Equipment are important items for the player’s adventure. They can be weapons that deal damage to enemies, or armour for protection from them. They can also give interesting bonuses to the player’s characters such as extra spells, special enchantments, and so on.
You can find detailed description for each type of equipment below.
Weapons serve the purpose of dealing damage to various things, ranging from doors and crates to monsters and NPCs. Your weapon of choice determines your base Damage Roll before bonuses. For example, a dagger may do 1d4 damage (one four-sided dice), meaning 1 to 4 points of damage before bonuses are applied. On the other hand, a two-handed greatsword may do 2d6 damage (two six-sided dice), for a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 12 before bonuses.
There are a number of ways to categorize weapons:
Melee or Ranged
Martial or Simple
One-handed, Two-handed, or Versatile
Each weapon deals a specific type of physical damage. The damage types are:
Blunt
Slashing
Piercing
In addition, weapons can have various properties such as Heavy, Finesse, Light, and so on. See the main Weapons page linked above for details.
Clothing normally provides no protection, though magical pieces of Clothing may provide many benefits.
Classes without any Armour Proficiency such as Sorcerer and Wizard wear Clothing instead of Armour so they can cast Spells in and out of combat. Wearing Armour without the corresponding Proficiency also imposes a number of other penalties.
One can gain additional Armour Proficiency by taking appropriate Feats at Level 4, such as Lightly Armoured, Moderately Armoured and Heavily Armoured. However, each level of heaviness has the previous level as a prerequisite. For example, in order to be able to pick the Heavily Armoured Feat, your character must already have Medium Armour Proficiency from some source.
Armour offers the character an improved base Armour Class to decrease the chance of being hit. When wearing Armour, your Armour Class becomes that of the piece of Armour you're wearing. In other words, it overrides your base Armour Class, before bonuses from Dexterity, Shields, spell effects, etc. are applied.
There are three types of worn armour: Light, Medium, and Heavy. Shields are also treated as armour, although they do not split into any sub-types. You need the corresponding Armour Proficiency to be able to use a specific type of Armour without penalties.
Shields provide a bonus to Armour Class to decrease the chance of being hit by enemies. Your character doesn't need to be actively holding the equipped shield to get the AC bonus; it's enough that the shield is equipped in its melee off-hand slot. I.e., a character with a sword and shield in its melee weapon slots and a longbow in its ranged weapon slots will benefit from the shield's AC bonus even while using the bow.
Choosing the Feat “Moderately Armoured” grants Proficiency with Shields in addition to Medium Armour. However, you must already have Light Armour Proficiency to be able to choose that Feat.
Headwear includes helmets, circlets, hoods, and other equipment worn on the head. They can provide bonuses to Skills or Ability Scores, protect against Critical Hits, or grant item-specific actions such as the ability to cast a certain spell.
Cloaks are equipment worn on the back. They can provide bonuses to Skills or Saving Throws, or grant item-specific actions such as the ability to cast a certain spell.
Handwear includes gloves, gauntlets, bracers, and other equipment worn on the hands. They can provide bonuses to Skills or Saving Throws, trigger beneficial effects in specific scenarios, or grant item-specific actions such as the ability to cast a certain spell.
Footwear includes boots of various types. They can provide bonuses to Saving Throws, trigger movement-related benefits in specific scenarios, or grant item-specific actions such as the ability to cast a certain spell.
Amulets are a type of accessory that may provide beneficial passives or allow characters to cast certain Spells. Many amulets are merely non-magical jewelry whose sole purpose is to be sold for gold.
Rings are a type of accessory that may provide beneficial passives or allow characters to cast certain Spells. Many rings are merely non-magical jewelry whose sole purpose is to be sold for gold. A character can have two different rings equipped at once.
