D&D 5e dragon hoards how do they work

Everyone wants to find a dragon to kill. Not for the glory, but for its hoard. Dragon hoards have always been the pinnacle of adventure rewards. They promise great things and amazing relics, but how do they work in D&D 5e? fizban’s treasury of dragons gave us a set of tools to make the most of them. This post will mostly dive into the mechanics of rolling for dragon hoards based on page 72 of the book `Creating a Hoard’ 

How do dragon hoards work

Dragon hoards are split up in four categories. One for each type: Wyrling, young, adult and ancient dragons. Each of the dragons have their own table consisting of other tables to roll that might also have even more tables. Let’s find out how they work.

Coins

You start off with rolling for the coin values of the hoard. This is done by rolling an amount of D6’s or D8’s and then multiplying the result with the provided multipliers. For example, for an ancient dragon to calculate how my platinum is in the hoard, you roll 12 D6 and then multiply that result by 1000.

Mundane items

Then there is a D100 table of mundane items you can roll on multiple times. These items can really spice up the loot pile and make it more memorable for your party. Also don’t be afraid to swap out mundane items for your own unique ideas if you have them. Including something related to your specific campaign is always awesome.

Art and gems

The next two rolls you need to make are for an assortment of gems and art pieces. These rolls consist of three parts. First you roll how many art and gems you find. For each of these you roll the table to find out how much they are worth. And finally after rolling for the value you can roll on the specific gem or art tables to find out which gem or art piece you get exactly.

Magic items

The final and maybe most complicated of the rolls you need to make is the magic item list. This again consists of three rolls. You start off with the amount of magic items your players find. Then for each of these items you roll to find out which specific Magic item table you choose from. Finally you roll this table to find the specific item(s) that are in the hoard.

This is a very complicated set of rules to follow to get an unique but still exciting hoard for your party. 

Using an automatic generator

To make this easier for you there is the Loot generator on DmsTinyHut. For each type of dragon there is a button to generate a specific loot pile set to the specifications by WOTC. This will make it quick and easy to generate a starting or complete hoard for your specific campaign. The best part is, if you sign up for a free account you can even save your hoard for later use.

Some inspiration on making a hoard memorable

Idea 1: The classic mimic 

If you ever run a dragon encounter where the dragon might not be home that often or is secluded in one area of their lair for one reason or another. Add a Mimic to the lair. The beauty of the mimic is that it can take so many forms. Maybe it’s the really nice looking chest. Or maybe it’s just a wardrobe next to another wardrobe containing a cloak of protection. By adding a Mimic you can keep your players on their toes and at the same time add a little chaos to a celebration.

Idea 2: introduce a story element in the loot

If your overarching story includes a cult or an already established big bad. You can hint to a next quest or maybe some information about the big bad via statues, scrolls or maybe dead adventures who came before the party. This way you can jump start a new part of your journey while the players are raking in the gold.

Idea 3: make the dragon see the party as esteemed guests and let them show the party around.

This way you can introduce some drama in the interaction when your party wants to steal some gold. Or when the party keeps complimenting the dragon, introduce a romance subplot because who doesn’t want to romance a dragon!

If you are super inspired to get started, hop on over to the Loot generator and start getting inspired by the loot piles!