Converts a given D&D 5e currency value to the Silver Standard. Inspired by the Reddit posts titled The Silver Hack: Making Money Matter, and I make Silver Standard for 5th Edition (Spreadsheets.).
``` USAGE: sterling [FLAGS] [OPTIONS] [VALUE]... [SUBCOMMAND]
FLAGS: -o, --optional Include currencies marked as optional when converting. -f, --full Print currencies with full name, rather than with alias. -h, --help Prints help information -V, --version Prints version information
OPTIONS:
-c, --config
ARGS:
SUBCOMMANDS: add Add two currency amounts together; uses the currencies defined in your config file help Prints this message or the help of the given subcommand(s) sub Subtract two currency amounts from one another; uses the currencies defined in your config file ```
``` // Convert one hundred platinum coins: sterling 100p // 10g
// Convert one hundred platinum, fifty gold coins: sterling 100p 50g // 10g, 5s
// Convert fifteen thousand copper coins, printing the full names of the coins: sterling -f 15000c // 1 gold, 50 silver
// Convert one platinum, thirty-six gold, twelve electrum, eighty-two silver, and four hundred // sixty-nine copper coins, printing the full names of the coins sterling --full 1p 36g 12e 82s 469c // 64 silver, 89 copper
// Convert one platinum, thirty-six gold, twelve electrum, eighty-two silver, and four hundred // sixty-nine copper coins, printing the full names of the coins, using the custom config file // detailed below, including optional currencies sterling --full -o -c "~/Documents/D&D/sterling-conf.yml" 1p 36g 12e 82s 469c // 7 guilders, 6 sterling, 25 pence ```
``` // Add together ten and twenty pense, using the custom config file detailed below sterling add "10p" "20p" // 30p
// Subtract two sterling and ten pence from one florin sterling sub "1F" "2s 10p" --full // 2 sterling, 10 pence
// Subtract one florin from two sterling and ten pence. Note that, regardless of order, the smaller // value is ALWAYS subtracted from the larger value. sterling sub "2s 10p" "1F" --full // 2 sterling, 10 pence ```
Note that sterling doesn't allow for negative currencies. Therefore, when subtracting currencies,
the smaller currency value will always be subtracted from the larger currency value, regardless of
the order of the currencies in the sub command.
sterling allows for user-defined currencies, with their own names and conversion rates. By
default, sterling will look at a file within the current directory called sterling-conf.yml, or
in whatever location as supplied by the -c flag. You can also specify that a currency be optional,
which will prevent that currency from being used when converting values, unless the -o flag is
passed. Below is an example sterling-conf.yml file, showing the actual currencies that I use
within my own campaign!
-
name: "note"
rate: 143360
alias: "N"
optional: true
-
name: "eagle"
rate: 17920
alias: "e"
-
name: "guilder"
rate: 896
alias: "g"
-
name: "shilling"
rate: 32
alias: "s"
plural: "sterling"
-
name: "penny"
rate: 1
alias: "p"
plural: "pence"
Please note that the rate value is defined as the number of copper coins that goes into one of
that particular currency. In the example above, twelve copper coins goes into one "penny", and
two-hundred forty copper coins goes into one "sterling".
Items and expenses are, by default, assigned arbitrary currency values within the official D&D 5th edition source books. Many of the officially priced items use the "Gold Standard"; that is, items are priced in gold coins by default. While there is nothing wrong with using official currency values within your campaign, it leads to the perceived value of gold to be less in the eyes of your players. Gold has been sought after as both a commodity and a currency for centuries, and your campaign aught to treat gold similarly!
The basis of the Silver Standard treats one gold coin from the official D&D 5e source books as one silver coin, and that there are one hundred of a given coin to every one of the next highest valued coin. That's all. Thus, one hundred fifty copper coins equals one silver and fifty copper coins, while a suit of heavy plate armor equals fifteen gold coins, rather than fifteen hundred.
The easiest way to install sterling is to do so with cargo, the build tool that's installed
along with the rust compiler. If you already have rust and cargo installed onto your computer,
simply run the following command from a command prompt:
$ cargo install sterling
If you do not have the rust compiler installed, you can also find pre-built binaries for 64-bit
Windows, macOS, and Linux computers in the "Tags" navigation link, which is displayed above this
README. Simply download the correct binary for your computer's operating system, extract it
somewhere into your file system (such as a "bin" folder within your user directory), and add that
location to your system's PATH.