[DF 8] On Gemstones and Carats

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by Peter Knutsen

It's very possible to create a "cheat sheet", using Excel or Calc, for a variety of standard gemstone types and sizes.

Just made one, specifically aimed at the OP :D It uses the exact rules from DF8, even though they're questionable for semiprecious gems.

Can't use it in GDocs as GDocs does not support drop down boxes and images, so you'll need to download it and open it in Excel to use it;

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B9v...19sRmJGZzk4STQ

To download go to the GDocs file menu and pick Download. :D

Usage: Click on the orange box next to Gem to pick your gem type from the dropdown list.
Click on the orange box next to Shape to pick the shape of your gem (see the pictures at the bottom of the sheet for examples of everything except Polished Sphere to see what I mean).
Enter the Diameter of your gem and pick your units from the dropdown box (supports Inches and CM)

Sheet gives you volume, weight in ounces, grams, and carats, and gives you the value according to DF8.

I'm working on an alternate to the gems table, splitting it up into precious and semi-precious and calculating the value of each differently. This version has a separate gem quality table, giving you quality ranges from Poor to Flawless (multiplies cost from 1/5x to 5x that indicated by weight).

[Phil Masters]

Originally Posted by Refplace

They may chop it down to smaller pieces but would lose a lot of the value and still may have troubles.

Getting technical (and realistic) - cutting up a flawless diamond will almost certainly decrease its value, but cutting up one with a flaw may actually increase it. A competent cutter will get a whole load of smaller but flawless stones out of the cut. Also, if the stone is stolen and the rightful owners can and will assert their rights, cutting it up should make it unidentifiable; would you rather have five million you can't realise or a million you can?

Though modern-style gem-cutting is mostly a post-Renaissance thing anyway, so those who insist on making their fantasy worlds "realistic" medieval-style settings should really be ignoring this stuff.

And in any case, once you get up to insane golfball sizes for stones, the question of flaws and such becomes a bit moot. You're talking sheer uniqueness there, and the value of the stone is what it will bring. Which is probably three or four plots, several rumours about curses, multiple murders, and a large moral Aesop by the end of the campaign.

(I'm also remembering the nice story of the guy who found a very large gold nugget a few years back, and determined that it was the 23rd largest ever discovered. He then discovered that the 22 bigger had all been melted down for the, you know, gold - so he actually had the largest extant nugget. So he eBayed it, and got several times its metal content value from a Las Vegas casino.)

[khorboth]

Using DF8 gives you a 1/36 chance of BIGGER!.

So, how rare do you want the gem to be?

Odds of being an N iteration of BIGGER! are 1/(36^N)

To do the math for you:
1: 32
2: 1,024
3: 32,768
4: 1,048,576
5: 33,554,432
6: 1,073,741,824
7: 34,359,738,368

So, to put it in the range of 1 bigger makes it as big as one in 32 gemstones. 2 biggers makes it one in a thousand (or so). A 1-in-a-million gem is in the 4 biggers range. 6 biggers is probably the only gem of its kind in the world. More than that is just ridiculous. This involves no reality-checking. Just crunching numbers from DF8 to see the odds. Also note that there are great overlaps in the size ranges, but as you roll more dice you'll get to a more average result.

P.S. It hurts me to write the word "biggers"

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by khorboth

A 1-in-a-million gem is in the 4 biggers range. 6 biggers is probably the only gem of its kind in the world. More than that is just ridiculous.

Nah, you're just looking at the biggest gem in the inner planes, then the biggest gem in the inner and outer planes, and then probably "the heart of the First Dragon/Creator God/Abyss".

On the other side of things, there's "gem stones" as the term is used in jewelery, which is to say "pretty rocks", which can include some that get VERY big.

Quartz: "Well-formed crystals may reach several meters in length and weigh as much as 1,400 pounds (640 kg)."

Jade: "The world's largest pure gemstone quality jade named "Polar Pride" was discovered in British Columbia in the vicinity of Dease Lake. It weighed 18 tones..."

Hematite: "The most spectacular large crystals of hematite--flat plates 6 in. (15 cm) or more across--have been found in metamorphosed Brazilian sediments."

[Captain-Captain]

Of course DF gems are likely measured in ounces. if not pounds...

[Kax]

Originally Posted by Refplace

As the price was already answered one thing to consider if you really want that size without bank rolling the PCs for life.
That is more then a Kings ransom and likely searching for a buyer would be a significant adventure on its own. Its perfectly reasonable to say no buyer exists in fact. They may chop it down to smaller pieces but would lose a lot of the value and still may have troubles.

So give them a 710 carat zircon. :)