Treasure

Use the following rules to generate random treasure after battles with enemies. Whenever you face a large and/or mixed group of enemies, only roll in each category once, using the highest level enemy as the modifier on the roll and the best enemy for each category. The narrator is always free to overrule any of the variables presented below, raising or lowering them to fit the situation. For example, a traveling group of monks might have much less wealth than normal people, while a bear cave could have a surprising amount of treasure scattered around the corpses of the last group of adventurers that wandered into their lair.

Coins

Coins come in three varieties: gold, silver, and copper. One gold piece is worth 10 silver, and one silver is worth 10 copper. Coins can vary wildly between enemy types and levels; for example, a 3rd level pirate might have a lot of coins, while a 10th level dinosaur wouldn’t have any at all.

Random Coins

Animals, constructs, elementals, fiends, monsters, and vermin never have coins. For brutes and undead, roll 1d10. For people, roll 2d10. For dragons, roll 10d10. Multiply the result by the level of the enemy. The enemy has 1 copper for every point, 1 silver for every 5, and one gold for every 10, all rounded down.

Valuables

Wealth can also come in the form of valuables, from gemstones and bars of precious metals to works of art or ancient relics. Each of these should have a value assigned to it and be treated as unique when bought or sold.

Random Valuables

Animals, constructs, elementals, monsters, and vermin never have valuables. For brutes and undead, roll 1d10. For people, roll 2d10. For fiends, roll 3d10. For dragons, roll 5d10. Multiply the result by the level of the enemy. The enemy has 1 valuable for every 10 points, rounded down. Each valuable is worth 1d10 gold and weighs 1d10 pounds. Whenever you roll a 10 for either, add it to the total and keep rolling.

For example, you could roll two 10s, then a 7 for a valuable’s worth, then just a 1 for its weight, resulting in a precious gemstone worth 27 gold and only weighing 1 pound. On the other hand, you could roll a 3 for its value, then four 10s and a 5 for its weight, resulting in an ugly granite bust of the realm’s least important noble weighing in at 45 pounds but only being worth a lousy 3 gold.

Magic Items

Magical items, including weapons, armor, and miscellaneous curiosities, never have numerical bonuses, but rather provide their users with unique abilities or useful special properties. For example, a magical sword might return to its owner’s hand whenever he reaches for it. A magical suit of armor might allow its wearer to walk on water. A magic wand could allow the user to cast a specific spell once per scene.

Magical weapons are required to harm some types of enemies, and though anyone could pick up and use magic items, some of their properties and powers might not function until they are properly identified and any activation words or gestures uncovered. For example, a magical sword might simply be shiny and lightweight, but when a wizard identifies it with a spell, the owner learns that by shouting “inflammos” while holding it, the blade bursts into blue flames and causes additional damage.

Random Magic Items

Animals, elementals, and vermin never have magic items. For brutes, constructs, and monsters, roll 1d10. For people and undead, roll 2d10. For dragons and fiends, roll 5d10. Multiply the result by the level of the enemy. For every 50 points, rounded down, one magic item is found.

For each magic item found, roll 1d10. On a 1-3, it’s some sort of single-use consumable, like a potion or scroll. On a 4-5, it’s a miscellaneous item, like a ring, amulet, or boots. On a 6-7, it’s a suit of armor. On an 8, it’s a shield. On a 9-10, it’s a weapon.

Artifacts

An artifact is like a magic item, but usually much more powerful and laden with one or more drawbacks. For example, a black skull could allow the user to control undead, but also prevent them from benefiting from magical healing. Even rarer are intelligent artifacts, items imbued with their own consciousness and objectives. These incredibly powerful but dangerous objects seek to influence or even directly control whoever stumbles upon them. No rules are presented on how to design or balance artifacts; they should always be unique, iconic, coveted, and dangerous. A good guideline to follow is that artifacts should be immensely powerful, but also so mysterious, unpredictable, or demanding that players should wonder if they’re worth having at all.

Random Artifacts

Animals and vermin never have artifacts. For brutes, constructs, elementals, monsters, people, and undead, the chance of finding an artifact is 0.1%. For dragons, it’s 0.2%. For fiends, it’s 0.5%. Multiply the base chance by the level of the enemy and round down to the nearest percent. The result is the percentage chance of finding a single artifact.