Money and Equipment

Characters begin the game with monetary units equal to their Archetypal ability.

Players may have their characters keep this initial money or spend it to have acquired starting equipment. They may also “have spent it” in the adventure during their first level: at any point during the character’s first level, if the player wants their character to have already acquired an item, they can spend some of this starting money and have the item. Either the money was spent back when it was most reasonable to have spent it, or the character always had the item, perhaps as an inheritance or gift.

As long as it makes sense for them to now have it, it can be assumed that they’ve been carrying it all along.

In some campaigns, monetary units will be gold pieces, in others it will be silver pieces or even conch shells.

The equipment that the character “purchases” does not have to have been actually purchased by the character. It might have been inherited, given as a gift, or found in the ruins of a destroyed farmhouse in the midst of the woods. “Starting money” is a measure of how much money and equipment the character starts with; it is not necessarily how much actual money the character has to purchase things. Because of this, characters can often start the game with items that are not for sale in their home town, as long as it is for sale somewhere where they or some member of their family might travel.

General Equipment

Characters will wish to equip themselves with many odd or normal items: lanterns, rope, walking staves, blankets, horses, horse equipment, and more. Prices for such equipment will vary depending on the area, the time period, and the time of year, but the following monetary unit costs may be used as a guideline or in a pinch.

Some items, such as torches, have an “activation” time. If the character attempting to activate the item is in combat, an Evasion roll is required to successfully activate the item.

Some items, such as the pick, might also double as weapons. Such items are not designed for combat and will have a penalty to attack of from 1 to 3.

Characters are not limited to the items listed on these tables, nor are items on these tables guaranteed to be available. It will be up to the adventure guide to gauge the availability and cost of all items. In some games, for example, gunpowder and firearms will be unavailable.

Food & Lodging

More than other equipment, food and lodging costs will vary widely according to quality and scarcity. Liquid pint bulks assume an open container. Closed containers are easier to carry. Liquids weigh approximately one pound per pint or eight pounds per gallon.

Animals & Containers

To assist them in carrying their equipment, characters will want to purchase sacks, backpacks, quivers, and pouches. Containers specifically designed for carrying food or ammunition will be listed under the appropriate section.

A well-designed backpack, quiver, pocket, or pouch will reduce the Bulk of items inside the pack by half. Sacks do not significantly reduce Bulk but do make it easy to lay down and quickly pick up en masse the items carried inside them.

For animals, the bulk carry listed assumes that the animal’s load has been packed reasonably, using saddle bags and saddles or other standard pack devices. Generally, reduce an animal’s movement by 1 for each 10% increase in bulk carried. Horses, ponies, mules, and donkeys may jog, run, and sprint at twice the speed of a person.

Ingredients

Bone and metal carvings cost twice as much as wood. Stone carvings cost four times as much, and have four times the bulk. The material can raise the cost of carvings. Bone and stone don’t generally cost anything extra, though they can if they are from specific animals or are specific kinds of stone. Metal “carvings” (usually worked metal) will generally cost at least an extra shilling regardless of how cheap the metal is, and can cost more depending on how expensive it is.

Extremely rare animal parts (such as the parts of Fantastic creatures) will usually be much more expensive due both to their rarity and to the difficulty of acquiring them.

Miscellaneous

Weapons

Anyone can attack with their hands for d3 points damage (d2 for Halflings, Goblins, and Gnomes). Most adventurers will prefer using a weapon, however.

“Damage” is the amount of survival points lost by the target of an attack with the specified weapon.

“Range” is in yards. Within “range” yards, there is no penalty to attack. There is a penalty of 1 after that, and another penalty of 1 for every “range” yards beyond. For example, an attempt to throw a spear at a target thirteen yards away will be at a penalty of 2: a penalty of one for being greater than six yards, and another penalty of one for being greater than 12 yards. A sling at thirteen yards would only have a penalty of 1, and a bow would have no penalty at all.

“Hands” is how many hands are required to use the weapon for mechanical reasons. One-handed weapons may be used with a shield (or, with the right specialties, another weapon). A two-handed weapon requires two hands to manipulate and leaves no free hand for a shield or other item. Note that a weapon’s bulk may also require that two hands be used to wield it with no Carry penalty.

“Bulk” is the weight and bulkiness of the weapon. If the character will never use the weapon, the Guide may allow it to count for half the listed Bulk. Staffs, for example, will have a six bulk when used as a walking staff but the listed twelve bulk when used as a weapon.

“Fire Actions” is the number of actions required to throw or “fire” the weapon if it is thrown or is a missile weapon. Some missile weapons require loading, lighting, or other preparatory actions. Weapons used to beat on opponents directly require but one action.

Warrior weapons

These weapons may only be used by warriors.

Simple and basic weapons

Ammunition

All ammunition costs and bulk are for single “pieces” of ammunition. Gun powder is enough for one use, for example. Sellers will usually only sell in larger quantities, such as ten, twelve, sixteen, or twenty.

Armor

Armor makes it harder to hit the character in a manner that hurts the character--that takes away “Survival Points”. The character may wear one type of armor at a time, and may also wear a full helmet. If the character is using a one-handed weapon, the character may also carry a shield in the other hand.

Warriors may learn to use any armor: that’s part of their archetype. Thieves, Prophets, and Monks may learn to use basic armor: shield, leather armor, banded leather armor, or magically light chain mail. Sorcerors may learn to use no armor.

Some armors are harder to use than others. A character must attain a level in at least one archetype that is high enough to use that armor.

Many things that characters do are harder to do if the character is wearing armor. Just about all agility-based skills have a penalty while wearing leather armor or better. Whether the penalties apply to any particular skill is up to the Guide’s discretion.

The Bulk given is the Bulk while worn. If carried, the Bulk should be doubled for cloth, leather, shields, or chain mail, and tripled for metal armor.

Small shields may only be used against a single opponent in any round. The warrior will need to choose which opponent at the beginning of the round. By default it will be the opponent they last chose, or the opponent they are attacking first in the current round, whichever makes more sense.

While wearing a full helmet, perception rolls and attack rolls are at a penalty of one due to lack of visibility. Full helmets cost a minimum of 10 monetary units, or 10% of the cost of the other armor the character is wearing, whichever is greater. Full helmets have a bulk of 2, or 20% of the main armor’s bulk, whichever is greater.

Equipment for Different-Sized Creatures

The bulk of an item is relative to the size of the creature it was meant for. If a creature of different size attempts to use or carry the item, its bulk will change.

For each increase of one in size of the creature that the item is intended for compared to the size of the creature actually carrying it, item bulk is multiplied by two. For each decrease of one in size, item bulk is halved. For example, a medium creature using a huge-sized weapon that is normally bulk 20 will find it has a bulk of 80. But a huge-sized creature using a medium-sized weapon that is normally bulk 20 will find that it has a bulk of 5.

Costs are also relative. For example, a tiny Pixie sword will cost 20 Pixie monetary units. But when made in differently-sized cultures, cost changes. For every difference in size, the cost of the item is doubled. Both tiny and huge swords will cost 80 monetary units to make in a medium culture.

Weapons

Weapons designed for a non-medium creature size will do different damage.

Weapon range is increased by half or decreased by a third for one difference in size, doubled or halved for two differences in size.

The damage progression is:

A “Large” creature using a “Large” long-sword will do 1d10 points instead of 1d8. The weapon will have a bulk of 16, a range (should they decide to throw it) of 4.5, and a cost of 30. Here are other sizes of long-swords as an example:

Creatures using a weapon designed for a size different from theirs have a penalty of one to attack for each difference in size. The weapon was designed and balanced for a different-sized creature.