Key Equipment?

[Kaodi]

I think that before you can answer the question, " What are the things that no adventurer can live without? " you have to answer the question, " What amount of things can the least able adventurer manage? " The reasonable lower limit is probably a halfling or gnome with a strength of 6, which would give the a carrying capacity of light 15, medium 30, and heavy 45. And keep in mind, with your pathetic strength, your career options are probably limited, so wearing medium or heavy armour and moving like a snail is probably not going to be a great tradeoff. And you are really going to need that hard metal shell if you are going to survive as a snail.

So, realistically, the question is, " What are the things no stick of a halfling can live without? " and it is probably going to have to come in at under 15 lbs.

 

[JohnH]

Usually whatever fits in the adventure kit. Light source, fire making equipment, water, rations, rope. You can only reasonably carry so much stuff.

 

[Cor Azer]

Not much use for a mage!

My mages always like armors and swords. I put them on the big fodder- I mean fighter - in front of them.

 

[Stormonu]

Backpack
lantern, oil & flint and steel/matches
sacks
belt pouch
boot knife (not for combat - for cutting rope or other items, probing items and such)
heavy gloves
helmet (doubles as a cooking pot...)
bedroll (can double as sacks in a pinch)
iron rations (to feed yourself and/or dissuade monsters)
wineskin & wine/ale/water (as above - also, with 80 proof [40%] or higher alcohol, can be lit to make a screen for escaping)
hammer and pitons
100' silk rope (50' is never enough) & folding grappling hook (everyone seems to forget the grappling hook to latch onto something and get you out of the pit...)
5' pole/quarterstaff (10' is unwieldy and overkill)

REALLY HANDY, BUT OPTIONAL
chalk/charcoal
crowbar
caltrops/marbles
whistle/horn
monocle/magnifying glass

 

[Loonook]

The world is your oyster after that.

Reported.

I did forget the 10' pole... but ehh. Though the bedrolls are also a valuable accessory for the adventurer. I honestly think that everything there covers it though.


Slainte,

-Loonook.

 

[Jon_Dahl]

For characters above 1st-level, I've noticed that my players have generally enjoyed this list: http://www.enworld.org/forum/d-d-legacy-discussion/315084-standard-high-level-adventurers-kit.html

 

[Dioltach]

I never understood the use of the 10' pole. Take a spear instead: it does pretty much everything a standard pole does, plus it has a sharp point.

 

[Kaodi]

15 lb. Hard Limit

Universal Equipment
Weight/Item
.5 Dagger
0 Sling
.5 Backpack
0 Flint & Steel
1 Waterskin
.5 2 Days Rations
1.25 Bedroll
1 Sunrod
.125 Belt Pouch
.125 Sack
0 Clothes (no encumbrance for worn)

That comes out to 5.25 lbs. That may seem like a lot less than 15, but a lot of classes are probably going to want that suit of leather armour that comes in at 7.5 lbs, and thieves' tools are going to be another 1 lb. So for a rogue, that would leve a mere 1.25 lbs. for loot before you get up to medium encumbrance.

 

[fireinthedust]

Great lists!


One thing that's really getting me about equipment is when I design my own. How much should it weight? How much should it cost? Is it important enough to be designed, or is something else already good enough?

What would or wouldn't exist in a medieval society, and what it might cost, are really different from our world. Chalk, for example, iirc used to come from an actual place: cliffs made of the stuff, you'd mine it and ship it. Now we have it chemically made, I believe, so it's cheaper and easier to fabricate.

Even ale: we're used to ale produced en masse, and if you drive by one of the breweries by the big beer-makers you'll see sky-scraper sized tanks filled with the stuff, using really hi-tech equipment so they can squeeze out as much beer as possible for the cheapest price. OTOH if you make it yourself, in a cottage industry the way a fantasy setting would need to be (save for artificer-crafted Eberron beers, but let's ignore that for now and go standard) you're talking about waiting about a month for the beer to be ready if you're brewing a batch about two-by-three feet, say. After all that work, including the sterilizing process (which ought to be difficult in medieval times, without disinfectants or even bleach, I believe), do you really think you'd let a pint of ale go for less than an hours wage or so? Well, it would be more expensive in some respects, all I'm saying.

 

[Zelda Themelin]

to add

spare clothes
cooking tools
tent (maybe)
axe (for woodcutting)
shovel (my players always get that)
climbing hooks (and enough rope)
hammer
saw
net
caltrops