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.
Robert KirkThe Secret Commonwealth of
Elves, Fauns & FairiesDwarfs, 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 HeywoodThe 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.
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.