Advanced Plunder Ratings

Plunder Ratings are the measurement of how much treasure a monster has in Openquest. They normally go from 1 to 6, with increasing amounts of treasure as the number gets higher. The treasure is predominantly silver, gold and magic items, and the escalation is quite rapid, with magic items making an almost immediate appearance, and gold being present from Plunder 3 onwards.

In the Dawnlands, of course, there isn't much actual coinage in circulation, and in particular, the people of the plains, the Kadiz nomads and the Hill People, don't even use money. This got me thinking about the need to change what Plunder Ratings mean, which led to a transformation of the measurement.

I will be subdividing the "plunderability" of creatures into multiple categories, each rated from 1 to 6 and written left to right like a Traveller Universal World Profile.

The categories are: Edibility, Harvesting, Goods, Money. Ratings are not cumulative.

Edibility

1) The creature is poisonous to eat.

2) The creature is inedible, often due to taboos. 

3) The creature is unpalatable and requires special treatment beyond normal cooking to eat. PCs with the right equipment can prepare a number of rations equal to the creature's SIZ / 10 from it.

4) The creature is edible with normal cooking. PCs with the right equipment can prepare a number of rations from it equal to 1/2 the creature's SIZ.

5) The creature is considered a traditional food animal. PCs with the right equipment can prepare a number of rations from it equal to the creature's SIZ.

6) The creature is considered a delicacy to be eaten in small portions or is highly nutritious. PCs with the right equipment can prepare a number of rations from it equal to the creature's SIZ x 2.

Harvesting

1) The creature's body is of no value for trade.

2) The most valuable product of the creature's body is a single mundane good (skin, fur, horn). 

3) The creature produces 1d6 mundane goods (skin, fur, horn, rennet).

4) The creature produces a single rare and valuable good for which it is specially sought out. PCs with the right equipment can extract it.

5) The creature produces 1d6 rare and valuable goods for which it is specially sought out.

6) Every ounce of the creature is valuable. The PCs can extract a number of valuable goods equal to the SIZ of the creature with the right equipment.

Goods

1) The creature has no goods.

2) The creature has only its personal possessions and mundane equipment appropriate to its lifestyle.

3) The creature has its personal possessions and at least one valuable trade item or one minor magical item with 1d6 magnitude.

4) The creature has its personal possessions, and 1d6 valuable trade items or minor magical items of 1d6 magnitude each.

5) The creature has its personal possessions, 1d8 valuable trade items, and 1d8 magical items of 1d6 magnitude each.

6) The creature has its personal possessions, 1d12 valuable trade items and 1d12 magical items of 1d6 magnitude each.

Money

1) The creature has no money.

2) The creature has money with no intrinsic value (Kaddish scrip, credit notes, debt notices, etc.).

3) The creature has 1d10 silver Dwer coins (known as "dwarf-silver").

4) The creature has 1d10 x 10 silver Dwer coins.

5) The creature has 1d10 gold Dwer coins (known as "dwarf-gold") and 1d10 x 100 silver Dwer coins.

6 The creature has 1d10 x 10 gold Dwer coins and 1d10 x 1000 silver Dwer coins.

Some Notes

Dwer Tor is the only place minting coins in the Dawnlands. The Kaddish use paper money, which no one acknowledges other than them anyhow. Dwarf-silver and dwarf-gold's main value to the nomads is to be melted down and turned into other things, or to be given away as gifts or to buy things from the Dwer or Kaddish in the rare instances one must. It is useless for purchases on the plains. Dwarf-gold is exceedingly rare, since there is only one gold mine in the Dawnlands, and most of its product stays in Dwer Tor to trade with the Salt Men.

Minor magical items include potions, scrolls, blessed items, single-use battle magic charms, and magic point stores. Magical items include reusable battle magic charms, spell matrices, and relics.

Mundane goods are mainly of  used for craft checks of various kinds, and will be valuable to artisans.

Valuable trade goods include items that have required some effort to manufacture including cones of incense, bags of salt, expensive clothing, furniture, ingots of iron, or ink sticks. They may also include rare raw materials like beautiful furs and fangs from monsters, or chemicals that may be obtained only from their bowels. These latter types also include hearts and other organs of interest to cults, experts and specialist organisations for ritual purposes.