Quality of Equipment.

I've posted about equipment quality before. I've always liked somehting more than a straight non-magical to magical progression (aside from silver weapons). A while back I had a couple posts on grotty gear and have filled notebooks with a variety of options and still not too sure of where to go.

I have a host of materials, probably keeping all of them (but not worrying too hard about all their real property differences) and I laboring on degrees of quality from total junk to the penultimate but struggling to find a set of descriptive that holds up form worst to best (or even truly how many steps will scratch the itch I have).

My current way too long list of degrees of quality from worst to best:

1. Duff
2. Shonky/Shoddy
3. Bodge
4. Common
5. Fit
6. Brilliant
7. Ace
8. Magnificent
9. Splendorous/Slendiferous/Splendid
10. Wondrous
11. Iconic
12. Legendary
13. Ultimate 

Three degrees of poor quality is probably too many; 8 degrees of excellent gear may also be a tad too much. I am constantly changing Wondrous and Iconic in status. An Item can be Wondrous without being Iconic and Iconic Items don't even have to be as Wondrous....so hmm roll them together?

Could abreviate it to this:

1. Duff
2. Common
3. Brilliant
4. Ace
5. Splendorous/Slendiferous/Splendid
6. Legendary
7. Ultimate 

Somehow that seem a bit too brief if I'm going to  have degrees of quality.

I have considered also applying degree of ornamentation. But that has issues too.

1. Ugly
2. Crude
3. Simple
4. Elegant
5. Decorated
6. Fancy
7. Amazing
8. Oppulent

Part of me would love playing in a campaign where my character could find a Fancy Ace Orachalcum Sword. Another part of me isn't sure if the descriptives work well enough to be backed up with mechanics.

Throwing this out there for any reader's consideration and my own use as a digital notebook. I'd love to see anyone's take on  this.

The Grotconomy, a first look at building one

Determining the prices and availability of goods in a Grotty age will set the tone for what the players will have their characters strive for. The average character will is assumed to start with roughly 100 groats worth of goods and gear on hand and as such they will tend to be limited to items of low quality and dubious functionality.

 In a grotty age much of what there is has been around for a while, that which hasn’t is recycled or quickly despoiled by the general environment of verdant decay. Gear and grub are always going to be dear and one can’t be sure the coins in their rotting purse will be of much worth in a few days or mayhaps be a fortune to someone in need of selling off ill-gotten gain.


Finding a Base Price by converting prices from other sources:
Duff goods costs1/2  the number of standard D&D price in g.p. ibut exposed as Groats
Shonky goods cost the same number of groats as g.p.  normally listed.
Bodge goods cost x2
Fit goods cost x5
Brill goods cost x20
Ace goods costs x50
(if your source material uses a silver based economy a groat should be considered to equivalent to a s.p. instead of a g.p. for common goods).
Example: if the core riles beign used show a Sword to be 10 g.p. in a grotty age campaign a Duff Sword could be had for as little as 5 Groats or an Ace Sword could be had for 500 Groats (well outside the range for most characters starting funds).

It should be apparent from the conversion guidelines above a well made steel sword would likely classify as a Fir of Brill purchase and cost a good bit of coin.

If your prices are under 1/10th of a Groat it is recommend to express the price in Gubbins.
Between that and a whole Groat prices will likely be stated in Spangles and Baub. Much over a dozen groats and it is likely prices will be given in Lucre or Marks. While Gilders and Zlotz are valuable it’s unlikely anyone would express prices in units of such coins.

When coming up with pricing to fit a particular campaign the GM is encouraged to consider the following:

Keep in mind it is vaguely possible for a person to get by on 3 groats a week if they don’t mind sleeping packed in a leaky shed, eating cabbage soup of dubious character and drinking hootch that has a chance of blinding them.

Food is precious but cheap. Because of the general conditions of things food doesn’t last long typically and is priced to move unless well preserved or a rare luxury. When converting the prices of common food items (in often inflated prices of gamebooks) it may be necessary to reduce the rice to 10% or less of normal prices before adjusting for quality.

Drinks and smoke will prove to be more valuable more often as they tend to preserve a tad better. Unless beer has soured really badly it will still get you drunk, and a dry powdery smoke will still provide a few puffs.

Above drinks and smoke at least at the base end of the scale one will find colognes, perfumes, and nose-snuff to be of moderate value as folks seek to distance themselves from the decay around themselves.

Tools will run a wide spectrum in pricing with precision tools begin far more expensive than common ones.

Weapons and Armor will run from affordable to dear in pricing.  Materials, age, method and origin of construction should all be considered when deterring true quality and price of such important goods.

Above more common weapons and armor will be magical items and technological artifacts the pricing for which will be steep but lower than one may expect in more traditional campaigns because of the general dysfunction of the economy and the cruel fact that someone with enough coin in their pocket may have enough muscle to take an item and keep their coins.

Medicines, balms, slaves, unguents, tonics and poultices of all sorts are available with a wide range of effectiveness in treatment for a wide range of conditions, diseases, and disorders. Prices will vary wildly from one place to the next but times from more reputable sources will fetch more coin than those foisted by unknown snake-oil peddlers.

Gems and precious metals do have value align with works of art and curios but the intrinsic value of such items will vary wildly base don the needs and tastes of the purchaser. A gold bar is certainly useful and will fetch a fair bit of coin but a golden goblet that can be seen to be mostly pure will likely fetch a better price from the right person. While such items are of value that value can not be certain from place to place.

Don't forget clothing, certainly not footwear folks walking about in a grotty age would likely want to keep their feet of of the general effluvium and detritus of ages. This author has found starting player characters off with lowly footwear provides a strange motivation to improve their lot on life by purchasing or thieving a pair of good boots.

Applying Variability to Prices.
In a grotty age prices in the market are nor set in stone from week to week or even day to day the challenges placed peddler will cause fluctuations in pricing.

When prices are expressed in single units the price can vary in either direction by 1d4 coin.

When prices are express in units of 10 the price can vary 1d20  in either direction.

When prices are expressed in 100;s the actual price may vary 1d100 in either direction.

In the rare case prices are expressed in thousands, leave them as they are but keep in mind items priced in 1000's and above will be very rare and seldom for sale.

Grotty Repairs

Keeping kit and arms in decent shape in a Grotty Age can be a trial.Materials may be in short supply and construction methods poorly understood by locla craftsmen.
Repairs with a Skilled Craftsman
The quickest method to get equipment resolved for campaigns that want to keep track of repairing gear but not getting to fiddly is to bring the time in question to a skilled craftsman.

Broken Gear can be reworked (if all pieces are retained) for 1/3rd the times original cost with a 50%  chance of success. A second attempt is allowed at 1/5th of cost (additional) but if that fail the item is scrap.

Downgraded Gear can be reworked at 1/5th the original cost. The item is not improved on a roll of 1-2 on d6 but repairs are otherwise improved. If two attempts to improve downgraded gear fail the gear is permanently downgraded to it;s current condition the origna condition is no longer relevant.

Worn Items can be mended by 1 step for 1/20th the original cost of the item.

Repairing Items in the Field

Sometimes a trip to a skilled craftsman in a proper workshop just isn’t an option and repairs must be made in the field.

Broken Gear may not be repaired without a proper workshop. For those crafts with a decent portable toolkit reworking may be attempted for 1/4 of the cost  but is only successful on a 2d6 roll of 8+.  It takes at least a work shift to repair a broken item in the field.

Downgraded Gear might be possible to improve to it’s previous state in the field. Such a repair requires some tools and supplies (consuming 1/10th the original cost of the item).

Field Improvements to Downgraded Gear
2d6 Die Roll	Results
3 or less	Item must save or it is broken.
4 or 5	Item is currently downgrade to current state
6	no improvement yet (must spend 1/2 pervious material cost to continue trying)
7+	Item improved one grade (to max of original state)

Superior skill, materials, and tools may improve the 2d6 roll.
It takes a minimum of 1 hour to improve downgraded equipment in the field.

Worn Items may be mended in the field but is is a little risky without preparer tools and some experience. The cost for such repairs is (1/50th the orignal cost of the item if no specific resources are on hand)

Field Repairs to Worn Items
2d6 Roll	Result
2 or less	Item must save or it is broken, even on a save it is downgraded in quality.
3	Shoddy work causes worn condition to be removed but quality is downgraded
4-8	one step of wear is removed
9+	all steps of wear are removed.

Apply the modifier for the current state of wear of the item to the 2d6 roll. Tools materials and skill may improve the repair roll.

It takes 20 minutes to attempt to remove wear on an item.
Quality and Steps of Wear are in last post.

Grotty Kit and Arms

In a Grotty Age things have been used, reused, and abused a multitude of times and it shows in the quality of good traders peddle and daring bravos and lowly churls have one hand. The quality of a characterless equipment is of dire concern in a campaign that takes place in a Grotty age.

Grotty Equipment Quality
Quality	Modifiers	Damage Check	Save	Inegrity
Duff	-1 to use, hit, and damage	Auto-Break on 1 and 20	15+	1
Shonky	none	Auto-Break on 1 Save vs Downgrade on a 20	13+	2
Bodge	none	Save vs Break on 1 Save vs wear on 20	11+	3
Fit	none	Save vs Downgrade on 1 Save vs Wear on 20	9+	5
Brill	+1 to use, and +1 to hit or damage (no both)	Save vs Downgrade on 1	7+	7
Ace	+1 to use, hit and damage (non-magical)	Save vs wear on 1	5+	10

Modifiers: apply to normal use of the item. Armor class will not be lowered or improved by the general quality of the armor in question.  Note: some GMs may apply a modifier to reflexes/dodging based on this modifier.
Damage Check: when to check for wear and tear on an time when used.
Save: The saving throw of the item
Integrity: the minimum damage an time must suffer if a check for wear and tear is to be made.

Conditions
Auto-Break: it’s broken no saving throw required.
Save vs Break: make a save (using the times saving throw chance) or the item breaks
Save vs Downgrade: make a save (using the items saving throw chance) or the item downgrades to the next lower quality. (record current quality but don't remove notation of original quality immediately)
Save vs Wear: make a save (using the items saving throw chance) or the item suffers a degree of wear.

Degrees of Wear
Marred:  -1 to use, saves, hit , damage, and AC as applicable
Worn:  -2 to use, saves, hit , damage, and AC as applicable
Battered: -3  to use, saves, hit , damage, and AC as applicable


Equipment Damage

Weapon Wear and Tear
Weapons may be damaged when exposed to the rigors of combat. The attack roll of the character wielding the weapon in hand is the die consulted to determine if a weapon is damaged in normal conditions.
Example:
Sir Mortimer is armed with a shonky sword he hits a grue with an attack roll of 20 unfortunately for him this means a saving throw is required and alas a 7 is rolled for the save causing his weapon to become downgraded in quality.
On the third round of combat Sir Mortimer gets a 1 on his attack roll causing his (now) Duff Sword to break.

If a weapon breaks while otherwise successfully striking a foe damage is still suffered by that foe.

A foe is attacking another foes weapon and score a 20 on their hit roll it exposes the foe to the risk of their weapons wear and tear. Ones own weapon is not harmed by a successful saving throw roll of 20 on the d20 but a roll of 1 is of concern.Example:
Sir Mortimer having survived the contest with the Grues above and has himself a new Fit Sword is now Dueling a Crimson Swordsman, that swordsman has the advantage and strikes at Sir Mortimers Sword striking it with a roll of 20 and 12 pints of damage which require Sir Mortimer to save vs wear which is done readily on a roll of 10.
The relentless Crimson Swordsman strikes at Mortimers Blade again this time striking on a roll of 16, for 11 points of damage this begin a successful strike to the weapon Sir Mortimer is allowed a save but alas a 1 is rolled causing Sir Mortimers Fit Sword to Downgrade in quality to Bodge Sword.  (as a 1 was rolled in the save). If Sir Mortimer had simply failed the save there would be a step of wear on the weapon.

Armor Wear and Tear
The first time in any given combat a character suffers damage in excess of their level they must make a save for their armor. The armor will suffer a step of wear if the save fails (unless a 1 is rolled on the save which may cause more serious damage to the armor).

At the end of any combat lasting 5 or more rounds a saving throw is required for all armor unless a combatant somehow managed to go unharmed the entire fight.

If a character is forced to save vs magical or special attacks in a round the armor may be damage by a roll of 1 or 20 as a weapon is in combat.

Certain weapons and tactics allow a combatant to strike a foes armor or shield to damage it, treat the armor as a weapon begin struck in such a situation.

Clothing
Boot and shoes require a check be made each day of travel. Make a d20 roll on a 1 or a 20 consult the chart above to determine if additional rolls are required.
Clothing normally requires a check be made each week unless exposed to extra hazards.

Worn clothing may impact a characters Charisma equal to the use penalty fo r the wear an tear.

optional rule: The clothing makes the man. The maximum Charisma one may be considered to have is equal to the integrity score of their clothing plus 10.  So if one is wearing a Duff Tunic and Cloak and has a normal Charisma of 15 they will be treated as if they have a Charisma of  11 at best by NPCs.

All other Equipment
Any time a character fails a saving throw and suffers physical harm from lighting, impact, heat, cold, acid or other physical forces for damage equal to or greater then the integrity of an item a d20 check is required for those items.
GMs may rule extra saves be made above and beyond those required when a saving throw is failed on exposure to special hazards.

Grotty Coins (Revised)

In a Grotty age folks would like to be dealing with shinning silver shillings and lustrous gold royals but alas there is little of such to be found. The lowliest coin of them all is the Gubbin, handfuls and piles of Gubbins would need to be exchanged for all but the cheapest of purchases. The Groat is the coin meant to be in the middle, the largest the lowly will ever likely see, and the unit of concern to all but the highest born. The quality and nature of the metals used isn't really of concern they are mostly small,cheap, and debased coming near enough to 200 to a pound that they may be considered to be of such weight.

Grotty Coin Conversion Table
Gubbin	1/50 Groat
Spangle	1/20 Groat, 2&1/2 Gubbins
Nubbin	1/10 Groat, 2 Spangles, 5 Gubbins
Baub	1/4 Groat, 2&1/2 Nubbins, 5 Spangles,  12&1/2 Gubbins
Groat	1 Groat, 4 Baub, 10 Nubbins, 20 Spangles,  50 Gubbins
Shearlin	4 Groats, 16 Baub, 40 Nubbins, 80 Spangles, 200 Gubbins
Lucre	2&1/2 Shearlin, 10 Groats, 40 Baub, 100 Nubbins, 200 Spangles, 500 Gubbins
Mark	2 Lucre, 5 Shearlin, 20 Groats, 80 Baub, 200 Nubbins, 400 Spangles, 1000 Gubbins
Gilder	2&1/2 Marks, 5 Lucre, 20 Shearlin, 50 Groats,200 Baub, 500 Nubbins, 1,000 Spangles, 2,500 Gubbins
Zlotz	2 Gilders, 5 Marks, 10 Lucre, 40 Shearlin, 100 Groats, 400 Baub, 1000 Spangles 5,000 Gubbins

As a note of value 3 groats may keep a person in poor food,ramshackle housing, and iffy drink/smoke for a week.

Gilders may rarely appear by the coffer full but few will ever see more then handful of Zlotz at any one time.

 

Money Changers do not convert coins strictly on the rates above. They will charge 1 spangle per 100 coins they must count (in either direction of the transaction) and will have a minimum charge posted (typically 2 to 10 spangles) for any transactions. When a customer is trading up to more expensive coin they will also charge 1 of the next coin lower (so if trading up to Gilders there will be a surcharge of 1 Mark). It should be clear to all but the most simple and maths challeneged that trading up to just a couple more valuable coins is an expensive and foolish practice.
Ancient and obscure coins will vary in value from one money changer to the next. In some areas it may be best to sell them to merchants that deal in specific metals if not in violation of the local laws when doing so.

A note on change: When dealing with small transactions no one makes change. If the price for a good is 1 Spangle and one pays 3 Gubbins (having no spangles on hand) they should not expect a 1/2 Gubbin back as change if the dealer likes them they may get a tiny bit extra product or service but it will be a minimal courtesy. Once transactions are up to using Lucre and larger coins one should expect change unless dealing with a lowly street vendor who would be unlikely to have adequate change and it would be gauche to argue over a few measly baub. Remember when doing business merchants and traders are not authorized money changers and are sometime prohibited by local law and custom from making change or allowing one to trade lower coins for better.

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The original post Filthy Lucre in a Grotty Age didn't have a wide enough spread in coin values in review so after playing about with numbers for a while I ended up settling on the rates above. Updates  to other parts of original post and related Grotty Age posts to follow.

Starting Funds

Most dugneoncrawling fantasy campaigns have a simple mechanic to determine starting funds with which a player may buy their characters starting funds. The following chart is an elaboration on the common method of determining starting funds by rolling 3d6 and multiplying that result by 10.


 Starting Funds Determination
Roll 3d6 and record results, next roll 2d6 and consult the chart below.

Roll	Multiplier	Source
2	X5	Petty theft. 10% chance an item of equipment was from the theft and may be noticed in the future.
3	X6	Savings from Honest work.
4	X7	Gambling Proceeds.
5	X8	Recompense for a dead animal.
6	X9	Investment, character will gain half again as much every 6 months 1d6 additional times.
7	X10	Inheritance. 5% chance an item is an heirloom your now dead relative stole or swindled from someone in the past.
8	X11	Debt paid off to you. You never thought it would happen but your cousin paid you back that money you loaned him years ago.
9	X12	“Found” a dead body; all gear and coin were scavenged from the body someone might notice a piece of gear as having belonged to a friend or relative in the future.
10	X13	Sold share of business interest.
11	X14	Grave Robbing . 20% chance a piece of equipment wss from grave and could be linked to robbery in the future.
12	X15	Miraculous reward! That beggar you helped weeks ago turned out to be a noble, one of his agents just dropped off this small sack of coins in gratitude.

Record the source and multiply the original 3d6 roll by the multiplier on the chart to determine the value of starting funds/equipment.  The player and DM are of course encouraged to follow-up on the sources of the funds however best fits dispotions and the campaign.