Treasures

As characters advance in level, the amount of treasure they carry and use also increases. In OBSS, it is assumed that all characters of equal level have more or less the same amount of treasure and magic items. Since a character’ **s primary income comes from treasures and loot obtained from adventures, it’ **s important to pay attention to the wealth and treasures of adventures.

Where are the Treasures

Some treasures will be held by monsters (see below), others will be scattered and hidden in the dungeon, and still others will be at the bottom of traps and hidden tunnels.

How to distribute treasure is an important matter. Treasures should not be thrust in the characters’ ** faces, nor should they be hidden so that it’ **s impossible to find them.

One piece of advice is to make sure that the treasures (items and coins) found in dungeons are distributed according to this criterion:

one-third will be on the monsters themselves
one-third will be hidden behind secret passages or traps
one-third will be scattered around

This will stimulate players to continue exploration, confront monsters, and actively search in the dungeon.

Animals, Plants, Constructs, unintelligent Undead, Oozes, and traps are excellent encounters with little treasure. Alternatively, if the characters face a certain number of creatures with little or no treasure, they should have the opportunity to obtain a number of more significantly valuable items in the immediate future to compensate for the imbalance.

As a general rule, characters should not possess any magic item worth more than half the character’ **s total wealth, so check carefully before rewarding characters with very expensive items.

Building a Haul

It’ **s often enough to tell your players that they have found 5000 gp in gems and 10000 gp in jewelry, but it’ **s more interesting to provide details. Giving a treasure personality can not only help the verisimilitude of the game but can sometimes trigger new adventures.

In the following pages, you will find the rules and tables for attributing treasures to enemies so you can randomly generate what the characters find.

Coins and Gems

Coins: The coins in a treasure can be copper, silver, gold, and platinum: silver and gold ones are the most common, but you can decide differently. For coins and their exchange value, go to Equipment.

Coins in the possession of monsters and wild creatures will certainly not be mint condition and will probably be marked by bites or sticky slimes. Coins found in treasures or at the bottom of some lair might be from other kingdoms, if not worlds… and in that case, what makes them valuable is the strict metallurgical value. 10 grams of gold are always 10 grams of gold even if on one face of the coin there is a flower and on another a castle.

Use the Table Value of gems (p. ) to determine the value of the gems found. Here the gems are listed by value.

Gems: Although you can assign any value to a gem, some may be worth more than others. Use the value categories below (and the associated precious stones) as a reference guide when assigning values to precious stones. Usually gems are bought and sold at full value.

Low Quality Gems (10 gp): agate; azurite; blue quartz; hematite; lapis lazuli; malachite; obsidian; rhodochrosite; tiger’ **s eye; turquoise; river pearl (irregular).

Semi-Precious Gems (50 gp): heliotrope, carnelian; chalcedony; chrysoprase; citrine; jasper; moonstone; onyx; chrysolite; rock crystal (clear quartz); sardonyx; sardonyx; rose, smoky, or star rose quartz; zircon.

Medium Quality Precious Stones (100 gp): amber; amethyst; chrysoberyl; coral; red or green-brown garnet; jade; jet; white, golden, pink, or silver pearl; red, reddish-brown, or dark green spinel; tourmaline.

High Quality Precious Stones (500 gp): alexandrite; aquamarine; purple garnet; black pearl; dark blue spinel; golden yellow topaz.

Jewelry (1000 gp): emerald; white, black, or fire opal; blue sapphire; fire-yellow or vermilion corundum; blue or black star sapphire; tanzanite.

Exceptional Jewelry (5000 gp or more): bright green emerald, diamond, hyacinth, ruby, crystalline topaz honey.

Non-Magical Treasures This category includes ornaments, fine clothes, goods, alchemical items, perfect items, and others.

Unlike gems, many of these items have established values, but you can always increase the value of the item by decorating it with precious stones or with particularly artistic craftsmanship.

Fine Art Objects (100 gp or more): Although some art objects are composed of precious materials, the value of most paintings, sculptures, literary works, fine clothes, and the like consists in the craftsmanship with which they are made and the skill of those who made them. Art objects are often bulky or difficult to move, and fragile, making their recovery and transport an adventure in itself.

Minor Ornaments (50 gp): This category includes ornaments made with materials such as brass, bronze, copper, ivory, or exotic woods, sometimes embellished with very small or flawed low-quality gems. Minor ornaments include rings, bracelets, and earrings.

Normal Ornaments (100-500 gp): Most ornaments are made with silver, gold, jade, or coral, and often decorated with semi-precious gems or medium-quality precious stones. Normal ornaments include all types of minor ornaments plus bracelets, necklaces, and brooches.

Attention to treasures: Never overdo treasures, especially magical ones. A treasure should not become a habit. Coins, gems, and consumables are one thing, but true treasures, those magical, special, unique ones, are another.

Respecting the Law of Reward does not mean filling the characters’ ** pockets, otherwise they will get bored of risking their lives for new treasures and items. When you make them find a magic item, always think in perspective. It’ **s true that it can be nice to see players happy with what they’ **ve found, but then you’ **ll be forced in the next adventure to give something even more powerful.

Precious Ornaments (500 gp or more): Precious ornaments are made of gold, mithral, platinum, or similar rare metals. Such objects include the types of normal ornaments plus scepters, pendants, and other large objects.

Exceptionally Made Tools (100-300 gp): This category includes tools for Professions or Skills: see Equipment for details and costs of these items.

Common Objects (up to 1000 gp): There are many valuable objects of an alchemical or common nature that can be used as treasure. Most alchemical items are portable and valuable, but others such as locks, holy symbols, spyglasses, fine wines, or fine clothes can constitute interesting parts of a treasure. Trade goods can also serve as treasure: 5 kg of saffron, for example, is worth 150 gp.

Treasure Maps and Information Objects (variable): Objects such as treasure maps, legal documents of ships and houses, lists of informants or guard shifts, passwords, and the like can be fun items to find in a treasure: you can establish the value of these objects as you wish and they can be of double utility as they can generate ideas for new adventures.

Accidental Treasures: these are treasures that the creature has with it or in its lair by pure chance or because they are unwanted. They can be the undigested remains of a hearty meal or something that caught the creature’ **s attention. An accidental treasure should be evaluated case by case depending on the environment and creature that possesses it.

Magic Items

Of course, the discovery of a Magic Item is the real prize for any adventurer. Be careful when placing Magic Items in a treasure: it is much more satisfying for many players to find a magic item rather than buy it.

Although you should generally place items with careful reflection on their likely effects on your campaign, it can be fun to generate magic items in a treasure at random. Be careful, though! It’ **s easy, with a bit of luck (or misfortune) of the dice to inflate your game with too much treasure or deprive it of the same. The placement of random magic items should always be tempered by the Narrator’ **s good sense.

Spells are also real treasures and prizes on par with magic items. Carefully evaluate which ones can be found. Remember that a magic ability is not a copyable spell; only those present in tomes, scrolls, and other specifically created to be a receptacle of spells are suitable for copying.

Magic Treasures

Magic Treasures can be found by characters in three ways:

on enemies or in their lairs
scattered or hidden in the dungeon
bought (!!!)

Whatever the situation, the Narrator must always pay attention to the magic items that the characters will find.

Magic Treasures should be inserted, if on enemies or in dungeons, with parsimony and reasoning; try to resist the temptation to be generous with the characters because they will easily get used to it and you will hardly be able to recover the situation.

Even more necessary is that magic items, especially the more powerful ones, cannot be bought like vile common objects. Don’ **t skimp on Healing Potions or small magic trinkets that have their utility, yet the most wonderful objects (from the +2 sword onwards…) must be found, whoever currently possesses that object must be confronted, otherwise the purpose of the adventure and the danger wanes.

In case you prefer an established and balanced distribution, follow the indications below.

For permanent magic items such as weapons, armor, other objects without charges or with daily charges, you can distribute the items according to this scheme, cumulative for each level:

levels 1-4: one uncommon item
levels 5-7: a second uncommon item
levels 8-10: a rare item
levels 11-13: a second rare item
levels 14-16: a very rare item
beyond 17: very rare or legendary item.

For consumables such as potions, scrolls, or objects with a decreasing use of charges, you can distribute the items according to this scheme, cumulative for each level:

levels 1-5: a common consumable
levels 6-10: an uncommon consumable
levels 11-15: a rare consumable
levels 16-19: a very rare consumable
beyond 20: a legendary consumable

All this clearly depends on the level of magic you want to give to the adventure.

In this way, you will pilot the items found based on the needs of the group and the balance of the adventure.

But why endless dungeons?

The first Patrons hated this new planet and even more the Sun as a manifestation of Ljust. They destroyed the Earth by divine order and to be able to plunder and build a new world underground, as far as possible from the surface. If a year may seem little, remember that their will was absolute and reality bent to what they wanted.

Countless systems, environments, structures, underground cities were built whose dimension rivaled entire states, and here they accumulated treasures and any object that caught their attention. They filled these places with alien creatures and endless monstrosities and modern objects and creations taken from the infinite imagination of the culture of countless planets.

To finally make them safer, if ever it was necessary, in the deepest and most inaccessible area they created what is called the heart of the dungeon, a fracture, a portal built specifically to replenish the hordes of monsters that live there. These portals are to be eradicated and closed if one wants the monsters to end and to truly be able to start building a new world.

If the smaller dungeons (those within 5, 6 levels) have only one heart, the larger and deeper ones have many more, and each time protected by stronger and more difficult to defeat creatures.

But how can magic items exist on Earth?

The first Patrons have not only destroyed, upset, modified the entire geography of Earth but have also brought new races, creatures, demons, and monsters!

These creatures were brought with their baggage of knowledge and objects. Not only that, the Patrons created and provided them with the weapons and equipment necessary for their purpose.

They then drew on tradition, folklore, literature, and nightmares, not just ours, to create the most extraordinary and unique objects and sow them in the depths of the planet in what were to become their homes.

These objects are in the depths and guarded by the aberrations summoned by the Patrons; as always, the deeper you go, the more chance there is to find something, because what is the Law of Reward for us, for the first Patrons is the way to hide the precious things, in the depths of their houses.

The new races, unlike humans, already possessed the knowledge to create these unique objects and have continued to produce them.

In the century that has passed, part of the knowledge to create magic items has been learned by Elves, Dwarves, and Gnomes and partly by the Patrons themselves. Humans have begun to build fantastic objects themselves, although some of the most precious treasures remain in the terrifying gothic cathedrals and elven cities or in the infinite mines that are the homes of dwarves.

Treasure is any movable thing of value, hidden or buried, of which no one can prove to be the owner. (Italian Civil Code)

As a Narrator, take advantage of the knowledge that an elderly elven wizard might have, to involve the characters in adventures to recover rare ingredients, legendary spells, mythical objects… and learn such an ancient and different culture.

Also use the mythical objects of Earth culture; surely a Patron had fun creating them only to get bored with them a moment later and throw them into the bowels of some cave.

Treasures and Monsters

Each monster has assigned a Treasure Category (TC), this category broadly indicates what type of treasure, coins, and any magic items, the creature carries with it or are available in its lair. You can always decide independently or modify the percentages indicated to favor a certain type of treasure.

When a percentage is indicated, it means that it is necessary to roll equal to or less than that with d100 to find the indicated treasure. When +1 item is indicated, it means that regardless of the percentage roll made, there will be at least 1 item, potion, or scroll of the indicated type.

E.g., a creature is marked as Treasure TC F means that in its lair, hideout, there will be a 10\% chance of finding 3d6 silver coins, a 40\% chance of finding 1d6 gold coins, and 5 times a 30\% chance of finding a magic item that is not a weapon.

Then consult the Table Magic Item Type (p. ) to roll and discover what magic items the creature had.

Treasure Composition

Table: Treasure Composition

Treasures from lairs or hideouts of creatures
TC	cp	sp	gp	pp	Gems	Jewelry	Magic Items
x 1000	x 1000	x 1000	x 100
A	1d3, 25\%	2d10, 30\%	1d6, 40\%	3d6, 35\%	1d4, 60\%	2d6, 50\%	3 any, 30\%
B	1d6, 50\%	1d3, 25\%	2d10, 25\%	1d10, 25\%	1d8, 30\%	1d4, 20\%	Armor or weapons, 10\%
C	1d10, 20\%	1d6, 30\%	-	1d6 10\%	1d6, 25\%	1d3, 20\%	2 any, 10\%
D	1d6, 10\%	1d10, 15\%	1d3, 50\%	1d6, 15\%	1d10, 30\%	1d6, 25\%	2 any, 15\%, + 1 potion
E	1d6, 5\%	1d10, 25\%	1d4, 25\%	3d6, 25\%	1d12, 15\%	1d6, 10\%	3 any, 25\%, +1 scroll
F	-	3d6, 10\%	1d6, 40\%	1d4, 15\%	2d10, 20\%	1d8, 10\%	5 any, non-weapons 30\%
G	-	-	2d10, 50\%	1d10, 50\%	3d6, 30\%	1d6, 25\%	5 any 35\%
H	3d6, 25\%	2d10, 40\%	2d10, 55\%	1d8, 40\%	3d10, 50\%	2d10, 50\%	6 any 15\%
I	-	-	-	1d6, 30\%	2d6, 55\%	2d4, 50\%	1 any 15\%

Individual Treasures, small lairs, backpacks and bags
TC	cp	sp	gp	pp	Gems	Jewelry	Magic Items
J	3d8	-	-	-	-	-	-
K	-	3d6	-	-	-	-	-
L	-	-	-	2d6	-	-	-
M	-	-	2d4	-	-	-	-
N	-	-	-	1d6	-	-	-
O	1d4*10	1d3*10	-	-	-	-	-
P	-	1d6*10	-	3d6	-	-	-
Q	-	-	-	-	1d4	-	-
R	-	-	2d10	1d6*10	2d4	1d3	-
S	-	-	-	-	-	-	1d8 potions
T	-	-	-	-	-	-	1d4 scrolls
U	-	-	-	-	2d8, 90\%	1d6, 80\%	1 any, 70\%
V	-	-	-	-	-	-	2 any
W	-	-	5d6	1d8	2d8, 60\%	1d8, 50\%	2 any, 60\%
X	-	-	-	-	-	-	2 potions
Y	-	-	1d6*100	-	-	-	-
Z	1d3*100	1d4*100	1d6*100	1d4*100	1d6, 50\%	2d6, 50\%	3 any, 50\%

When the treasure is indicated by multiple letters, the creature possesses both indicated treasures. Some particularly creatures might have the same treasure multiple times (2 H, i.e., 2 times treasure H).