Equipment

To make your mark on the world, you’ll need to have the right equipment, including armor, weapons, and other gear. This chapter presents the various equipment that you can purchase during character creation. You can usually find these items for sale in most cities and other large settlements.

Your character starts out with 15 gold pieces (150 silver pieces) to spend on any common items from this chapter. Items with an uncommon rarity can be purchased only if you have special access from abilities you selected during character creation or your GM gives you permission to purchase them.

Once you’ve purchased your starting items, there are three main ways to gain new items and equipment: you can find them during an adventure, make them using the Crafting skill, or purchase them from a merchant.

Coins and Currency

Though you might be able to barter valuable items in some areas, currency is the most versatile way to make transactions when you head to market. The most common currency is coins. For most commoners and beginning adventurers, the standard unit is the silver piece (sp). Each silver piece is a standard weight of silver and is typically accepted by any merchant or kingdom no matter where it was minted. There are three other common types of coins, each likewise standardized in weight and value. The first is the copper piece (cp). Each copper piece is worth one‐tenth of a silver piece. The gold piece (gp) is often used for purchasing magic items and other expensive items, as 1 gold piece is worth 10 silver pieces or 100 copper pieces. The platinum piece (pp) is used by nobles to demonstrate their wealth, for the purchase of very expensive items, or simply as a way to easily transport large sums of currency. A platinum piece is worth 10 gold pieces, 100 silver pieces, or 1,000 copper pieces. See Table 6–1: Coin Values for the exchange rates of common types of coins.

Other Currency

Art objects, gems, and raw materials (such as those used for the Craft activity) can be used much like currency: you can sell them for the same Price you can buy them.

Price

Most items in the following tables have a Price, which is the amount of currency it typically takes to purchase that item. An item with a Price of “—” can’t be purchased. An item with a Price of 0 is normally free, but its value could be higher based on the materials used to create it. Most items can be sold for half their Price, but coins, gems, art objects, and raw materials (such as components for the Craft activity) can be exchanged for their full Price.

Item Level

Each item has an item level, which represents the item’s complexity and any magic used in its construction. Simpler items with a lower level are easier to construct, and you can’t Craft items that have a higher level than your own (page 243). If an item’s level isn’t listed, its level is 0. While characters can use items of any level, GMs should keep in mind that allowing characters access to items far above their current level may have a negative impact on the game.

Carrying and Using Items

A character typically has two hands, allowing them to hold an item in each hand or a single two‐handed item using both hands. Drawing or changing how you’re carrying an item usually requires you to use an Interact action (though to drop an item, you use the Release action instead). Table 6–2: Changing Equipment on page 273 lists some ways that you might change the items you’re holding or carrying, and the number of hands you need to do so.

Many ways of using items require you to spend multiple actions. For example, drinking a potion stowed in your belt pouch requires using an Interact action to draw it and then using a second action to drink it as described in its Activate entry (page 532).

Bulk

Carrying especially heavy or unwieldy items can make it more difficult for you to move, as can overloading yourself with too much gear. The Bulk value of an item reflects how difficult the item is to handle, representing its size, weight, and general awkwardness. If you have a high Strength score, you usually don’t need to worry about Bulk unless you’re carrying numerous substantial items.

Bulk limits

You can carry an amount of Bulk equal to 5 plus your Strength modifier without penalty; if you carry more, you gain the encumbered condition. You can’t hold or carry more Bulk than 10 plus your Strength modifier.

Bulk Values

Items can have a number to indicate their Bulk value, or they can be light (indicated by an L) or negligible (indicated by a —) for the purpose of determining Bulk. For instance, full plate armor is 4 Bulk, a longsword is 1 Bulk, a dagger or scroll is light, and a piece of chalk is negligible. Ten light items count as 1 Bulk, and you round down fractions (so 9 light items count as 0 Bulk, and 11 light items count as 1 Bulk). Items of negligible Bulk don’t count toward Bulk unless you try to carry vast numbers of them, as determined by the GM.

Estimating an Item’s Bulk

As a general rule, an item that weighs 5 to 10 pounds is 1 Bulk, an item weighing less than a few ounces is negligible, and anything in between is light. Particularly awkward or unwieldy items might have higher Bulk values. For example, a 10‐foot pole isn’t heavy, but its length makes it difficult for you to move while you have one on your person, so its Bulk is 1. Items made for larger or smaller creatures have greater or lesser Bulk, as described on page 295.

Bulk of Coins

Coins are a popular means of exchange due to their portability, but they can still add up. A thousand coins of any denomination or combination of denominations count as 1 Bulk. It’s not usually necessary to determine the Bulk of coins in fractions of 1,000; simply round down fractions of 1,000. In other words, 100 coins don’t count as a light item, and 1,999 coins are 1 Bulk, not 2.

Bulk of Creatures

You might need to know the Bulk of a creature, especially if you need to carry someone off the battlefield. The table that follows lists the typical Bulk of a creature based on its size, but the GM might adjust this number.

Dragging

In some situations, you might drag an object or creature rather than carry it. If you’re dragging something, treat its Bulk as half. Typically, you can drag one thing at a time, you must use both hands to do so, and you drag slowly—roughly 50 feet per minute unless you have some means to speed it up. Use the total Bulk of what you’re dragging, so if you have a sack laden with goods, use the sum of all the Bulk it carries instead of an individual item within.

Wielding Items

Some abilities require you to wield an item, typically a weapon. You’re wielding an item any time you’re holding it in the number of hands needed to use it effectively. When wielding an item, you’re not just carrying it around—you’re ready to use it. Other abilities might require you to merely carry or have an item. These apply as long as you have the item on your person; you don’t have to wield it.

Item Damage

An item can be broken or destroyed if it takes enough damage. Every item has a Hardness value. Each time an item takes damage, reduce any damage the item takes by its Hardness. The rest of the damage reduces the item’s Hit Points. Normally an item takes damage only when a creature is directly attacking it—commonly targeted items include doors and traps. A creature that attacks you doesn’t normally damage your armor or other gear, even if it hits you. However, the Shield Block reaction can cause your shield to take damage as you use it to prevent damage to yourself, and some monsters have exceptional abilities that can damage your items.

An item that takes damage can become broken and eventually destroyed. It becomes broken when its Hit Points are equal to or lower than its Broken Threshold (BT); once its Hit Points are reduced to 0, it is destroyed. A broken item has the broken condition until Repaired above its Broken Threshold. Anything that automatically makes an item broken immediately reduces its Hit Points to its Broken Threshold if the item had more Hit Points than that when the effect occurred. If an item has no Broken Threshold, then it has no relevant changes to its function due to being broken, but it’s still destroyed at 0 Hit Points. (See the broken condition definition on page 273 for more information.) A destroyed item can’t be Repaired.

An item’s Hardness, Hit Points, and Broken Threshold usually depend on the material the item is made of. This information appears on page 577.

Object Immunities

Inanimate objects and hazards are immune to bleed, death effects, disease, healing, mental effects, necromancy, nonlethal attacks, and poison, as well as the doomed, drained, fatigued, paralyzed, sickened, and unconscious conditions. An item that has a mind is not immune to mental effects. Many objects are immune to other conditions, at the GM’s discretion. For instance, a sword has no Speed, so it can’t take a penalty to its Speed, but an effect that causes a Speed penalty might work on a moving blade trap.

Shoddy Items

Improvised or of dubious make, shoddy items are never available for purchase except for in the most desperate of communities. When available, a shoddy item usually costs half the Price of a standard item, though you can never sell one in any case. Attacks and checks involving a shoddy item take a –2 item penalty. This penalty also applies to any DCs that a shoddy item applies to (such as AC, for shoddy armor). A shoddy suit of armor also worsens the armor’s check penalty by 2. A shoddy item’s Hit Points and Broken Threshold are each half that of a normal item of its type