Many items may give a positive or negative modifier to certain checks (typically skills related to the item), and such modifiers should be noted on the character sheet and added to the total bonus of skills (as explained in the Skills section). Weapons have a base damage, typically in W or S, applied if the attacker rolls a success against a target. The base damage may be a straight base (such as 4W), a base die (such as 1d2W, 1d3W, or 1d6W), or a combination (such as 1d6+2W). Successes on attack checks may be added to W damage or S damage, depending on if the attacker is trying to kill or subdue the target.
A note on damage values using dice. A 1d2 is simply a 1d6 where 1,2, or 3 is treated as a 1, while 4,5, or 6 is treated as a 2. For a 1d3, 1 or 2 is a 1, 3 or 4 is a 2, while 5 or 6 is a 3.
Tools as weapons: if using a tool as a melee weapon, such as a knife meant for skinning, then treat that tool as a weapon with an offense quality equal to half its bonus and a defense quality equal to -2. For damage, it has the minimum dice code for its size, half successes and double failures.
Weapons as tools: if using melee weapons for tools, such as a knife to make a primitive spear, then treat that weapon as a tool that has a bonus equal to the average of the offense and defense quality. For example, if that knife had Quality: +1/-2, the average is -0.5, rounded down to -1, meaning that knife, when used as a tool, grants a -1 bonus to craft. Half successes and double failures when using a weapon as a tool.
Size: all items and weapons have the same size categories as creatures, where if an item has the same size as a creature, think of it as a medium-sized object. For example, for a normal-sized human:
Tiny (S0): smallest size category, could carry hundreds (or much more) with one arm, assuming it's bundled. Examples include a lighter, sling-stones, small smoking pipe, etc..
Little (S1): if bundled, could carry dozens with one arm, typical examples are pocket knives, grenades, crossbow bolts, etc..
Small (S2): can carry several with one arm, typical size for weapons such as short swords, light clubs, combat knives, etc..
Normal (S3): a bulk or mass that can easily be carried in one arm, typically the average size of a weapon, such as an axe, sword, mace, etc..
Large (S4): a mass or bulk heavy enough to tax one arm, may take two arms to handle effectively. Weapons include two-handed swords, heavy versions of normal weapons, and most polearms.
Huge (S5): heavy enough to tax both arms, only the strongest could hope to wield such weapons. An example would be a two-handed sword made for a Large giant (for a large creature, this would be the equivalent of a Large weapon for a normal-sized creature).
Massive (S6): heavy enough to tax several people working together to lift and carry such a load.
Gargantuan (S7): heavy enough to tax dozens of people working together, assuming they could position in such a way to handle such a load.
Colossal (S8): heavy enough to tax hundreds of people working together, using ropes/pullies/etc..
Mythical (S9): largest size category, would take the strength of thousands of people (or even much more) to move it.
Rather than use a system that tracks weight, we use theater of mind and some common-sense restrictions on how much a character could carry/easily access in combat versus loads packed away or bundled for travel. So anything of size U (unarmed) is considered negligible (you could carry hundreds to thousands of these items before any encumbrance), L (light) is the mass of a dagger or a can of coke (could easily carry a dozen in one hand if bundled), M (medium) is the mass of a sword or baseball bat (could easily carry a half dozen in one hand if bundled), H (heavy) is the mass of a polearm or heavy fireman's axe (could carry three in one hand if bundled, six in both hands), and beyond that consider each step twice as bulky/heavy as the previous. So someone could carry (a reasonable distance) three H+1 items if bundled, or one H+2 item, and beyond that its too big to be handled by a normal-sized character.
By this token, add/subtract the gear size of any items made/used by creatures of a different size category than normal by one per step. For example, the dagger of a huge giant is a light weapon to other huge creatures, but that's two size categories larger than normal for human-sized characters, so that's +2 to light, bumping it up to heavy. A character trying to carry that giant's dagger would find it to be comparable in size to heavy weapons like a great sword.
Crafting Materials are an abstract way of tracking the materials needed to create weapons, armor, and gear, typically bundled for travel. For each count of 10 crafting materials, assume (when bundled) that this is equivalent to the weight of one medium-sized object. This means up to 60 (6 x medium object) could be carried by one arm, or 120 with both arms as a full load.
Restrictions: some equipment has stat restrictions, such as FIN:10 or STR/BOD:11. These are the minimum stats needed to use the gear without penalty. For armor, each unmet restriction adds to the FIN reduction imparted while wearing the armor. For other gear, for each unmet restriction, impose Inferior +1 on checks to use that gear. If a weapon with unmet restrictions is used to block or parry, for each unmet restriction, grant attacker Superior +1 to their check.
Armor – some gear (or natural abilities) impart an armor rating to the user. There are three classes of armor: light, medium, and heavy. Light armor offers the least protection, ideally suited to protect against light weapons while faring poorly against heavy ones (due to its low armor value), while heavy armor offers the most protection but also the greatest restrictions. Restrictions impose penalties to stats, and if stat restrictions are not met, those penalties are doubled for every unmet stat. If there is no penalty for the armor, assume a penalty of FIN:-1 per unmet restriction.
Heavier sets of armor are composed of lighter sets. For example, padded armor (light) may form the undercoat of chainmail (medium) that may form the undercoat of plate (heavy). GM has discretion when adding bits to an existing set of armor - for example, a medium helmet added to a medium set of armor may increase the armor value by one, as may a set of bracers, providing that set is still within normal range for that armor set, and is of equal or greater tier to the base set (this does not impact the tier of the set itself).
Armor stats include the tier (T0 to T6), size (see size at the beginning of this chapter), penalties, and stat restrictions.
Example: Let's suppose your character with a STR(10) wishes to wear some chain mail that has a value of 3, FIN:-1 and needs STR:11 to wear. The chain mail should be listed as:
Chain mail(T3) [M | Armor: 3 | FIN-1 | STR:11]
Anyone wearing this armor suffers FIN-1, but as the character does not meet the STR requirement, when wearing the armor his FIN suffers double the penalty, or -2. If no penalty had been listed, those who meet the requirement suffer no penalty, but those who fail to meet it (like our example of a character with STR:10), suffer a FIN-1 for the unmet requirement.
Like weapons, armor may be sundered: compare the size and tier of the attacking weapon to the armor. If either (or both) is higher for the weapon, a sunder check is needed (see Combat).
Melee weapons are primarily used to attack and injure opponents, though they can be used defensively. From brass knuckles that can make brawling more lethal or even add a point or two of W damage, to massive, two-handed, cumbersome weapons that do a lot of damage, as well as those used to defend against attacks, melee weapons cover any item used with offense or defense melee skills.
Size: melee weapons follow the same size rules with items. If there is a 2nd size rating, that is for damage. For example, a spear, due to its reach, may be classified as a Large weapon (S5) but the spearhead may do damage more akin to a normal-sized weapon (S4). More details are found in Weapons.
Quality: the quality of a weapon represents its effectiveness in combat and helps to determine its offensive and defensive abilities. The first bonus (or penalty) is added to any attack checks, while the second is added to defense if the weapon is used to parry or block attacks. Sometimes these may be denoted as O (for offense) and D (for defense). Damage to weapons may decrease either of these values, while care, maintenance and improvements may increase them. If either the offense or defense quality is -5, consider that weapon broken and all but useless.
Stats: The stats of melee weapons are listed with tier (T0 to T6), size, quality (offense/defense) and the base Wound damage, for example:
Weapon(T3) [S5 | Quality: +2/+1 | Damage: 2d6 | STR:11]
Defense weapons (which we'll call shields for easy reference) are primarily used to block or parry attacks. From bracers or protective arm/hand covers to massive tower shields, shields are typically used with defense skills.
Size: shields follow the same size rules with items. If there is a 2nd size rating, that is for damage. For example, a regular shield with a spike on its face, may be classified as a Large weapon (S5) but the spike may be treated as a Small-sized weapon (S3). More details are found in Weapons. Shields are treated as equal size to any attack up to their size category.
Quality: the quality of a shield represents its effectiveness in combat and helps to determine its offensive and defensive abilities. The first bonus (or penalty) is added to any attack checks using that shield as a weapon, while the second is added to defense when the shield is used to parry or block attacks. As with melee weapons, sometimes the quality may be denoted as O (for offense) and D (for defense). Damage to shields may decrease either of these values, while care, maintenance and improvements may increase them. As with melee weapons, if either the offense or defense quality drops to -5, consider that shield broken and all but useless.
Stats: The stats of shields are listed with tier, size (L for light, M for medium, H for heavy, remember they have an additional size category of one smaller as well), quality (Q) and the base Wound damage if used as an offense weapon, for example, a particularly difficult shield to wield:
Spiked Shield(T3) [S4/S3 | Quality: -2/+4 | Damage: 1d3 | STR/FIN:13, BOD:12]
Any weapon becomes a ranged weapon if thrown (i.e. leaves the character's grip), and follows the rules for ranged weapons.
Size: ranged weapons follow the same size rules with items. If there is a 2nd size rating, that is for damage. For example, a compound bow may be classified as a Normal weapon (S4) but explosive arrows may do damage more akin to a Huge-sized weapon (S6). More details are found in Weapons.
Quality: similar to the quality of melee weapons. Note that many ranged weapons may be easily damaged by using them to block or parry. Sometimes these qualities may be denoted as O (for offense) and D (for defense). Damage to weapons may decrease either of these values, while care, maintenance and improvements may increase them. If either the offense or defense quality is -5, consider that weapon broken and all but useless.
Range: rather than range increments needing calculations to determine modifiers, this system seeks to streamline "how far away is the target." It replaces numbers with simple descriptors. To hit a target beyond the weapon's range, impose Inferior +1 for each range category higher, up to two range categories. Beyond that, assume the target is out of reach, though for some weapons the GM may make an exception (allowing Inferior 3+ checks).
N/A - for not applicable, used for weapons not meant for ranged attacks.
Nearby - nearly within arm's reach (less than 2 meters)
Close - just a few paces away (within 4 meters)
Short - several paces away (within 10 meters)
Long - typically the limits of non-aerodynamic throwing weapons (within 50 meters)
Extensive - (within 100 meters)
Extreme - the limit of most hand-held weapons (within 500 meters)
Siege - (within 1 kilometer)
Cannon - (within a few kilometers)
Artillery - (within 50 km)
Rocket - (within 100 km)
Missile - (within 500 km)
Large Missile - (within 1,000 km)
Intercontinental Missile - (within 10,000 kilometers)
Ammo: for ranged projectile weapons (not throwing weapons), ammo is needed. Rather than keeping track of each bullet, bolt, or arrow, such weapons have an ammo check and ammo count. One ammo count represents several pieces of ammunition. Whenever the weapon is used (an attack check), an ammo check is needed. Should the ammo check fail, one count of ammo is lost. Backup weapons may typically have an ammo count of one, while primary weapons may have two or three counts of ammo. This is noted by Ammo(check): X, where "check" is the minimum number on 3d6 to avoid reducing the ammo count, and "X" is the current ammo count. Each time the ammo check fails, ammo count is reduced by one. At ammo count zero, the weapon has run out of ammunition.
Ammo check depends on the tier of the ranged weapon: T0=10, T1=9, T2=8, T3=7, T4=6, T5=5, and T6=4.
Stats: the stats of ranged weapons include standard ammo, though special ammo may alter these stats. Each weapon is listed with quality (Q), range (R), the base Wound damage, stat restrictions (if any), and ammo (if applicable), for example:
Shotgun [S4 | Quality: +0/+2 | Range: Long | 1d6+1W | STR:10 | Ammo(7): 2]
Note: scattering ammo such as birdshot, buckshot, etc. can still hit on a failed attack. For example, with the birdshot shotgun listed above (DMG:1d6+1W), the maximum damage possible is 7W, so a failure of 7 or more to guarantee the damage is zero. A failure of 3, for example, would result in 1d6-2W damage, so on a roll of 3 or more, some damage would still be applied (treat negative numbers as zero).
Throwing melee weapons: Any melee weapon with a range of N/A is not designed for throwing, but some may be used as ranged weapons (through the use of the Throwing Skill) with the following restrictions:
Light Melee Weapons have Range: Short, -2 to hit
Medium Melee Weapons have Range: Close, -4 to hit
Heavy Melee Weapons have Range: Nearby, Inferior +1 to hit
Remember, using a ranged weapon beyond its normal range imposes an Inferior +1 check, up to two range categories. So someone trying to lob a heavy weapon to Short range (two range increments beyond Nearby) would suffer Inferior +3 to hit(base Inferior +1 plus Inferior +2 ).
For all other gear used with checks, three stats are needed: the tier of the gear, its size (see size at the beginning of this chapter), and its bonus (or penalty). Tier is only used in certain circumstances, such as tools used in crafting. For all other situations, tier is a useful indicator of how fine a quality the object is: a primitive item that grants +1 is as useful as a fine item that grants +1, though the primitive is an exceptionally well-crafted item, while the fine is nothing special (beyond being constructing of finer materials). In other words, the primitive item is an exceptionally well crafted piece of primitive gear, while the fine one is a poor example of fine items. Items are marked as name, tier, size, bonus and restrictions (if any):
Item(T3) [S3 | +1 | BOD:10]
Multiple items: if using multiple items to modify a check, for example two impressive clothing items that may give a bonus to ALL, take the average of the bonuses, rounding down - a crappy piece reduces the impact of the better one (such as a fine diamond earring and a crude, gaudy necklace - the earring would have more impact without the necklace).