M., T. & J. ask:

I needed to roll up some treasure in the middle of my last session, so I cracked open the 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide, but couldn’t find any treasure tables! What gives?!

This question seems to be in high demand at the moment and my Let’s Read reactions to the new Dungeon Master’s Guide on the Alexandrian Discord and Bluesky seems to have people reaching out to me for answers.

I understand why the question is being asked. I was also a little confused when I first looked at Treasure in the new rulebooks. But there is a method to the madness, even if the essential information has been spread out between multiple chapters, and once you understand the procedure, it’s pretty straightforward.

TREASURE TYPES

Monsters are assigned a suggested treasure type, often including a treasure theme, in the Monster Manual.

Monetary Treasure can be coins, trade bars, trade goods, gems, or art objects. (DMG p. 213-15) When a monetary treasure value is determined, as described below, use it as a budget to “purchase” an appropriate mixture of monetary treasure.

Individual Treasure: Roll on the Random Individual Treasure table (DMG, p. 120) to determine how much monetary treasure they have.

Treasure Hoard: Roll on the Random Treasure Hoard table (DMG, p. 121) to determine monetary treasure and number of magic items. Then roll on the Magic Item Rarities table (DMG, p. 218) for each magic item to determine its rarity. Finally, use the Treasure Theme to determine their nature.

TREASURE THEMES

The page number for each theme’s random magic items table is given below, as well as the nature of their monetary treasure.

• Arcana (DMG 326): Gemstones
• Armaments (DMG 328): Coins, trade bars.
• Implements (DMG 329): Coins, trade bars, trade goods.
• Relics (DMG 330): Art objects.

Hoard – Any: For this treasure type, monetary treasure can be of any type. Roll 1d4 for each magic item to randomly determine which theme table to roll on (1 = Arcana, 2 = Armaments, 3 = Implements, 4 = Relics).

BONUS: RANDOM MONETARY TREASURE TYPE

One tool missing from the Dungeon Master’s Guide that I think would be useful is a Random Monetary Treasure Type table. This would be useful for both individual treasure and the Hoard – Any treasure type. Use it when you’re having trouble deciding what to use or just to inject a little random inspiration into your adventure.

TABLE: RANDOM TREASURE TYPE

Use this table when you just want to generate one random treasure item type other than coinage. Useful for individual items, but also, for example, what a specialized merchant caravan might be carrying.

d4	Monetary Type
1	Trade Bars
2	Trade Goods
3	Art Objects
4	Gemstones

TABLE: POCKET CHANGE

The Pocket Change table is designed for rifling through an NPC’s pockets. This table has a strong bias towards the type of monetary wealth a character is most likely to be carrying around in their daily lives.

d6	Monetary Type
1-4	Coins
5	Coins + 1 Interesting Object
6	Strange Pocket Change

Interesting Object: This character is carrying mostly coins, but also one unusual item, which will usually have a value of 20% or less of their total monetary treasure. Roll on the Random Treasure Type table (above) to determine type.

Strange Pocket Change: Roll 1d3 times on the Stash & Cache table. Why the heck was this guy carrying around a rare painting and two Avernian rubies?

TABLE: STASH & CACHE

This table can randomly generate all five monetary treasure types. It has a slight bias towards coins, but should give more varied treasures. Consider this table when rolling up the monetary treasure in a Hoard or otherwise stocking a room. For example, what a hag might be keeping hidden under her cauldron or a goblin under their mattress.

d20	Monetary Type
1-8	Coins
9-12	Gemstones
13-15	Trade Bars
16-18	Trade Goods
19-20	Art Objects

PARCELS

To get a more varied stash, divide the total monetary value of the treasure into 1d3 parcels and roll on the Stash & Cache table separately for each parcel. (It’s okay if you roll the same result multiple times. That will just change the ratio between different treasure types and mix things up.)

If you want, you can obviously increase the number of parcels for large hoards. (Although, equally obviously, this will increase the amount of rolling you need to do and will tend to homogenize your treasure results.)