Gear and the World

In Root and Stem, gear is not a separate menu of bonuses — it's part of the same universal system that describes everything in the world. Every object, from your sword to a thrown pebble to a locked door, is an Object: a non-living thing defined by a Class, a Tier (how big or durable it is), and its Material Tier (how hard it is to break or penetrate). When you pick something up, you're interacting with the world's shared rules, not a hidden equipment screen.

Weapons Raise Your Strike

A Weapon is an Object subclass built to deal damage. In a fight, your Attack Roll (see the Combat chapter of the rules) pits your graduated roll against the target's Defense as a required tier — and your weapon is what lets that roll actually land. You don't track a printed "attack bonus" the way older systems did; the weapon is simply the tool through which your stats, proficiency, and the rolled die express themselves.

Armor and Shields Raise Your Defense

Defense isn't a climbing number you must beat — it's a required tier an attacker must reach to hit you:

So armor and fortification work by raising the tier an enemy needs, not by stacking a flat number. A Shield is its own Object that adds a further +1–2 to Defense, at the cost of occupying a hand. Better protection means an attacker needs a stronger success to land a blow — and deals no damage at all on a weaker roll.

Improvised Objects and the Pebble Principle

Not every weapon is forged. An Improvised object — a chair leg, a bottle, a pebble — is any thing pressed into service as a weapon, and it keeps its own Class, Tier, and Material Tier. This is where the Pebble Principle lives:

Effective Strike = (Force × Force-multiplier) + (Precision × Precision-multiplier)
Material Tier    = CON + Tier + (density / armor bonus)

If your Effective Strike meets or exceeds the target's Material Tier, you penetrate, break, or crater it. Residual force of 10 or more means the breach is through-and-through. A pebble is tiny — Tier 0, normally a nuisance — but hurled true and hard enough (high Force and Precision), it can punch a hole in an opponent or crater a wall. Small, precise, and fast beats big, dumb, and static.

What Your Gear Is Made Of

Most gear is metal, and metals carry a distinct elemental character: they are Earth-element, with high static Constitution, and naturally resist Fire and Wind. That's why an iron bolt shrugs off being burned or blown open — its Earth durability simply holds. A rock or pebble is pure Earth too: hard, heavy for its size, with no will of its own. Understanding what your gear is made of tells you how the world will answer when you strike it, or are struck.