20 Unusual Treasures, Plus Variations

Are you looking for some other treasures to include in your games?  Something more interesting than another 15 silver pieces? Something different from another +1 weapon? Try the chart below of 20 unusual treasures with several variations for most. They are designed to be trivial or at least have no combat-related magical powers.

These come from our Encounter Decks project, written by David Winterbottom and Joe Wetzel.  We’ll have those cards (and the synergistic Creature Decks) at GenCon, booth #449 in the Exhibitor’s Hall.  The convention coupon book will also have a coupon for a free mini-pack or a discount on the full decks.

1. A wizard or scholar’s collection of:
   

   1d4	Item
   1	23 Rare Insects each in a small labeled jar.
   2	10 Medicinal Herbs preserved and annotated in a book.
   3	19 Flowers preserved and annotated in a book.
   4	12 Samples of blood of various creatures, placed in small labeled flasks.

2. Small jars labeled as containing impossible items: hen’s teeth, crocodile tears, rainbow dust, heartache, purple, a cat’s footsteps.
3. A perfect replica of a building, crafted from soapstone and with an impossible level of detail. Secret passages can be found by whittling into it.
   

   1d4	Building Type
   1	Castle
   2	Temple
   3	Monastery
   4	Tower

4. Slips of deposit/IOUs:
   

   1d4	From/To
   1	Individuals to an ancient/forgotten bank.
   2	The King to a duke.
   3	The King to a temple.
   4	A duke to the assassin’s guild.

5. Togar’s Guide to the History of the Realms
   

   1d12	Subtitle
   1	Dawn of History to the Appearance of the First Humanoids
   2	The Bronze Age
   3	The 3 Great Emperors
   4	The 100 Years War
   5	Mistakes of the Middle Kingdom
   6	The Southern Empire
   7	Rise of the RuneLord
   8	Rule of the Demonweb Queen
   9	Aboleths & Avarice
   10	Age of the Great Wyrms
   11	Military Weapons
   12	The Witch-King’s Rule

6. A geographically accurate, two foot in diameter globe of the world.  It’s political bounds are accurate as of:
   

   1d6	Item
   1	Ancient times
   2	Approximately 100 years ago
   3	Current times
   4	Sometime in the future
   5	Current, but it includes an emporer/king’s war plans
   6	No political markings

7. Treasure chest full of counterfeit coins. Even the metal has no value.
8. Small jars filled with alchemist’s ingredients.  Roll 1d4+1  times.
   

   1d12	Item
   1	Dragon’s tooth powder
   2	Mummy wrappings
   3	Cockatrice gizzards
   4	Hydra skin
   5	Kraken ink
   6	Rattlesnake tails
   7	Basilisk’s blood
   8	Remorhaz back-plates
   9	Shocker lizard nerves
   10	Stirge teeth
   11	Unicorn horn powder
   12	Cave fisher string

9. Nobles’ fine clothing, still in excellent condition.  Rich colors and fabrics were used for these 1d4+1 sets of clothing.
   

   1d4	Clothing
   1	Shirt & trousers
   2	Ball gown
   3	Formal Military Uniform
   4	Formal shirt

10. Map
    

    1d4	Item
    1	To a pirate’s treasure (may be fictitious or already claimed).
    2	Partial dungeon map.
    3	Military plans for an upcoming battle.
    4	To a magical or otherwise "unfindable" location, such as Shangra-La or Hades.

11. A scroll with instructions (are they accurate? incomprehensible?) on: 
    

    1d4	Item
    1	How to turn a dragon’s tooth into a powerful guardian knight.
    2	Creation of a Flesh Golem.
    3	Turning a Drow into a Drider.
    4	How to divinely desecrate a temple, according to an evil priest.

12. A rack of 20 containers, each containing a different food spice.
13. Preserved humanoid body parts:
    

    1d4	Item
    1	A head shrunken by a witch doctor.
    2	3d4 Pinky fingers.
    3	2d4 Big toes.
    4	3d4 Scalps.

14. A solid cube, about one foot on each side, made of:
    

    1d4	Material
    1	Copper
    2	Marble
    3	Fool’s gold (pyrite)
    4	Quartz

15. A number of small sealed canisters, each containing a different color dye. Roll 2d4+1 times:
    

    1d8	Color
    1	Red
    2	Orange
    3	Yellow
    4	Green
    5	Blue
    6	Purple
    7	White
    8	Black
    9	Brown
    10	Metallic

16. A set of mason’s tools: mallet, square, chisels, pick, plumb, compass, trowel.
17. A set of small torture devices. Roll 1d4+1 times:
    

    1d6	Item
    1	Heretic’s fork
    2	Lead sprinkler
    3	Tongue tearer
    4	Breast ripper
    5	Crocodile shears
    6	Thumbscrews

18. A collection of animal trophies. Roll 1d4+1 times:
    

    1d6	Item
    1	Shark’s teeth
    2	Elephant tusks
    3	Polar bear hide rug
    4	Mounted deer antlers
    5	Bull’s horns
    6	Turtle shell

19. An intelligent magical chess set that can think against the player and serve as the opponent.
20. Seeds which when planted will result in fully grown plants within a few hours:
    

    1d12	Plant Type
    1	Roses
    2	Carnations
    3	Tulips
    4	Lillies
    5	Grass
    6	Blueberry tree
    7	Orange tree
    8	Apple tree
    9	Cherry tree
    10	Pine tree
    11	Maple tree
    12	Oak tree