Equipment

Any sufficiently advanced technology

is indistinguishable from magic.

—Clarke’s Third Law

The world is a messy place. Having the right equipment, tools and technology can help you clean it up a bit. The right tool can be the difference between life and a fate worth than death. In the modern world, the only limits on the types of equipment available are the inventiveness of manufacturers, and the limits of your employers' credit cards.

Purchasing Equipment

You utilize Wealth checks to determine what you can afford and what gear you might reasonably have access to you. Every character has a wealth bonus that reflects their buying power. Every object and service has a purchase DC.

Your starting wealth can be found on the Wealth and Reputation page.

On-Hand Equipment

To account for the mundane and innocuous objects that most people have among their possessions, and not force every character to specifically purchase such objects in order to employ them, use the following rules:

With the GM's permission, a character can make a Wealth check to see if he or she has a mundane object on hand, as long as the object has a purchase DC of 10 or lower.  The Wealth check works the same as for buying the object, except that the character takes a -10 penalty on the check, and he or she can't take 10 or take 20. Also, a character can't make a Wealth check to see if he or she has a mundane object on hand during character generation or between adventures, only during play. If the character succeeds, his or her Wealth bonus is unaffected, even if the object's purchase DC is higher than his or her Wealth bonus.

Requisitioning Equipment

When a hero working for the Blackcloaks, or anther faction, needs more equipment than he or she has on hand, the hero may try to requisition it. The Blackcloaks evaluate whether the character really needs the object, how soon the agency can supply it, and whether the agency can reasonably expect to get it back when the hero is done with it.

The result is determined by a allegiance check (1d20 + characte's allegiance score+Cha) against a DC equal to the equipment's purchase DC. The following modifiers may affect the check:

• Object is necessary for the assignment: +8

• Object has an obvious application for the assignment: +4

• Object has a peripheral application for the assignment: +2

• Object has no obvious application for the assignment: -2

• Object is rare or magical in nature: -2

• Object is military hardware: -4

• Object is illegal: -8

• You are proficient in the use of the object: +2

• You have returned all unused gear undamaged from the previous mission: +2

The result of the check determines whether and how quickly the Blackcloaks can provide you with the requested equipment. With a success, you are issued the object. Generally, it takes 24 hours to obtain an object through requisition, but if the object is especially common, or if you beat the check DC by 5 or more, it is available in 1d4 hours.

Requisitioned objects are loaned, not given, to an agent. Obviously, expendable objects like ammunition don't have to be returned if used.

Living in Luxury

The purchase DCs given are for average-quality items. It's possible to purchase similar items with luxury features, generally by increasing the purchase DC by 1. Although such items are more expensive, they offer no additional features or game benefits.