Money and Equipment

You begin play with 120 silver pennies worth of equipment. Note that you do not start with 120 silver pennies! Pick out your equipment given the 'funds available,' but keep in mind that you will be starting play with 10 pennies or less; if you have more than 10 pennies left after buying equipment, then reduce the remainder to 10 pennies. Anything else is lost.

Why?

First, your starting funds are not an indicator of actual money. When you finish your apprenticeship your master doesn't hand you a pouch of pennies and point you in the direction of the market. It instead represents goods that you have accumulated over the years, and have now outfitted yourself with to begin your career as an adventurer. Few of these items will be of great quality, and many will be gifts or inheritances from your family or teachers. It is traditional for Swordmasters to give their students a weapon when they finish their apprenticeship, while Raiders will be outfitted with weapons they have taken from victims or as 'valor gifts'. Thieves will have stolen during their apprenticeship, and so on. If you wish, you can detail where each item came from; I'm sure the GM will appreciate the color.

Second, starting lean and hungry increases your character's thirst for adventure and need for treasure. If your sword is a three-generation hand me down clay-fired single-edged broadsword that holds an edge like it was made of wax, you have every reason to go out and get money for a new one.

Finally, keep in mind that the starting equipment lists designate the costs for common, easy to find equipment, which a professional would designate as being of 'poor' quality. Higher quality equipment, especially weapons, exist. For things other than weapons or armor, increase the cost by half for fine quality, double it for high quality. For weapons and armor, add 50 p. cumulative for each damage step or armor rating increase (50 p. for +1, +100 more p. [150 total] for +2, etc.).

A brief description of money: The Djann used a currency scale very reminiscent of medieval Europe. More importantly, it either exported or enforced this monetary structure across the globe, so it is fairly standard. This is 1 Gold Mark is worth 12 silver pennies. Each silver penny is worth 8 copper bits. Each copper bit is worth 4 brass wedges. A wedge is virtually worthless, and is disparagingly called a Sliver. The Republic uses letters of credit for amounts of 10 Marks or more, printed and embossed under tightly controlled conditions in three key cities (paper money!) but few places outside the Republic have followed suit. Even still, these Credit (10 marks) and Ten-Credit (100 Marks) Letters are good all through the Aquilar Republic, and in some places beyond. The Republic frowns on counterfeiting.

   

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