D&D 5e Guide Treasure by Challenge Rating

In D&D 5e, how much loot a party finds is tied to the challenge rating (CR) of what they beat. The Dungeon Master's Guide splits rewards into two systems — individual treasure and treasure hoards — and both scale across four CR tiers. Here is how it fits together, and how to roll it in seconds.

Individual treasure vs treasure hoards

Individual treasure is what a single monster carries: mostly coins, occasionally a small valuable. You roll it when the party loots a defeated creature on the spot. It is quick and usually modest.

Treasure hoards are the big payouts — a dragon's pile, a vault, a boss's stash. A hoard rolls coins plus a chance at gemstones, art objects and one or more magic items. Hoards are where campaign-defining rewards come from, so most DMs hand them out at the end of a chapter rather than after every fight.

The four CR tiers

Both systems use the same tier breakpoints. Higher tiers mean more coins of higher denominations (cp → sp → gp → pp) and rarer magic items.

Coins, gemstones and art objects

Coins are rolled with dice that grow per tier, then multiplied. Gemstones and art objects come in fixed denominations (for example 10 gp gems or 25 gp art) and are rolled as a count, so a single hoard might produce a handful of matched valuables the party can sell or keep as trophies.

Magic items

Magic items only appear in hoards, drawn from magic-item tables keyed to rarity. The higher the tier, the further up the rarity ladder the roll reaches — which is also why character power and item rarity tend to climb together. See magic item rarity by level for the full mapping.

Roll it instead of looking it up

You do not need to flip through tables at the table. The D&D 5e loot generator rolls coins, gemstones, art objects and magic items for any CR tier — pick hoard or individual, set the level range, and read the result out. Stocking a shop instead? Use the merchant generator.