THE GOLD STANDARD Equipment List & Coinage System for use in The World of Arden TABLE of CONTENTS Money and Coins 2 Purchasing Equipment 3 The Equipment Lists 6 Equipment Descriptions 9 Encumbrance 23 Sample Adventure Packs 23 1 THE BASICS OF EQUIPMENT All characters are assumed to begin their career with sturdy clothes suitable for adventuring. All other equipment is purchased using the character’s starting wealth. Each character should purchase equipment suitable for their class. For example, fighters should purchase arms and armor to fight monsters and survive blows, while thieves need rope, crowbars, lock picks, and other special tools to effectively use their skills. Clerics will require holy symbols to drive back undead and mages will need spellbooks to record their dweomers. MONEY AND COINS Characters begin their career with 3d8x10 gold pieces they can use to purchase equipment. The most commonly used coin in the world of Arden is the gold piece (gp). A gold piece is worth 2 electrum pieces (ep), 10 silver pieces (sp), or 100 copper pieces (cp). In addition to gold, electrum, silver, and copper, there is also a platinum coin which is more valuable than gold. 1 platinum piece (pp) is equal in value to 10 gold pieces. Some kingdoms use larger or smaller coins than the standard set forth by the Empire of Palador. When merchants encounter these they often resort to their trusty scales to confirm the fair value of the coins. Exchange Value Coins CP SP EP GP PP Copper Piece (50/lb.) = 1 1/10 1/50 1/100 1/1,000 Silver Piece (50/lb.) = 10 1 1/5 1/10 1/100 Electrum Piece (50/lb.) = 50 5 1 1/2 1/10 Gold Piece (25/lb.) = 100 10 2 1 1/10 Platinum Piece (25/lb.) = 1,000 100 50 10 1 Commonly Seen Coinage All countries mint their own coins, however given the immense power once held by The Paladoran Empire its coinage system became the most commonly used for ease of trade within the empire and along its borders. Merchants frequently use scales to confirm the value of coins when dealing with large quantities of smaller value coins to save time and help deter being swindled by shaved coins. Denomination Paladoran Ophiri Karthan Venosian Copper Piece = Common Tauren Agol Krona Silver Piece = Talon Dirhum Drachma Luna Electrum Piece = Mark Sesteri Half-Rilk Tenari Gold Piece = Noble Auri Rilk Reale Platinum Piece = Imperial Koros Gluditch Not Minted 2 What’s a Gold Piece Worth? To put the value of currency in perspective, the Standard of Living table below shows how far a gold piece will go towards the cost of living at different standards of comfort. A single gold piece is enough for a poor peasant to subsist at a wretched quality of life. At the start of their careers, adventurers often live on a few dozen gold pieces per month, enough to eat and sleep at an inn. A dragon’s treasure hoard of 50,000gp might keep a village of peasants alive for decades, but merely cover a prince’s monthly budget. Wealth, and the luxuries it provides, is very concentrated in the world of Arden. Standard of Living Monthly Cost Common Professions Wretched 1gp Serfs and peasants Meager 3gp–12gp Unskilled manual laborers Adequate 12gp–40gp Skilled laborers or journeyman crafters, 1st level adventurers Comfortable 40gp–100gp Master craftsmen or yeomen farmer (85 acres), 2nd level adventurers Prosperous 100gp–450gp Master professionals or landed patrician (200 acres), 3rd–4th level adventurers Affluent 450gp–2,000gp Barons or wealthy patricians, 5th–7th level adventurers Sumptuous 2,000–12,000gp Marquis or counts, 8th–9th level adventurers Luxuriant 12,000–80,000gp Dukes or princes, 10th–12th level adventurers Lavishly Opulent 80,000gp+ Kings or emperors, 13th–14th level adventurers PURCHASING EQUIPMENT The arms, armor, and mundane gear available for purchase are listed on the tables below. These lists will also be handy when characters need to restock supplies between adventures. The equipment and other items listed on the Weapons and Equipment table are described in detail in the Equipment Descriptions section. Should the players wish to purchase items not provided in the equipment lists, the Judge may use the items available as guidelines for determining new items’ characteristics, and prices. All purchases should be recorded on the character sheet, noting how much money remains afterward. 3 Regardless of any stated class limitations, all characters may purchase, carry, and use any weapons or armor desired. However, characters who equip themselves with weapons and armor unusable by their class will fight as 0th level characters while so equipped. They also will receive no bonus on their attack throws or armor class from ability scores. If wearing armor not normally allowed by their class, the character cannot use any class abilities, and gain no experience while so equipped. EXAMPLE: Quintus, a mage, dons plate armor. While wearing it, he fights as a 0th level character, loses any attack throw or AC bonuses from his ability scores, cannot cast spells, and will not earn any experience. Equipment Availability Adventurers may sometimes wish to purchase equipment in greater volume than the town they are in can handle. This is not normally a concern early in a character’s career. But if an experienced adventurer decides they want to use a dragon’s hoard to equip all his followers with fur cloaks (15gp each) and purchase a dozen heavy warhorses (700gp each) with plate barding (1,000gp each), they may find such goods are simply unavailable in the quantities they desire! The amount of equipment available for purchase is determined by the price of the equipment relative to the size of the market the adventurers are in. A market can be anything from the open stalls found in a humble village’s town square to a city-state’s grand outdoor bazaar to the exotic ports of a major metropolis. Markets are rated by market class from I to VI, which rate their size and importance. The vast mercantile hubs of empires, with urban populations of 100,000 or more, constitute Class I. Major ports, national capitals, and other large cities of 25,000 or more inhabitants constitute Class II. Provincial capitals and medium-sized cities of 8,750 to 25,000 inhabitants make up Class III. Small cities and large towns of 3,000 to 8,750 inhabitants make up Class IV. Small towns and large villages of 1,250 to 3,000 inhabitants are Class V. Any village of 1,250 inhabitants or less is Class VI. Market classes are also important for hiring henchmen, as discussed in the Hirelings, Henchmen, Mercenaries, and Specialists section of the ACKS core book (page 49). The Equipment Availability by Market Class table shows how many units of any piece of equipment are available in each type of market each month. Some values will indicate a percentage chance; this is chance of one unit being present at all in any given month. Note that the values given are the number of each specific item, not the total number of items at that price level. For instance, a Class IV market will have 5 swords, 5 battle axes, and 5 of any other item priced between 2-10sp. Multiple small items sold as a bundle (such as 12 spikes, 6 torches, 20 arrows, etc.) count as one item for when attempting to determine their availability on the Market Class table. 4 Equipment Availability by Market Class Price Class I Class Class Class Class Class II III IV V VI 1gp or less 1,700 585 260 65 30 10 2gp–10gp 100 30 15 5 1 1 11–100gp 15 5 2 1 25% 10% 101–1,000gp 7 2 1 25% 10% 5% 1,001–10,000gp 2 1 25% 10% 5% 1% 10,001gp or more 10% 5% 2% NA NA NA EXAMPLE: Marcus is in Arganos, a city of 20,000 (Class III market). He wants to buy a war galley (60,000gp), medium warhorse (300gp), 2 suits of chain mail (70gp each), 20 swords (10gp/ea), 100 bundles of 6 torches (6cp), and 200 flasks of oil (3sp/ea). A Class III market has 260 units of any equipment priced 1sp or less, so he finds the 100 bundles of 6 torches and 200 flasks of oil without problem. A Class III market has only 15 units of any equipment priced 10gp or less, so only 15 swords are available. Since he needs the weapons to equip his men, he settles on 15 swords and 5 battle-axes. A Class III market has 2 units of equipment priced at 11-100gp and 1 unit at 101-1,000gp, so he is able to buy the 2 suits of chain mail and medium warhorse. There is only a 2% chance of a war galley being available, and the Judge rolls a 42; Marcus cannot find that type of ship in Arganos this month. Commissioning Equipment If equipment the adventurers desire to purchase is not available, they may attempt to commission its creation. The advantage of commissioning equipment is that more equipment can be commissioned than is normally available in a shop’s inventory. Treat the equipment as if it were one price category less expensive when calculating the number available. The disadvantage of commissioning equipment is that it’s not immediately available. Buildings and vehicles, which can be built by large groups, are constructed at a rate of 1 day per 500gp value. Animals take 1 day per 1gp value to find and train.