Hidden out there in the campaign world are great treasures awaiting discovery. Ancient dragons rest on huge hordes of gold, silver, and gems. Orc chieftains greedily garner the loot from the latest raid. Mindless jellies ooze through the bones and armor of unfortunate souls. Foul lords of darkness cunningly leave small fortunes apparently unguarded like spiders luring in the flies. Stooped wizards assemble shelves of arcane magical items. Some treasures, like those of dragons, are gathered and horded for reasons fully understood only by their collectors. Others are gathered for more mundane purposes – power, luxury, and security. A rare few troves date from eons before, their owners long dead and forgotten. Some treasure hordes are small, such as the pickings of a yellow mold. Others are enormous, such as the Tyrant King’s treasury. Treasures may be free for the taking or fiercely trapped and watched over.
Treasure Types
Treasure comes in many different forms and sizes, ranging from the mundane to the exotic. There are of course coins of copper, silver, gold, electrum, and platinum. But precious metals can also be shaped into gilded cups, etched bowls, or even silverware. Characters know the value of coins and will have no difficulty establishing their worth in most cases. However, ancient treasure hordes may contain coins no longer used. It may be that these can be sold only by their weight. Objects made of valuable metal are even more difficult to appraise. Either the characters must find a goldsmith who can value the item and a buyer willing to pay a fair price, or these too must be melted down for their metal. In large cities this is not too difficult. There are always appraisers and fences handy, although getting full value might be difficult. (Accusations of theft are another small problem.) Characters must be aware of cheats and counterfeiters though. An apparently valuable bowl could actually be base metal plated in silver. The metal of coins could be debased with copper or brass. Weights could be rigged to give false prices. Characters must find merchants they can trust.
Gems are another common form of treasure and here player characters are even more dependent on others. Unless the party has a skilled appraiser of precious stones, they’re going to have to trust others. After all, those red stones they found in the last treasure could be cheap glass, richly colored but only marginally valuable quartz, semi-precious garnets, or valuable rubies. Again, the player characters are going to have to find a jeweler they can trust and be watchful for cheats and scams. However, truly tricky DMs might present your characters with uncut gems. These are almost impossible for the untrained eye to spot or appraise. Most characters (and most players) are not going to realize that a piece of unremarkable stone can be a valuable gem when properly cut.
Perhaps the most difficult of all treasure items to appraise are objects of artistic value. While gems cut or uncut are valuable, their worth can be greatly increased when used in a piece of jewelry. Gold is valuable by weight, but even more so when fashioned into a cup or pin. Dwarven craftsmen from hidden communities practice the finest arts of gem-cutting, while gnomish artisans in earthen burrows labor away on elaborate gold and silver filigrees. Ancient elven carvings, done in exquisitely grained woods, stand side by side with the purest of statues chiseled by man. All of these have a value that goes far beyond their mere materials.
But artistic creations seldom have a fixed value. Their price depends on the player characters finding a buyer and that person’s willingness to buy. A few large cities may have brokers in arts, merchants who know the right people and are willing to act as go-betweens. Most of the time, however, the player characters have to go to the effort of peddling their wares personally. This requires tact and delicacy, for such items are seldom bought by any but the wealthy and the wealthy often do not like stooping to business negotiations. Player characters must carefully avoid giving insult to the barons, dukes, counts, and princes they might deal with.
Finally, there are the truly unusual things your character can find – furs, exotic animals, spices, rare spell components, or even trade goods. As with art objects, the values of these items are highly subjective. First the player characters have to find a buyer. This is not too difficult for everyday things, such as furs or trade goods, but it can be a tremendous enterprise if you have a spell component that is useful only to the most powerful of wizards. Next the PCs must haggle about the price. Furriers and merchants do this as a matter of course. Others haggle because they hope the PCs do not know the true value of what they hold or because they themselves do not know. After all this, the PCs might be able to sell their goods. However, if you enter into this in the true spirit of role-playing and see it as part of the adventure, the whole process is enjoyable.
Magical Items
The treasures mentioned thus far are all monetary. Their usefulness is immediate and obvious. They give characters wealth, and with wealth comes power and influence. However, there are other treasures, very desirable ones, that your characters will not want to sell or give away. These are the magical items that your characters find and use.
Although priests and wizards can make magical items (according to the guidelines your DM has for magical research), it is far more common for characters to find these items during the course of adventures. Magical items are powerful aids for characters. With them, characters can gain bonuses in combat, cast spells with the mere utterance of a word, withstand the fiercest fire, and perform feats impossible by any other known means. Not all magical items are beneficial, however. Some are cursed, the result of faulty magical construction or, very rarely, the deliberate handiwork of some truly mad or evil wizard.
A very few magical items are artifacts – items created by beings more powerful than the greatest player characters. These are perilously dangerous items to use. There are only three methods to determine how to use artifacts – dumb luck, trial and error, and diligent research.
There are many different magical items your character can find, but they all fall into a few basic categories. Each type of magical item has properties you should be aware of.
Magical Weapons: There can be a magical version of nearly any type of normal weapon, although there are admittedly few magical bardiches or guisarme-voulges. By far the most common magical weapons are swords and daggers. A magical weapon typically gives a +1 or greater bonus to attack rolls, increasing a character’s chance to hit and cause damage. Perhaps magical swords are quicker on the attack, or maybe they’re sharper than normal steel – the explanation can be whatever the DM desires. Whatever the reason, magical weapons give results far beyond those of even the finest-crafted non-magical blade.
When you find a magical weapon, more than likely you do not know its properties. Some functions, such as the advantage it gives you in combat, can be learned by trial and error. Other properties must be learned through research and spells. Ancient histories and legend lore spells can provide information on the properties of your weapon. On rare occasions, properties are discovered through blind luck. Simply commanding the weapon to activate one power after another (hoping it will suddenly spring to life) works only for the most minor abilities – detecting danger, spotting secret doors, or locating treasure. Greater abilities require that specific commands be uttered, perhaps in long-forgotten languages.
Magical Armor: Enchanted armors are the complements to magical weapons. These armors have a +1 or better bonus to their normal Armor Class, being made of stuff stronger and finer than non-magical armor. Furthermore, these armors grant some measure of protection against attacks that normal armors would not stop. Chain mail +1, for instance, improves the character’s saving throw against the fiery breath of a dragon by 1, thus providing more than just a physical shield. In rare instances, armor may possess extraordinary powers. Although such armors are generally finely made and elaborately engraved, characters can discover the armor’s powers only by the same methods they use to discover the powers of magical weapons.
Potions and Oils: Magical potions and oils are easily found but hard to identify. They come in small bottles, jugs, pots, or vials and dearly radiate magic if a detection spell is used. However, the effect of any potion is unknown until some brave soul tries a small sample. The results can be quite varied. The imbiber may discover he can float or fly, resist great heat or cold, heal grievous wounds, or fearlessly face the greatest dangers. He may also find himself hopelessly smitten by the first creature he sees or struck dead by a powerful poison. It is a risk that must be taken to learn the nature of the potion.
Scrolls: Scrolls are a convenience and luxury for spellcasters. By reading the incantation written on the pages, the priest or wizard ean instantly cast that spell. He does not need to memorize it, have the material components handy, or do any of the things normal spellcasting requires. Experienced and powerful wizards normally spend their evenings preparing such scrolls for their own adventuring use.
Some scrolls are usable by all characters, granting special but temporary protections from various dangers – evil creatures, werewolves, powerful beings from other planes, etc. Other scrolls bear hideous or humorous curses, brought into effect at the mere reading of their titles. Unfortunately, the only way to know what a scroll contains is to silently scan its contents. For scrolls containing wizard spells, this requires the use of a read magic spell. Other scrolls can be read by all. This scan does not cast the spell written on the scroll, but it tells the character what is written there (and exposes him to the effects of curses). Once the scroll is read, it can be used at any time in the future by that character.
Rings: Magical rings are usable by many different classes and bestow a wide range of powers, from pyrotechnic displays to wishes. While the aura of a magical ring can be detected, its properties cannot be discovered until it is worn and the command word is uttered. (The command word is most commonly found inscribed on the inside of the band.) As with all magical items, some rings can harm your character. Worse still, cursed rings can be removed only wtth the aid of spells!
Wands, Staves, and Rods: These are among the most powerful of standard magical items. Wands are commonly used by wizards, allowing them to cast powerful spells with the flick of a wrist. Staves can be used by either a wizard or a priest. Staves can be truly destructive, dwarfing even the potential of a wand. Rods are the rarest of all, the accouterments of witch-kings and great lords. With rods come dominance and power.
Fortunately for your character, few of these items are cursed or dangerous to handle. But all must be operated by a command word – a specific word or phrase that triggers the power within. No wand, stave, or rod shows any indication of its powers by mere sight or handling. Careful research and probing are most often needed to tap the potential stored within.
Wands, staves, and rods are not limitless in their power. Each use drains them slightly, using up a charge. There is no power gauge or meter showing what is left. A character discovers his wand is drained only when it no longer functions or suddenly crumbles into useless dust.
Miscellaneous Magic: Miscellaneous magical items are where the true variety of magical treasures lies. Each item possesses some unique power. There are horseshoes to make your horse go faster. brooms to ride, sacks that hold more than they should, paints that create real things, girdles that grant great strength, caps to make your character smarter, books that increase ability scores, and much, much more. Each item is different and not all can be identified in the same way. The effects of some become obvtous the instant the item is handled, donned, or opened. Others require research and questioning to learn the command word needed to activate them. All are quite valuable and rare.
Artifacts and Relics: Finally. there are artifacts and relics. Don’t count on your PC ever finding one of these rarest of all magical items. Even if your character does find one, think carefully before you decide to let him keep it permanently. Artifacts are the most powerful magical items in the game. Indeed, many are powerful enough to alter the course of history! They are all unique and have unique histories. You can never find more than one Hand of Vecna in a world. Because it is so unique, each artifact has special and significant powers. Artifacts never appear by accident; they are always placed by the DM.
Finding artifacts is always the result of a very special adventure. Your DM has placed that artifact for a reason. It is not likely that he really intends for your characters to keep it. Instead, he has something arranged in which you need that artifact for a specific purpose. The problem with keeping artifact is that they are too powerful. Not only do they unbalance your character in the short run, they also eventually corrupt and destroy him. The magical power of artifacts is such that they destroy their owners sooner or later. There is a price to be paid for power, and it is not a cheap one.
Dividing and Storing Treasure
Once your group completes a successful adventure, it is almost certain to have collected some treasure. Therefore, it helps to have some prearranged agreement about how this treasure is to be divided among the different player characters and their henchmen. This is a true role-playing decision that must be reached among all the players at the table. There arc no rules about how your characters should divide treasures.
However, there are some suggested methods and reasons to make or not make some agreements. If you bear these in mind, you will have fewer arguments and bad feelings between the different players and their characters in your group.
Cash treasure is the easiest. The most direct and simplest method is equal shares for all player characters and full or half shares for all henchtnen. A player may argue that his character’s contribution was greater than that of other characters, but these things average out in the long run. Besides, that player has no real idea of the contribution of others. A character who guarded the rear may have discouraged hidden opponents from springing an ambush on the group, something that only the DM knows.
Additional considerations include extraordinary costs. Some adventuring groups establish a special fund to pay the costs (if there are any) of healing, resurrecting, or restoring fellow player characters. Again this works on the principle that all faced the danger and therefore all should share equally in the expenses. Other groups make allowances for differing character levels (higher level characters assumedly shouldered more of the burden of the adventure, and so should be rewarded proportionately.) Some parties give special rewards to those who took greater chances or saved others. These encourage everyone in the group to take part.
Magical treasure is more difficult to divide up, since there is rarely enough to give a useful item to every character, nor are all items of equal value or power. Here you must rely more on your sense of fairness if you wish to maintain party harmony. Since magical items are worthwhile to a party only if they can be used, your first concern should normally be to get the right item into the right hands. A magical sword in the possession of a wizard is not nearly as useful as it would be in the hands of a fighter. Likewise, a wand does a fighter little good but could be a potent addition to a wizard. Therefore it is a good idea to match items to characters.
Alternatively, your party could determine the price an item would sell for, and then make it available to any PC who is willing to give the rest of the party that amount of money. If more than one player is willing to pay the price, the interested players could roll dice to see who gets the item. Or, for items that several characters could all use equally well (such as a potion of healing that is useful to all), the characters can bargain with each other and roll dice for choices. A player character may relinquish a claim on one magical item in exchange for another. A character who has already received a magical item may not be allowed another choice if there are not enough pieces to go around. If no other agreement can be reached, the players can roll dice and have their characters pick in descending order. It is a fair method (since people cannot rightfully complain about a random roll), but it can create imbalances. One or two characters could wind up with the bulk of the magical items over the course of several adventures. At this point, they would be wise to voluntarily withdraw from the selection process.
There are tactical issues to think about when distributing treasure. It is simply not wise for one or two character to carry the bulk of the party’s magical items. Successful adventurers spread their gear throughout their party. (This holds true even for explorers and specific forces in the real world.) This way, if one character falls off the cliff and disappears forever or is spirited away by an invisible stalker, the party has not lost everything. To illustrate another consideration, you are better off to have the fighters, thieves, and mages carry the healing potions rather than let the cleric do it, since he has healing spells. If he has both the healing spells and the potions and should disappear into the mist, your party has lost all its healing ability. If it is spread around through the group, at worst you might lose the potions or the spells, but not both (unless disaster really strikes, in which case there is no way to prevent it anyway). In the end, you will find that it does not pay to be too greedy.
Once your characters have assembled a sizeable amount of treasure, they have to find some place to keep it. If your DM is running a fairly medieval campaign, one thing PCs are not going to find is a bank like today’s. Instead, your characters must find other ways to keep their money secure. Chests with strong locks are a good start, but there are still better methods. One choice is to make the treasure small enough that you can carry it with you at all times. (Of course, one good mugging and you’re broke.) There is also the difficulty of buying a drink with a 1,000-gp gem. A second choice is to place your money in the hands of someone you think you can trust. We all know what the risks are there. You could have your character give his fortune to a local lord or church and then hope to call in favors at a future date. This is not quit as foolish as it sounds. If the beneficiary of your largess refuses to honor your agreement, you’ll never give him money again and neither will anyone else, most likely. If no one gives himany money, where will he find the funds to support his life-style? No, such a person must seriously try to honor his commitments. Of course, he may not do as much as you would like. The best solution is that used throughout history – buy goods and chattels. Land, livestock, and trade goods are harder to steal and harder to lose. If you must keep a large fortune, it is best to keep it in something that can be carried easily and is unlikely to be stolen.