Chapter 1 - Non-weapon Proficiencies
Dowsing Non-weapon Proficiency
This is the skill of finding lost or hidden items by seeking a disturbance in the subtle natural energies that permeate the earth. A dowser is attuned to the invisible, intangible eddies and currents of the world around him; by careful and methodical searching, he can detect particular emanations or anomalies.
Dowsing has two general uses. First, the character can attempt to detect natural deposits or minerals in the ground, such as water, gold, or other ores. Secondly, the character can attempt to find a specific man made item that has been lost or hidden, such as a friend's dagger, a buried treasure chest, or the entrance to a barrow mound. The search must be very precise—the dowser will have no luck if he sets out to find 'the most valuable thing in this field' or 'the nearest magical weapon,' but 'Aunt Claire's missing brooch' or 'the gold buried by the pirate Raserid' are suitable searches.
Unlike the spell locate object, the dowser isn't led or directed to the item he seeks; he has to actually pass within 10 feet of the item, or walk over the place where it is buried, and succeed in a proficiency check to detect the item. (The DM should keep this check hidden from the players so that he doesn't give away the location with a failed check.) Dowsing can take a long time; quartering the dirt floor of a cellar 20 square feet might take 1d3 turns, while checking a field or courtyard might take 1d3 hours. Searching an area larger than 100 square yards is impractical—the dowser gets tired of concentrating.
A dowser can detect items or substances within 100 feet of the surface, although very strong or powerful sources may be detected slightly deeper. The dowser can guess the approximate depth of what he's seeking within ±10% when he stumbles across it.
