The marketplace of a large city teems with buyers and sellers of many sorts: dwarf smiths, elf woodcarvers, hin farmers, and gnome jewelers, not to mention humans of every shape, size, and color drawn from a spectrum of nations and cultures. In the largest cities, almost anything imaginable is offered for sale, from exotic spices and luxurious clothing to wicker baskets and practical swords.
For an adventurer, the availability of armor, weapons, backpacks, rope, and similar goods is of paramount importance, since proper equipment can mean the difference between life and death in a dungeon or the untamed wilds. This section details the mundane and exotic merchandise that adventurers commonly find useful in the face of the threats that the world presents.
Starting equipment
Starting wealth by class
| Class | Funds |
|---|---|
| Acolyte | 5d4 × 10 sp |
| Alchemist | 5d4 × 10 sp |
| Mage | 4d4 × 10 sp |
| Minstrel | 5d4 × 10 sp |
| Naturalist | 3d4 × 10 sp |
| Psionicist | 3d4 × 10 sp |
| Rogue | 4d4 × 10 sp |
| Suffused | 4d4 × 10 sp |
| Warrior | 5d4 × 10 sp |
| Witchcrafter | 4d4 × 10 sp |
When you create your character, you receive equipment based on a combination of your class and background. Alternatively, you can start with a number of silver pieces based on your class and spend them on items from the lists in this section. See the Starting Wealth by Class table to determine how much silver you have to spend.
You decide how your character came by this starting equipment. It might have been an inheritance, or goods that the character purchased during their upbringing. You might have been equipped with a weapon, armor, and a backpack as part of military service. You might even have stolen your gear. A weapon could be a family heirloom, passed down from generation to generation until your character finally took up the mantle and followed in an ancestor’s adventurous footsteps.
Wealth
Wealth appears in many forms. Coins, gemstones, trade goods, art objects, animals, and property can reflect your character’s financial well-being. Members of the peasantry trade in goods, bartering for what they need and paying taxes in grain and cheese. Members of the nobility trade either in legal rights, such as the rights to a mine, a port, or farmland, or in silver and gold bars, measuring gold by the kilogram rather than by the coin. Only merchants, adventurers, and those offering professional services for hire commonly deal in coins.
Coins and currency
Standard exchange rates
| Coin | cp | sp | gp | pp |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Copper (cp) | 1 | 1/10 | 1/100 | 1/1,000 |
| Silver (sp) | 10 | 1 | 1/10 | 1/100 |
| Gold (gp) | 100 | 10 | 1 | 1/10 |
| Platinum (pp) | 1,000 | 100 | 10 | 1 |
Though you might be able to barter valuable items in some areas, currency is the most versatile way to make transactions when you head to market. The most common currency is coin. For most commoners and beginning adventurers, the standard unit is the silver piece (sp). Each silver piece is of a standard weight of silver and is typically accepted by any merchant or kingdom no matter where it was minted.
There are three other types of common coins, each likewise standardized in weight and value. The first is the copper piece (cp). Each copper piece is worth one-tenth of a silver piece. The gold piece (gp) is often used for purchasing magic items and other expensive items, as 1 gold piece is worth 10 silver pieces or 100 copper pieces. The platinum piece (pp) is used by nobles to demonstrate their wealth, for the purchase of very expensive items, or simply as a way to easily transport large sums of currency. A platinum piece is worth 10 gold pieces, 100 silver pieces, or 1,000 copper pieces.
100 coins weigh a kilogram.
Selling treasure
Opportunities abound to find treasure, equipment, weapons, armor, and more in the dungeons you explore. Normally, you can sell your treasures and trinkets when you return to a town or other settlement, provided that you can find buyers and merchants interested in your loot.
Arms, armor, and other equipment. As a general rule, undamaged weapons, armor, and other equipment fetch half their cost when sold in a market. Weapons and armor used by creatures are rarely in good enough condition to sell.
Magic items. Selling magic items is problematic. Finding someone to buy a potion or a scroll isn’t too hard, but other items are out of the realm of most but the wealthiest nobles. Likewise, aside from a few common magic items, you won’t normally come across magic items or spells to purchase. The value of magic is far beyond simple silver and should always be treated as such.
Gems, jewelry, and art objects. These items retain their full value in the marketplace, and you can either trade them in for coin or use them as currency for other transactions. For exceptionally valuable treasures, the GM might require you to find a buyer in a large town or larger community first.
Trade goods. On the borderlands, many people conduct transactions through barter. Like gems and art objects, trade goods—bars of iron, bags of salt, livestock, and so on—retain their full value in the market and can be used as currency.