General Equipment

This section covers the wide variety of general gear available to adventurers of all sorts.

Some of the objects in this section are battery- operated. Any device that uses batteries comes with them. As a general rule, ignore battery life—assume that characters (and their antagonists) are smart enough to recharge or replace their batteries between adventures, and that the batteries last as long as needed during adventures. If battery life is important in the game, roll 1d20 every time a battery-operated item is used. On a result of 1, the batteries are dead and the object is useless. New batteries have a purchase DC of 2 and can be changed as a move action.

Equipment Tables

Equipment is described by a number of statistics, as shown on each equipment table.

Size: The size category of a piece of equipment helps to determine how easy that object is to conceal, and it also indicates whether using the object requires one hand or two. In general, a character needs only one hand to use any object that is of his or her size category or smaller.

Weight: This column gives the item’s weight.

Purchase DC: This is the purchase DC for a Wealth check to acquire the item. This number reflects the base price and doesn’t include any modifier for purchasing the item on the black market.

Restriction: The restriction rating for the object, if any, and the appropriate black market purchase DC modifier. Remember to apply this modifier to the purchase DC when making a Wealth check to acquire the item on the black market.

Era: The approximate time line when this item is available for purchase new. After this period ends, such an item may be available used, or may be available as an antique.

Bags and Boxes

With the wide variety of equipment available to modern adventurers, it’s often critical to have something to store the equipment in or carry it around in.

Steel Travel Case

A travel case is a reinforced metal box with foam inserts. Wing-style clamps keep it from opening accidentally.

Briefcase

A briefcase can carry up to 5 pounds worth of gear. A briefcase can be locked, but its cheap lock is not very secure (Disable Device DC 20; break DC 10).

Day Pack

This is a small backpack, the sort often used by students to carry their books around, or by outdoor enthusiasts on short hikes. It holds 8 pounds of gear and fits comfortably over one or both shoulders.

Handbag

Handbags provide another way to carry 2 pounds of equipment. The purchase DC shown is for a basic bag; high-fashion purses can increase the DC by as much as 5.

Range Pack

This lightweight black bag has a spacious inner compartment capable of holding roughly 8 pounds of gear and can hold an additional 4 pounds in six zippered external compartments. The larger version holds 12 pounds of equipment in the internal compartment and another 6 pounds in the zippered external pouches. A range pack easily holds several pistols and a submachine gun, and the larger version can hold disassembled rifles.

Clothing

The items described here represent special clothing types, or unusual outfits that a character might need to purchase.

For the most part, clothing choice is based on character concept. It’s generally assumed that a character owns a reasonable wardrobe of the sorts of clothes that fit his or her lifestyle. Sometimes, however, a character might need something out of the ordinary. When that’s the case, he or she will have to purchase it like any other piece of gear. Clothes have two effects on game mechanics: one on Disguise checks, and one on Sleight of Hand checks.

First, clothing is part of a disguise. See the Disguise skill description for more on how appropriate dress affects Disguise checks.

Clothes also help to hide firearms, body armor, and small objects. Tightly tailored clothing imposes a penalty on an attempt to conceal an object; clothing purposely tailored to conceal objects provides a bonus.

Clothing Outfit

An outfit of clothing represents everything a character needs to dress a part: pants or skirt, shirt, undergarments, appropriate shoes or boots, socks or stockings, and any necessary belt or suspenders. The clothes a character wears does not count against the weight limit for encumbrance.

Business outfit: A business outfit generally includes a jacket or blazer, and it tends to look sharp and well groomed without being overly formal.

Casual outfit: Casual clothes range from cut-off jeans and a T-shirt to neatly pressed khakis and a hand-knit sweater.

Formal outfit: From a little black dress to a fully appointed tuxedo, formal clothes are appropriate for “black tie” occasions. Special designer creations can have purchase DCs much higher than shown on the table.

Fatigues

Called “battle dress uniforms” (or BDUs) in the United States Army, these are worn by hardened veterans and wannabes alike. They’re rugged, comfortable, and provide lots of pockets. They are also printed in camouflage patterns: woodland, desert, winter (primarily white), urban (gray patterned), and black are available. When worn in an appropriate setting, fatigues grant a +2 bonus on Hide checks.

Uniform

From the cable guy to a senior Air Force officer, people on the job tend to wear uniforms—making such clothing an essential part of some disguises, since a uniform inclines people to trust the wearer.

Ghillie Suit

The ultimate in camouflage, a ghillie suit is a loose mesh overgarment covered in strips of burlap in woodland colors, to which other camouflaging elements can easily be added. A figure under a ghillie suit is nearly impossible to discern.

A character wearing a ghillie suit with appropriate coloration gains a +10 bonus on Hide checks. (The suit’s coloration can be changed with a move action. However, the bulky suit imposes a penalty of –4 on all Dexterity checks, Dexterity-based skill checks (except Hide), and melee attack rolls.

Outerwear

In addition to keeping a character warm and dry, coats and jackets provide additional concealment for things a character is carrying (they often qualify as loose or bulky clothing; see Concealed Weapons and Objects).

Coat: An outer garment worn on the upper body. Its length and style vary according to fashion and use.

Fatigue jacket: A lightweight outer garment fashioned after the fatigue uniforms worn by military personnel when performing their standard duties.

Overcoat: A warm coat worn over a suit jacket or indoor clothing.

Parka: This winter coat grants the wearer a +2 equipment bonus on Fortitude saves made to resist the effects of cold weather.

Tool Belt

This sturdy leather belt has numerous pockets and loops for tools, nails, pencils, and other necessities for repair and construction work, making it easy to keep about 10 pounds of items on hand. The pockets are open, however, and items can easily fall out if the belt is tipped.

Professional Equipment

This category covers a wide variety of specialized equipment used by professionals in adventure-related fields.

Some objects contain the tools necessary to use certain skills optimally. Without the use of these items, often referred to as kits, skill checks made with these skills are at a –4 penalty. Skills and the kits they are associated with are listed below. See the descriptions of the kits for additional details. Note that kits should be restocked periodically (purchase DC 5 less than the original purchase DC.

Note that some skills, by their nature, require a piece of equipment to utilize.

Bolt Cutter

An exceptionally heavy wire cutter, a bolt cutter can snip through padlocks or chain-link fences. Using a bolt cutter requires a Strength check (DC 10).

Caltrops

Caltrops are four-pronged iron spikes designed so that one prong is pointing up when the caltrop rests on a surface. A character scatters caltrops on the ground to injure opponents, or at least slow them down. One bag of twenty-five caltrops covers a single 5-foot square. Each time a creature moves through a square containing caltrops at any rate greater than half speed, or each round a creature spends fighting in such an area, the caltrops make a touch attack roll (base attack bonus +0). A caltrop deals 1 point of damage on a successful hit, and the injury reduces foot speed to half normal (a successful Treat Injury check, DC 15, or one day’s rest removes this penalty). A charging or running creature must immediately stop if it steps on a caltrop. See the avoid hazard stunt for the effect of caltrops on vehicles.

Car Opening Kit

This set of odd-shaped flat metal bars can be slipped into the window seam of a car door to trip the lock. The DC of a Disable Device check to accomplish this varies with the quality of the lock; see the skill description.

Chemical Kit

A portable laboratory for use with the Craft (chemical) skill, a chemical kit includes the tools and components necessary for mixing and analyzing acids, bases, explosives, toxic gases, and other chemical compounds.

Demolitions Kit

This kit contains everything needed to use the Demolitions skill to set detonators, wire explosive devices, and disarm explosive devices. Detonators must be purchased separately.

Disguise Kit

This kit contains everything needed to use the Disguise skill, including makeup, brushes, mirrors, wigs, and other accoutrements. It doesn’t contain clothing or uniforms, however.

Duct Tape

The usefulness of duct tape is limited only by a character’s imagination. Duct tape can support up to 200 pounds indefinitely, or up to 300 pounds for 1d6 rounds. Characters bound with duct tape must make a Strength or Escape Artist check (DC 20) to free themselves. A roll provides 70 feet of tape, 2 inches wide.

Evidence Kits

Law enforcement agencies around the world use generally the same tools to gather evidence. Having an evidence kit does not grant access to a law enforcement agency’s crime lab; it merely assists in the proper gathering and storing of evidence for use by such a lab. Without an evidence kit, a character receives a –4 penalty to use the collect evidence option of the Investigate skill.

A basic evidence kit includes clean containers, labels, gloves, tweezers, swabs, and other items to gather bits of physical evidence and prevent them from becoming contaminated.

A deluxe kit includes all the materials in a basic kit, plus supplies for analyzing narcotic substances at the scene and for gathering more esoteric forms of physical evidence such as casts and molds of footprints or vehicle tracks, as well as chemical residues and organic fluids. It also contains the necessary dusts, sprays, brushes, adhesives, and cards to gather fingerprints. It grants a +2 equipment bonus on Investigate checks under appropriate circumstances (whenever the GM rules that the equipment in the kit can be of use in the current situation).

Using a deluxe kit to analyze a possible narcotic substance or basic chemical requires a Craft (chemical) check (DC 15). In this case, the +2 equipment bonus does not apply.

Fake ID

Purchasing a falsified driver’s license from a black market source can produce mixed results, depending on the skill of the forger. Typically, a forger has 1 to 4 ranks in the Forgery skill, with a +1 ability modifier. When a character purchases a fake ID, the GM secretly makes a Forgery check for the forger, which serves as the DC for the opposed check when someone inspects the fake ID. The purchase DC of a fake ID is 10 + the forger’s ranks in the Forgery skill.

First Aid Kit

Available at most drugstores and camping supply stores, this kit contains enough supplies (and simple instructions for their use) to treat an injury before transporting the injured person to a medical professional. A first aid kit can be used to help a dazed, unconscious, or stunned character by making a Treat Injury check (DC 15). A first aid kit can be used only once. Skill checks made without a first aid kit incur a –4 penalty.

Forgery Kit

This kit contains everything needed to use the Forgery skill to prepare forged items. Depending on the item to be forged, a character might need legal documents or other items not included in the kit.

Handcuffs

Handcuffs are restraints designed to lock two limbs—normally the wrists—of a prisoner together. They fit any Medium-size or Small human or other creature that has an appropriate body structure. These heavy-duty cuffs have hardness 10, 10 hit points, a break DC of 30, and require a Disable Device check (DC 25) or Escape Artist check (DC 35) to remove without the key.

Instrument, Piano

A piano, necessary in order to use the Perform (piano) skill.

Instrument, Percussion

A set of drums, necessary in order to use the Perform (percussion instrument) skill.

Instrument, Stringed

An electric guitar, necessary in order to use the Perform (stringed instrument) skill.

Instrument, Wind

A flute, necessary in order to use the Perform (wind instrument) skill.

Lockpick Set

A lockpick set includes picks and tension bars for opening locks operated by standard keys. A lockpick set allows a character to make Disable Device checks to open mechanical locks (deadbolts, keyed entry locks, and so forth) without penalty.

Lock Release Gun

This small, pistol-like device automatically disables cheap and average mechanical locks operated by standard keys (no Disable Device check necessary).

Mechanical Tool Kit

This collection of hand tools and small parts typically includes a variety of pliers, drivers, cutting devices, fasteners, and even power tools.

Medical Kit

About the size of a large tackle box, this is the sort of kit commonly carried by military medics and civilian EMTs. It contains a wide variety of medical supplies and equipment. A medical kit can be used to treat a dazed, unconscious, or stunned character, to provide long-term care, to restore hit points, to treat a diseased or poisoned character, or to stabilize a dying character (see the Treat Injury skill). Skill checks made without a medical kit incur a –4 penalty.

Pharmacist Kit

A portable pharmacy for use with the Craft (pharmaceutical) skill, a pharmacist kit includes everything needed to prepare, preserve, compound, analyze, and dispense medicinal drugs.

Search-and-Rescue Kit

This waist pack contains a first aid kit, a compass, waterproof matches, a lightweight “space” blanket, a standard flashlight, 50 feet of durable nylon rope, two smoke grenades, and one signal flare.

Surgery Kit

About the size of a small backpack, this kit contains the instruments needed for rudimentary emergency field surgery. A surgery kit is used when performing surgery (see the Treat Injury skill). A character performing surgery without a surgery kit takes a -4 penalty on the Treat Injury check. (This penalty is in addition to the -4 penalty that applies if the character does not have the Surgery feat.)

Survival Gear

Survival gear helps characters keep themselves alive in the great outdoors.

Backpack

This is a good-sized backpack, made of tough water-resistant material. It has one or two central sections, as well as several exterior pockets and straps for attaching tents, bedrolls, or other gear. It can carry up to 60 pounds of gear.

A backpack gives a character a +1 equipment bonus to Strength for the purpose of determining carrying capacity.

Binoculars

Binoculars are useful for watching opponents, wild game, and sporting events from a long distance. Binoculars reduce the range penalty for Spot checks to –1 for every 50 feet (instead of –1 for every 10 feet). Using binoculars for Spot checks takes five times as long as making the check unaided.

Climbing Gear

All of the tools and equipment that climbing enthusiasts use to make climbing easier and, in some cases, possible, including ropes, pulleys, helmet and pads, gloves, spikes, chocks, ascenders, pitons, a handax, and a harness. It takes 10 minutes to remove the gear from its pack and outfit it for use. Use this gear with the Climb skill.

Compass

A compass relies on the Earth’s magnetic field to determine the direction of magnetic north. A compass grants its user a +2 equipment bonus on Navigate checks.

Fire Extinguisher

This portable apparatus uses a chemical spray to extinguish small fires. The typical fire extinguisher ejects enough extinguishing chemicals to put out a fire in a 10-foot-by-10-foot area as a move action. It contains enough material for two such uses.

Flash Goggles

These eye coverings provide total protection against blinding light.

Flashlight

Flashlights come in a wide variety of sizes and quality levels. Those covered here are professional, heavy-duty models, rugged enough to withstand the rigors of modern adventuring. Flashlights negate penalties for darkness within their illuminated areas.

Standard: This heavy metal flashlight projects a beam 30 feet long and 15 feet across at its end.

Flood: Practically a handheld spotlight, this item projects a bright beam 100 feet long and 50 feet across at its end.

Gas Mask

This apparatus covers the face and connects to a chemical air filter canister to protect the lungs and eyes from toxic gases. It provides total protection from eye and lung irritants. The filter canister lasts for 12 hours of use. Changing a filter is a move action. The purchase DC for one extra filter canister is 6.

Map

While a compass can help characters find their way through the wilderness, a map can tell a character where he or she is going and what to expect when he or she gets there.

Road atlas: Road atlases are available for the entire United States or any other civilized country, showing all major roads in each state. They can also be purchased for most major metropolitan areas, detailing every street in the entire region.

Tactical map: A tactical map covers a small area—usually a few miles on a side—in exacting detail. Generally, every building is represented, along with all roads, trails, and areas of vegetation. Tactical maps are not available for all areas, and, though inexpensive, they generally have to be ordered from federal mapping agencies (taking a week or longer to obtain).

Portable Stove

This small stove works on kerosene or white gasoline, and can easily be broken down and carried for backpacking.

Rope

Climbing rope can support up to 1,000 pounds.

Sleeping Bag

This lightweight sleeping bag rolls up compactly. It can keep a character warm even in severe weather and can also double as a stretcher in an emergency.

Tent

A tent keeps a character warm and dry in severe weather, providing a +2 equipment bonus on Fortitude saves against the effects of cold weather.

Trail Rations

Trail rations come in a number of commercial options. They all provide the necessary energy and nutrition for survival. The purchase DC given is for a case of 12 meals.

Weapon Accessories

As if modern weapons weren’t dangerous enough, a number of accessories can increase their utility or efficiency.

Box Magazine

For weapons that use box magazines, a character can purchase extras. Loading these extra magazines ahead of time and keeping them in a handy place makes it easy to reload a weapon in combat.

Detonator

A detonator activates an explosive, causing it to explode. The device consists of an electrically activated blasting cap and some sort of device that delivers the electrical charge to set off the blasting cap. Connecting a detonator to an explosive requires a Demolitions check (DC 15). Failure means that the explosive fails to go off as planned. Failure by 10 or more means the explosive goes off as the detonator is being installed.

Fuse: This is a detonator without a fuse that must be lit with a match.

Wired: A wired blasting cap connects by a wire to an activation device, either a pistol-grip device that the user squeezes or the traditional plunger. The detonator comes with 100 feet of wire, but longer lengths can be spliced in with a Demolitions check (DC 10).

Holster

Holsters are generally available for all Medium-size or smaller firearms.

Hip: This holster holds the weapon in an easily accessed—and easily seen—location.

Concealed carry: A concealed carry holster is designed to help keep a weapon out of sight (see Concealed Weapons and Objects). In most cases, this is a shoulder holster (the weapon fits under the wearer’s armpit, presumably beneath a jacket). Small or Tiny weapons can be carried in waistband holsters (often placed inside the wearer’s waistband against his or her back). Tiny weapons can also be carried in ankle or boot holsters.

Telescopic sight

A telescopic sight is a sighting device that makes it easier to hit targets at long range. However, although a scope magnifies the image of the target, it has a very limited field of view, making it difficult to use. A standard scope increases the range increment for a ranged weapon by one-half (multiply by 1.5). However, to use a scope a character must spend an attack action acquiring his or her target. If the character changes targets or otherwise lose sight of the target, he or she must reacquire the target to gain the benefit of the scope.

Speed Loader

A speed loader holds a number of bullets in a ring, in a position that mirrors the chambers in a revolver cylinder. Using a speed loader saves time in reloading a revolver, since a character can insert all the bullets at once.

Suppressor

A suppressor fits on the end of a firearm, capturing the gases traveling at supersonic speed that propel a bullet as it is fired. This eliminates the noise from the bullet’s firing, dramatically reducing the sound the weapon makes when it is used. For handguns, the only sound is the mechanical action of the weapon (Listen check, DC 15, to notice). For longarms, the supersonic speed of the bullet itself still makes noise. However, it’s difficult to tell where the sound is coming from, requiring a Listen check (DC 15) to locate the source of the gunfire.

Modifying a weapon to accept a suppressor requires a Repair check (DC 15). Once a weapon has been modified in this manner, a suppressor can be attached or removed as a move action.

Suppressors cannot be used on revolvers or shotguns. A suppressor purchased for one weapon can be used for any other weapon that fires the same caliber of ammunition.

Lifestyle

Lifestyle items include travel expenses, entertainment and meals beyond the ordinary, and housing, for those characters interested in buying a home rather than renting. Lifestyle items are shown on the table below.

Housing

A number of types of homes are mentioned on Table:Lifestyle. The purchase DC covers the down payment, not the total cost of the home. (A character buying a home does not have to worry about mortgage payments; they simply replace the character’s rent, which is already accounted for in the Wealth system)

The small house and apartment are one- or two-bedroom homes, probably with curbside parking. The large apartment and medium house are three-bedroom homes with garage or carport parking for one or two cars. The large house is a four-bedroom home with a two-car garage, while the mansion is a five- or six-bedroom home with an extra den, spacious rooms throughout, and a three-car garage. All of these homes are of typical construction; luxury appointments or avant garde design is available with a +2 increase to the purchase DC.

Location dramatically affects a home’s value. The given purchase DC assumes a typical suburban location. An undesirable location, such as a bad neighborhood or a remote rural site, reduces the purchase DC by 2. A particularly good location in an upscale neighborhood or city center increases the purchase DC by 2.

Entertainment

Purchase DCs are given for several entertainment options. They represent the purchase of a single ticket. A pair of tickets can be purchased together; doing so increases the purchase DC by 2.

Meals

Several typical meal costs are provided. The cost of picking up the tab for additional diners adds +2 per person to the purchase DC.

Transportation

Airfare tickets are for a single passenger round trip. One-way tickets are available, but only reduce the purchase DC by 2. Car rentals and lodging rates are per day.

Services

The broad spectrum of services available to characters is only represented in overview here. Services are identified on Table:Services.

Auto Repair

Having a car repaired can be expensive; how expensive depends on the amount of damage the vehicle has suffered. The purchase DCs for damage repair assume the vehicle has not actually been disabled; if it has, increase the purchase DC by +3. Repair generally takes 1 day for every 10 hit points of damage dealt, and results in the vehicle being returned to full hit points.

Bail Bonds

Characters jailed for crimes can seek bail. Bail is a monetary guarantee that the suspect will show up for his trial. The bail amount is set by a judge or magistrate, sometimes immediately following arrest (for minor crimes) and sometimes days later (for serious crimes). If bail is granted, a character can arrange for a bail bond—a loan that covers bail. The purchase DCs represent the fees associated with the loan; the bond itself is paid back to the bond agency when the character shows up for trial. If the character fails to show up, the agency loses the bail loan, and may send bounty hunters or other thugs after the character.

Bail amounts vary dramatically, depending on the seriousness of the crime, the suspect’s criminal history, his or her role in society, his or her family life, and other factors the judge believes indicate that the character will or will not flee (or commit other crimes) before the trial. An upstanding citizen with a good job and a family who has never before been charged with a crime gets minimal bail; a career criminal with nothing to lose gets maximum bail or may not be granted bail at all. The purchase DCs shown assume the suspect is viewed positively by the court. If not, increase the purchase DC by as much as 5. Whatever the base purchase DC, a successful Diplomacy check (DC 15) by the suspect reduces the purchase DC by 2.

Property crime: The crime involved only the destruction of property; no one was attacked or seriously hurt as part of the crime.

Assault crime: The crime involved an attack intended to capture, kill, or seriously injure the victim.

Death crime: Someone died as a result of the crime.

Medical Services

A character’s medical insurance is built into his or her Wealth bonus; the purchase DCs represent the ancillary expenses not covered, or only partly covered, by insurance. Medical services must be paid for in full regardless of whether they are successful. See the Treat Injury skill for more information on the medical services described below.

In a hospital setting, the necessary treat Injury checks are always successful. The purchase DC is per check.

Long-term care: The purchase DC represents treatment for regaining hit points or ability score points more quickly than normal on a given day.

Restore hit points: The purchase DC represents treatment for hit point damage from wounds or injuries on a given day.

Surgery: The purchase DC represents the cost of a single surgical procedure.

Poison/disease: The purchase DC represents one application of treatment for a poison or disease.