- You want a quick gem name to throw out for that pickpocket attempt? – use the Quick Gem Table on page 6.
- You need a gem and want to choose it from a categorized list? – use the Advanced Gem Table starting on page 7.
- You want to choose a stone from a large combined list? – use the Complete Gem Tables starting on page 10.
- Need a color or color combination for a stone? – use the Gem Color Chart on page 14.
- Tired of round or square shaped stones? – use the Gem Shape Chart on page 15
Example:
“You’ve just defeated the Orcs and their chieftain. While searching the bodies, the thief finds a glove that jingles when inspected”. “I look inside” says the thief. “Regis tips the contents into his hand and you see…”
You’ve either pre-rolled the treasure, roll it on the fly, or make it up on the spot. However you do it is fine because you’re the DM. In this example we will roll for three separate stones using all the tables.
- Quick Table (page 6) Roll of 59 results in an Opaque Quartz.
- Advanced Table (page 7) Roll of 3D8 nets 14, which is Olivine, the subsequent roll of 4 gives a Green Peridot.
- Complete Table (page 11) Roll of 11, and on sub-table 11, roll of 15 results in a Black Verdan Gold.
“You find 25 coppers, 4 silvers and 3 gems” the DM replies. “Cool, we'll stash them for later and check back in town”, the Cleric says, thinking the gems might be used for a tithing to his church.
Later, at the local magic shop (substitute a Gem Store complete with Gemologist and/or Lapidary if you'd like), the party has the gems appraised. “Ah, these are interesting stones my friends... (checks and tests) ...the first is a Opaque Quartz, the second a Green Peridot, and the third is Black Gold”. “Whew-hew” cries the fighter, “Gold! We’re rich, drinks are on me!”
“Not so fast my friend, this is a Verdan Gold nugget. It's very delicate and certainly not as valuable as true gold because of its small size, but the color and ...” “How much is it worth?” the Thief interrupts, a glint in his eyes. “Well, fair market value – and maybe you'll find a better deal in Elise - but I'd say 130 Gold”. The jeweler continues “all together, these gems are worth 185 gp”.
Included is a link to download version 2.0 of the Gem Tables document below, and it will be available in the the downloads archive:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/cu9htgxx2ec46mk/GemTables%202.0.pdf?dl=0
Cheers,
I'm sure you've learned this by now, but in case you haven't, anything 3Dx will produce a close approximation to a bell curve, centered around 1.5 times x plus one or two. So, 3D8 results will clump around 13-14, with 3 and 24 both being rare.
ReplyDeleteThis means, any of the tables you made rolling 3Dx, that are alphabetized, will tend toward the middle of the alphabet.
This means, on your advanced table, that your treasures will trend towards Kunzite, Metals, Oviline, and Opal, with hardly any Agite, Azurite, Tourmaline, or Zircon to be found.
This is also true of other multiple die rolls. 2dx produces a sharply peaked distribution centered on x+1. So 2D6 tends to give you 7's, followed by 6's and 8's, and so on. 6 ways to roll a 7, 5 ways to roll a 6 or 8, 4 ways to roll a 5 or 9, ..., 1 way to roll a 2 or 12.
I'd recommend changing all the 3Dx and 2Dx rolls to D100 or percentile rolls, with you choosing which gems you want to be most well represented in treasures.
This lets you preserve the alphabetized list while not having all the treasure finds tending to land in the middle of the alphabet just because it is located in the middle of the alphabet.
The 1Dx rolls are fine, if you actually want a flat probability distribution.