Chapter Six: Money and Equipment

To understand commerce and equipment in Dark Sun, one must understand that Athas is a metalpoor world. In game terms, all metal items-swords, armor, coins -are worth considerably more than on other AD&D®worlds such as Lynn or Oerth.

Virtually all Athasian city states issue coins minted in tribute to their sorcerer-kings. Also, some in dependent dwarven communities and some wealthy merchant families mint their own coins when the precious metals are available to them. Though the currencies vary (a gold coin minted in Tyr might be a bit heavier than the square gold coins that bear the Ryharian family crest), they all fall under the standard exchange rates given in the Player's Handbook.On Athas, 100 cp (ceramic pieces) = 10 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp.

I. [^] Ceramic Pieces and Bits:

The most commonly used coin throughout Athas is the ceramic piece (cp). Ceramic coins can be manufactured from the most common clay of Athas, then glazed in specific colors and kilned to discourage forgery. The molded shape of ceramic pieces allows them to be broken into 10 separate pie-shaped pieces. Each of these "bits" is worth1/10of a ceramic piece.

II. [^] What Things Are Worth

The equipment lists in thePlayer's Handbook show not only how much each item costs, but what each item is worth in typical AD&D game coinage.

On Athas, the relative rarity of metal increases the value of metal items. Coins themselves are worth more, so fewer Athasian coins are needed to purchase things that aren't made of metal. However, metal items, because of the scarcity of metal coinage, cost relatively the same number of coins as in other worlds. When Dark Sun characters make purchases from the equipment lists in thePlayer's Handbook,therefore, the following rules apply:

All nonmetal items cost one percent of the price listed.

All metal items cost the price listed.

Thus, the small canoe (a nonmetal item) costs 3 sp, but the long sword (a metal item) costs 15 gp.

If an item is typically a mixture of metal and nonmetal components and the metal components could be replaced easily, the nonmetal price applies. For example, Athasian chariot makers have found ways to avoid using metal parts to make an equally sturdy chariot, so the nonmetal price of 5 gp applies.

All prices listed in the DARK SUN™ boxed set or in any other DARK SUN module or accessory already compensate for the rarity of metals. Prices listed in other AD&D game products are not adjusted-the rules of conversion apply for them, as well.

III. [^] Monetary Systems

Societies on Athas exchange goods and services in three ways: coin, barter, and service.

IV. [^] Coin:

Transactions where goods or services are purchased with money remain quite common on Athas, despite the lack of metals: Athas is metalpoor, not metal-depleted. Coins are a readily accepted means of payment and, considering the increased value of coins, are less bulky to carry around.

[^] Barter:

Barter is the exchange of goods for other goods: no coins change hands. By its very nature, barter is an age-old ceremony of negotiation. Characters in Dark Sun can enter either a simple or protracted barter.

[^] Simple Barter:

In simple barter, characters compare the costs of the items to be exchanged and then match the quantities until they are approximately even. For example, Kyuln wishes to exchange his crop of rice for a metal bastard sword. On Athas, Kyuln's rice is worth 2 bits(2/10cp) per pound, and the metal bastard sword he seeks is worth 25 gp (2500 cp). Kyuln would have to trade 12,500 pounds of his rice (his entire harvest) to the weaponsmith in exchange for his new metal bastard sword. The weaponsmith might not be that hungry.

[^] Protracted Barter:

In protracted barter, dice are thrown and costs recalculated in three separate rounds before a final exchange is made. Because of its complexity, protracted barter works best for items that cost more than 100 gp. For protracted barter, the Charisma scores of the parties involved (usually a player character and nonplayer character controlled by the DM) must be known.

In the first round of protracted barter, each party rolls 2d6 and adds the result to his Charisma score; the higher roll wins the round. The winner has talked down the price of the loser's barter item by 10 percent. If either party decides to end the barter, it is finished here. If neither party decides to end the barter, it continues to a second round, and then to a third. Protracted barter can last no more than three rounds. Once entered into, a transaction will take place -neither party can back out of a deal once protracted barter has commenced.

If Kyuln from the previous example (Charisma score of 13) were to enter into protracted barter with the weaponsmith (Charisma score 7), he might get a better or worse deal. In the first round, Kyuln rolls 7 (+13 = 20) and the weapons smith rolls 10 (+7 = 17); Kyuln wins the round. He has talked the weaponsmith down 10 percent, so the metal bastard sword in question is now worth 22 gp and 5 sp. Both men wish to continue into a second round. Kyuln rolls 4 (+13 = 17) and the weapons smith rolls 10 (+7 = 17); the tie means that neither cost is adjusted. In the third and final round, Kyuln rolls a 10 (+13 = 23) and the smith rolls a 7 (+7 = 14); Kyuln wins again. He has talked the weaponsmith down to 20 gp for the metal bastard sword, so must only exchange 10,000 pounds of his rice for it.

[^] Service:

The services a character renders-from those of the unskilled laborers to those of the prized engineers -all have their asking price.

[^] Common Wages

*available only in some city-states
**available only in cities with organized militaries

A character may receive payment for his services in other services, goods, or coins, depending upon the situation.

With both barter and service exchanges, the DM should make certain the goods or services exchanged are needed or desired. (Desert nomads need neither a barge nor a stonemason.)

V. [^] Starting Money

All PCs begin the game with a specific amount of money. The player should use this starting money to equip his character; campaign time need not be spent to "play out" these purchases unless the DM deems it important to his adventure.

The following table indicates how much money each character starts the campaign with, based on the character's class group. These figures are for starting 3rd-level characters; characters starting at 1st-level should divide the total by three. Characters generated as inactive members of the character tree also get starting money. The owning player may equip inactive characters at any time prior to using them as active characters.

VI. [^] Athasian Market: List of Provisions

VII. [^] Weapons

The weapons commonly found in the brutal lands of Athas consist of obsidian, bone, wood-and sometimes even metal.

The following weapons, because they can be easily made without metal, can be purchased for one percent of their price in thePlayer's Handbookand used normally: blowguns (with barbed dart or needle), all bows, clubs, all crossbows, harpoons, javelins, a 11 lances, quarterstaves, scourges, slings (with sling stones), spears, staff slings, and whips.

The remaining weapons -because they can be constructed from a variety of materials -vary in cost, weight, damage, and hit probability: battle axes, all arrows, all quarrels, daggers or dirks, darts, footman's flails, footman's maces, footman's picks, hand or throwing axes, horseman's flails, horseman's maces, horseman's picks, knives, mancatchers, morning stars, all polearms, sickles, sling bullets, all swords, tridents, and warhammers. The table below indicates the percentage cost and weight of weapons, and modifiers to damage and hit probability for the stats in thePlayer's Handbook.

The arquebus is unavailable on Athas.

[^] Weapon Materials Table

*The damage modifier subtracts from the damage normally done by that weapon, with a minimum of one point.
** this does not apply to missile weapons.

In the game and in text, such weapons should always be referred to with their material and make: wooden broadsword, bone sickle, metal dagger, and so forth. As well as adding flavor to battle scenes, this indication helps the DM keep track of what type of weapon is being used.

Nonmetal weapons detract from the wielder's hit probability as well, much in the same way a cursed weapon does. Note the hit probability reduction on the player's record sheet.

Nonmetal weapons can be enchanted. However, enchantment is cumulative with the weapon's hit probability modifier; in this case a-1penalty. The net modifier for abone dagger +2is actually+1.

VIII. [^] Breaking Weapons:

Obsidian, bone, and wooden weapons are prone to breaking. Whenever a successful attack inflicts maximum damage, there is a 1-in-20 chance that the weapon will break, as per the following example:

Bruth is sent to the arena armed with a bone battle axe against three unarmed gith. In his first round, Bruth cleaves through the skull of his first opponent (makes a successful attack) and brings him down (rolls an 8 on his 1d8 for damage). Unfortunately, the shock of the blow splinters the bone of the axe head (Bruth's player rolls a 1 on 1d20 indicating weapon breakage), leaving him weaponless. Bruth's career in the arena may be brief.

IX. [^] Armor

All forms of armor listed in thePlayer's Handbookare available in Dark Sun. They afford the same AC rating described there.

[^] Metal Armor in Dark Sun:

Two facts on Athas conspire to limit the use of metal armor: extreme heat and the high price of metal. A suit of field plate armor costs 2,000 gp on Athas, the equivalent of 5I 200,000 gp on other AD&D®campaign worlds.

Simply put, a sorcerer-king can either purchase several suits of field plate or build a substantial addition to his city walls.

Likewise, the intense heat across Athas' barren surface makes metal armor an unpleasant experience, to say the least. In any daytime combat situation, a character wearing metal armor adds one to his THAC0 for every round of combat beyond the first and will collapse, exhausted from the heat, in a number of rounds equal to his Constitution score.

[^] Alternate Materials:

Many types of armor can be constructed without metal on Athas, using more readily available materials.

[^] Shields:

Shields are mostly constructed with layers of leather stretched over a wooden or bone frame and hardened. Effective shields can also be constructed of chitinous materials scavenged from dead insectoids. Though made of alternate materials, shields on Athas come in the typical varieties: bucklers and small, medium, or body shields.

[^] Leather Armor:

Perhaps the most common type of armor used on Athas, leather armor is shaped to the individual wearing it, and then hardened.

[^] Padded Armor:

As described in the Player's Handbook, this armor is made from heavy cloth and batting. Many Athasian warriors prefer padded armor woven from giants' hair.

[^] Hide Armor:

Hide armor on Athas is usually constructed from mekillot or braxat hide.

[^] Studded Leather, Ring Mail, Brigandine, and

[^] Scale

[^] Mail

Armor: These varieties of armor are constructed using pieces of bone or chitin.

[^] Chain, Splint, Banded, Bronze Plate, or Plate

[^] Mail; Field Plate and Full Plate Armor:

These types of armor must be made with metal components, making them both expensive and potentially deadly in the day's heat.

X. [^] New Equipment

The following equipment is generally available in populated sectors of Athas for the prices shown.

[^] Household Provisions

[^] Tack and Harness

[^] Barding

[^] Transport

[^] Animals

XI. [^] Weapons

XII. [^] Equipment Descriptions

[^] Household Provisions

[^] Tun of Water:

In most Athasian cities, water is drawn from a collective cistern maintained by the sorcerer-king and his templars. It is not at all uncommon for the price of water to increase dramatically during particularly dry periods or when the templars are attempting to extort more money from consumers.

[^] Fire Kit:

Though flint is readily available, steel is scarce on Athas. The standard fire-starting kit therefore uses a bow and sticks rather than flint and steel.

[^] Tack and Harness

[^] Barding:

There are two types of barding for the various beasts of burden on Athas: leather and chitin. Leather barding is made with stiffened leather pads, often reinforced with bone or chitin, and joined together with cloth or soft leather straps. Leather barding affords the animal a -1 bonus to its AC. Chitin barding is made from plates of insectoid chitin and bone, fastened together with leather and cloth. Chitin barding affords the animal an AC bonus of -2. The two types of barding cannot be combined.

[^] Transportation

[^] Chariot:

A chariot is a lightly armored vehicle constructed ofwood , chitin , a n d hardened leatherm, designed for riding and combat. The driver of the chariot must have either the teamster/ freighter secondary skill or the charioteering proficiency. The chariot driver can attack with single-handed weapons while the vehicle is moving, but suffers a -4 penalty to all attack rolls. Others in the vehicle suffer no penalty to melee attack rolls, but have a -1 penalty to missile attack rolls while the chariot is moving. Those in a chariot have 50% cover from the front or sides, 25% cover from the flank or rear (consult theDungeon Master's Guide for the exact effects of cover and concealment on combat). If one of the animals hitched to a multikank chariot dies or is maimed, the chariot's speed is reduced toI/3that of normal. The slain beast may also cause the chariot to crash, but the fallen animal can then be cut loose by survivors. Multiple deaths in the animal team bring the chariot to a halt.

[^] Howdah:

A howdah is a frame with seats designed to be mounted on the back of an inix or mekillot. A normal howdah is made of a light wooden frame and has one seat for the animal's driver. Normal howdahs do not count against the carrying capacity of the animal, but the driver's weight does. A war howdah 'is constructed of much sturdier materials, affording cover to those within. An inix war howdah weighs 150 pounds and can hold four fighters. A mekillot war howdah is a more elaborate affair, weighing 1,000 pounds. Within the mekillot war howdah's two levels 16 warriors may ride, four of which can fight to any one side at a given time. Soldiers in a war howdah can choose to have 25%, 50%, 75%, or 30% coverandconcealment (consult theDungeon Master's Guidefor the exact effects of cover and concealment on combat). Anyone riding in a howdah is considered to be at rest and shaded.

[^] Wagons, open:

An open wagon is little more than a wooden box on four wooden wheels. A 1,000pound-capacity wagon requires a single kank to pull it. The 2,500pound-and 5,000-pound-capacity wagons need teams of two and four kanks, respectively. The 10,000-pound-capacity requires a single mekillot to move. Inix are not used to pull wagons for the simple reason that their tails get in the way.

[^] Wagons, enclosed:

Enclosed wagons require the same animal power as similar-capacity open wagons. Items within enclosed wagons are little affected by weather. Some merchants and nomads convert enclosed wagons into living quarters. Individuals riding within enclosed wagons are considered at rest and shaded.

[^] Wagon, armored caravan:

An armored caravan wagon weighs 5,000 pounds and can carry up to 35,000 pounds more. The exact design of any particular armored caravan wagon can change from trip to trip. Artisans customize the interior for each journey, adding or taking away slave pens, expanding or removing enclosures, and so forth. In general, an armored war caravan can carry a cargo of 15,000 pounds of goods, plus have room for 50 fully armed warriors, 25 slaves in transit, and a handful of merchants, nobles, or other stately travelers. Soldiers in an armored caravan wagon can choose to have 25%, 50%, 75%, or 30% coverandconcealment (consult theDungeon Master's Guidefor the exact effects of cover and concealment on combat). While one mekillot can pull an armored caravan wagon, they are usually drawn by a team of two, to prevent the death of a mount stranding the wagon.

[^] Animals

[^] Erdlu:

Erdlus are herd beasts raised by many different cultures on Athas. These large, flightless birds stand up to seven feet tall and weigh around 200 pounds. Their omnivorous diet allows them to graze nearly anywhere and their hardy nature keeps them alive in harsh terrain. The price of a single erdlu can be as much as double that listed or as little as half, depending upon availability. Erdlu's eggs are also edible: one egg can fetch 3 bits.

[^] Inix:

An inix is a large lizard animal that grows to as much as 16 feet long. Each can carry up to 2000 pounds. Though herbivorous by nature, inix are vicious combatants, attacking with both tail and bite. Inix trained for riding are also trained not to fight while mounted, for no rider could manage to keep his seat while an inix thrashed its mighty tail. Inix can be fitted with a howdah. Half-giants use them as individual mounts. Inix cannot generally pull wagons because of their lengthy tails.

[^] Kank:

Kanks serve as both herd animals and beasts of burden. They are large insectoids, 4 feet high and 8 feet long, weighing around 400 pounds. As herd animals, kanks are durable and easily tended. Kanks are not raised for their meat, which becomes foul-smelling as soon as they die. Instead, they are raised for honey globules produced on their bellies. A single honey globule can bring 4 bits. As riding beasts, kanks provide effective transportation for a single character (except for halfgiants, who use inix for the same purpose). A kank can carry up to 400 pounds. Kanks used as riding animals also require harnesses and saddles. The tack and harness prices given in thePlayer's Handbookfor horses work well for kanks also. Kanks can be hitched to wagons individually or in teams. A character needs the teamster/freighter secondary skill or the animal handling proficiency to effectively operate teams of kanks.

[^] Mekillot:

A mekillot is an enormous G-ton lizard, used as a beast of burden. Each one can carry 8,000 pounds or pull up to 40,000 pounds behind it. Mekillots are hard to control and sometimes turn on their handlers. A mekillot can be fitted with a pack howdah or a war howdah, carrying several men into combat.

XIII. [^] Weapons

[^] Chatkcha:

This thri-kreen throwing weapon is common among the steppes tribes. It is a crystal wedge that can be thrown up to 30 yards and, due to its spin and affect upon the air, still return to the thrower if it misses the target.

[^] Gythka:

This thri-kreen polearm has wicked blades at either end. The weapon's thick shaft allows it to be used like a quarterstaff against similarly armed opponents.

[^] Impaler:

An impaler is a weapon developed for arena combat. It has a single shaft about 4 feet long with a pair of long pointed blades, splitting to each side and forming deadly "T" The weapon can be swung horizontally or vertically, over the head.

[^] Quabone:

This weapon is constructed from four identical shanks of bone, lashed together to form a radially symmetrical, sword-length rod. With its lightness and crudely sharpened end, the quabone is a fairly ineffective weapon. The quabone is used in arena situations where combat is intended to draw out for a long period of time.

[^] Wrist Razor:

Wrist razors consist of a trio of blades that protrude from a heavy arm band. The razors project out over the back of the hand, are extremely sharp, and can be up to 6 inches long. Wrist razors can be worn on one or both forearms.