Where do the non-PC races get their stuff?

[havard]

Where do orcs get their weapons, armor, and other equipment?

Where do goblins get their weapons, armor, and other equipment?

Where do giants get their weapons, armor, and other equipment?

Where do demons/devils/devas/angels get their weapons, armor, and other equipment?

Are there non-PC-race smiths, markets, and cities?

Yes.

In Tolkien, Orcs are quite talented weapon smiths.

Not sure about later editions, but good old BECMI established Giants as master craftsmen in AC2: Book of Giants and Dragons.

I could see demons/Devils/devas/Angels getting equipment from the Gods, created out of nothing. Then, I could also see the Abyss having cities with demons of all professions, trade etc.

Havard

 

[Piratecat]

Shop smart. Shop S-Mart.

 

[the Jester]

The following is all "In My Campaign," and I'm not going to bother to say it again.

Where do orcs get their weapons, armor, and other equipment?

They make them. Also, they steal some from the dwarves, and they trade for some. Orcs are a reasonably civilized race, at least compared to some others.

Where do goblins get their weapons, armor, and other equipment?

They make crude ones, but mostly steal them from pc races or trade them from orcs or other non-pc types.

Where do giants get their weapons, armor, and other equipment?

What type of giant? Except the dumb ones (e.g. hill giants), giants have a vibrant culture and make their own. Hill giants steal or use fence posts, uprooted trees, etc. as weapons.

Where do demons/devils/devas/angels get their weapons, armor, and other equipment?

They make them. Heck, there are entire castes of diabolic item creators, and the angels are masters of every art and craft in their home domains.

Are there non-PC-race smiths, markets, and cities?

Certainly, though not of all races.

Gnolls have no cities; they are nomadic marauders too lazy to settle down when they can thieve and maraud instead. Kenku live in small communities, but not cities. They find the idea of making something as opposed to stealing it to be distasteful. Tabaxi have an ancient fallen civilization that had all kinds of crazy sci-fi radiation stuff going on (they made the clockwork horrors). Lizardfolk are mostly savage tribes, but there are areas with lizardfolk kingdoms and fabulous cities of jade.

Takes all kinds, you know.

 

[Relique du Madde]

Shop smart. Shop S-Mart.

Beat me to it.

 

[Stormonu]

That's a good question. Mining iron and manufacturing steel seems beyond the capacity of the typical orc or goblin tribe.

1) Trade. Either for weapons or raw materials. The trade could be with savage humanoids that do have mines, such as kobolds, or other mining races such as dwarves.
2) Ancient weaponry found in ruins.
3) Stolen from civilised peoples.
4) The savage humanoid tribes have united under a great leader - weapons are manufactured and distributed on a large scale.
5) The savage humanoids have been armed by the political enemies of the nearby civilised lands they raid. Like France arming the Scots to raid the English.

Actually, the 1E DMG devotes a section to mining, taking the time to note that gnolls, kobolds, goblins, orcs & hobgoblins are all decent (though recalcitrant) miners; all but gnolls are actually better miners than humans, and hobgoblins can work as fast as dwarves at mining (kobolds and gnomes are tied for second place). I've also seen many adventures featuring humanoids mines and the game has often insinuated that orcs & goblins will quarrel with dwarves over mines. Prior editions strongly indicate that kobolds are excellent miners, especially their deity Kurtulmak.

I imagine most of the humanoid tribes can work with metal, though steel may be beyond their ability to produce. Leather goods (leather armor & shields & scale armors) would likely be within the various humanoids ability to manufacture. In most cases, I'd expect they would prefer to raid for better quality goods and weapons, and only make their own gear out of necessity - with the occasional exception.

Like many others, I've always seen giants as having master craftsmen and the infernal/divine races having supernatural crafting abilities.

 

[ExploderWizard]

Shop smart. Shop S-Mart.

Gotta spread some around.

This here is a double bladed, limb severing, axe of death. It features twin blades forged from our custom mithril alloy, a heavy duty bronzewood shaft, and comfort leather wrapped grip. It retails for about 49gp99sp. You can find this in the war department.

SHOP SMART! SHOP S-MART!

 

[Dausuul]

All of the following answers are my "stock answers" for these questions, in my campaigns, unless otherwise specified:

Where do orcs get their weapons, armor, and other equipment?

Orcs are not craftsmen, and on their own they manufacture only primitive and poorly made gear using Stone Age technology. Their metal armor and weapons are either plundered from defeated foes, or made by slaves of other races.

Where do goblins get their weapons, armor, and other equipment?

Goblins, unlike orcs, are quite good at manufacturing and practice it extensively. When possible, they establish their nests in proximity to an ore vein, and smelt and forge their own gear. If that isn't an option, they steal the raw materials from other races. They are not above using scavenged gear, but will melt it down and re-forge it if it isn't suitable to their needs.

Where do giants get their weapons, armor, and other equipment?

Depends on the giant, but as a rule they make their own. Raw materials are obtained through mining, trading with other races, or raiding. Giant societies bear a strong resemblance to human clans and tribes.

Where do demons/devils/devas/angels get their weapons, armor, and other equipment?

Devils and angels have extensive civilizations mirroring human ones; they obtain raw materials and manufacture their gear in much the way humans do.

Demons seldom use weapons or armor. On the rare occasion that they do (e.g., a balor's whip and sword), each demon creates its own gear out of raw elemental chaos. Such creations are very unstable, apt to explode or disintegrate when the demon stops paying attention.

Are there non-PC-race smiths, markets, and cities?

Orcs: No, no, and no.
Goblins: Yes, no, and sorta (a goblin nest can contain thousands of goblins, but isn't really a city in the usual sense).
Giants: Yes, no, and sorta (some giants have settlements resembling human towns, but too few inhabitants to be properly called cities).
Angels: Yes, no, and yes.
Devils: Yes, yes, and yes.
Demons: No, no, and sorta (there are places in the Abyss that resemble cities, and demons often congregate in large numbers in such places, but the demons don't build the cities, nor do they behave like city-dwellers).

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

Maul-mart is really cheap and has locations everywhere, so it's pretty common to find their brands clenched in the cold dead hands of foes throughout the multiverse.

Also, I understand Stake-n-Flail is growing in poularity among more upscale humanoids.

For armor and clothing, it's not uncommon to find a Gricktoria's Secret catalog among a bbeg's possessions-- although whether it's to order wares, or just for the pictures is hotly contested by delvers in the know.

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

It really depends on the campaign, but usually I find myself roughly holding to the following:

Orcs - scavenge weapons, and do crude forging. There are no organized orc cities, and they rarely trade.

Goblins - lesser ones scavenge and improvise, civilized ones (eg, hobgoblins) forge. Most goblinoids will trade, and can be tribal or organized into great bureaucratic cities, depending.

Giants - primitive ones use primitive weapons (trees, rocks, massive bones) while the civilized ones can be very accomplished smiths. The lesser giants are clannish and brutish, rarely trading with others. Greater giants IMCs tend to be nearly uniques who are lords over lesser giants and other beings, and who may or may not freely trade depending upon their motives and position in the world.

Angels - are very civilized for the most part and forge/create items in mysterious ways. There are angel cities, but not organized in the same way earthly cities are organized. Markets exist, but the rules of trade are opaque to non-angels.

Devils - create weapons in all sorts of profane ways. They are hierarchical and quite naturally organize into vast bureaucratic cities with complex markets that sell all manner of things both speakable and not.

Demons - either scavenge weapons, "extrude" weapons of their own essence somehow, or shape weapons from the corpses/souls of their foes & prey. Being demons, they aren't civilized, per se, but they can and do group into great agglomerations that resemble immensely chaotic cities. Organized markets are rare, and there are no set rules of trade.

Aberrations, monstrous humanoids, etc - obey all kinds of rules that vary greatly depending upon the setting and their respective roles.

 

[Set]

Where do orcs get their weapons, armor, and other equipment?

Orcs can make some weapons, and seize others. They aren't rocket scientists, but the average orc isn't exactly Forrest Gump, either, and the smarter orc craftsmen are going to be able to function just fine, even if they won't be as cutting edge brilliant as the smartest human craftsmen.

Depending on the humanoid society, it's possible that older venerable craftsmen might be revered for their enhanced skill (although, in might-makes-right Orc society, not so much...). Lizardfolk and Troglodytes seem more likely to use this sort of technique, keeping their eldest hard at work crafting stuff for the younger, stronger warriors, capitalizing on their increasing expertise (and Lizardfolk, in particular, have been depicted in the past as having an 'advanced' caste, that is smarter and better-equipped than the 'savages').

Hobgoblins and Kobolds, on the other hand, are very organized and / or associated with craft, making them ideal choices for the 'suppliers' for Orcs, Goblins, Gnolls, etc.

The Kobolds are ideally positioned to act as weapon-merchants to the larger Orcs, as they can keep their forges and communities on the other side of tunnels and warrens that the Orcs can simply never penetrate, coming forth only to trade under conditions where the Orcs simply cannot storm in and take everything.

Since Kobolds, Goblins and Hobgoblins are every bit as smart as humans or elves, they can attain levels of craftsmanship every bit the equal of other races (although they lack the specific bonuses that a dwarf would have), and can provide gear, and even magical gear, as they can be effective wizards, clerics, sorcerers, druids and adepts as well.

Where do goblins get their weapons, armor, and other equipment?

Either they make their own, using their every-bit-equal-to-human intelligence, or Hobgoblins use them as peasant levies, and equip them accordingly, with cheap junk like spears.

Where do giants get their weapons, armor, and other equipment?

Hill Giants and Ogres use rocks and sticks. Frost, Fire, Stone, Cloud and Storm Giants are all well capable of making their own stuff. Fire and Stone Giants are probably the best craftsmen of the lot.

Hill Giants and Ogres being used by Fire Giants, Cloud Giants, etc. as flunkies (or Hobgoblins, etc. as mobile seige weapons) are probably better outfitted by their 'patrons.'

Where do demons/devils/devas/angels get their weapons, armor, and other equipment?

They have entire infinite dimensions, and, in some cases, cities the size of countries on the material plane. I'm sure there's a blacksmith somewhere out there working with that Baatorian Green Steel and Ysgardian Heartwire and making Celestial Armor and Demon Armor.

And, if they feel lazy, the Modrons and Formians are reknowned for their craftsmanship, and you can buy *anything* in the City of Brass, where thousands of Azer craftsmen toil endlessly to craft gear for the Efreeti nobility.

Are there non-PC-race smiths, markets, and cities?

Since we've seen them detailed in various adventures and settings, all the way back to 1st edition's Erelhei-Cinlu (an 'NPC race city'), I'd say yes.