Item

Items & Equipment give characters the means to protect themselves, and deal with different kinds of situations without relying entirely on special powers. Equipment typically refers to items that are worn or wielded by characters, whereas regular items are used according to their design.

Items

Items refer to objects which characters can carry so they can use them for their effect. Some are consumed upon use and others may have multiple, perhaps infinite uses. If the character meets the requirements and uses the correct action, they can benefit from the item's effects.

Item Design

Name, Type, and Appearance
Items have a name, item type and appearance that players can understand, with or without pictures. The item type can be important for powers and abilities that target specific item categories.

Weight
For calculating Inventory encumbrance, items usually have a weight. Items that are so small and light that they could fit anywhere, they might have a weight of 0 or -. Otherwise:

♦ Large items requiring two hands typically have a weight of 2 or more.
♦ Medium sized items that can be carried in one hand have a weight of 1.
♦ Small items are typically 0.1 in weight, though they can go higher.
♦ And again, very small items may have no weight at all.

Number of Uses
Used to describe consumable items. Consumed items can sometimes leave behind another item (Potion becomes an empty vial, for example). If an item isn't consumed after the first use, then it will tell you how many uses or charges that item has before it is completely empty.

If the player has the means to, some items can be restored or recharged to allow it to be used more times. (Refilling a potion vial, recharging an item's energy/magic).

Activation
Simple items can be 'activated' intuitively (Drinking a potion). Whereas others may require a specific action in order to use it (Twirling a wand, pressing a button). If the activation of an item is unknown then the character can try to figure out through trial and error or by discovering the activation. Once learned, the character can activate the item without rolling a check.

Some items can only be used by certain individuals, working only for those who are permitted, or after meeting some condition or prerequisite. In these cases an item may not activate or give the desired effect if the user does not meet the requirements.

Effect
Items typically have an effect of some kind when activated. If the Item is well known then the effects will be described, if it is an unknown item, then it's effects (partial or fully) will be known when activated.

As described above, some items may have different effects for different users. Beware of items that are designed to harm users who do not meet its requirements.

Equipment

Equipment covers a category of items that rely on a character wearing, wielding or otherwise equipping it to benefit from its effects. Equipment can provide their wielders new actions they can perform in and outside of Encounters.

Weapons

Weapons grant their wielders the power to attack and defend themselves using the weapon's characteristics.

Name, Type, and Appearance
A Weapon will have a name, weapon type and an appearance that players can understand with or without pictures. Weapon types are important to help distinguish weapons apart, and can be used to define powers and abilities that target specific weapons.

Range
Weapons, even Melee Weapons, will have a range which they can affect others. Melee weapons typically have the same range as their wielder's natural reach. Longer weapons may extend further.

Ranged weapons have range increments which affect ToHit checks depending on the distance from the attacker to the defender.

The chart below provides an example for when a weapon's range increment is 30ft or 6sqs. If it were any other distance, simply multiply that amount by 2, 3 or 4 times for Medium, Far and Too Far respectively.

Increment	Context (ft/squares)	Result (Advantage)	Result (Normal)
Close	30ft / 6sq	Advantage	Normal Roll
Medium	60ft / 12sq	Normal Roll	Disadvantage
Far	90ft / 18sq	Disadvantage	Roll 1
Too far	120ft+ / 24sq+	Roll 1	Roll 1

Damage & Typing
Weapons almost always deal some damage when used against a target. A Weapon will define how much and what type of damage is dealt on a successful hit. When a weapon has multiple damage types, the amount for each type is defined. Damaging typing is important to figure out target Resistances and weaknesses.

Bonus Die
A weapon will have a Bonus die, often with as many side as the Weapon's base damage. This normally adds damage to successful attacks made with the weapon, but in certain circumstances can become a Versatile bonus to inflict appropriate status magnitudes upon the target. What is appropriate will be defined on the weapon's properties (unless the character has the Magic Effect Meta-power.

Handedness & Intended Wielder Size
For a humanoid character, weapons can be wielded either with one or two hands, how many hands are used are determined by it's size and design. Bigger weapons need more hands and smaller ones can be wielded with one. If a weapon is small and light enough, it gets classed as a Light weapon, which is one-handed with benefits.

By default weapons are designed for Medium (Size-1) creatures, when the weapon's size is intended for a larger or smaller creature, it's stats adjust appropriately to the new size and the the required hands to wield will change. If a weapon is too big or small for the wielder, it can't be used. The chart below assumes the weapon can be wielded with any number of hands.

Wielder Size	One-Handed	Two-Handed
Gargantuan (Size 5-8)	Unusable	Unususable
Huge (Size 3-4)	Unusable	One-handed (Light)
Large (Size 2)	One-handed (Light)	One-handed
Medium	One-handed	Two-handed
Small	Two-handed	Two-Handed (Heavy)
Tiny	Two-handed (Heavy)	Ineffective
Diminutive	Ineffective	Ineffective

Armour & Outfits

Armour and Outfits are sets of clothing a character can wear, either for cosmetic or functional benefits. Armour describes outfits that protect the wearer from harm. Most characters will have some kind of outfit for modesty reasons. The definition of an Outfit is a set of clothing that establishes a character's look, as such, all characters can start off with an Outfit for free.

Armour/Outfit Design

Name, Type and Appearance
Outfits and Armours have names, an Equipment Type and appearance to describe what they look like. Item typing can be important for powers and abilities that focus on specific groups of items and equipment.

Defense Values
If the item is a type of Armour, it will have stats related to protecting the wearer. It could be Deflection to mitigate damage chance, or it could be Damage/Status Reduction that directly reduces damage and effects taken.

Outfit Size

Outfits are designed to fit a certain Size of character, it only matters if the outfit matches the character's size category. Unlike Weapons which can be reasonably wielded by undersized or oversized creatures, Outfits that don't match their wearer will either be too small or too big to wear and not offer the protection or benefits they grant.

Certain wearable items have the ability to resize to their wearer (magically, technologically, or otherwise). In these cases, matching Outfit size to the wearer becomes a non-issue.

Armour Type

Armour Type usually refers to the weight class of an Armour. Variants include Light, Medium and Heavy. The heavier the armour the more the wearer is weighed down, but the more protected they will be from harm. Armour is also affected by its design, materials, and any enhancements it might have.

Outfits that aren't considered to be a type of armour are instead classed as 'Clothing', which offers the least protection possible, but can still benefit from enhancements. The Bulk of Outfits and Armour scale with the user's intended wearer size.

When creating armour on the fly, there is a trade-off between the amount of protection given (Deflection) and the penalty (Reflex). As Deflection increases, so does the Reflex penalty. There is a cap to how many Deflection points an armour type can hold, anything more must be determined by special materials or enhancements.

Outfit/Armour Template

Type	Deflection per Reflex	Deflection Maximum	Speed Penalty	Typical Weight	Benefits
Clothing	None	None	1.0x	0.1	No loss of mobility. Establishes look without appearing 'battle-ready'.
Light	+1 per -0.5	4	1.0x	0.5	Provides protection with little to no loss in mobility.
Medium	+2 per -1	8	0.8x (25ft)	1.0	Offers a good deal of protection at the cost of some mobility.
Heavy	+3 per -1	12	0.6x (20ft)	2.0	Offers maximum protective capabilities at the cost of mobility.

Enhancements

Enhancements are aspects of a piece of equipment or even items that grant different or additional effects compared to their standard variants. These enhancements operate similarly to how Metaphors work on characters. A Base Enhancement will scale much like a Metaphor's ability, whenever the enhancement increases, so will the item/equipment's stats. A Special Enhancement functions like a Sub-ability and will often grant the item/equipment effects and functions it would not have had previously, these can also scale up with investment.

Base enhancements are fixed numbers, whereas Special Enhancements are Meta-dice of the appropriate value.

Weapon Enhancements For all weapons, enhancing the weapons Damage works well as a base enhancement. This will increase the weapons Base Damage, the fixed value independent of the bonus die. As far as Weapon accuracy is concerned, this is split up into either Homing or Piercing bonuses. The Homing enhancement will gain additional ToHit that only applies towards landing attacks against a foe's Evasion. Piercing gives bonus ToHit only against a foe's Deflection, provided they originally met the target's Evasion Target-Number. Special Enhancements Weapon Special enhancements can be used to add damage types to hits, such as giving a Physical (Sharp) weapon the power to deal additional Fire damage (d4 at 1 point of investment). They can also emulate other bonuses found in Base enhancements as well.

Armour Enhancements For all armour, they can have a Base Enhancement to increase the amount of Deflection a character can resist, or it could improve their Evasion or reduce Reflex penalties. Armours can also reduce the amount of damage taken from specific or all types of damage (Damage Reduction). Armour can have counter-measures against Homing and Piercing weapons, such as having a Shield Bonus against Homing attacks and Fortification against piercing. Special Enhancements Special Enhancements for Armour can take the form of Damage Reduction, that reduces specific types of damage by a fixed amount, Resistance, which halves the damage taken from types of damage including secondary effects. Others include giving the wearer temporary health, enhancing their abilities, and other passive effects. Effects and functions can also be activated when required.