Building Gear & Magic Items

Gear is the most democratic kind of content — nearly anyone can add an item, and a good item is used every session. But gear lives right at the intersection of the rules, so it demands the same precision as everything else: a weapon's numbers feed combat, an armour's value feeds Armour Class, and every cost and weight feeds the party's choices at the market.

The anatomy of a weapon entry

Look at the Weapons folder and you will see the pattern at a glance. A weapon carries its whole fighting life on its entry:

• Combat — damageSM and damageL (damage against small/medium and against large foes), speedFactor (how quickly it acts in initiative), sizeCategory (S, M, or L — which affects use in confined spaces), and damageType (bludgeoning, piercing, slashing — which matters against certain creatures). These four numbers place the weapon in the tactical landscape: a dagger is fast and small but weak; a two-handed sword is a landslide at the cost of speed.
• Range — rangeShort, rangeMedium, and rangeLong, in the distance bands the game uses for missile attacks. A bow outranges a thrown knife; a sling carries far but slowly.
• Shopping — costGp and weightLbs, which join the market economy and the encumbrance scale.
• Proficiency — proficiencyType, the skill group it belongs to, so the system knows which classes may learn it and which proficiency covers it.

The anatomy of an equipment entry

The Equipment folder holds everything that is not a weapon: armour, packs, tools, provisions, mounts, and the small mercies of civilisation. The essential fields are simple — costGp, weightLbs, a category, and a description — but the craft is in the description: state plainly what it does and when a hero would want it. An armour item states the Armour Class it grants, so a player can shop against their current AC. A tool states what skill or task it enables, so a thief knows the lockpicks from the trapsmith's gear. Write descriptions that answer the shopping question "why would I buy this?"

The anatomy of a magic item entry

Magic items are gear with the dials turned up, and they are where balance gets delicate. A magic item typically carries its name, type (weapon, armor, potion, ring, wand, scroll, and the rest), its properties, and a description that says exactly what the magic does. The two disciplines:

• Power matches the bonus. A +1 long sword is a clear, modest edge; a +3 one is a signature. The compendium already holds a ladder of plus-bonus weapons and armour — place your new item on the right rung, and price the effect accordingly.
• Effects must be specified. A potion that "grants great strength" needs a number the referee can run. A ring that "protects against magic" needs a save bonus or a resistance percentage. The single greatest sin in magic-item building is the vague effect — it looks magical and plays like a rule dispute.

The design intent

Gear exists to give the party choices and the referee levers. The market choices — do we buy the better armour or the two hundred feet of rope, the warhorse or the backup spellbook — are a quiet game all their own, and the encumbrance scale is what makes weight matter. When you add an item, ask whether it earns its place: does a weapon fill a gap in the weapon sheet (a reach option, a thrown option, a new damage type)? Does an item solve a real adventuring problem (darkness, hunger, carrying, doors)? Magical items should feel like discoveries, not shopping; the best ones change how a party approaches the next dungeon, not just the numbers on the last one.

Following the market's logic

Keep costs consistent with what exists. The compendium already prices the common goods; a match to a known reference value tells you where a new item belongs. Adjust for superiority — a better weapon costs more, a heavier one less per weight — and keep magical rarity proportionate: a common +1 weapon is cheap and plentiful, a legendary ring is a campaign jewel. If your price wildly outstrips or undercuts the equivalent existing item, the market has a hole in it.

When you finish

Shop with it: would a player genuinely choose this over what's already on the shelf, for real adventuring reasons? For a weapon, run a quick fight in your head — does its speed, damage, and range make a coherent weapon a hero would carry? For magic, state the effect in one number the referee can execute. Two lines of honest numbers beat a paragraph of mystery — and a hero will actually use the thing you built.