People have probably been using magic
to search for valuables since shortly after the concept of valuables
was invented, but Renaissance Europe had an especially rich tradition
of magical treasure hunting.
Although people in the war-torn early
modern period often buried their valuables to avoid having them
looted, magical treasure hunting was about more than just finding
material goods in mundane hiding places. Treasure was associated with
otherworldly beings and monsters, such as demons, fairies, and (most
of all) ghosts, and could have magical properties such as being able
to move of its own accord.
… pieces of good money, of
ancient coin; which halving betwixt them, they sold in dish-fulls for
dish-fulls of meal to the country people. Very many of undoubted
credit saw, and had of the coin to this day. But whither it was a
good or bad angel, one of the subterranean people, or the restless
soul of him who hid it, that discovered it, and to what end it was
done, I leave to the examination of others.
The Secret Commonwealth of
Elves, Fauns & Fairies
Dwarfs, fairies, elemental spirits,
giants and similar beings might manufacture their own treasures,
steal them from humans, or simply locate those hidden by others. In
some places, people even asked fairies (such as their household
brownie) to look after their valuables when they hid them. In any
event, they could either guard treasure or give it as a reward to
those who had pleased them. Fairy illusions could disguise real
treasure as worthless trash such as nuts, pebbles, and snail shells,
or make such things look like coins and jewelry.
These spirits likewise have
the power to show
Treasure that have been
buried long below
Thomas Heywood
The Hierarchie of the
Blessed Angels
If someone hid treasure and died
before they could collect it, their soul was thought to be bound to
it as a ghost (despite this being considered impossible by most
theologians), unable to move on due to unfinished business and still
guilty of the sin of avarice. While some ghosts tried to deter the
living from taking their property, most were said to want it put back
into circulation so that it would have no hold over them. It was
common for a ghost to relinquish treasure on the condition that some
of it was used to pay for masses to be said for their soul. Of
course, demons would object to such souls being delivered from their
grasp, so they would do everything in their power to make sure that
treasure remained lost. However, their ability to act directly in the
material world was limited, so they often had to resort to illusions
and trickery to drive off those who came to claim it.
Angels and saints (especially Saint
Anthony and Saint Corona) were also said to help treasure hunters,
either to reward their piety or to thwart the plans of demons.
... I beg you with all of my
humble heart, oh virgin and martyr Corona relief me from my needs and
my poverty by giving me 50,000 florins… for the salvation of my
soul through the redemption of the needy body.
Treasure hunter’s prayer to St.
Corona
With all these spirits competing to
decide the fate of the valuables and the wide variety of magic they
used to mislead people, it took an expert magician to retrieve
treasure. Like other magical specialists of the time, they came from
a variety of backgrounds and claimed to get their powers from a
variety of sources. In central Europe, it was said that Venetian
wizards studied the art of treasure finding in books. In Britain it
was more common for them to claim to have learned the art from
fairies, in return for some service such as acting as a nursemaid for
the fairy queen. Others said they had been chosen by God, or been
born into the trade. They had no general name for themselves but were
sometimes referred to as ‘mound diggers’ (from their habit of
digging up prehistoric burial mounds) or ‘cross diggers’ (because
they overturned cross-shaped way markers). Dowsing was a common term
for searching for hidden things in magical ways, either using sticks
or other methods, and many treasure hunters also claimed to be able
to locate all kinds of stuff.
Treasure Dowsing
4 points
Style
Prerequisites: None.
The main focus of this simple folk style is locating hidden treasure,
overcoming its supernatural guardians or magical protection, and
seeing through any illusions disguising valuable (or worthless)
items. Practitioners are often called on to find other things, from
lost property to ore veins, so a few spells (like Seek Water) are
included for general dowsing. Occasionally treasure may be hidden in
other worlds, only accessible via magic gates, so Seek and Control
Gate can be useful.
Treasure hunters frequently claim to be inspired by visions, dreams,
and omens. These can come from Oneiromancy or advantaged like Blessed
and Oracle, interpreted with the aid of Dreaming and Fortune Telling
(Dream Interpretation).
Identifying which spirits or monsters are linked to a hoard and how
they are likely to react to someone trying to take it can be
extremely important, so spells like Sense Foes and skills such as
Hidden Lore and Occultism are usually learned quickly (often from
practical experience).
Even if spirits associated with the treasure are potentially
friendly, communicating with them may require Mind Reading. Since
some of them may not share a language with the magician, Lend
Language is included to make negotiating easier. Advantages like
Spirit Empathy help too.
Combat spells are psychological rather than physical, using the same
tricks that many spirits use to protect their treasure. In fact, the
main reason for studying these spells is so that Amulets and
Counterspells can be used to defend against them.
Dowsers often summon demons, fairies, or saints for assistance. They
can reveal the location of treasure, retrieve it, help battle (or
negotiate with) other spirits, or teach spells.
Required Skills: Hidden Lore (Demon
Lore, Fairy Lore, Spirit Lore, or Undead Lore*); Occultism.
Required Spells: Seek Earth.
Perks: Astrological Ceremonies;
Attribute Substitution (any ‘Seek’ spell based on Per); Fool’s
Wisdom†; Intuitive Illusionist; Magical Analysis; Magical Lawyer;
Secret Material (Sprengwurzel); Secret Spell (Seek Treasure);
Shaman’s Trance; Spell Resistance (Panic or Terror); Spirit
Contract.
Secret Spells: Seek Treasure.
* depending on setting, this list may need to be modified to reflect
the specialties available.
† see below.
Optional Traits
Advantages: Blessed; Cultural Familiarity (Fairy); Detect
(Precious Metals); Fearlessness; Intuition (Aspected, Treasure);
Languages; Medium; Oracle (Aspected, Treasure); See Invisible
(Magical or Spirit); Spirit Empathy; Spirit Talker*.
Disadvantages: Broad-Minded; Greed; Gullibility; Sense of Duty
(Ghosts); Vow (Donate treasure to good causes).
Skills: Archaeology; Cartography; Connoisseur (Jewelry);
Diplomacy; Dreaming; Exorcism; Fast-Talk; Fortune-Telling (Dream
Interpretation); Herb Lore; Merchant; Search.
* see Power-Ups 3.
Spell List
Amulet; Analyze Magic; Aura; Avoid; Banish; Bravery; Command Spirit
(Fairy); Complex Illusion; Control Gate; Control Illusion;
Counterspell; Death Vision; Detect Magic; Dispel Illusion; Dispel
Magic; Divination (Crystal Gazing, Geomancy, or Oneiromancy); Earth
Vision; Enchant; Fear; Foolishness; Forgetfulness; Hide; History;
Identify Metal; Identify Spell; Know Illusion; Lend Language; Mage
Sight; Mind Reading; Panic; Pathfinder; Pentagram; Perfect Illusion;
Planar Summons (Fairy or Heaven); Scroll; Scryguard; Scrywall; See
Secrets; Seek Earth; Seek Gate; Seek Magic; Seek Pass; Seek Water;
Seeker; Sense Emotion; Sense Foes; Sense Life; Sense Spirit; Shape
Earth; Simple Illusion; Sound; Spell Shield; Summon Demon; Summon
Spirit; Suspend Spell; Talisman; Terror; Trace; Truthsayer; Turn
Spirit.
New Perk
Fool’s Wisdom
You are able to intuitively grasp advanced magical concepts without
the deep understanding usually needed. You may ignore IQ score spell
prerequisites.
Example: Seeker normally requires IQ 12 or higher, but with this perk
you may ignore that prerequisite and learn it regardless of your IQ.
The other prerequisites are unchanged; you must have Magery 1 and
know two ‘Seek’ spells.
Secret Material
Sprengwurzel
Dowsers make use of a variety of
magical herbs, but the ‘bursting-open root’ is especially potent
for their work. It allows the user to cast Lockmaster or a variant of
Purify Earth which causes everything except natural soil and rocks to
float out of the ground. The root must be rubbed over the lock or
ground and effective skill is equal to the Herb Lore skill of whoever
prepared it. There is no FP cost, but the root can only be used once.
One annoying property of the root is
that it sometimes causes containers it is stored in to open
spontaneously and it may slowly dismantle objects it comes into
contact with. It can even make horses shed
their shoes when they walk on it!
Secret Spell
Seek Treasure
Information
Determines the direction and approximate distance to the nearest
collection of valuable items. Only detects items manufactured by
sentient beings, not natural ore deposits, rare plants, and the like
(but once such things have been gathered, they count). The caster can
exclude any known valuables, seek only treasure over a certain total
value (although it doesn’t identify who is willing to pay that
price), or specify a certain type of treasure (such as rare books,
gems, magic swords, or even an item like ‘the duke’s signet
ring’).
Cost: 6.
Time to cast: 10 seconds.
Prerequisite: Three
other ‘Seek’ spells.