Weapons of Quality

Buyers of weapons can apply several modifiers to adjust weapon appearance, balance, sharpness, and toughness. These are “stackable” except as noted – although some are restricted by weapon type. Each has a cost factor (CF); see Custom-Made Equipment for rules.

Below, a thrown weapon is hurled in its entirety, while a missile weapon is a blowpipe, bow, crossbow, etc. that propels a projectile such as an arrow, bolt, dart, or pellet.

• Balanced:* +1 to skill with any melee weapon, thrown weapon, or projectile; +1 Acc for a missile weapon. All weapons but sticks and improvised weapons: +4 CF.
• Cheap†: +2 to odds of breakage (see p. B376). All weapons: -0.6 CF.
• Fine†: -1 to odds of breakage; also +1 to damage for any cutting or impaling weapon, or +20% to range for a missile weapon. Projectiles, and crushing- or impaling- only melee or thrown weapons: +2 CF. Fencing weapons, knives, swords, and missile weapons: +3 CF. Other cutting melee or thrown weapons: +9 CF.
• Ornate: All weapons but improvised weapons, projectiles, and sticks can use Styling (p. 14). Specify details using Decorated Equipment (pp. 37-38). Wavy- bladed weapons often count as ornate due to intrinsic shape and design.
• Poorly Balanced:* -1 to skill with any melee weapon, thrown weapon, or projectile, or -1 Acc for a missile weapon: -0.6 CF.
• Silver†: Metal melee weapons, thrown weapons, and projectiles can be made of solid silver to exploit supernatural monster Vulnerability, but have +2 to odds of breakage: +19 CF. Silver coating for these weapons doesn’t worsen breakage but isn’t as effective (see p. B275): +2 CF. While valuable, not all silver qualifies as ornate.
• Very Fine†: -2 to odds of breakage; also +2 to damage for any cutting or impaling weapon. Crushing-only melee and thrown weapons: +14 CF. Fencing weapons, knives, and swords: +19 CF. Other melee or thrown weapons, and projectiles: +49 CF.

* Balanced and poorly balanced are mutually exclusive.
† Cheap, fine, very fine, and solid silver are mutually exclusive.

Example 1: Prince Boris wants a superb sword. He commissions a thrusting broadsword that’s balanced (+1 skill, +4 CF), very fine (-2 breakage, +2 damage, +19 CF), and ornate (+3 reactions, +9 CF). Total CF is +32, multiplying cost by 1 + 32 = 33. Applying this to the sword’s $600 list price makes final cost $19,800!

Example 2: Leif the Impoverished seeks a bargain blade. The shortsword he finds is cheap (+1 breakage, -0.6 CF) and poorly balanced (-1 skill, -0.6 CF). Total CF is -1.2. As this is below the minimum CF of -0.8, CF is set to -0.8. This multiplies the $400 list cost by 1 - 0.8 = 0.2. The resulting $80 cost buys a truly lousy weapon.