Picking Gear

No bear survives anywhere on this god forsaken island without at least a scrap of armor and a sharp stick to fight with. Gear is listed in the gear section, along with more specific examples. This section will be closer to a primer and some instructions on initially picking starting gear.

Using Gear

Gear is all items a bear can carry on them. Survival kits, tools, weapons, armor, shields, medical supplies, 3 bottle caps, or 15 loose screws can count as a piece of gear. Each piece of gear serves a different purpose, but there are some commonalities to keep in mind.

Proficiency

Each piece of equipment requires some proficiency to use it. These are provided by a bear's War Pattern by default. Gear that requires a higher proficiency is still usable, but at a heavy penalty based on the type of gear it is. Additionally, some addendums may provide a Specialization, which is an alternative set of proficiency that includes a 5th category. These can be taken instead of the normal proficiency from a War Pattern, and allows some gear to be used as proficient if regardless of it's requirement if it falls under the specialization.

Equipping & Storing

Quite a few pieces of gear can be equipped. Weapons and tools will have a paw count, most bears have 2 paws. Armor will list what it covers, with most armor unable to be worn on the same area. Items that are equipped are in active use, and do not factor into any kind of storage like Bag Slots. Gear can be unequipped, which will require it to be stored.

All gear has some amount of Bag Slots listed. This is the capacity of items a bear can hold. A Bag Slot is not a single measurement, and instead factors in weight, volume, and how cumbersome the item is to store. This means a small item and a larger item may take up the same amount of Bag Slots. 

Traits

Items may have traits unique to that item. These can be something like "Heavy" which requires extra strength, or "Ruckster" which means the fuel explodes. These are additional game rules that can be added or removed to items when the narrative calls for it. These cannot be added to items or removed from items without the option being provided in the story by the RM.

Rarity

Items have a listed "Rarity," which is mostly just a balancing based suggestion. These can be ignored when it would be more fun to ignore them. The rarity scale includes the following

• Standard: the item is mass produced for wide distribution
• Common: the item can be practically given for free
• Uncommon: The item must be sought out or bought
• Valuable: The item is semi-rare, most easily being found in market stalls run by scavengers
• Rare: The item is hard to come by and must be sought out, or requires a lot of luck to find
• Scarce: the item is in such high demand or limited supply it would require serious dedication to obtain
• Elusive: The item should be treated as non-existent outside of miraculous circumstances

Invented vs Engineered

Bears have 2 fields of mechanical production: invention and engineering. Invention concerns one-of-a-kind or hand made items, while engineering concerns mass production and resource efficiency of a design. Due to this there are 2 methods of describing gear: the invented gear and the engineered gear.

Invented Gear is broken into stat blocks and restrictions, tied to rarity. This allows one to make a piece of gear that closely fits their specific character, or a specific story beat. The rarities signify how valuable and hard to make this specific piece of gear is.

Engineered Gear is more standardized. It is often less rare than invented gear, though out-of-production items or items seized by Gredo would still be rare. Engineered Gear has unflinching stat blocks that describe an existing and well known type of item.

Picking Gear

This is a suggested method for picking gear for a new character. Specific campaigns may increase or decrease these numbers to fit their story. These are based on levels, as some campaigns will start with bears more experienced than level 1.

Level 1 - 1 Uncommon item, 1 Common item, 4 Standard items. 1 item may be invented.

Level 2 - 1 Uncommon item, 2 Common items, 3 Standard items. 1 item may be invented.

Level 3 - 2 Uncommon items, 2 Common items, 2 Standard items. 2 items may be invented.

Level 4 - 1 Valuable item, 1 Uncommon item, 2 Common items, 2 Standard items. 2 items may be invented.

Level 5 - 2 Valuable items, 2 Uncommon items, 2 Common items. 3 items may be invented.

Level 6 - 1 Rare item, 1 Valuable item, 2 Uncommon items, 2 Common items. 3 items may be invented.

Level 7 - 2 Rare items, 2 Valuable items, 2 Uncommon items. 4 items may be invented.

Level 8 - 1 Scarce item, 1 Rare item, 2 Valuable items, 2 Uncommon items. 4 items may be invented.

Level 9 - 2 Scarce items, 2 Rare items, 2 Valuable items. 5 items may be invented.

Level 10 - 1 Elusive item, 1 Scarce item, 2 Rare items, 2 Valuable items. 6 items may be invented.