Creatures, Pets & Mounts

The system runs on credits — ₵ — backed by a consortium of corporate and governmental interests. Physical credit chips exist, but most money is digital: transfers, bank accounts, encrypted ledgers. And not all money is the same:

• Credit chips (₵1) — street money. Vendors, vending machines, the bottom of the economy.
• Credit transfers — standard for anything real. Tracked by banking networks.
• Corporate scrip — company-issued tokens, only spendable inside that corporation's network. A trap if you're paid in it.
• Black Ledger — untraceable funds for underworld dealings. Accepted by criminals and black markets, useless at a grocery store.

Your wallet

Your money lives in your Wallet on your character sheet. Each currency gets its own line — credits, corporate scrip, and Black Ledger are tracked separately, so a deal that pays in scrip doesn't quietly become credits. The wallet sits on the Equipment tab, above your inventory. In other worlds that use this system, the wallet follows that world's currencies instead.

Starting money

Your starting credits come from your backstory, not your level. Street-level characters start with a few hundred to a couple thousand credits; established operators with more. The rule that keeps the world honest: power ≠ wealth. A level 120 Omega Mutant who grew up on the streets can start with 2,000 credits and a worn-out jacket. A corporate executive's kid can start rich and useless in a fight. Money comes from what you've done and who you know.

Living costs

Between jobs, you live. Street food runs 5–15 credits; a casual restaurant meal 20–50; fine dining 100–500. A hostel bunk is 15–30 a night; a budget hotel 50–80. Rent — the real sink — runs 300–600 a month for a studio in a bad neighborhood, 600–1,200 for one in a decent area, and climbs fast from there. At low levels, rent is a genuine pressure. At high levels, it's a texture. Either way, the world exists between firefights — buy groceries, take a vacation, adopt a pet.

Equipment slots

Your gear lives in slots: Head, three Body layers, Hands, two Melee hand slots, two Ranged hand slots, Legs, Feet, Belt, Back, Necklace, up to ten Rings, and Implants (capacity varies by species — baseline humans can hold ten; demons only five). Extra arms mean extra hand slots; wings and tails have their own. Two-handed weapons need both hand slots unless your STR is twice the weapon's requirement.

Armor comes in bands of protection: Light (10–25 armor, small dodge penalty), Medium (30–50), Heavy (55–80), and Power (80–150, massive protection at a real dodge cost). Armor reduces damage by value / (value + 100) — each piece protects the location it covers, so a helmet is worth more than the credits it costs.

Shield belts give you a separate pool that absorbs damage before armor or HP, and recharges each turn. A shield doesn't care how big the hit is — it just eats it until it breaks.

Inventory & stacks

What you carry is a list of stacks — each row is one kind of item plus a quantity. Three stim packs sit in one row marked ×3, not three rows. Weight is counted for the whole stack, so carrying a pile of the same thing is no heavier than carrying one of it spread across many rows. If a stack gets too big to be believable, that's what the world is for — most sensible vendors won't sell you ten thousand bullets at once.

Power cells

If you're a Cyborg, your implants run on a Power Cell. A Standard cell (₵200) lasts about 48 hours of normal use; a Heavy-Duty (₵800) triples that; a Combat cell (₵2,500) is military-spec, regulated, and worth the hassle. When the cell dies, every cybernetic bonus and ability shuts down until you recharge (1–3 hours at a power source) or swap in a backup. Carrying a spare is not paranoia; it's professionalism.

Frames & mechs

Frames — powered exoskeletons — are baseline humans only. The onboard AI scans the pilot's biology and locks out anyone with genetic modification, nanomachines, or demonic energy. A Frame overrides your combat stats: your STR and CON don't matter inside one; INT (targeting) and DEX (handling) do. Frames are the unmodified human's answer to enhanced threats. Above them rise the mechs — Scout through Colossus — but a mech cockpit can't track a mutant who dodges buildings. Frames are what you wear when the enemy is too fast for a war machine to catch.

Medical & tools

A medkit heals and cures one status effect; a trauma kit stabilizes the dying; an antidote, rad-away, and stim packs cover the rest. Tools win scenes before they become fights: hacking kits open digital locks, scanners reveal hidden enemies, breaching charges open walls, drones scout and support. A character who carries the right tool for the job rarely needs to punch their way out.

Earning

Quest payouts scale from hundreds (street jobs) to tens of thousands (corporate contracts). Bounties pay per head. Mercenary work runs 1,000–25,000 credits a day depending on the danger. Salvage, smuggling, information dealing, and faction salaries all pay — and each comes with its own kind of risk. The economy rewards risk proportionally: a salvage run in a war zone should pay more than a courier job across town. Spend accordingly.