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Pathfinder 2's Travel Guide set prices for multiple trade goods including ingots of different metals (iron, copper...). Is there an indication somewhere of how much bulk would each of those ingots take?

Some other trade goods have explicit price per bulk, like wool, some have indirect measurements not in bulk, like wheat counted in bushels... but I can't find any for ingots.

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GM Estimates, Probably 1 Bulk

Ingots aren't given Bulk entries in the Travel Guide, so their Bulk would be estimated by the GM:

As a general rule, an item that weighs 5 to 10 pounds is 1 Bulk, an item weighing less than a few ounces is negligible, and anything in between is light. Particularly awkward or unwieldy items might have higher Bulk values. For example, a 10-foot pole isn’t heavy, but its length makes it difficult for you to move while you have one on your person, so its Bulk is 1. Items made for larger or smaller creatures have greater or lesser Bulk, as described in Items and Sizes.

There are a few ingot items from other books that have Bulk entries, the vast majority of which have a common 1 Bulk. Of particular note is the Core Rulebook's silver ingot with 1 Bulk and a value of 100 gp, matching the Travel Guide's silver ingot in value and suggesting that 1 Bulk is appropriate for at least that ingot.

Whether 1 Bulk is a good value for the rest of those ingots would be up to the GM.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Given that every ingot is, as far as I can tell, 1000 coins worth of metal, extending the 1 bulk of the silver ingot to other ingots is very reasonable. \$\endgroup\$ Feb 24 at 16:45
  • \$\begingroup\$ Side note: if ingots have the same bulk as the equivalent weight/value in coins, it's probably not worth tracking them separately at all (i.e. instead of adding a gold ingot to your inventory, you would just add 1000 gp), except for metals that are not normally denominated in coins, like iron or tin. \$\endgroup\$ Feb 24 at 17:27
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    \$\begingroup\$ @RyanC.Thompson Maybe, but it depends on how deep a given GM/group want to go into market simulation. Coins are actually considered to be valuable, whereas ingots might be 'worth' the same amount... but people don't want to trade in 1-Bulk ingots all the time. Also you can't split it up like you could with coins. So it becomes a question of if you can sell it at your next marketplace stop. \$\endgroup\$
    – Ifusaso
    Feb 25 at 1:14
  • \$\begingroup\$ @RyanC.Thompson In the universe I run at least, a "gold coin" isn't 100% gold. It might contain a few real gold metal but what truly gives it its worth is some kind of mark put on it by the organization who minted it. \$\endgroup\$ Feb 25 at 20:06
  • \$\begingroup\$ @AnneAunyme Well, if you're home brewing a fiat currency, then of course things may work differently. As far as I can tell, the rules as written assume coins are actually made of the metals they're named after. \$\endgroup\$ Feb 26 at 3:25
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There is no standard size for ingots

Even in the modern world. While there are typical sizes, these vary by metal and, within a metal, by the application they are being used for.

For example, steel ingots range in size from a few hundred grams to 500+ tons. Aluminium ingots for smelting are usually about 750-1200mm long, 100-150mm wide, and 50-100mm tall. Gold is more tightly limited; ingots for delivery must be between 11 and 13kg and be 99.5% pure. Of course, gold ingots for use in jewellery making are much, much smaller.

You need to decide how big the ingot is and then work out its bulk.

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    \$\begingroup\$ The question is asking about the ingots listed in the Pf2e Travel Guide, which appear to have gp values equal to 1000 coins of the same metal. \$\endgroup\$ Feb 24 at 23:14

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