Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 MNBlockHead Jul 02, 2015 5:58:52	According to the PHB 153 a standard chest will have a capacity of 12 cubit feet and can hold 300 lbs of gear.    The chest itself will weigh 25 lb. (PHB 150) A well-built chest should be resilient and will have 10 HP (DMG 247) Assuming that it is robustly built, with thicker walls and lid, I would estimate such a chest's outer dimensions to be roughtly 3 to 3.5 feet long, 2.5 to 3 feet high, and about 2 feet wide.    That seems like a pretty big chest.    If you were to fill it with gold pieces, you would have about 433,788 coins (assuming a coin is 17.3mm diameter and 2mm thick and a volume of 0.47 cubic centimeters—about the size of a U.S. nickel, but weighs twice as much, also assuming a packing density of 0.6).    433,788 coins would weigh 9,036 lbs (just over 4.5 tons).    Here is where I have questions:   1. Could a chest really hold that much weight, even if not moved? 2. If you could store that much gold in a chest, could the chest be moved without it breaking apart? 3. In the medieval ages, how were large volumes of coins actually stored and transported? (e.g. a kings treasury, wealth merchants, banks, etc.)
#2 BoldItalic Jul 02, 2015 7:14:02	1) No 2) See (1)   The chest is limited by weight as well as volume. It can only hold 300 lb = 15,000 coins even if they only fill it to about 1 inch in depth. On top of the layer of coins it could also hold about 11 cu ft of duck feathers weighing nothing, which would be a fun way to hide the coins.
#3 Cooperjera Jul 02, 2015 8:09:26	Assuming the chest load bearing surfaces are made of wood, one could look at the USDA Wood Handbook technical report FPL-GTR-113.  I haven't used this handbook in some time so there may be a more up to day version available.   Another way to look at the coins is to consider they act as applying a pressure rather than a point load.  A chest could hold more if the loading is considered this way; however, this does not account for the lifting mechanism.  If the chest has handles on either side, or a strap around it, then the maximum allowed load would change.   In the end go with what feels good for the fiction you're creating.  I held the treasure capacity of my players to a maximum of the weight their packs can carry.  I also handed out two Handy Haversacks and one Bag of Holding as treasure before they left their home base of operations.
#4 AaronOfBarbaria Jul 02, 2015 19:54:02	Important notice regarding D&D: it's meant to be playable, not realistic.
(Reply to #2) MNBlockHead	BoldItalic wrote:
(Reply to #3) MNBlockHead	Cooperjera wrote:
(Reply to #4) MNBlockHead	AaronOfBarbaria wrote:
#8 MechaPilot Jul 02, 2015 22:05:00	MNBlockHead wrote:
#9 BoldItalic Jul 03, 2015 2:09:37	Keep it simple. Just spread the treasure around and let the players figure out how to handle it.   After successfully opening the locks and defusing the traps on the door, you enter a stone vault 10 feet square. The floor is covered ankle-deep in gold coins, gems and pieces of jewellery that glint in the torchlight. There is a wooden shovel propped up against the wall in the back corner. On the back wall, in letters of fire 6 inches high is an inscription in common that reads "Do not steal the treasure". What do you do?
#10 Coredump00 Jul 03, 2015 9:45:49	A standard chest can hold 300# of gear.  If I was transporting gold,  would not use a "standard" chest.  You can build a stronger one if you want.  300# is a pretty wimpy chest.     OTOH, when I first read the description, I did not interpret the 300# as a weight limit, but as a guideline of how much *gear* would fit inside.  IOW, instead of trying to guesstimate how much of your 'stuff' would fit, you can just toss in 300# worth and that should fill it up.  Not saying that is the correct interpretation.... just the way I first read it.
#11 Mad_Jack Jul 03, 2015 23:50:00	Historically, large vaults full of coins didn't exist, at least until the development of actual banks (and even then would be rare) - most monetary wealth for anybody before that time was usually in the form of either trade goods, art objects and jewelery or property.  Jewels were much easier to carry than an equal amount of coins. If someone had large amounts of gold, it was likely to be smelted and formed into bars.
#12 Thoughts_My_Aim Jul 05, 2015 8:39:18	Mad_Jack wrote:
(Reply to #11) MNBlockHead	Mad_Jack wrote: