Equipment Modifiers

Equipment Modifiers

The quality of your equipment modifies your skill rolls for tasks that normally require equipment: No equipment: -10 for technological skills, -5 for other skills. Note that many skills cannot be used at all without equipment!

Improvised equipment: -5 for technological skills, -2 for other skills.

Basic equipment: No modifier. This is the case most of the time.

Good-quality equipment: +1. Costs about 5× basic price.

Fine-quality equipment: +2. Costs about 20× basic price.

Best equipment possible at your TL: +TL/2, round down (minimum +2). Not usually for sale!

If you have "basic" or better equipment that is not in perfect condition, the following modifiers apply in addition to quality modifiers:

Missing important items: -1 per item.

Damaged equipment: -1 to -3.

Equipment modifiers reflect the quality of:

• Special "tools of the trade," for criminal, military, and espionage skills such as Disguise, Explosives, Forgery, Forward Observer, Holdout, and Lockpicking.
• The contents of your backpack, for outdoor skills like Fishing and Survival.
• Your instruments or lab, for scientific and medical skills such as Alchemy, Diagnosis, Meteorology, Navigation, and Surgery.
• Your shop or toolkit, for Armoury, Carpentry, Electrician, Electronics Repair, Engineer, Machinist, Masonry, Mechanic, Smith, and other skills used to build or repair things.
• Your studio, for artistic skills – Artist, Jeweler, Photography, etc.

Example: For First Aid skill, "improvised" might mean leaves and clean mud; "basic," sterile bandages; "good," a standard first-aid kit; "fine," a crash kit (found in most ambulances); and "best," an entire hospital. Missing antiseptic would give -1, while a first-aid kit salvaged from a wrecked vehicle might give -1 or worse for damaged equipment.

Melee Weapon Quality

Muscle-powered melee and thrown weapons come in several quality grades, described below. Quality influences the odds of breakage when you parry a very heavy weapon; see Parrying Heavy Weapons. The prices listed on the weapon tables buy good-quality weapons at TL6 or less, fine-quality ones at TL7+.

Cheap: A cheap weapon is +2 to break – and if it can be thrown, it has -1 Acc. It costs 40% of list price at TL6 or less, or 20% of list price at TL7+. The mass-produced swords issued to ordinary soldiers are often of cheap quality.

Good: A good weapon has no breakage modifier. This is the standard quality through TL6. At TL7+, good-quality weapons cost 40% of list price. (CF +4)

Fine: Any fine weapon is -1 to break. A fine blade (cutting or impaling weapon) also gets +1 to cutting and impaling damage. At TL6 or less, a fine-quality fencing- or sword-class weapon of any type costs 4 times list price. (Katanas are often fine!) Other weapon types cost 3 times list price if they do only crushing or impaling damage (e.g., a mace or spear), or 10 times list price if they can do cutting damage (e.g., an axe or halberd). At TL7+, all weapons are "fine" at no extra cost. (CF +19)

Very Fine: Only fencing weapons and swords can be very fine. A very fine weapon is -2 to break and gets +2 to cutting and impaling damage. At TL6 or less, very fine weapons cost 20 times list price; at TL7+, they cost only 4 times list price.

Presentation weapons (decorated, bejeweled, gilded, etc.) are also available. This will further increase cost (and resale value) by 5-20 times.

Blade Composition

The tip or blade of any muscle-powered melee or thrown weapon that inflicts cutting or impaling damage (excluding wooden stakes, and powered weapons such as chainsaws) is assumed to be stone at TL0, bronze at TL1, iron at TL2, and steel at TL3+. For instance, a knife would be stone at TL0 but steel at TL3, while a greatsword would always be steel, as greatswords don't exist before TL3. Blade composition modifies effective quality when parrying a very heavy weapon.

Weapons made from outdated materials are usually available at cheap-quality prices.

Stone (TL0): A stone blade has an armor divisor of (0.5) on its cutting and impaling damage, and receives no damage bonus for being of fine or better quality. Regardless of actual quality, treat a stone blade as cheap for breakage purposes when parrying a swung weapon made of metal or other high-tech materials.

Obsidian (TL1): A blade made of volcanic glass is very sharp, but easily broken or blunted. Treat as a good-quality stone blade, but with +1 to cutting and impaling damage (as if fine) and +2 to breakage (as if cheap). It loses its damage bonus if used to parry any weapon (but not an unarmed attack) or to strike DR 2+.

Bronze (TL1): A bronze blade receives no damage bonus for being of fine or better quality. Regardless of actual quality, treat a bronze blade as cheap for breakage purposes when parrying a swung weapon made of superior materials (e.g., iron or steel).

Iron (TL2): An iron blade receives no damage bonus for being of fine or better quality. Regardless of actual quality, treat an iron blade as cheap for breakage purposes when parrying a swung weapon made of superior materials (e.g., steel).

Steel (TL3): Steel is the "default" material for blades. Use all rules as written.

Plastic (TL7): "Plastic" includes carbon composites and other advanced, nonmetallic materials. Halve weight and double cost. Blades cannot exceed good quality (and are often cheap). Treat them as equivalent to steel for breakage – but their low weight means they're more likely to encounter a heavier weapon. Weapons that do only crushing damage (clubs, batons, etc.) are also available, in the usual quality grades. The primary benefit of plastic weapons is that metal detectors cannot detect them!

Stainless Steel (TL6). A stainless-steel blade is corrosion-resistant and requires less maintenance than a typical carbon-steel one. The additives involved make it brittle and more likely to snap under pressure, however. Knives, swords, and axes can be stainless at no extra cost. Stainless swords are cheap (not good) at TL6 and good (not fine) at TL7-8. Quality can be improved by up to two levels, but this costs double – 8 and 40 times list price – due to the expensive treatments required to offset the degraded materials properties.

Ceramic (TL7). The main advantage of a ceramic blade is that a security metal detector won't find it. It still shows up clearly in an X-ray baggage screener. Damage is unmodified. Treat as cheap quality for breakage purposes, as it chips more easily. Triple cost and halve weight.

Titanium (TL7). Titanium blades, used by underwater demolition teams and salvage divers, are nonmagnetic, corrosion-resistant, and lighter than comparable steel blades. Treat as very fine quality for breakage purposes. Double cost and multiply weight by 0.75.

See Also

• Custom-Made Equipment and Cost Factor
• Superfine Blade (TL9)