Equipment
title: Equipment: Arms, Armor & Upkeep
A character is what they carry. Every piece of gear declares what it is, what shape it's in, and what it's worth — and in this system, the shape matters.
Categories
Gear falls into five kinds: Weapons, Armor, Gear (tools and travel goods), Consumables (things that run out), and Treasure. A character's sheet links the weapon in hand and the armor worn; everything else rides in the inventory until it's used.
Weapons
A weapon entry gives you four things that decide how it wounds:
- Damage type — blunt, cutting, or piercing. This picks the family of injuries a hit opens (see the combat chapter).
- Effective damage — the weapon's depth bonus after quality and condition are counted. Daggers poke skin-deep at a bonus of 1; mauls and crossbows reach bone at 3.
- Hands — one-handed or two-handed. A two-handed weapon leaves no hand free for a shield.
- Range — melee, thrown, or ranged. Ranged and thrown weapons attack with Dexterity.
| Effective damage | Example weapons |
|---|---|
| 1 | Dagger, hand axe, quarterstaff |
| 2 | Arming sword, spear, longbow |
| 3 | Maul, crossbow |
Armor
Armor's armor rating soaks an attacker's margin before wound depth is ever read — its effective rating is that number after quality and condition. Coverage says what it actually protects: torso, torso and limbs, full, head, or shield. Armor can't help a body part it doesn't cover, which is exactly why called shots exist — and why a steel cap over a bare face is a bargain at any price.
Shields are armor too: a buckler rides on the arm and keeps the hand free enough to grip, while rating absorbs the shallow cuts that would otherwise add up.
Quality and condition
Two ladders run on every item:
- Quality — crude, common, fine, masterwork. Masterwork adds +1 to effective damage or rating; crude subtracts 1.
- Condition — pristine, worn, damaged, ruined. Damaged subtracts 1; ruined subtracts 2 and may fail outright at the GM's call — ruined armor stops covering, ruined weapons snap.
Gear degrades honestly: fumbled attacks, enemies' critical strikes, fire, and plain neglect all step an item down. A smith or leatherworker restores one step per day of work and honest materials. Take care of a fine blade and it outlives its owner; abuse it and it will break when you can least afford it.
Consumables and uses
Things that run out carry a uses count and an effect line: the quiver of twenty arrows, the healer's kit good for ten field treatments, the bitter draught that halves pain for an hour. Spend uses as you go; an empty kit is a scene waiting to happen.
Properties
Trait words with table meaning: balanced (well-weighted — forgives a poor grip), concealable (hidden under clothing without effort), cumbersome (slow to bring around — the GM may cost you the first exchange), cool (wearable in heat), layerable (worn under other armor), long range (outreaches bows at the GM's discretion), noisy (stealth suffers), parrying (meant to turn a blade), quiet (no stealth penalty), reach (strikes beyond normal melee distance), slow reload (one exchange between shots), throwable (attack at range with Dexterity), versatile (usable one- or two-handed), tool (doubles as honest equipment).
Weight and value
Everything weighs what it weighs, and carrying capacity is Strength × 15 pounds — computed on the sheet. Value is in silver-standard coin; crude work goes for half, masterwork for many times more, and a fine hauberk is a treasure in its own right.