Basic equipment

Food and drink

Among the most important needs of a character, which you should not forget, are food and drink.

The cheapest ordinary food costs you 5 cp per day; you can drink water, which is usually free (though that need not by any means be true everywhere).

Traveling

When traveling you must deal with (besides finances) 2 basic questions: how much food and water you can carry and how long it stays edible.

Food for one day weighs 1 kg, travel rations half that. It lasts about 2 days, travel rations a week or more (higher quality food lasts longer). Water weighs about 2-3 kg per day (more in warm weather); quality drink costs as much as food. Water stays fresh for about a week, then it begins to spoil. Alcoholic or treated drinks last even several months (years). The durability of water will matter on a long sea voyage; when traveling normally you will run out of it before it has time to spoil.

Clothes make the man, and you will hardly get by without them. While in a village rough clothing or even just a smock is enough, in the better part of a town you cannot show yourselves dressed like ragamuffins. If frost strikes, or it is just cold and raining, without good clothing you can fall ill or even freeze to death.

For simplicity we divide clothing into winter and summer clothing. Complete clothing also includes shoes, a belt and other accessories.

The listed prices apply to typical town clothing of quality 0.

Shoes are as important as clothing, and especially in winter or in the mountains you cannot do without them. Nevertheless, many villagers and paupers go barefoot (especially in the warm season).

If you want to repair, alter or even sew your own clothing, you can acquire this equipment.

Adventurers on the road can lay their heads at an inn or a coaching inn. As with all goods and services, the price will depend on quality; a room at a town inn and a place on the floor of an ordinary tavern differ fundamentally. The price of a whole floor of an inn in the capital will be astronomical.

We also list prices for acquiring your own housing.

Besides securing a dwelling with doors, doors can also be locked and also pried open. The listed lockpick, however, cannot be bought just like that at the marketplace; you must know where to turn.

Doors can also be broken down if necessary.

Things in houses are mostly stored in chests. More expensive ones with a better lock cost much more; cheaper ones are practically not made.

To carry loads you can use all kinds of knapsacks, backpacks, bags, baskets or even just a sack. The difference is in the carrying capacity, comfort and durability of such a thing (a sack may tear, a cheap knapsack's strap may break).

Water

Water and drinks are carried in a canteen, a waterskin or a bottle. A liter of water weighs 1 kg; you need 2 to 3 liters per day (in warm weather 5, in the desert even 10 l).

Purse

For comfortable carrying, money is kept in a purse. Richer townsfolk use decorated and very splendid purses, while the poor carry their small change in a pouch or wrapped in a rag.

Thanks to carriages and carts you can make traveling significantly easier and carry more cargo; however, you will hardly get off the roads, let alone through harder terrain or mountains. Thanks to a carriage, animals can pull much more, up to 500 kg per animal (compared to carrying a rider, when it carries approx. 100 kg).

Traveling goes much faster if you have a riding animal. You can also use the animal to carry loads or pull a cart. Each animal has its own carrying capacity corresponding to its strength, movement and other attributes, which the GM will tell you. More expensive animals (especially horses) can run faster, be trained or be valuable helpers in battle (war horse).

When pulling a cart, an animal can haul up to four times the load.

You can acquire an animal to be your companion, for example a dog. The price is again for an ordinary animal. A trained, pedigreed or exceptional animal can be even a hundred times more expensive.

As adventurers you probably will not raise animals on a farm, but to give you an idea of how much each costs, we list them here.

Armor for animals and similar equipment

You may want to armor your steed or equip another animal similarly. Such a special order will cost you dearly, since you pay 2-5x more for the special order and x Size for the material because of the greater weight and size.

The weight of such equipment also changes (x Size).

On the road you will certainly find a bedroll and a waterproof tarp useful; wealthier individuals can buy a tent. You will also certainly appreciate cooking utensils such as pots.

For making fire, see the paragraph „Light“.

At night or in unlit spaces you will need to carry your own light. The cheapest is a torch; lighting with an oil lamp is much better, but it can get expensive. A lantern shines up to 20 meters, and you can see well with it up to 10 m; a torch has half the reach (10 and 5 m). The reach of a campfire ranges from a few meters (an inconspicuous woodsman's fire) to tens of meters (a bonfire).

To start a fire you use flint and steel, but that is very slow (about 1 minute). Better is a mechanical lighter, found rather among wealthier townsfolk, or an alchemical agent, which is even more expensive.

For crossing mountains and climbing in general you will appreciate a rope. Classic hemp rope is cheap, but fairly heavy. You can, however, obtain a more expensive one (for example silk).

For climbing into treetops or over walls you can use a grappling hook tied to a rope. It can also be shot over greater distances with a crossbow or bow.

For writing you need writing supplies and parchment, which is fairly costly. You can also make do with chalk or write with a charred stick on a piece of cloth.

A very expensive matter is a book, which can cost a whole fortune.

Not only merchants will appreciate an abacus, scales or an hourglass; travelers, on the other hand, will appreciate a rare spyglass.