Equipment

Equipment

Starting Equipment

Characters begin play only with basic equipment:

• 1 Martial Weapon
• Light or Medium Armor
• Travel Pack (5 days of food, bedroll)
• Change of clothes (Common Quality)
• 10 Gold

Additional equipment, including heavy armor, improved materials (quicksilver, adamantine, ironwood), substantial supplies, mounts, etc may be obtained using the Improved Background Benefit.

Armor & Shields

Armor Value

All armor has an armor value which is added to your available dodge bonus for a combined Physical Defense. This value is removed from the dice pools of incoming attacks. Unlike dodge, armor is not reduced after each incoming attack during the round. However, armor may be partially or completely bypassed by weapons or skills with the “Armor Piercing” ability.

Damage Reduction

Medium and Heavy forms of armor provide Damage Reduction, which reduces incoming lethal damage to non-lethal damage. Each point of Damage Reduction reduces a single point of Lethal damage per attack. Certain powers provide Damage Reduction which in some cases may stack with the benefit provided by armor. If a power indicates that it adds "+x Physical Damage Reduction" it stacks with the benefit from armor, while powers that say "x Physical Damage Reduction" do not stack, and the highest value is applied.

Max Dodge

All armor has a maximum dodge value it allows wearers to apply towards their defense. Some special materials or spells can improve this limit. A player’s dodge is equal to the average of their Dexterity and Intelligence rounded down.

Armor Check Penalty

Medium and Heavy armor is more difficult to move in than light or no armor reducing the wearer's Speed, and Climb, Swim, Acrobatics, Stealth skills. The Heavy Armor Training Benefit can reduce the Speed penalty, but not the skill penalty.

Shield Bonuses

Shields provide a Shield bonus to defense, and act to counter the Armor Piercing attribute. Both the defensive bonus, and the Armor Piercing Reduction may only be applied when the shield user is not flat-footed.

Armor

Armor Type	Examples	Armor Value	Damage Reduction	Max Dodge	Armor Check Penalty	Required Strength
Light	Studded Leather, Chain Shirt	1	-	5	-	1
Medium	Chainmail, Scale Mail	2	1	3	1	2
Heavy	Full Plate	3	2	1	2	3

Shields

Shield Type	Examples	Armor Value	Armor Piercing Reduction	Armor Check Penalty	Required Strength
Light	Buckler, Hoplon	1	1	-	2
Heavy	Heater Shield, Kite Shield	2	1	1	3

Weapons

Light

Light weapons may use either Strength or Dexterity, whichever is higher.

Armor Piercing

Weapons with this attribute ignore a number of points of their target’s armor equal to their Armor Piercing value.

Ignore Dodge

Weapons with this attribute ignore a number of points of their target’s dodge equal to their Ignore Dodge value.

Weapons

Weapon Type	Examples	Hands	Damage	Special Attributes	Required Strength
Tiny	Knife	1	1	Light	1 Strength
Small	Dagger, Poniard	1	1	+1 Armor Piercing, Light	1 Strength
Medium	Shortsword, Morningstar, Rapier	1	2	+1 Armor Piercing, Light	2 Strength
Large	Longsword, Flail, Warhammer	1	3	-	2 Strength
Two Handed Slashing	Greataxe, Greatsword,Polearm	2	5	-	3 Strength
Two Handed Piercing	Spear	2	4	+1 Armor Piercing, Light	2 Strength
Tiny Ranged	Hand Crossbow	1	1	Uses Dexterity for attacks, Fast action to reload.	1 Strength
Small Ranged	Short Bow, Light Crossbow	2	1	+1 Armor Piercing, Uses Dexterity for attacks, Move action to reload.	1 Strength
Large Ranged	Longbow, Medium Crossbow	2	2	+2 Armor Piercing, Uses Dexterity for attacks, Move action to reload.	2 Strength
Heavy Ranged	Heavy Crossbow	2	3	+3 Armor Piercing, Uses Dexterity for attacks, Full round action to reload	1 Strength (winch)

Exotic Weapons

Exotic Weapons are uncommon and require additional training to use without penalty. Wielders of exotic weapons must have a minimum of Rank 3 in the required Weaponry skill or suffer a -1 penalty.

Weapon Name	Hands	Damage	Special Attributes	Required Strength	Description
Ice Axe	1	2	+1 Armor Piercing, Light, +1 Climb	1 Strength	A combination weapon/tool, the traditional Svaald Ice Axe has a long spike or hook on the rear of the weapon used to drive into ice to aid in climbing. The front edge is wedgelike and can shear through ice as well as flesh.
Ultra-Greatsword	2	6	-1 Dodge	4 Strength	An extremely rare weapon, the Ultra-Greatsword is large and heavy, requiring extreme strength to wield effectively. Even when the wielder is strong enough to swing the weapon, it drags their body reducing their ability to defend themselves. The choice for attackers willing to give up defenses for the maximum in offense.
Alloy Bow	2	3	+2 Armor Piercing, Ranged	3 Strength	The extreme cold of the Northern Wastes, and the lack of wood, made traditional bows impossible to construct; however, the Svaald's skill in metalworking crafted an alloy flexible enough to be used for a bow, and fine quicksilver wires for string. The resulting bows are difficult to draw, but pack a substantial punch.

Special Materials

Weapon Special Materials

Weapon Material	Weapon Size	Equipment Bonus
Quicksilver	All Melee	-1 Strength requirement	+1 Ignore Dodge
Adamantine	Small, Medium, Large	+1 Strength requirement	+1 Armor Piercing
Adamantine	Two-Handed	+1 Strength requirement	+1 Armor Piercing
Ironwood	All Ranged	+1 Strength requirement	+1 Damage, +1 Armor Piercing

Armor Special Materials

Armor Material	Armor Size	Equipment Bonus
Quicksilver	Light, Medium, Heavy	-1 Strength requirement	+2 Maximum Dodge	-1 Armor Penalty
Adamantine	Medium	+1 Strength requirement	+1 Armor Piercing Reduction	+1 Damage Reduction	-1 Speed
Adamantine	Heavy	+1 Strength requirement	+1 Armor Piercing Reduction	+1 Damage Reduction	-1 Speed
Ironwood	Heavy	-
Drakescale	Medium, Heavy	+2 Magic Defense
Dragonscale	Medium, Heavy	+3 Magic Defense

Poisons

Injury Poisons

Rank	Name	Potency	Damage / Effect	Duration	Interval	Cost
1	Adder Venom	8d10	1 Lethal	2 rounds	1 round	10g
1	Centipede Poison	8d10	-2 Speed, -2 Perception	1 Hour	-	10g
2	Giant Wasp Poison	9d10	1 Lethal	4 rounds	1 round	30g
2	Bloodroot Seeds	9d10	-2 Skills	1 Hour	-	30g
3	Viper Venom	10d10	1 Lethal	6 rounds	1 round	75g
3	Arrow Frog	10d10	Target only succeeds on rolls of 9 or 10 for the duration of the effect.	1 Hour	-	75g
4	Bebelith Venom	11d10	1 Lethal	8 rounds	1 round	100g
4	Shadow Essence	11d10	Unconsciousness	1 Hour	-	100g
5	Lotus Venom	12d10	1 Lethal, -2 Skills	10 rounds	1 round	500g
5	Mysterious Powder	14d10	Target may not use any spells, or abilities that require mana.	10 rounds	-	10,000g

Ingested Poisons

Rank	Name	Potency	Damage / Effect	Duration	Interval	Cost
1	Toadstool	8d10	x	x	x	5g
1	Id Moss	8d10	x	x	x	5g
2	Belladonna	9d10	x	x	x	15g
2	Taggit Oil	9d10	x	x	x	15g
3	Hemlock	10d10	x	x	x	45g
3	Arsenic	10d10	x	x	x	45g
4	King’s Sleep	11d10	x	x	x	50g
4	Grave Dust	11d10	x	x	x	50g
5	Tears of Death	12d10	x	x	x	200g