Lookng over the Archaeologist class got me thinking, what are some artifacts an intergalactic Indiana Jones would look for in the Star Wars universe?

Off the top of my head:

Ark of the Covenant -- contains souls of dead Sith lords that unleashes Dark Side energy when opened (30 blast damage, range medium, hard discipline check every round for 3 rounds to keep eyes closed and not take the damage)

Trandoshan Fertility God -- found on Trandosha, looks like the gold idol from the movie "Raiders of the lost Ark" but with a Trandoshan face. This should get some Trandoshan bounty hunters chasing you in no time..

Anyhow, Give me some ideas people!

Thanks!

The original Jedi lightsaber, or something indicating its origins.

The ratifying documents of the Old Republic.

A piece of original space flight, or hyperdrive technology.

Some piece of art or technology indicating that species X is originally from place Y, or of an extinct species that used to reside in place Z.

Jedi and Sith holocrons.

Borrowing from the EU:

A mysteriously wandering behemoth of a spaceship that takes no action at all other than slowly floating through space until some other ship approaches too close, at which point it fires off powerful, unusual, lasers and then jumps away. It requires a broadcast password of the DNA sequence of the species of its creators, and is itself an organic construct.

A complex of ancient, enormous repulsor systems used to assemble the star system long before the birth of the Old Republic from an unknown species, and for an unknown reason.

Ancient Sith architecture and runes, as found on Yavin IV.

How about the mask of Darth Nihilus?

An icon of what both the Jedi and Sith fear.

A Rosetta stone related to the Celestials.

The true birthplace of Humans.

The Eye of Rodia, a mythical crystal sphere that's rumored to grant the power to see through the eyes of any member of the Rodian species.

The party in our campaign starting this week is searching for this.

Also if you have Suns of Fortune, there are some cool examples in there, like the Valley of Royalty on the surface of Duro, which could hold all manner of ancient relics.

Ever since reading Platt's Starport Guide I've found the mysterious Shrines of Kooroo fascinating. It's not technically an artefact, but you could still get some good mileage out of them.

Here's the link: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Shrines_of_Kooroo

Ever since reading Platt's Starport Guide I've found the mysterious Shrines of Kooroo fascinating. It's not technically an artefact, but you could still get some good mileage out of them.

Here's the link: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Shrines_of_Kooroo

The Star Wars Adventure Journal #14 ran an article about this very subject. Check out Wookieepedia for the following items:

The Sith Tombs on Korriban

Empress Teta's Crown Jewels

The Ruins of Ossus

Uueg Tching's Sayings

Jedi Holocrons

The Cirra Mace

The Loag Dagger

Sharka'k Noor

-Nate

I was planning on my players finding a Stasis Field sealed up 25000 years ago when the Rakata were driven from the galaxy. It went hermetic when they nuked the planet. The planet is now a barren radioactive wasteland.

Rakata used cortosis drives and navigation systems, and only went to planets strong in the force.

The players are going to be in search of cortosis for the rebellion. I plan to trash their ship, and let them find a better one that is how shall we say, quaint.

I plan to have a human crew on hand, and of course they will speak Shakespearean old English to add some flavor. :-)

There will be two baddies to deal with. A Rakata dark force wielder, and D1 The First Android. D1 will look and behave human, but was in fact designed to dominate and control Humans. It will be a political machine with assassin skills.

Gear they will find will be some of the cool stuff that's just plain unavailable. A superior shield belt, superior cortosis swords (old sith used stuff like this hey can deflect light Sabers), Mandalorean style cortosis weave armor. A stealth field perhaps. Plenty of raw cortosis.

The ship and fighters will not have shields but will be armoured with... Cortosis Wrave. No vaccum curtains, but a ship sized airlock for fighters.

I plan to have a few of the ancient humans join he crew.

There's plenty out there, really, and you don't even have to make it a REAL artifact when you think about it. When you honestly consider it, even the most "mundane" objects can be fought over for perceived or historic value even though they are utterly worthless.

In addition to the above examples, consider common items left behind by an old society; tools from a lost colony, a battleground between two tribes, a forgotten village where humans and duros first met. Things like that.

Not everything in archaeology has to be exciting; the adventure of getting those things and bringing them to safety without a government confiscating them, a crime lord wanting the items found on "their turf," or a rich family not wanting any dirty laundry that could come to light because of these relics becoming known.

Of course, if you want DRAMATIC!, here's a few more:

--An ancient hero (or villain) said to be sealed in carbonite,

--A book (not a datapad, but a BOOK) of history of an area (with DRAMATIC! stories)

--An ancient starship with "outdated" star charts to some dangerous section of the galaxy, either known or unknown.

--Instead of a ship, just have the old navicomp or destroyed astromech with salvageable data core that can't be deleted (if anyone attempts to overwrite, it just crops up from time to time)

--Objects owned by a "hero" of an ancient battle; finding them either proves capabilities and heroism or proves he was really a coward.

--A vault filled with whatever you want.

--An ancient vault that predates spacefaring societies with technology similar to what is used right now, but different.

--Objects owned and used by a long-lost species.

--Anything involving Xim the Despot. Need I say more on that one?

--Old and exotic instruments from a well-known band (I didn't say they had to be GOOD. . .)

--Pull a page from the Katana fleet: a fleet of ships and/or a single ship that was lost but contains weapons/information/Q that could turn the tide of whatever situation is going on.

--An old asteroid base from the Old Republic filled with some dark secrets that haven't seen the light of day for thousands of years.

That's just a few of the ideas I have offhand. Enjoy!