Source Player Core pg. 233
To make your mark on the galaxy, you'll need to have the right equipment, including armor, weapons, augmentation, and other gear. This chapter presents the various equipment that you can purchase during character creation. You can usually find these items for sale in most cities and other large settlements.
Equipment
Your character starts out with 150 cinders to spend on any common items. Cinders are a value approximation used as a form of currency used to barter and trade for goods in many settlements in the Starfall Galaxy. Items with an uncommon rarity can be purchased only if you have special access from abilities you selected during character creation or your GM gives you permission to purchase them.
Once you've purchased your starting items, there are three main ways to gain new items and equipment: you can find them during an adventure, make them using the Crafting skill, or purchase them from a vendor.
Equipment Types
Currency
Within star systems, interplanetary business can be managed by internal currency systems. Currencies tend to lose their representative value the further they are taken from the gravity well of their respective star. Only a handful of Multisystem organizations expend the effort to enforce interstellar currencies through stringent banking regulations, security presence and/or religious endorsement. The very nature of interstellar travel and governance in the Starfall Galaxy renders conventional currencies largely impotent for inter-system transactions beyond these exceptions.
Given these limitations, the inhabitants of the Starfall Galaxy have evolved a pragmatic and robust solution for transferring wealth between disparate star systems: the use of trade goods and raw materials as tangible collateral. Typically, travelers sell their cargo for the local currency when they enter a star system and purchase valuable materials and trade goods when they leave the system.
The basic unit of value across the Starfall Galaxy is the Yom. The Yom is the value of the physical necessities needed to sustain a medium (human) sized being for a single standard cycle (27 hours and 46 minutes) in vacuum (deep space): air, energy, food, and water. The common unit of trade is a cinder, which is 1/100th of a Yom. Spacers typically refer to large stockpiles of wealth by their time equivalent, a Year (360 Y), Century (3600 Y), Millennium (36,000 Y).
Price
Most items in the following tables have a Price, which is the amount of currency it typically takes to purchase that item. An item with a Price of “—“ can't be purchased. An item with a Price of 0 is normally free, but its value could be higher based on the materials used to create it. Most items can be sold for half their Price, but coins, gems, art objects, and raw materials (such as components for the Craft activity) can be exchanged for their full Price.
Item Level
Each item has an item level, which represents the item's complexity and any magic or technology used in its construction. Simpler items with a lower level are easier to construct, and you can't Craft items that have a higher level than your own. If an item's level isn't listed, its level is 0. While characters can use items of any level, GMs should keep in mind that allowing characters access to items far above their current level may have a negative impact on the game.
Carrying and Using Items
A character carries items in three ways: held, worn, and stowed. Held items are in your hands; a character typically has two hands, allowing them to hold an item in each hand or a single two-handed item using both hands. Worn items are tucked into pockets, belt pouches, bandoliers, and weapon sheaths, and can be retrieved and returned relatively quickly. Stowed items are in a backpack or a similar container, and they're more difficult to access.
Drawing a worn item or changing how you're carrying an item usually requires you to use an Interact action (though to drop an item, you use the Release action instead). Changing Equipment lists some ways to change the items you're holding or carrying, as well as the number of hands required to do so.
Many ways of using items require you to spend multiple actions. For example, drinking a serum worn at your belt requires using an Interact action to draw it and then using a second action to drink it as described in its Activate entry (Serums).
Changing Equipment
If you retrieve a two-handed item with only one hand, you still need to change your grip before you can wield or use it.
A creature must have a hand free for someone to pass an item to them, and they might then need to change their grip if they receive an item requiring two hands to wield or use.Retrieving an item stowed in your own backpack requires first taking off the backpack with a separate Interact action.
Bulk
Carrying especially heavy or unwieldy items can make it more difficult for you to move, as can overloading yourself with too much gear. The Bulk value of an item reflects how difficult the item is to handle, representing its size, weight, and general awkwardness. If you have a high Strength modifier, you usually don’t need to worry about Bulk unless you’re carrying numerous substantial items.
Bulk Limits
You can carry an amount of Bulk equal to 5 plus your Strength modifier without penalty; if you carry more, you gain the encumbered condition. You can’t hold or carry more Bulk than 10 plus your Strength modifier.
Bulk Values
Items can have a number to indicate their Bulk value, or they can be light (indicated by an L) or negligible (indicated by a —) for the purpose of determining Bulk. For instance, defiance series armor is 3 Bulk, a dueling sword is 1 Bulk, a knife or spell gem is light, and a credstick is negligible. Ten light items count as 1 Bulk, and you round down fractions (so 9 light items count as 0 Bulk, and 11 light items count as 1 Bulk). Items of negligible Bulk don’t count toward Bulk unless you try to carry vast numbers of them, as determined by the GM.
Estimating an Item's Bulk
As a general rule, an item that weighs 5 to 10 pounds is 1 Bulk, an item weighing less than a few ounces is negligible, and anything in between is light. Particularly awkward or unwieldy items might have higher Bulk values. For example, a 10-foot pole isn’t heavy, but its length makes it difficult for you to move while you have one on your person, so its Bulk is 1. Items made for larger or smaller creatures have greater or lesser Bulk, as described in Items of Different Sizes.
Bulk of Creatures
You might need to know the Bulk of a creature, especially if you need to carry someone off the battlefield. The following table lists the typical Bulk of a creature based on its size, but the GM might adjust this number. Constructs or many creatures with the Tech trait weigh more.
Bulk of Creatures
Dragging
In some situations, you might drag an object or creature rather than carry it. If you’re dragging something, treat its Bulk as half. Typically, you can drag one thing at a time, you must use both hands to do so, and you drag slowly—roughly 50 feet per minute—unless you have some means to speed it up. Use the total Bulk of what you’re dragging, so if you have a sack laden with goods, use the sum of all the Bulk in it instead of an individual item within.
Items and Sizes
The Bulk rules in this chapter are for Small, Medium, and Large creatures, as most ancestries are these sizes; however, other uncommon or rare ancestries might be larger or smaller and require items specially made for creatures of those sizes. Large creatures can carry more, and smaller creatures can carry less, as noted on the Bulk Conversions table.
These rules for Bulk limits typically arise when a group attempts to load a mount or vehicle. The rules for items of different sizes tend to come into play when the characters defeat a big creature that has gear, since usually the only creatures of other sizes are creatures under the GM's control.
In most cases, Small or Medium creatures can wield a Large weapon, though it's unwieldy, giving them the clumsy 1 condition, and the larger size is canceled by the difficulty of swinging the weapon, so it grants no special benefit. Large armor is simply too large for Small and Medium creatures.
Bulk Conversions
Bulk Conversions for Different Sizes
As shown in the Bulk Conversions table, Large or larger creatures are less encumbered by bulky items than Small or Medium creatures, while Tiny creatures become overburdened more quickly. A Large creature treats 10 items of 1 Bulk as 1 Bulk, a Huge creature treats 10 items of 2 Bulk as 1 Bulk, and so on. A Tiny creature treats 10 items of negligible Bulk as 1 Bulk. Negligible items work in a similar way—a Huge creature treats items of 1 Bulk as negligible, so it can carry any number of items of 1 Bulk. A Tiny creature doesn’t treat any items as having negligible Bulk.
Items of Different Sizes
Creatures of sizes other than Small, Medium, or Large need items appropriate to their size. These items have different Bulk and possibly a different Price. The Differently Sized Items table provides the Price and Bulk conversion for such items.
Differently Sized Items
* An item that would have its Bulk reduced below 1 has light Bulk.
For example, a doshko sized for a Medium creature has a Price of 20 credits and 1 Bulk, so one made for a Huge creature is 80 credits and 4 Bulk. One made for a Tiny creature still costs 20 credits (due to its intricacy) and has 1/2 Bulk (rounding down to light Bulk). Because the way that a creature treats Bulk and the Bulk of gear sized for it scale the same way, Tiny or Large (or larger) creatures can usually wear and carry about the same amount of gear as a Medium creature.
Higher-level magic and tech items that cost significantly more than 8 times the cost of a mundane item use their listed Price regardless of size. Precious materials, however, have a Price based on the Bulk of the item, so multiply the Bulk value as described on the Differently Sized Items table, then use the formula in the material's entry to determine the item's Price.
Wielding Items
Some abilities require you to wield an item, typically a weapon. You’re wielding an item any time you’re holding it in the number of hands needed to use it effectively. When wielding an item, you’re not just carrying it around—you’re ready to use it. Other abilities might require you to be wearing the item, holding it, or simply to have it.
Improving Equipment
Most types of armor, shields, and weapons in Starfinder come in a variety of grades. Each grade represents an improved version of that piece of equipment and should be sought after once your character reaches the appropriate level. While higher-level versions of equipment are available on the open market, many adventurers prefer going through the effort of upgrading their existing gear rather than buying new.
Grades of Equipment
Equipment typically comes in seven grades: commercial, tactical, advanced, superior, elite, ultimate, and paragon. While most armor, shields, and weapons can exist in any grade from commercial to paragon, some equipment doesn't exist at certain grades and must be initially purchased or crafted at a higher grade. Equipment other than armor, weapons, and shields only exist at grades specifically listed in the item and cannot be improved to a higher grade if it's not listed.
Armor, shields, and weapons are typically listed using their lowest available grade, usually commercial. Each grade beyond the first provides the equipment with additional statistics as given in the tables listed for the appropriate item. Equipment listed with multiple grades in their entry do not use these charts and instead use the statistics listed for each grade in their description.
Armor, shields and weapons gain more upgrade slots as they improve. Higher grades of armor add more AC and gains the resilient trait, improving the saving throws of their wielder by the listed value. Higher grades of weapons have improved damage dice and gain the tracking trait, improving their attack rolls by the listed value. Higher grades of shields have increased Hardness, Hit Points, and BT.
Skipping Grades in Crafting
While you may attempt to improve an item directly from commercial to paragon in 1 day, doing so makes the DC of the Crafting attempt significantly higher. It thus results in a higher likelihood of failure. It also makes it more difficult to craft using fewer materials when you have a formula than if you attempt to Craft the item one grade at a time. When upgrading multiple grades at once, you can only apply a cost reduction based on the cost to get to the next lowest grade.
Improving Equipment
A character who is trained or better in Crafting can improve an item using the original item and raw materials using the same process as the Craft activity, except as noted here. The original item provides raw materials equal to its price. The DC of the Crafting check to improve an item is determined by the item level of the finished product. You do not need the formula to improve an item, as the instructions can be found readily available on any infosphere and are usually provided as a complimentary file when you purchase the equipment, but Crafting without a formula means you will have to provide raw materials equal to the item's price. It only takes 1 day to improve an item by spending the remaining portion of its Price in materials.
Item Damage
An item that takes damage can become broken and eventually destroyed. It becomes broken when its Hit Points are equal to or lower than its Broken Threshold (BT); once its Hit Points are reduced to 0, it is destroyed. A broken item remains in a broken condition until It Is Repaired above its broken threshold. Anything that automatically makes an item broken immediately reduces its Hit Points to its Broken Threshold if the item had more Hit Points than that when the effect occurred. If an item has no Broken Threshold, then it has no relevant changes to its function due to being broken, but it's still destroyed at 0 Hit Points. A destroyed item can't be repaired.
An item's Hardness, Hit Points, and Broken Threshold usually depend on the material the item is made of.
Object Immunities
Inanimate objects and hazards are immune to bleed, death effects, disease, healing, mental effects, nonlethal attacks, poison, spirit, vitality, void, as well as the doomed, drained, fatigued, paralyzed, sickened, and unconscious conditions. Conscious, thinking items are not immune to mental effects. Many objects are immune to other conditions, at the GM's discretion. For instance, a sword can't move, so it can't take a penalty to its Speed, but a spinning blade trap might be affected.
Broken
Broken is a condition that affects objects. An object is broken when damage has reduced its Hit Points below its Broken Threshold. A broken object can't be used for its normal function, nor does it grant bonuses—with the exception of armor. Broken armor still grants its item bonus to AC, but it also imparts a status penalty to AC depending on its category: –1 for broken light armor, –2 for broken medium armor, or –3 for broken heavy armor.
A broken item still imposes penalties and limitations normally incurred by carrying, holding, or wearing it. For example, broken armor would still impose its Dexterity modifier cap, check penalty, and so forth.
If an effect makes an item broken automatically, and the item has more HP than its Broken Threshold, that effect also reduces the item's current HP to the Broken Threshold.
Shoddy Items
Attacks and checks involving a shoddy item take a –2 item penalty. This penalty also applies to any DCs that a shoddy item applies to (such as the AC provided when wearing shoddy armor or the DC to break out of shoddy manacles). A shoddy suit of armor also worsens the armor's check penalty by 2. A shoddy item's Hit Points and Broken Threshold are each half that of a normal item of its type.
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