Chest

Chests in general are used to hold treasure and keep it safe from thieves and the like. This means that beside locking mechanisms, they are often fitted with traps. The contents can vary significantly, determined by many factors (including which Ultima installment one is playing).

Ultima I
Chests can be found in only in dungeons, both at random and after defeating an enemy. They typically contain various types and amounts of coins.

The Unlock spell could be used to safely disarm and open a chest.

Ultima II
Chests can be found either in dungeons or towers, both at random and after defeating an enemy. Various armour and weaponry can be found in some structures throughout the lands, but stored outside the confines of treasure chests.

Ultima III
Chests can be found in dungeons and towns and are dropped when a group of enemies are defeated. They can be trapped and contain gold and sometimes an item.

Drop research is ongoing and can be found here.
 * Traps: Poison, Gas Bomb, Acid, Bomb
 * Gold: 12-27,48-63
 * Other items: Mace, Leather Armor, Axe, Cloth Armour, Sling, Dagger...?

The clerical Appar Unem spell (or a high dexterity) could safely disarm and open a chest, as could a skilled Thief, Barbarian, Lark, Alchemist, or Ranger.

There is a rare monster that is a chest. In some versions (including the PC port) you can stand on top of it and open it, but you still enter combat.

Ultima IV
Chests function much as in Ultima III, but do not drop items.


 * Traps: Poison, Acid, Sleep, Bomb
 * Gold: ?

The Open spell could be used to safely disarm and open a chest, as well as a high Dexterity.

Dropped chests could also function as a means to bypass toxic swamps or other hindering terrain, provided monsters could be "persuaded" to drop their belongings nearby.

Ultima V
In the time of the Shadowlords, chests found throughout the realm could be locked as well as trapped, but could contain virtually any type of item that could be carried (aside from special quest items).

The An Sanct spell could be used to safely disarm and open a chest (as well as unlock many locked doors), as could a high Dexterity.

Later Installments
(to be added)

Traps
Chests are not always harmless. Apart from the threat of mimics, normal treasure chests are often trapped by their owners in order to prevent any tampering with them due to potentially lethal consequences. However, the adventurer isn't completely helpless against these traps. With the detect trap spell, it is possible to find these hidden dangers. The unlock spell further opens these chests, while at the same time destroying the traps.

There are four different traps found in chests:

Poison

From the harmful traps, this is still the least damaging one. Opening the chest, the thief is greeted with a spray of poison. Nothing that a cure spell can't fix.

Gas Bomb

Seen only in Ultima III, this variant of the poison trap envelops the entire party in a noxious cloud, poisoning everyone in the group.

Acid

This trap is more nasty than the poison trap. Instead of poison, the thief is sprayed with acid. The acid is very damaging, and if not properly treated with the heal spell, has potential lasting health-effects.

Bomb

This is the worst of all traps. Trying to open the chest will trigger a bomb-trap which will blow apart the chest, destroying its contents. The powerful explosion will seriously injure anyone nearby, meaning the entire party.

This is the only trap which can also be encountered hiding in the floor of dungeons (especially Ultima V).

Curse

This is the only trap that does not do any physical harm. Instead, it puts the curse spell on the person fiddling with the lock. Seen only on the Serpent Isle, these traps were rarely encountered.