Gold

A pile of glittering gold coins. "Here it was that the ambassadors of the Samnites, finding him boiling turnips in the chimney corner, offered him a present of gold; but he sent them away with this saying; that he, who was content with such a supper, had no need of gold, and that he thought it more honourable to conquer those who possessed the gold, than to possess the gold itself." -Plutarch, "Marcus Cato"

Gold is the universal currency of Crawl. It has several uses, the most common being to purchase goods from shops.

Obtaining Gold

Gold may be obtained in many ways:

• Most characters start with a small amount of gold which varies by background.
• Gold can be found lying on the floor like any other random treasure. Especially large piles of gold are often found at the bottom of Dungeon branches, and the Orcish Mines contains nothing but gold.
• Gold is one of the options a scroll of acquirement can be used for, granting you anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand.
• Xom frequently gifts piles of gold to worshipers.

It is common to have around 1500 to 3000 gold after raiding the Orcish Mines, 6000 after a normal victory, and around 15000 after an extended run.

Properties of Gold

Gold has no weight, and is not carried in the inventory or assigned a letter like other items are. You can check how much gold you are carrying by using the $ command.

Since no effect can remove gold (Maurice notwithstanding) or harm you for carrying it, there is thus no reason not to carry it.

Uses for Gold

• Buying items from shops. Note that shops will only sell items to you, never buy.
• Worshipers of Zin can sacrifice gold at an altar of Zin to gain piety.
• Buying entry into a ziggurat.
• You can draw an Alchemist card to heal your character in exchange for some gold.
• Improving your score at the end of the game.

The Gold Bug

Enemy centaurs, nagas, and yaktaurs occasionally spawn with barding. However, the code mishandles the no-barding case, and gives the monster a pile of gold instead. This causes large quantities of gold to be generated in the Snake Pits and the Vaults.