Equipment
From SteelStorm
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4.0.3 Equipment
There are many ways to get equipment in Steel Storm.
-Preassembled - these are completed items, purchased primarily through standard retail outlets. These items are usually full-price, and are, in general, constructed to excellent standards, meaning that the item will almost always work as intended.
However, in Seahaven and a few other places, there is also a thriving black market. Items bought here are usually sold by fly-by-night dealers, and as they are somewhat illicit, the items usually go for 60 to 75% of the normal retail price. However, the quality of such goods may be questionable - there is a 5% chance that a black market item may fail to function as desired each time it is used.
-Kits - As there are many inventors and such, especially from the ranks fo technomancers, many items, ranging from the physical to the technological, are available as kits of component pieces and plans to guide assembly. Even with the plans, these items are not easy to build without the attendant skill necessary to complete them, and a failed build could result in anything from a nonworking device to a catastrophic explosion (see the <a href="skills.html#failuretable">Skills Failure Table</a>). However, if you have the skills for a kit, they can usually be found for around 50% the cost of a preassembled device. There are two levels of kits - kits that come with instructions, and cost about 55% of preassembled, and kits for the adventurous, which can be had for as low as 45%, but are riskier to build. Kits with instructions give you a 10% bonus to your skill proficiency to build the kit. Kits generally take from hours to a few days to build, depending on their complexity.
-From Instructions - many devices can be built from instructions, which of course require you to get the raw material (instructions alone are inexpensive). If you can acquire the pieces, you get a 10% bonus to build success, and can be built in around 1-5 days. -From Scratch - Some items may be built or invented entirely from materials that you either buy or find while adventuring. However, building an item from scratch can take 2-3 times as long as building it from a kit, and siginificantly longer than just buying a store-bought item. You are required to have the appropriate proficiency skill for the item you are trying to build, and you suffer a -5% to your skill proficiency if you are building a known item that you've never built before and have no instructions for (-10% for a rare or relatively unknown item, or for a completely new type of invention).
-Alchemy - Those with the alchemy skill can attempt to transmute raw materials into finished components. However, they still require the proper proportions of raw materials to transmute the desired item. Unless they also posess the relevant building skill for a particular item, their skill proficiency to create the item is -30%.
4.0.3.A Spell Equipment
Spell equipment is usually obtained in a somewhat similar way to regular equipment.
-Prewritten - these spells are available through shops, and are generally easy-to-use - once you've read them off of the page, you can then reuse them as much as you want, depending on how much MP you have. They are generally the most expensive method of obtaining spells, and contain low-to-moderate-level spells. Almost anyone can acquire these types of spells.
-Instructed - the most powerful and complex spells actually require 1-5 days of concentrated instruction. Instruction can be done from written tomes (expensive, magic skill proficiency + 10% of successful acquisition per try), or in person with an expert mage (very expensive, magic skill proficiency + 30% acquisition rate).
-Recombinated - true tinkerers can attempt to combine 2 or more spells to create a more powerful spell. Recombine 2 at standard magic proficiency, and subtract -10% when trying to combine more than 2 at once (also, subtract another 10% if trying to combine damage and effect spells). Recombinated spells are usually highly tuned to the abilities of the magician creating them, and cannot be resold.
-From Scratch - you can also attempt to tap into the magical streams directly and compose your own spells! Common spells, like you might buy in shops, take 1-3 days to create and tune, and are at standard proficiency success. More complex spells take 2-5 days, and are -5% proficiency. Completely novel spells take 4-9 days to create, and are at -15% proficiency. If successful, the mage has learned the spell, and also has a hard copy of it to resell!
4.0.3.B Starting Equipment
Regardless of class, all characters are assumed to start out with the following basic equipment:
- Two pairs of "operating" clothes, for plying their trade
- One pair of regular, casual clothing
- One suit of entry-level armor, in the style of their class
- Two entry-level weapons
- 500 TCs
Unless otherwise specified in the chosen class, all players will start out residing in one of the following locations of their choice:
- An apartment at an inn (inns have both rooms for rent by the night, and rooms for purchase for more permanent residents)
- A small house with no more than 3 rooms
- A tent + camping supplies (if starting the game in a location away from a city/town)
Houses are assumed to be owned and fabricated by the owner, and as such are not absolutely professional residences, having minimal accomodations. Residences with more accomodations can be purchased later on in the game.
