Items

A collection of items. On the left, there are three pieces of armor, in the middle four weapons, and on the right six other items, like a map, ammunition, and a cell phone.

Your characters will have to rely on a multitude of different items during their stories. This chapter describes the main categories of items and how to craft and upgrade them. Items have Tiers just like creatures that determine their quality and power. See the items and weapon and armor lists for an extensive list of all items. You can also find all upgrades here.

Weight and Carry Capacity

Every item has a weight, usually between 1 and 6. The weight is an abstraction and does not directly correlate with any real-life weight measurement.

Creatures can only carry so much weight and are limited by how many items they can carry around. The Carry Capacity of a creature is equal to twice their Strength Stat. A creature that tries to carry more suffers multiple penalties. Their Basic Movement is set to 1 m and cannot be increased, their Evasion is reduced by half, all of their Skill Checks, DR, and attacks are made with disadvantage, and all creatures that they force to make a DR gain advantage on that roll.

Should they try to carry more than twice their Carry Capacity, they just fall Prone and are Restrained until they stop carrying that much weight.

Weapons

Weapons are some of the most basic ways to deal damage. You can make a weapon attack with the Attack action, and some Abilities trigger weapon attacks. For more information on weapon attacks, see the chapter on attacks in the combat rules.

Every weapon has a base damage die. One-handed weapons usually have a base damage die of d6, or d8, and two-handed weapons usually have a base damage die of d10 or d12. In addition to the base die, you add the Primary Stat Bonus of a weapon to the damage. For example, you would deal 1d8 + 3 damage if you have a Dexterity of 13 and hit a creature with a dagger (which has a Primary Stat of Dexterity).

You can only efficiently attack with a weapon that you are proficient with. You attack with disadvantage should you not be proficient with a weapon. You cannot be proficient in single weapons. You instead have proficiency with weapon categories (usually depending on your Archetype). There are six weapon categories:

Simple: The basic category that every Archetype is proficient with. They contain more common and easy-to-use items, like blunt objects, pistols, and daggers.

Examples of simple weapons: A Knife, a hand pistol, a baseball bat, a long stave, a fire axe, and a whip.

Medieval: This category contains typical medieval fantasy weapons like swords, spears, bows, and crossbows.

Examples of Medieval Weapons: A Crossbow, a bow, a great sword, a halberd, and a shield.

Military: Here, you will find more advanced, modern firearms and weapons like assault rifles, shotguns, rocket launchers, and chainsaws.

Examples of Military weapons: An assault rifle, a shotgun, a rocket launcher, a sniper rifle, and a minigun.

Tech: Experimental and magical weapons that deal Elemental damage fill this category. All weapons in this category require Intelligence to be wielded effectively. You will find your typical energy blasters, laser swords, and flamethrowers here but feel free to re-flavor them to magic wands and staves that shoot magic.

Examples of Tech weapons: A frost gun, a laser pistol, a magical fire stave, a flame thrower, a lighting sword, a poison wand, and shock gauntlets.

Mind: This category is filled with weapons that directly attack the enemy’s mind and deal Psychic damage. You will find psychic blasters and musical instruments, which all require a good Charisma Stat to use.

Examples of Mind weapons: A enchanted flute, a crystal wand, an electric guitar, a psionic rifle, a brain-shaped mace, and a drum.

Unearthly: Here, you can find weapons that rely on spiritual energies and deal Mystic damage. It is filled with symbols, hallowed blades, and blessed weapons, which all require Instinct to wield.

Examples of Unearthly weapons: An Ankh, a golden hammer, a holy stave, Ishanekon (the divine blade of Blaze), a cursed axe, prayer beads, and an unholy wand.

Weapons can be either melee or ranged weapons. Melee weapons only have a short range which is usually not more than 3 m. Ranged weapons have an effective and ineffective range (usually written down like this 15m/45m, the first one being the effective range and the second one being the ineffective range). You make a normal ranged attack if you attack a target within the effective range, but if the target is within your ineffective range, you attack with disadvantage. You can only attack with ranged weapons if you have equipment equipped.

Weapons can have different properties that can be positive or negative. Here is a list of all the properties:

  • Two-handed: You can only use this weapon with two hands. Melee Weapons with this property usually have a base range of 2 m.
  • Elemental: This weapon deals Elemental damage if you attack with it. This Elemental damage type is fixed and cannot be changed.
  • Mystic: This weapon deals Mystic damage if you attack with it. This Mystic damage type is fixed and cannot be changed.
  • Psychic: This weapon deals Psychic damage if you attack with it.
  • Adaptable: You can choose to deal physical damage instead of its normal damage type if you attack with this weapon.
  • Flexible: This ranged weapon does not gain disadvantage if you attack while there is an enemy within 1 m of you.
  • Heavy: This weapon is twice as heavy and expensive as it would normally be.
  • Loud: Attacking with this weapon causes a lot of noise.
  • Reload: Your Attack action uses 3 AP instead of 2, and your Flash Attack action uses 2 AP instead of 1 if you attack with this weapon.

Some weapons make area-of-effect attacks. Such weapons target either everything within a 2 m cube, a 3 m line that starts within melee range, or everybody within 1 m of the attacker. When you attack with such a weapon, you make one attack roll and roll once for damage for all targets. This counts as one attack, no matter how many targets you have. Area-of-effect melee weapons only have a base range of 1 m, even if they are two-handed.

Attacking without a weapon (called an unarmed attack) counts as a weapon attack. An unarmed attack can be a punch, kick, headbutt, bite, or any other attack you can think of that is made without a weapon. You can also make one additional unarmed attack for each empty hand beyond the first one if you use the Lesser Talent Multi-Wielder.

Armor

Most characters wear clothes or armor. There are four categories of armor: clothes, light, medium, and heavy. Every creature is automatically proficient with clothes, but you require training to be able to wear any other armor effectively. Most Archetypes give you proficiency in some of the other armor types.

The heavier your armor is, the more Armor it provides, but the lower its Evasion Cap is. The Evasion Cap of an armor limits how high your Evasion can increase through your Dexterity and Evasion Stat. It does not limit any other source of Evasion, like shields or features that grants you a bonus to it. If you do not wear any clothes or armor, your Armor value is reduced by 1.

Your Evasion Cap is reduced by 4 if you wear armor with which you are not proficient.

Armor TypeWeightArmorBase Evasion LimitStealth Checks
Nothing0-1normal
Clothes1016normal
Light Armor2115normal
Medium Armor4214normal
Heavy Armor6313 disadvantage
Armor Types

Shields

You can wield a shield with one free hand. They grant a bonus to your Evasion and can modify your Evasion Cap. There are three categories of shields: light, medium, and heavy. To use it effectively, you must be proficient in wielding the corresponding shield category. You are proficient with a shield category if you are proficient with the armor category of the same name.

The heavier a shield is, the higher its Evasion bonus, but the Evasion Cap modifier worsens.

You can also use shields like a melee weapon, but they are less effective than a normal weapon. Heavy Shields need to be wielded with two hands to use them as a weapon, but they can be used with one hand if you only want to use them defensively.

Your Evasion Cap is reduced by 1 per shield you wear that you are not proficient with.

The WP cost of Non-Manouver Abilities increases by 1 for each shield you are wielding.

The Evasion bonus of shields you wield beyond the first one is reduced by 1 if you wear more than one shield.

Shield TypeWeightEvasion BonusEvasion Cap ModifierStealth Checks
Light Shield2+1+1normal
Medium Shield4+20normal
Heavy Shield6+3-1disadvantage
Shield Types

Equipment

Equipment is an abstraction for various components, parts, ammunition, and other items you require for your Skills, Abilities, and ranged weapons. Equipment is vital for most characters.

You cannot attack with any ranged weapon if you do not have equipment. Most Abilities require you to have your equipment with you to use them.

You can also presume that you have basic tools to use Skills that you are trained in when you have your equipment with you. Some examples would be lockpicks for your Lockpicking Skill or mechanical tools for Engineering. This includes tools that you need to craft and upgrade items.

Bag

A bag allows you to carry all sorts of objects and trinkets that do not fall into the other item categories without affecting your carrying limit. This includes ingredients and materials that you can use to craft items.

There is no official limit on how much you can fit in your bag. The GM can, however, intervene if they think that you are starting to carry around a ridiculous amount of objects and limit how much you can actually carry around in a bag.

Credits

Credits are an abstraction for all sorts of monetary systems. Depending on your setting, you can use it to buy all kinds of items. The GM can feel free to change the name to any monetary system that fits the setting, like gold for fantasy or dollars for a modern game.

I recommend that players should roughly earn 500 + (1000 * Tier) credits per Level. The GM can, of course, adjust that number to fit the group’s needs.

Starting Equipment

The GM determines with which items the player characters can start, but I recommend the following Standard Starting Equipment:

  • 1 clothes or armor
  • 1 equipment
  • 1-3 weapons/shields
  • 1 bag
  • 300 credits

Feel free to add minor flavor Items to iron out your character.

If the characters start their adventure at higher Tiers, I suggest that you allow your players to begin with items that have a Tier that is one lower than their starting Tier. Also, give them an additional 500 Credits for each Tier beyond the first. Starting items cannot have negative or neutral upgrades unless the GM permits it.

Ability Consumables and Items

Ability Consumables and Items allow you to use Abilities without WP even if you do not know the corresponding Ability.

Ability Consumables are one-use items that allow you to use a previously determined Ability once. The Ability stored in the Ability consumable can be upcasted, and the user can determine how they upcast it. The upcast is fixed and cannot be increased or reduced unless a feature allows it. The item is destroyed or useless after you use it. They weigh 1 and are relatively affordable.

Ability items have charges, which act just like WP. You can only use one Ability with this item. They regain all charges after their wielder takes a full rest. Their weight is 3, and they are significantly more expensive than Ability consumables. Ability Items have 4 charges, but they can be upgraded to have more.

Features and Talents that affect Abilities also affect Ability consumables and items and can be used to empower them further.

Ability Items and Consumables might have a Skill Level requirement to use them. The Skill Level requirement can be added during the crafting or upgrading process and is equal to the Skill Level of the Skill used to craft it or lower.

Stimulant

Stimulants are consumable items that grant WP when you consume them. They can be various things, like mana crystals, steroids, coffee, or ammunition packs. Choose what fits your setting and characters.

There are different Tiers of Stimulants. It starts with Tier 0, which restores 1d8 WP. Every other Tier restores an additional 1d8 WP, but they are also more expensive and rarer.

Crafting

Characters can craft items if they have the corresponding Skills and tools. To be able to craft an item, you need the following things:

  • A corresponding Skill of at least 1 + Tier of the wanted item
  • Materials that are worth at least half of the cost of the item
  • Being of at least the same Tier as the item that you want to craft
  • Your equipment

You can see which Skills can craft which items here.

What kinds of material you need are determined by the GM. You should usually be able to buy them in any location with a multitude of shops, like towns or trading hubs. You might also be able to find materials while you are adventuring. Your character would normally not just stumble upon materials, but they might be able to gather or salvage them with successful Skill Checks. An alchemist might be able to find magical herbs with a successful Survival Check, a blacksmith could mine some ore with a good Raw Force Check, or an Engineer can salvage a defeated battle robot for parts with a successful Engineering Check. The value of materials that they can find should not greatly surpass the number of credits that they would normally get with their Level if you wish to keep it balanced.

When your character crafts an item, you should think about what they are actually crafting and how they are doing it. Instead of just making a Simple Heal Ability consumable and leaving it at that, you could say that your alchemist brewed a healing position, that your doctor mixed some painkiller, or maybe your character just baked chocolate chip cookies that are so good that they make you forget your pain. Feel free to be creative as long as it fits into your game setting.

You cannot just craft items instantly. You need some time to do so. You are going to need Item Price/50 in hours to craft something. Crafting Consumables only needs half the time (Item Price/100 hours).

Maneuvers cannot be turned into Ability Consumables and Items.

Upgrade

Characters can also upgrade and customize their non-consumable items. There are a variety of upgrades. You can find a full list of all Upgrades here.

Items that are not upgraded are of Tier 0. There are different upgrades with different Tiers. Once an item is upgraded, you add the upgrades Tier to the items Tier. A rifle without upgrades that you upgrade with the Improved Weapon Upgrade (Tier 1) would become a Tier 1 weapon, for example. There are also upgrades of Tier 0 that do not change the Tier and even downgrades that lower the Tier of the item. Non-permanent upgrades, like those granted by the Lesser Talents Hacker Craft and Free Upgrade, do not change the Tier of the item.

To upgrade an item, you need the same requirement that you would need to be able to craft it. Alternatively, you can go to a craftsman that can upgrade your items in exchange for credits. The price depends on the type of Upgrade that you want. If you craft it yourself, you only need materials that have a value of half as many credits.

The cost of positive upgrades (Tier 1 or higher) increases by 500 times the Tier of the item. The additional cost does not increase if you use an upgrade that increases the Tier of the item by more than 1. This additional cost cannot be decreased to lower than 0.

The cost of negative upgrades (Tier -1 or lower ) increases by 300 for each negative Upgrade it already has.

The cost of neutral upgrades always stays the same.

You can remove upgrades if you work one hour on the item. You do not regain the materials used for the upgrade. You can also just overwrite unwanted Upgrades with new Upgrades.

SkillPower SourceCraftingUpgradeable
ArtSupernatural, TechniqueMind, Unearthly, Clothes, Equipment, Consumables, Ability ItemMind, Unearthly, Clothes, Equipment, Ability Item
ComputersTechnologyEquipment, Consumables, Ability ItemEverything
EngineeringTechnique, TechnologySimple, Medieval, Military, Tech, Mind, Armor, Shield, Bag, Equipment, Consumables, Ability ItemSimple, Medieval, Military, Tech, Mind, Armor, Shield, Bag, Equipment, Ability Item
HistorySupernatural, Technique, TechnologySimple, Medieval, Military, Armor, Clothes, Shield, Equipment, Consumables, Ability ItemSimple, Medieval, Military, Armor, Clothes, Shield, Equipment, Ability Item
ImprovisationBiology, Supernatural, Technique, TechnologySimple, Medieval, Armor, Clothes, Shield, Bag, Equipment, Consumables
MedicineBiology, TechnologyEquipment, Consumables, Ability ItemAbility Item
Natural ScienceBiology, Technique, TechnologySimple, Medieval, Military, Tech, Mind, Armor, Clothes, Shield, Bag, Equipment, Consumables, Ability ItemSimple, Medieval, Military, Tech, Mind, Armor, Shield, Bag, Equipment, Ability Item
SupernaturalBiology, SupernaturalSimple, Medieval, Military, Tech, Unearthly, Mind, Armor, Clothes, Shield, Bag, Equipment, Consumables, Ability ItemSimple, Medieval, Military, Tech, Unearthly, Mind, Armor, Shield, Bag, Equipment, Ability Item
SurvivalBiology, TechniqueSimple, Medieval, Armor, Clothes, Shield, Bag, Equipment, Consumables
What each Skill can craft and upgrade

Artifact

An artifact is an item that does not follow the other item rules. They have no Tier, and characters cannot craft them unless the GM allows it. The GM can design them freely and give them any property they deem fit.

The purpose of artifacts is to give the GM the ability to create unique items necessary for the story or the setting.

Next Chapter: World Interaction