TEXT: Requires the use of the Dungeons & Dragons® Player’s Handbook
  
  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.
  Athenaeum Arcane:
  valuable paintings
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  Introduction
  The paintings
  BEAUTIFUL
  CREATURES
  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.
  ROLEPLAYING
  NOTES
  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. 
  
  BEYOND
  THE BATTLE
  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.
  DURIDHE FAMILY
  PORTRAIT
  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. 
  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.
  FAILURE
  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.
  FULL MOON
  TERROR
  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
  Athenaeum Arcane:
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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.
  FUTILE GESTURES
  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,
  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.
  PLANE OF FIRE
  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.
  RIGHT OF
  SUCCESSION
  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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  valuable paintings
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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.
  SECRETS
  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).
  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.
  SEDUCTION
  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.
  SUPPLICATION
  FROM THE
  MASSES
  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. 
  Athenaeum Arcane:
  valuable paintings
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  Appraise Information: DC 20. Most
  people are used to the realistic style in
  which most artists of the realms choose to
  paint, so many people, even collectors, find
  the works of the elven artist Manewin Bril
  off-putting. Credited as the inventor of the
  abstract expressionist movement, Bril was
  almost as well known for his violent tem-
  per, diva-like behavior, and numerous mis-
  tresses. He died at the age of 271 having
  painted only six works of art after one of his
  spurned mistresses stabbed him through the
  heart. 
  Value: 575 gp (575 gp for the historical
  value).
  Special Notes: Although Bril’s works
  are rare, very few people enjoy it. Finding a
  true fan of his works (DC 30 Gather
  Information check) doubles the value.
  THE RULERS
  Appearance: A 6-ft. by– 4-ft. oil paint-
  ing on wood, this artwork depicts a tall
  crenellated stone tower. Standing at atten-
  tion atop the battlement are serious guards
  holding pikes and crossbows. Playing on
  the crenellations are a litter of kittens of
  various markings. One of the kittens hangs
  by its front paws from one of the crenella-
  tions while two others engage in a playful
  fight on a merlon. Another stands on the
  shoulder of one of the guards, playing with
  a tassel hanging from her pike.
  Appraise 
  Information:
  DC 
  12.
  Scholars scoff at the works of the human
  artist, Daelma Ter, calling it crass and com-
  mercial. Nevertheless, her works were and
  still are very popular with the merchant
  class.
  Value: 1,000 gp (200 gp for the crafts-
  manship, 800 gp as a collector’s item).
  Special Notes: None.
  Athenaeum Arcane:
  valuable paintings
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  Athenaeum Arcane:
  valuable paintings
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  OPEN GAME LICENSE Version 1.0a
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  15 COPYRIGHT NOTICE
  Open Game License v 1.0 Copyright 2000,
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  Fantasy 
  Player’s 
  Companion:
  ContactsCopyright ©
  2004 Philip Reed,
  www.philipjreed.com.
  System Reference Document Copyright 2000-
  2003, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors
  Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams,
  Rich Baker, Andy Collins, David Noonan, Rich
  Redman, Bruce R. Cordell, based on original
  material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.
  Campaign Options: Mazes; Emerald Press;
  2003
  Athenaeum Arcane: Valuable Paintings
  Copyright 2004, Carla Harker. Published by
  Ronin Arts.
  For more PDFs please visit www.creationcrash.com and www.rpgnow.com.
  Athenaeum Arcane: Valuable Paintings is copyright © 2004 Carla Harker. All text in this book is designated as open game content. You may
  not distribute this PDF without permission of the author. Dungeons & Dragons® and Wizards of the Coast® are Registered Trademarks of
  Wizards of the Coast and are used with permission.
  Some artwork copyright ©Theodore Wing III taken from World of Ronin Arts: CharacterPortfolio Two. Used
  with permission. Visit the artist’s website at www.Igrendel.com and the publisher’s site at www.roninarts.com.
  
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