Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Treasure Containers



Treasure isn’t always hidden in chests, crates and barrels.

Treasure Containers (1d100)
1-8 Chest – pretty much the standard. Roll 1d6 for quality of the chest: 1-2) rotting or broken, 3-5)  Wooden, but in fine shape, 6) studded with jewels or otherwise a treasure in and of itself

9-10 Urn – roll 1d6 for make: 1-3) copper, 4-5) silver, 6) gold or jeweled.

11–13 Crack - 20% chance to be hidden behind some sort of tapestry/mural/fresco/piece of mundane furniture.

14-18 Compartment - 60% chance to be hidden behind some sort of tapestry/mural/fresco/piece of mundane furniture.

19-24 Ceramic Vase/Figurine – typically decorative in some way, usually related to what is within.

25-27 Tomb – 50% to awaken whatever monster/undead/elder god is within.

28-30 Statue – some statues should fight back. 50% chance to be incorporated into the statue’s design (a statue holding a magic- sword), otherwise hidden/sealed inside the statue. 20% chance to combine with statue table.

31-32 Fungus Growth – Typically the treasure is covered by the fungus. roll up one from the fungus table

33-42 Barrel/Crate – 20% of crates should be made out of precious metal and studded with jewels/engravings.

43–45 Sacrificial Alter – 10% chance of sacrifice going on. 20% chance to combine with the alter table.

46-47 Invisible – detect magic will give some idea of the treasure’s presence. More powerful/specific magics will pinpoint the location. Otherwise, the PC’s will have to stumble across it on accident.

48-49 Pool – typically resting at the bottom of pool. 30% of pools will have some sort of special magical property.

50 Magically Animated into Monster – 2HD + 1 HD for every 1000 gp the treasure is worth. Any magic items or weapons should be used by the artifice in combat.

51-53 Fountain – typically at the bottom of the fountain, but something whirling about with the water. 40% of fountains will have some sort of additional property.

54-56 Roots/Vines – hidden or guarded behind roots or vines. 50% chance to combine with some other sort of container. 50% chance to combine with roll from vines table.

57-61 Piled in Open – traps and monster guardians will typically be hiding within or beneath the pile of treasure.

62-64 Mechanical/Magical Safe – roll 1d6: opens with 1-2) correct combination, 3-4) spoken command word, 5-6) close proximity to specific item, person, or place. 80% chance to be hidden behind some other sort of dungeon feature.

65-67 Trophy/Display Case – Displayed in the open for everyone to see, typically used by cocky dungeon overlords. 20% to curse thieves if pilfered.

68-70 Buried – 60% for signs of construction. 10% of shovel in adjacent room. Requires 1-6 hours to excavate.

71-73 Under Mattress/Scattered in Nest – 50% of treasure scattered about a nest can be seen at first glance.

74 Long Serpentining Trail Through Dungeon – Left in a trail throughout dungeon. Roll 1d6: 1-2) leads to corpse, 3-4) leads to ambush, 5-6) leads to more treasure.

75-82 Built into Dungeon Feature – Statue, fountain, arch, even the dungeon walls themselves. 40% of dungeon features will have some sort of property to them.

83-84 At Feet of Throne - 50% chance the throne is occupied.

85-86 Inside Pillar – If all pillars in room smashed, there is a 1% chance a cave-in will occur. If so, those in room must save vs. paralysis or take 1d6 points of damage per dungeon level.

87-91 Carried by Monster – no roll for additional safeguards; intelligent monsters will use magical treasure against in combat.

92-95 Illusion – roll 1d6: 1-2) illusion cover treasure 3-4) treasure made to look like something else 5-6) illusion creates the appearance of certain death for anything that attempt to recover the treasure (room filled with ever-battling berserkers, for instance).

96-98 Atop Magical Glyphs – 50% chance for glyphs to be a trap, otherwise treasures are components in some sort of magical ritual.

99-100 Command Word to Summon – area in which treasure can be summoned should be indicated by some sort of ritualistic circle, runes, etc.

Safe Guards*
1-70 Unguarded – no ADDITIONAL added protection. Monsters and dungeon features may still be present.
71-78 Mechanical Trap – poisoned needles, trip wises, pressure plates, etc.
79-85 Magical Trap – glyphs, spells, triggered spells, etc.
86-95 Lock– pretty self-explanatory. 20% chance of lock being magical.
96-99 Monster Guardian – poisonous snakes, chained up ogre, animating statues, etc.
100 Multiple Safeguards – roll 1d4 2-5 times: 1) mechanical trap, 2) lock, 3) monster guardian.
* no need to roll up safeguard for dungeon features with special properties.

1 comment:

  1. Good post. My 5th level wizard (C&C) will cast "Locate Object" for chests when in megadungeons. This is a good antidote to that strategy.

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