Valuable Paintings.pdf

Requires the use of the Dungeons & Dragons ® Player’s Handbook

Athenaeum Arcane:

valuable paintings

Introduction

The most ancient reliably-dated paint-

ings in the world are at least twenty-three

thousand years old. Art has been an impor-

tant part of our culture, probably from the

moment we could walk upright. Paintings

make for interesting treasure items; their

worth is measured as much or more by how

much the artist is valued for his or her con-

tributions to a style than whether the work

is technically correct.

The items contained in this PDF are

mundane paintings from various periods in

a generic fantasy setting and are intended to

spice up any treasure horde or building.

Besides describing the painting, each entry

also includes a small history of the work

and lists the artist, if he or she is known,

along with the piece’s value and any special

notes regarding it. Use these descriptions as

is, or let them spur your imagination to cre-

ate new paintings. Any of the works listed

below can have their values adjusted to fit

any level of adventuring party with no one

the wiser.

R OLEPLAYING

N OTES

Many of the stories behind these

paintings can be used as jumping off

points for adventures. Perhaps the

Diurdhe family wishes to recover the

last portrait of the family ancestors

(see the “Diurdhe Family Portrait”

entry) or a collector hires the PCs to

find all four of Moldar Gisk’s

“Planes” series (see the “Plane of

Fire” entry). Whatever the case, the

PCs might find the history behind the

paintings more valuable than the art-

works themselves.

The paintings

B EAUTIFUL

C REATURES

Appearance: This is a watercolor paint-

ing done on parchment. The artwork

depicts a beautiful dryad shyly peeking out

from behind a tree to see a handsome male

centaur bathing in a forest pond. Many of

the technical aspects of the painting are

wrong.

Appraise Information: DC 10. The

actual artist of this piece is unknown,

because it’s one of hundreds sold through a

now-defunct College of Fine Arts. The

piece contains nothing noteworthy, and it’s

unlikely to interest anyone but a peasant or

lower class merchant.

Value: 1 gp

Special Notes: None.

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B EYOND

T HE B ATTLE

Appearance: This is a 3-ft. by– 2-ft. oil

on canvas depicting a raiding party of drow

eating a meal on the banks of an under-

ground lake. Near the edge of the left side

of the canvas lies a haphazard pile of dead

deep gnomes. The artwork is highly

detailed, and each drow and deep gnome

has distinct features.

Appraise Information: DC 15. The

artist of this piece was a human painter

named Masae Handar who disappeared 250

years ago. When the piece surfaced decades

later, scholars believed Masae was kid-

napped by the raiding party depicted in the

image. Someone studying the painting with

a magnifying glass can see a sigil on one of

the drow’s rings, that indicates to which

drow city the elves belonged.

Value: 500 gp (200 gp for the crafts-

manship, 300 gp for the historical value).

Special Notes: None.

Value: 350 gp (50 gp for the craftsman-

ship, 300 gp for the historical value).

Special Notes: Only surviving members

of the Duridhe Family are willing to pay

more than 50 gp for the portrait.

F AILURE

Appearance: This is a 6-ft.–square oil

on canvas featuring a desert landscape. In

the foreground are the remains of half a

dozen humans or elves lying face down in

the sand. They wear rusty metal armor and

rusty weapons and each holds a waterskin

in an outstretched hand. In the background,

mere feet from the bodies is a verdant oasis,

a sparkling pool of water surrounded by

trees bearing luscious fruit.

Appraise Information: DC 15 (DC 25,

see text). The gnome bard Fomkin enjoyed

creating works that amused his patrons, and

this was one of his most popular. “Failure”

is one of the most-plagiarized works ever

created, so many people have seen a copy

of the painting. Only an expert can identify

the original Fomkin work.

Value: 725 gp (75 gp for the craftsman-

ship, 675 gp as a collector’s item).

Special Notes: Most collectors know of

the existence of the duplicates of this paint-

ing, but since few can identify the original

Fomkin work, it’s difficult to find anyone

willing to pay more than 75 gp for a copy.

D URIDHE F AMILY

P ORTRAIT

Appearance: This 5-ft. by– 5-ft. acrylic

on canvas is framed in gilded wood and

shows a family of humans standing in aris-

tocratic clothes two hundred years out of

style. An elderly couple is perched on a pair

of stools, their grandchildren sit at their

feet, and the children’s parents stand stiffly

behind their elders. The expressions on

their faces are very serious.

Appraise Information: DC 12. This

painting is typical of the style of portrait

popular in the previous two centuries. The

artist, Achta, was no one of note and has

been forgotten by time.

F ULL M OON

T ERROR

Appearance: This is a crudely done oil

on birch wood painting two feet on a side

depicting two terror-stricken gnome girls

running from a werewolf along a moonlit

road. The background shows a moon and

stars. The gnomes, werewolf, and moon are

painted on cutouts of wood that stand off

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the painting. This painting is as much a

mechanical device as a piece of art. A wind-

ing wheel on the side of the canvas controls

a series of cogs and wheels at the back of

the painting. When the wheel is wound, the

gnomes and werewolf move toward the left

side of the painting until the werewolf

catches the gnomes while the moon moves

right. This creates a unique three dimen-

sional effect. Turning the winding wheel in

the opposite direction returns the cutouts to

their starting positions.

Appraise Information: DC 15. A

gnome village exported these clockwork

paintings several hundred years ago as nov-

elties. Most have been destroyed over time

and only a few that still exist even work.

Value: 225 gp (25 gp for the craftsman-

ship, 200 gp as a collector’s item).

Special Notes: Each time the painting is

wound, the clockwork mechanism has a 5%

cumulative chance of breaking. Repairing

the painting requires a successful DC 20

Craft (clockworks) skill check.

has the largest known collection of

Ethlessar’s works, seven hundred at last

count.

Value: 110 gp (110 gp for the craftsman-

ship).

Special Notes: None.

P LANE OF F IRE

Appearance: This is a 2-ft. by– 3-ft. oil

on black silk stretched tightly between a

red-painted, wooden frame. The painting

depicts a lake of molten lava in the fore-

ground and a mountain that spews red

flame in the background.

Appraise Information: DC 20. This is

one of four paintings from the “Planes”

series done by the halfling artist, Moldar

Gisk, sixty-five years ago, after traveling to

each of the four elemental planes. Moldar

has since retired and lives a quiet life with

his children and grandchildren in the valley.

Value: 75 gp (75 gp for the craftsman-

ship).

Special Notes: If all four of the paint-

ings can be collected, they’re worth 500 gp

for the set.

F UTILE G ESTURES

Appearance: Watercolor on canvas,

this 8-ft. by– 6-ft. paintings shows a vicious

storm tossing a convoy of merchant ships.

One of the ships is sinking and the sailors of

another ship are attempting to save the

sailors from the sinking ship and not having

much luck.

Appraise Information: DC 15. The

prolific elven painter Ethlessar spent a

decade painting only sea-based scenes, and

Futile Gestures is only one of at least thirty

known works from that decade. Ethlessar is

believed to have painted over twenty-five

hundred paintings that have made their way

into collectors’ hands over the course of his

long life. One such collector, a dwarven

merchant named Daggda Stonehammer,

R IGHT OF

S UCCESSION

Appearance: Two dwarves are fighting

to the death with huge warhammers on this

3-ft. by– 3-ft. oil on canvas. Their fight

takes place on top of a snow-covered

mountain. In the background, other

dwarves dressed as aristocrats watch the

battle.

Appraise Information: DC 25. At a

glance, most people think this is a simple

oil painting depicting a rather generic com-

bat scene. A closer look reveals that the

dwarves in the fight are the twin brothers,

Dorren and Daeren, in their epic battle for

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the right to the Granite Clan throne. The

artist is Daeren’s wife, Baritha, who paint-

ed the work to remind her brother-in-law,

Dorren, of what he did. Rumored to have

felt such remorse for taking his brother’s

life after being presented with the work,

Dorren killed himself soon after, though

some suspect Baritha had a hand in his

death. She was never tried for the crime,

and her daughter became queen of the clan

after Dorren’s death, ruling for seventy-five

years.

Value: 980 gp (180 gp for the crafts-

manship, 800 gp for the historical value).

Special Notes: None.

Special Notes: The paint for this work

was created by mixing dark naga poison

with colorants. Anyone touching the paint-

ing feels sleepy and hallucinates for one

round, but the poison is too old to do any

real damage.

S EDUCTION

Appearance: This is a series of three

paintings, enamel on ceramic, each one foot

in length and width. In the first image, a

succubus transforms into a beautiful elven

maiden wearing a thin dressing gown. The

second image shows the succubus in elven

form flirting shyly with a cleric of a god

devoted to the destruction of demons and

devils. The final image shows the cleric and

the succubus embracing in a passionate

kiss. One of the succubus’s hands has

reverted to claw form and is poised near the

cleric’s exposed neck.

Appraise Information: DC 20. More

famous for his glazed plates than his paint-

ings, the dwarven artist Olstral Verthan

nevertheless painted this series in his early

years. Twice in history the pieces have been

separated, only to come together again up

to thirty years later.

Value: 650 gp for the set (150 gp per

painting, 200 gp as a collector’s item).

Special Notes: None.

S ECRETS

Appearance: Watercolor on parchment,

this 2-ft. by– 3-ft. painting features a man

and woman walking hand-in-hand through

the woods toward the viewer. Both charac-

ters are partially turned away from each

other, a look of sadness on their faces.

Peaking out from behind each character are

evil-looking imps that bear resemblances to

the characters. Due to the age of the work,

the parchment is very brittle and is usually

found pressed between two pieces of thin

glass.

Appraise Information: DC 25. The

artist for this piece is unknown by even

most art scholars. A thousand years ago

Andus, a cleric who worshipped a dark

goddess, was commissioned to create the

painting for one of his masters, though no

one has ever discovered the name of his

patron. Some believe it was the goddess

herself who commissioned the work, but

since the painting has never left the mortal

realms, most doubt that.

Value: 2,050 gp (50 gp for the crafts-

manship, 2,000 gp for the historical value).

S UPPLICATION

F ROM T HE

M ASSES

Appearance: A 4-ft. by– 4-ft. oil on

canvas, this abstract expressionist painting

displays a vivid barrage of colors.

Hundreds of humans kneel in a town square

before their king, who sits on a raised

throne on a tower balcony.

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