chromatic dragons.pdf - Free

RARE AND FOREIGN COINSArkhosian gold talon (ancient dragonborn empire)Bael Turathan gold triam (ancient tiefling empire)Cendriane platinum crescent (ruined eladrin empire)Nerathan gold crown (fallen human empire)Zannadian platinum ouroboros (vanished yuan-ti empire)GemsIf there’s something dragons love as much as gold, it’sgemstones. Like trade bars, precious gems hold theirvalue and function just like currency. Adventurersfavor gems because they’re easy to transport, allowingthem to carry all their treasure without hauling bagsof silver and gold coins.The Dungeon Master’s Guide describes fourcommon values for gemstones, so when gemstonescome up when generating the loot, pick a gem thatcomes closest to the pile’s worth, and make up anyshortages or overages from other areas.GEMSTONES100 gp Amethyst, bloodstone, carnelian, chalcedony,citrine, rock crystal, garnet, iolite, jade, jasper,jet, moonstone, onyx, pearl, peridot, smokyquartz, turquoise, tourmaline, zircon500 gp Alexandrite, aquamarine, violet garnet,black pearl, topaz1,000 gp Black opal, emerald, fire opal, sapphire5,000 gp Diamond, jacinth, ruby, star sapphireAppropriate Gemstone Values by Tier: You cancombine multiple gemstones into larger gemstoneswhen creating the hoard, but avoid putting too muchvalue in a single item, keeping in mind the appropriatevalues based on the adventuring tier. A heroictier gemstone should not exceed 1,000 gp, paragonhoards should have no gemstones less than 500 gp,and epic hoards should not have stones worth lessthan 1,000 gp.Gemstone Variations: Keeping gemstone valuesat round numbers makes building hoards far easierand reduces the amount of record-keeping for variousstones. Still, gemstones are natural products.Some are larger or smaller in size, while others arecloudy, flawed, cracked or chipped, without the lusterof finer specimens, or conversely, extremely radiant,fiery, brilliant, clear, or flawless. To adjust the valueof a stone, multiply its base value by 5 or by 1/5,depending on whether you want to increase its valueor reduce it. So, an exquisite ruby might fetch 25,000gp, while a flawed and cloudy ruby can bring in aslittle as 1,000 gp.Example: In the previous example, the hoard startswith 18,900 gp in gemstones. Derek divides the gemstonesinto the largest denominations possible:✦ Three 5,000 gp gems✦ Three 1,000 gp gems✦ One 500 gp gem✦ 400 gp left overHe wants to have a few more gems to give the hoardmore diversity, so he tweaks the denominations:✦ Two 5,000 gp gems✦ Seven 1,000 gp gems✦ Three 500 gp gems✦ 400 gp left overThen Derek selects what kinds of gems are in thehoard. This dragon likes purple gems (it feels thatits imperial demeanor harmonizes with that color),and there’s an opal mine in the kingdom the dragonlairs in.✦ Two purple star sapphires (two 5,000 gp gems)✦ Six fire opals (six 1,000 gp gems)✦ One cloudy lilac diamond (one 1,000 gp gem, adiamond reduced in value to one-fifth its normalvalue because of its lack of clarity and fire)✦ Three violet garnets (three 500 gp gems)✦ 400 gp left over (which he throws back into thecoins as gold pieces)Art ObjectsOf all the treasures one might recover from a dragon’shoard, art objects are the most challenging. Thereason is simple: Some effort is required to come upwith interesting items that the PCs aren’t necessarilygoing to liquidate at their first opportunity. Saying thehoard contains three works of art worth 250 gp eachis easy, but it’s also uninteresting. Offering simple,yet evocative, descriptions of art objects allows you toindividualize the items in a dragon’s hoard and alsooffers the details needed to make the find greaterthan just another bag of treasure.Pricing Art Objects: The easiest way to pricean art object is to assign it a value appropriate to thecharacters’ tier. Reserve the lower-priced art objectsfor when the PCs are on the bottom half of a tier andthe higher-priced ones for when the adventurers areon the top half. So, an art object for a group of 4thlevelcharacters should be worth 250 gp, regardless ofwhat it is. Likewise, an art object for a party of 26thlevelcharacters should be worth 50,000 gp. This ruleis elastic, and you can mix up the values as desired.ART OBJECT PRICES BY LEVELLevelAverage Value1–5 250 gp6–10 1,500 gp11–15 2,500 gp16–20 7,500 gp21–25 15,000 gp26–30 50,000 gpDRAGON HOARDSCHAPTER 2 | DM’s Guide to Dragons65