Many older editions of DnD feature random loot tables to generate hoards and rewards for players to reduce some overhead. Let’s do this for Cairn!
This particular set of tables is for hoards, the kind with mountains of cash and jewels you would find in a vault or under a dragon. It doesn’t fit all treasure distribution needs, but hopefully is good inspiration for designing your own tables.
Assign the hoard rarity as a first step. This is a scale of 1 (common) to 5 (very rare). Then, roll for the following for every hoard:
For each precious and rare item, roll separately on the following:
| 2d6 | Gem and Jewelry Items |
|---|---|
| 2 | Sapphire (50 + 2d100 gp) |
| 3 | Ruby (50 + 3d100 gp) |
| 4 | Diamond (50 + 5d100 gp) |
| 5 | Onyx (50 + 10d100 gp) |
| 6 | Moonstone (50 + 20d100 gp) |
| 7 | Silver Ring (50 + 10d10 gp) |
| 8 | Gold Ring (50 + 20d10 gp) |
| 9 | Platinum Ring (50 + 30d10 gp) |
| 10 | Mithril Ring (50 + 50d10 gp) |
| 11 | Adamantium Ring (50 + 100d10 gp) |
| 12 | Orichalchite Ring (50 + 200d10 gp) |
| 2d6 | Rare Items |
|---|---|
| 2 | Lost Text |
| 3 | Container of Alcohol |
| 4 | Life-size animal statue |
| 5 | Tapestry |
| 6 | Ornamental Weapon |
| 7 | Bolt of Fine Cloth |
| 8 | Ornamental Armor |
| 9 | Religious Idol |
| 10 | Portrait Painting |
| 11 | Unknown Instrument |
| 12 | Map |
For a magical item, give a 50/50 shot at a relic or a spellbook, and rolling or choosing off the SRD (for spellbooks) or here for relics. There are more relics out there than just these, though!
Note the rare and magical items have no price listed. They are likely beyond ordinary appraisal and would require an expert and would need to be fenced off to be sold to a far–away noble or a city auction. This is great for starting a side urban adventure.
You may place one of these hoards where you see fit based on the size and rarity - a 5 rarity hoard is probably appropriate for a lich’s tower or a dragon’s den, while a rarity 1 might be what’s recovered from a heist in a minor noble’s house. This doesn’t scale down as well: a goblin lair shouldn’t even have a 1 rarity hoard in usual circumstances.
Let’s roll a rarity 5 hoard.
I rolled up 500 gp, 750 sp, 20 gems, no rare items, and 1 magical item. For the gems and jewelry, I rolled 7,018 gp worth of gold and gems. I rolled a spellbook for the magical item, and got 57: Objectify. Total value of this hoard: 7,593 gp, with a spellbook!
You should tweak this to fit the type of setting you envision, not just in flavor but also the power you want PCs to have. Adjust gold up and down, adjust die sizes, etc. For example, you can make the roll for a magic item (1d8 - 7) (min. 0) so that there is a 1-in-8 chance of a magic item in a hoard rather than the current 1-in-4. You can also make the value more swingy by using bigger dice sizes with lower modifiers (compare the swinginess of the rings vs the gems, for example).