Basic Fantasy RPG Forums

Hi,
I'm new to this game... and I was planning torun a campaign with some friend of mine using BasicFantasy Rules...

I've got just one single problem: What's a Wand of Treasure Finding?

I've not found that in the module itself or in the core rules... some info on it?

I am not aware of this wand in BFRPG. Personally, I would just make a substitution and be done with the problem. However, if you feel like it should remain, perhaps another game/edition has details of such an item. Most stuff like this is pretty interchangeable across rules.

From Pathfinder: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/rod ... -detection
from d20 srd: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/ro ... lDetection

Hm. Don't we have one?

Huh, no we don't. We have enemy detection, magic detection, secret door detection, and trap detection, but not treasure detection.

Now from where I sit you could pick from two options. You could consult another, mostly compatible game, or you could just declare how it works by GM fiat.

If you take the former option, I would look in Labyrinth Lord, and if it's not in the core rules it'll probably be in the Advanced Edition Companion. 3e and Pathfinder definitely wouldn't have it, Smoot, wands and staves in those editions can only store specific spells.

If you take the latter option, you can do it however you want, but I'd say it works the same as a wand of secret door or trap detection, but for treasure of a value equal to or greater than the user specifies.

Yeah, the closest I found with Google searches were rods of metal/mineral detection. I did not have the time to find others. Like I said, I would just swap with something like trap detection unless it was pivotal to the adventure.

I've never heard of a wand of treasure detection. I've seen gold detection and gem detection wands used in games but never treasure detection. The main problem is defining what is treasure and what isn't treasure.

Is it gold, silver, gems, jewelry? Should you include artwork? What about items that were crafted but uses more base materials like a chalice made of bronze that has silver leafing on it. Material wise it is not that valuable but depending on the artistry and craftsmanship it could be valuable to someone.

Remember the old saying of one man's treasure is another man's junk. Define what you as a GM considers treasure is the first step in deciding what the wand will detect. After that you just have to decide on the range of it's detection, how many uses it has, can it be recharged and how, and who can use it like is it class specific. Also you would have to decide if it takes command word and what that word would be if you use that aspect also.

When I've seen these used they were specific to one treasure trove.. Maybe the former owner buried his treasure in a secret vault and then created the wand so he wouldn't need a treasure map lying around..

A Wand of Treasure Finding allows the user to locate the largest quantity of treasure (defined as valuable metals and gems, that is, only cash value counts, not magic) within a given radius. "Locate" means know the distance and direction to that hoard. Not sure what the radius was supposed to be.

We need to get that item into the 3rd Edition Core Rules. Along with the Horn of Doom and Rod of Transport (I'll tell you all about them sometime soon...)

OK
My idea was to use the "wand" as an object the PCs are looking for... not so much into "what it is" I was just looking to see if the description was compatible with my idea

A wand that finds treasure? I would loot a dungeon to find that!

My AD&D character has a potion of treasure finding.

If you want to see if the wand works as a plot, then yes, be either for its own merits, or maybe because somebody else wants it and will pay something back, or its needed to find something "bigger", etc, etc...