Items & Equipment give characters the means to protect themselves and deal with different kinds of situations without relying entirely on special powers. Items and Equipment are distinct in one major way, Items are objects a character can use to some effect, whereas Equipment are objects a character can wear or equip to temporarily modify a character's options and potential.
Items
Items refer to objects which characters can carry so they can use them for their effect. Some are consumable, others are not. Some have requirements to use them and others are as easy as simply interacting with them.
Item Usage
Universal
Universal items have an effect that activates upon use and does not require any specific target or circumstance to do so. If a character uses it, the item will activate. An example of a universal item is a Flashlight, when turned on it begins to emit light and provided it has the power to do so, there is no special circumstance preventing its use.
Conditional
Conditional items require a certain circumstance to be true (or false) before it can be used, either because of a limitation or it would not make sense to do it any other time. The best example of a conditional item is a Key, Keys can be used to unlock doors and containers but a Key used anywhere other than a lock won't do anything, and used on any lock but the one it belongs to won't unlock the door/object.
Item Durability
Consumable
Consumable Items disappear after being used. Sometimes they may leave something behind after doing so, like an empty container that was once filled with something.
The ubiquitous Healing Potion is a good example of a consumable, healing whoever drinks from it and potentially leaving a Vial behind (if the Game-Master deems fit). Occasionally, an consumable item can be used a number of times before disappearing, but any extremely high amount might as well be a Reusable item.
Rarely, an item can be considered consumable if the items is forcibly removed from a character's possession upon use. So that the item could still exist elsewhere, but not in a way the character can use again.
Reusable
Reusable items are the opposite to Consumable, the item's effect can be used multiple times within reason. Although a Reusable item doesn't necessarily allow it to be used infinite times in succession, possibly having cooldown times or uses per interval of time, the main appeal is that the item does not disappear regardless of how often it is used.
A good example of a reusable item is a set of Lockpicks, this item can be used to open locks and could potentially be used many times so long as they don't break.
Equipment
Equipment covers a category of items that rely on a character wearing, wielding or otherwise equipping it to themselves in order to benefit from its effects. In addition, certain types of equipment can grant options to a character they would not have before, such as attacking with weapons or defending with shields.
Weapons
Weapons grant their wielders the power to attack and defend themselves using the weapon's characteristics. A character's combat Metaphors can influence the success rate and power of wielded weapons, provided they match the Metaphor's scope. Typically Weapons are wielded in the character's hands or arms, but unusual weapons could be wielded by other limbs or something entirely different.
Handedness
Weapons are intended to be wielded with either one or two hands, with two-handed weapons often being larger in comparison to one-handed ones. Wielding a two-handed weapon with one hand may cause a Complication, or be physically improbable for a character if they are not strong enough. Likewise, a one-handed weapon could gain benefits from being wielded with two hands.
Intended Wielder refers to the size of the weapon's intended recipient. A sword for a Halfling will have a different intended wielder size to that of a Human sword. A Halfling using a Human's sword treats the weapon as requiring one more hand to wield (one to two). Typically a larger creature can use weapons intended for smaller creatures, but with diminishing returns compared to a weapon of their actual size.
If a weapon's size forces a creature to use one more hand than two, the wielder will suffer Disadvantage on rolls with that weapon and spend an extra action per attack in order to use them. If a weapon's size requires two more hands then the wielder, then it can be considered too big for them to use at all. Weapons that are too small are ineffective for oversized wielders.
Handedness by Size
Size Category |
One-Handed |
Two-Handed
|
Gargantuan (Size 8) |
Ineffective |
Ineffective
|
Huge (Size 4) |
Ineffective |
One-handed
|
Large (Size 2) |
One-handed |
One-handed
|
Medium |
One-handed |
Two-handed
|
Small |
Two-handed |
Two-Handed (Disadvantage)
|
Tiny |
Two-handed (Disadvantage) |
Ineffective
|
Diminutive |
Ineffective |
Ineffective
|
Melee
Melee weapons typically rely on being manipulated directly with a character's motions, such as swinging and thrusting. Melee weapons rely on the user's natural reach, though some Melee weapons can extend the character's reach by some amount. Otherwise Melee weapons are short range. Melee weapons also tend to use the least amount of Action points, only requiring the Attack action in most cases.
Ranged
Ranged weapons on the other hand, are often paired with projectiles or ammunition in order to hit targets from far away. Ranged weapons are a bit more complicated with range increments and additional actions required to use them.
Range Increments refers to the distance (or distances, multiple) in which the ranged weapon is most effective and would not incur a complication. Measured in squares or 5ft increments. When a ranged weapon targets or fires at a point further than this increment, the wielder loses advantage due to firing at a distant target. If they fire even further away the roll becomes Disadvantage. If the process repeats again or would incur a penalty worse than Disadvantage, the attack will simply miss.
Range Increments
Increment |
Context (ft/squares) |
Result (Advantage) |
Result (Normal)
|
Close |
30ft / 6sq |
Advantage |
Normal Roll
|
Medium |
60ft / 12sq |
Normal Roll |
Disadvantage
|
Far |
90ft / 18sq |
Disadvantage |
Failure
|
Too far |
120ft+ / 24sq+ |
Failure |
Failure
|
Weapon Damage / Type
Weapons always have a damage value and damage type. Damage is usually a dice value plus a fixed value equal to the maximum value of that die. So a Weapon with d6 damage will be d6+6. If a weapon or attack gains additional dice, those extra die are added to the fixed damage instead. There should only be one die for variable damage.
Weapon Damage
Weapon Die |
Damage Notation |
2dX
|
1 |
1 |
1+1
|
d2 |
d2 + 2 |
d2+4
|
d4 |
d4 + 4 |
d4+8
|
d6 |
d6 + 6 |
d6+12
|
d8 |
d8 + 8 |
d8+16
|
d10 |
d10 + 10 |
d10+20
|
d12 |
d12 + 12 |
d12+24
|
d12+2 |
d12 + 14 |
d12+26
|
d12+4 |
d12 + 16 |
d12+28
|