walls of New Phlan, shall constitute capital crimes, punishable by confiscation of all property and banishment from the limits of New Phlan by method of being thrown from the walls of New Phlan between the hours of the Second Dog Watch and the First Watch:

1. The willful, deliberate, and premeditated killing of any citizen of the city of New Phlan, as registered with the Clerk of the Council of New Phlan.
2. The willful, deliberate, and premeditated killing of any human by another for hire.
3. The willful, deliberate, and premeditated killing of any human under the age of 14.
4. The willful, deliberate, and premeditated killing of any witness in a criminal case after a subpoena has been issued for such witness by the Clerk of the Council of New Phlan, when the killing is for the purpose of interfering with the creature’s duties in such case.
5. Participation in a mob. A Mob shall hereafter be defined as any collection of non-humans, assembled for the purpose and with the intention of opposing the will of the Council of New Phlan, or committing any act of assault or a battery upon any citizen of the city of New Phlan, as registered with the Clerk of the Council of New Phlan.
6. Abduction of (i) any citizen of New Phlan with the intent to extort money or pecuniary benefit, (ii) of any human with intent to defile such person, (iii) of any human child under twelve years of age for the purpose of concubinage or prostitution.
7. Use or display of a deadly weapon (see Weapons for a list of devices legally considered deadly weapons) by any person not in possession of a Charter of Adventure issued, registered, and notarized by the Clerk of the Council of New Phlan, unless said person is a Member of the Council of New Phlan, a Clerk of the Council of New Phlan, or a Soldier or Law-enforcement officer in the employ of the Council of New Phlan as defined under Proclamation V, Article 1.
8. Having sexual intercourse with a complaining witness, whether or not his or her spouse, or causing a complaining witness, whether or not his or her spouse, to engage in sexual intercourse with any other person and such act is accomplished against the complaining witness’s will, by force, threat, or intimidation of or against the complaining witness or another person, if said complaining witness is a human or a citizen of New Phlan as registered by the Clerk of the Council of New Phlan.
9. Burning, or by use of any explosive device or substance (i) destroying, in whole or in part, or causes to be burned or destroyed, or (ii) aiding, counseling, or procuring the burning or destruction of any dwelling house whether belonging to himself or another, or any occupied inn, hostel, hospital, or mental health facility, or any occupied church or occupied building owned or leased by a church that is immediately adjacent to a church.
10. Breaking and entering the dwelling house of another in the nighttime with intent to commit larceny.
11. Commiting larceny from the person of a citizen of the City of New Phlan of money, goods, or chattels of value of 5 silver pieces or more.
12. Stealing or fraudulently secreting, or destroying a public record or part thereof, including a copy thereof, unless one be the Clerk of the Council of New Phlan.
13. Cutting down, pulling up, girdling, or otherwise injuring or destroying any tree growing in any public square or grounds of the City of New Phlan, nor willfully and maliciously injure the fences or herbiage of any such square or grounds, including, but not limited to the City Hall, Council Hall, Training Hall, Justice House, the Temple of Tyr’s Waiting, and Valhegen Park, without the consent of the Clerk of the Council of New Phlan.
14. Maliciously shooting, stabbing, wounding, or otherwise causing bodily injury to, or administering poison to or exposing poison with intent that it be taken by a dog, horse or other animal owned, used, or trained by the Council of New Phlan, the Clerk of the Council of New Phlan, or any Soldier or Law-enforcement officer in the employ of the Council of New Phlan as defined under Proclamation V, Article 1.
15. Any person knowingly preparing any obscene item for the purposes of sale or distribution; or having in his possession with intent to sell, rent, lend, transport, or distribute any obscene item; or possession in public or in a public place of any obscene item, as defined by future statutes or by writ of the Clerk of the Council of New Phlan.
    • Obscene items shall include:
      • Flutes, including but not limited to fipple flutes, transverse flutes, penny flutes, skin flutes, whistle flutes, bamboo pipes, coronets, gemshorns, ocarinas, pipes, recorders, and thelarrs. By order of Priestess Joy of Sune. See Writ of the Clerk of the Council of New Phlan w.CLXXVII

Proclamation XI

Be it here known, that, notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Council of New Phlan, its clerks, its agents, and its soldiers are not liable to pay punitive or exemplary damages in any action brought directly or indirectly against it by any injured party or third party that is not itself a Councilman of New Phlan. In addition, no public official of New Phlan is liable to pay punitive or exemplary damages in any action arising out of an act or omission made by the public official while serving in an official executive, legislative, quasi-legislative or quasi-judicial capacity, brought directly or indirectly against him by any injured party or third party.