Electrum in 5th Edition

Welcome back electrum! I'm sure a lot of you older gamers who have the new edition of D&D have noticed that electrum coins are in the Player's Handbook again. For those who are newer to the game I'll explain why this is interesting.

In the first edition of AD&D, the coinage breakdown was like this:

1 gp = 20 sp = 200 cp = 2 ep = 1/5 pp

This was slightly unwieldy so in second edition they moved to a system more like Basic D&D's:

1 gp = 10 sp = 100 cp = 2 ep = 1/5 pp

Electrum still existed in the rules, but soon the decimalization of D&D's coins continued with third and fourth edition:

1 gp = 10 sp = 100 cp = 1/10 pp

Despite not being in the rule books for over a decade, electrum was still present in certain settings, like Greyhawk (like in the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer) at it's standard exchange rate. Now in the 5th edition PHB we find this:

1 gp = 10 sp = 100 cp = 2 ep = 1/10 pp

Electrum is back in the pages of D&D for no real functional reason, but it is yet another reminder that the game has gone back to its roots. This direction is great news for old-school Greyhawk fans, so dungeon-master's, break out those electrum coins!

Electrum Names in Greyhawk
 
anvil: Principality of Ulek
axeman: Shield Lands
bright: County and Duchy of Urnst
bright ship: Sea Princes
bright skull: Iuz
dolphin: Lordship of the Isles
eagles: Bissel, Geoff, Gran March, Keoland, Sterich
fez: Tusmit
galley: Dyvers, Ekbir
great lunar: Highfolk
halfgold: Rel Astra, Yeomanry
haf-kronar: Frost, Ice and Snow Barbarians
hafmark: Perrenland
knight: Furyondy, Verbobonc
lucky: Greyhawk
marcher: Tenh
marid: Zeif
mirrorpool: County of Ulek
noble: Ahlissa, Bone March, North Kingdom, Sea Barons, Sunndi
scepter: Ratik
shinepiece: Nyrond
shootingstar: Duchy of Ulek
silver sun: The Pale
staff: Veluna
starcloak: Celene
wader: Onnwal
wagon: Ket