Armor, Weapons, and Equipment

It is assumed that your character will have all of the mundane gear implied by her High Concept. Warriors will have their armor and whatever weapons make sense, wizards will have their spellbooks and components, and kender their hoopaks (or whatever). 

Anything outside of what is determined reasonable for your character should be approved by the GM.

Armor

Your role determines the type of armor you're character has permission to wear. When you choose a type of armor, it gets an aspect with one free invoke per scene. Doing so adds a bonus to a defend action based on the armor's durability. You may invoke your armor aspect again by spending a fate point or by successfully creating an advantage. Armor can also be compelled by the GM or another character when in situations where wearing armor becomes problematic such as trying to swim, trying to move quietly, or during physical exertion in a hot environment.

Armor Aspect Examples

Light Armor. leather; studded leather; hide

• Adds two 1-point stress boxes

• Invoke to gain a +1 on a defend action.

• Compel when attempting to swim or exert yourself in a hot environment.

Medium Armor. chain mail; ring mail; banded

• Adds four 1-point stress boxes

• Invoke to gain a +2 on a defend action.

• Compel when attempting to swim, trying to exert yourself in a hot environment, or attempting to move quietly.

Heavy Armor. plate armor; splint mail

• Adds six 1-point stress boxes

• Invoke to gain a +3 on a defend action.

• Compel when attempting to swim, to try to cast arcane spells, attempting to move quietly, or while trying to exert yourself in a hot environment.

Shields

Anyone can use a shield. Shields may be invoked and compelled exactly like armor, and a shield provides an additional 1-point stress box.

Enchanted Armor

Along the way, you will likely pick up the occasional suit of enchanted armor that provides additional protection against physical attacks. This enchantment is represented with a armor rating from Amr:4 to Amr:1. These numbers represent enchantments that limit the amount of stress you can receive when you fail to defend against an attack. For example, if you're wearing a suit of Elven Chainmail rated at Amr:3 and you're hit with a physical attack the maximum amount of stress you'll receive is three shifts. Armor ratings always take precedence over weapon ratings, so even if you're wearing armor rated at Amr:3 and are hit with a weapon rated at Wpn: 4, the most stress you'll receive is three shifts.

If you wish to begin the game with a set of enchanted armor you must spend refresh as you would any other item of power. So, for a suit of leather armor rated at Amr:4, you would need to spend two refresh, one for the Light Armor stunt granting you the additional stress boxes and one refresh for the Wpn:4 rating. If you'd like to improve your armor rating, each additional point of refresh spent will improve the armor rating by one step.

Weapons

Like armor, weapons are treated as aspects. The player may create advantages depending on the specific weapon being used. For instance, in a conflict between two combatants in which one wields a greatsword and the other a dagger, the knife fighter may seem at a disadvantage, but he can create the advantage Inside Your Reach. Not only will the knife fighter get a free invoke, but the sword fighter could be forced to spend at least one exchange trying to overcome the advantage before it can be used against her.

In addition, when a successful attack is made, the attacking player may pay a fate point to his target. The target may then choose whether or not to accept the fate point. Accepting the fate point means taking a condition in lieu of stress.  The severity of the consequence depends on the weapon's size. Light weapons deal a mild consequence. Medium weapons deal a moderate consequence. And heavy weapons deal a severe consequence. If the appropriate consequence slot is already filled, then the severity of the consequence dealt moves up one step. 

Likewise, if the player’s attack succeeds with style the severity of the consequence moves up one level. The severity of the consequence can also be affected if the combatants are in different size categories. For instance, if the defending character is one step larger than the attacking character, the consequence is reduced by one step.

Of course the target of the attack may choose to refuse the fate point but must pay the attacking player a fate point of his own and absorb the stress as he wishes.

Weapon Traits

Each weapon has several traits that can be used to inform how that weapon can be invoked and compelled. The player and the GM should work together to come up with appropriate traits for individual weapons. Here are some example traits.

Size. light; medium; heavy

Damage. bludgeoning; piercing; slashing

Function. melee; ranged, thrown; grappling; ammo

Weapon Quality

Weapons can be assigned a quality rating. When in a conflict or contest with a creature using a weapon of inferior quality, you gain an advantage of one free invoke or, if the difference is three steps or more, two free invokes. Beginning characters start with weapons of martial (+2) quality or lower. These ratings may also be used to determine the cost of such items. For example, to buy a martial weapon (fairly common items found in most weapon shops) would require a Fair (+2) difficulty.

Enchanted Weapons

Like armor, enchanted weapons are given a rating. Unlike armor ratings, though, weapon ratings begin at one and can go as high as six. This rating indicates the minimum number shifts of stress that weapon will deliver to the target with a successful attack. Therefore, a weapon rated at Wpn:3 will always do a minimum of three shifts of stress if your attack ties or wins the contest by one or two. If your attack is a success by a margin greater than your weapon's rating you simply apply the shifts normally. 

Again, armor ratings will always take precedence over weapon ratings.

Tools and Equipment

As with armor and weapons, tools and other equipment important to your character are treated as aspects that grant your character permission to do certain things, like pick a lock or brew a potion. You can spend Fate points to invoke them when it matters, or you can take a moment to create an advantage with the appropriate approach. In some cases it may make sense to create a stunt if it's something you will be using frequently, though few are the times when spending refresh to create a tool stunt is worth the benefit.

Like everything else your character uses, your chosen role and high concept will determine what equipment your character is proficient with, (Kender, thieves, and other rogues will be able to use lockpicks, dwarves and blacksmiths can forge their own weapons, and tinker gnomes can build machines.), and it's assumed your character has access to what she needs to accomplish these tasks.