Equipment

Steel remembers the hand that carries it. Armour remembers the blow.

Adventurers are shaped by what they carry. A sword changes how a warrior threatens space. A shield changes what an enemy can reach. Armour changes whether a clean hit becomes a wound. A tool kit changes what a clever character can attempt when the door is sealed, the bridge is broken, or the poison is already spreading.

Narateer treats equipment as practical, story-facing rules. Equipment should matter at the moment it changes the fiction. It should not slow play into accounting unless the burden, risk, or tactical choice is meaningful.

Gear is not a shopping list. It is a promise about what your character is ready to do.

What Is Equipment?

Equipment includes the weapons, armour, shields, tools, kits, supplies, and carried objects a character uses during play.

Equipment may define:

• Bulk, showing how difficult it is to carry, wear, wield, or transport.
• Cost, showing its relative purchase value.
• Weapon Damage, for attacks.
• Damage Vital Cap, limiting how much Vital force can be applied through a weapon.
• Damage Type, such as Slashing, Piercing, or Bludgeoning.
• Base Attack Cost, the minimum AD committed to make an attack or exchange with the weapon before Boost.
• Soak, reducing Damage Score after a hit.
• Traits, giving special rules or fictional permissions.

Equipment Values

Not every item uses every value.

A sword uses Weapon Damage. Armour uses Soak. A shield mainly uses Bulk, traits, fictional positioning, and cover. A rope mostly uses Bulk and fictional permission.

Bulk And Equipment

Equipment Bulk follows the rules in Bulk and Encumbrance.

Bulk covers how difficult an item is to carry, wear, wield, pack, drag, or transport. Heavy armour, large shields, packed gear, and awkward weapons do not need a separate speed value. Their burden is handled through Bulk and the character's encumbrance state.

Damage Types

Physical weapons usually deal one or more of the following Damage Types.

Many weapons can deal more than one Damage Type. A sword may cut or thrust. A dagger may slash or stab. A halberd may cut with the blade, thrust with the point, or strike with force depending on its form.

The active Damage Type should match the fictional attack.

Weapons

Weapons are not only damage. They are reach, threat, leverage, timing, and fear.

A weapon defines how a character turns a successful attack into harm.

When a combatant wins an exchange and can deal damage, calculate Strike Rating:

Strike Rating = Weapon Damage + min(active Damage Vital, Damage Vital Cap)

Then calculate Damage Score:

Damage Score = Hit Margin + Strike Rating - Protection Rating

Weapon Damage represents the weapon's inherent lethality.

The active Damage Vital represents the character's force, precision, control, or tactical application.

The Damage Vital Cap limits how much of that Vital can be applied through that weapon.

Weapon Damage Scale

Damage Vital Cap

A weapon's Damage Vital Cap limits the Vital value used in Strike Rating.

Applied Damage Vital = min(active Damage Vital, Damage Vital Cap)

Active Damage Vital

The active Damage Vital is the Vital used to calculate Strike Rating.

Most melee weapons use Strength or Agility. Heavy melee weapons usually favour Strength. Light weapons often allow Agility.

Shields

Armour takes the blow. A shield denies the blow a path.

Shields do not add to Strike Rating or Soak by default.

Shields matter through:

• fictional positioning;
• cover;
• reach and engagement;
• class powers;
• traits;
• Guide rulings when the shield clearly changes what is possible.

Shields do not provide passive Soak by default because the attacker is usually trying to get around the shield and hit the person. Once a clean hit lands, armour and other protection decide how much harm gets through.

If a shield is on the character's back, hanging from a pack, dropped, or not positioned usefully, it does not help until brought back into the fiction.

Armour

Armour does not stop the enemy from touching you. It decides how much the touch matters.

Armour provides Soak.

Soak contributes to Protection Rating after an exchange is won against the wearer.

Protection Rating = armour Soak + Full Guard bonus, if any

Damage Score = Hit Margin + Strike Rating - Protection Rating

Armour does not make the character harder to hit by default. Instead, it makes successful hits less damaging.

Only body armour provides default passive Soak.

Helms

Helms are not currently tracked as separate equipment.

For now, assume an armour set includes appropriate head protection for that armour type.

Development Note: Separate helm rules are unresolved. Helms may later become distinct equipment if the system gains called shots, location-based injuries, critical injury tables, or another clean reason to track head protection separately.

Armour Traits

Some armour has a trait that describes a special quality.

These traits are inactive until the Guide or a rules module uses them.

Weapon Table

Armour Table

Shield Table

Equipment And Melee Exchange

When an exchange is won, equipment enters damage through Strike Rating and Protection Rating:

Strike Rating = Weapon Damage + min(active Damage Vital, Damage Vital Cap)

Protection Rating = armour Soak + Full Guard bonus, if any

Armour Soak is the default passive protection value. Full Guard adds +1 Protection Rating if the guarded combatant is hit.

Shields and defensive weapons may still matter through fiction, reach, cover, traits, positioning, and class powers. They do not add a default extra defence pool to Melee Exchange.

Equipment Traits

Traits are short rules or permissions that make equipment distinctive.

Traits can be descriptive until the Guide or another rule uses them.

Example: Armour In Melee Exchange

Brom carries an arming sword, a heater shield, and wears mail.

If Brom is hit, his mail contributes Protection Rating through Soak 3.

If Brom chose Full Guard and is still hit, he adds +1 Protection Rating.

The heater shield may still shape the fiction, justify cover, or interact with traits and class powers, but it is not part of a default extra defence formula.

Example: Full Plate Against A Weak Strike

A low-level attacker hits a knight in Full Plate.

The attacker has:

• Hit Margin 1.
• Active Damage Vital 2.
• Weapon Damage 2.
• Damage Vital Cap 3.

Strike Rating:

2 + min(2, 3) = 4

Damage Score:

Hit Margin 1 + Strike Rating 4 - Full Plate Soak 5 = 0

The attack lands, but it does not meaningfully wound the knight.

Example: Dagger In Strong Hands

A very strong character attacks with a dagger.

The attacker has:

• Strength 6.
• Dagger Weapon Damage 1.
• Dagger Damage Vital Cap 2.

Strike Rating:

1 + min(6, 2) = 3

The character's strength matters, but the dagger cannot carry all of it. A small weapon remains dangerous, not absurd.

Tips

Players

Choose equipment that matches how you fight. Armour makes you harder to wound. A heavy weapon lets you apply more force. A light weapon gives flexibility, speed, and concealability. A shield shapes positioning, cover, and defensive fiction. Carrying everything makes you ready for anything until Bulk makes you slow.

Narateer Guides

Use equipment to support clear fictional choices. Do not punish players with hidden gear math. Tell them when their shield changes position or cover, when their armour absorbs the blow, and when a weapon's reach, weight, or form changes the scene.

Keep traits simple until they matter.

Summary

• Equipment includes weapons, armour, shields, tools, supplies, and carried objects.
• Equipment Bulk follows the Bulk and Encumbrance rules.
• Weapons provide Weapon Damage.
• Armour provides passive Soak.
• Shields matter through positioning, cover, traits, class powers, and fiction.
• Helms are included in armour sets for now and have no separate mechanics.
• Strike Rating = Weapon Damage + min(active Damage Vital, Damage Vital Cap).
• Damage Score = Hit Margin + Strike Rating - Protection Rating.
• Damage Vital Cap limits how much Vital can be applied through a weapon.
• Traits make equipment distinct but can remain descriptive until used by the Guide or another rule.
• Bulk measures how difficult equipment is to carry, wear, wield, or transport.