PATHFINDER 2E ABSTRACT COINAGE

People use various coins of differing values, all stemming from
different eras and regions. Because of this, tracking money is
abstracted. If PCs find money in a hoard or someone pays
them, instead of tracking individual coinage, players track
discrete “pouches” much like how they track bulk instead of an
item’s weight in pounds.
COIN TYPES
There are copper, silver, gold, and platinum coins. When
spending a pouch of coins, roll a d6 Usage Die which
determines if the coins are completely spent (usually on a 1 or
2) or if the coins just reduce a step in value.
ITEM COST
Purchasable items each have a cost: Cheap, Pricey, Expensive
or Really Expensive. Each coin type has a maximum purchasing
power. If a PC wants to buy an Expensive item, for example,
they would need to spend gold or platinum coins.
Coin Type Max Purchasing Power
Copper Cheap
Silver Pricey
UNCOMMON AND RARE ITEMS
Uncommon items require a DC 12 flat check. If the uncommon
item is one tier lower than the settlement’s availability, you can
find 1d2 of them.
Rare items of one tier lower than the settlement’s maximum
might be found on a DC 18 flat check. If successful, you find 1 of
them.
BUYING STUFF
When buying something that is of a coins max purchasing
power (an expensive item with gold coins, for example), you
roll the d6 Usage Die, and on a 1 or 2, the coins are entirely
spent and removed from your inventory.
If the item is of a lower cost than the maximum the coins can
buy (a pricey item with gold coins, for example), or you don’t
roll a 1 or 2 on the coin’s Usage Die, the coins move down one
step: platinum coins become gold, gold becomes silver, silver
becomes copper.
Copper coins don’t drop a step and are only removed
completely if a 1 or 2 is rolled when spent.

Gold Expensive CONVERTING COINS

Platinum Really Expensive
ITEM AVAILABILITY
When a PC wants to buy something, it must be locally available,
which is up to the GM. Then, provided they have proper coins
to pay the cost, they can buy it.
Consumables are found and bought in batches of 4 (if rolling
1d2 to find uncommon consumables, you’re finding 1d2
batches of 4).
PCs can combine like pouches of Coins in almost any city,
converting them to higher value Coins.
Three pouches of coins become one pouch of the next step up
(copper to silver, silver to gold, gold to platinum).
OTHER NOTES
When purchasing items, unless bundled together, they are
bought separately and each transaction requires a separate
Usage Roll.

Settlement Max Item Max Consumable There are exceptions to rolling a Usage Die. For example, when
Type Level Level paying a non-merchant NPC for a job or service where a flat fee
makes sense, the GM may determine a pouch of coins must be
Hamlet 0 0
spent outright without rolling the Usage Die.
Village 1 5
Town 5 9 Some item’s might require the expenditure of a pouch of coins
AND the rolling of the Usage Die of another pouch. I’m not sure
City 9 14
about this, but I figured I’d throw it in until playtested.
Metropolis 14 20

CRAFTING
You can craft an item as long as your level is equal to or greater
than the item’s level. The DC to craft the item is based on the
item’s level, increased for rarity as normal.
It takes 3 days to craft anything and then you make a roll.
Critical Success: You roll the Usage Die of one step lower
than what the item would normally cost.
Success: You completely spend a pouch of coins one step
lower than what the item would normally cost.
Failure: You roll the Usage Die of what the item would
normally cost, but you still craft it.
Critical Failure: You step the pouch of coins that the item
would normally cost down one step and fail to make the
item.
If you don’t roll a Critical Failure, you can craft for a week
instead of 3 days and treat your result as one step higher than
what you rolled.
NON-ADVENTURING COINAGE
There are several ways you can gain coinage that don’t include
adventuring and risking your life for some sweet, sweet loots.
These include taking jobs, starting or investing in a business,
becoming a tax collecting lord, or anything else you can think
of.
WORKING FOR A LIVING
Every week spent performing a trade in a settlement (assuming
you can find work), grants you a pouch of copper coins. A
critical success on your check to work increases your earned
coinage by one step.
OWNING OR INVESTING A BUSINESS
When you become a business owner (assuming you are not the
only one working there (in which case it’s treated as “working
for a living”, but you are always able to find work), you have a
passive income of copper coins every week. Your staff’s upkeep
and supplies are already taken out of this equation.
Every source of income grants you an additional pouch of
copper coins.
COLLECTING TAXES
If you become a landed lord and are responsible for the
collection of taxes, protection of the land, and owe fealty to
higher power, things get a bit more complicated.
The amount of taxes you collect is MUCH higher than what
you’re going to be able to pocket, but it is assumed that you
are responsible for many salaries, land upkeep, and paying a
large portion of those taxes to a higher power.
The quality of your domain determines the type of coinage you
get each month:
Domain Quality Monthly Coinage
Poor Copper Coins
Moderate Silver Coins
Rich Gold Coins
Extremely Rich Platinum Coins