Adventuring Gear
Barrel, (empty): This medium sized wooden barrel is made of oak staves with iron hoops. It can hold approximately 20 gallons of liquid, or 1600 lbs of flour or other grains
Basket, (empty): This large basket is woven using thin strips of ash, of thickly twisted reeds. It can be used to hold a variety of items, from fruits and vegetables to gold and platinum.
Bell: This small brass or copper bell is often hung around the necks of animals with tendencies of wandering, or rung to summon workers from the fields for meals.
Block and Tackle: This simple system consists of two pulleys and rope strung between them. The use of a block and tackle doubles the load limits of the creature using it.
Bottle, wine, glass: This glass bottle is filled with fine wine. Its color ranges from clear to green to purple, depending on where the glass was made.
Bucket (empty): This simple wooden bucket is made from short wooden staves and an iron band. Most buckets have a thick rope handle, but buckets specifically made for wells have a metal handle, to tip the bucket into the water.
Canvas (sq. yard): This heavy cloth is often used as sails for ships, as well as to make tents, backpacks and other items requiring durability. It is also often used in the form of a tarpaulin.
Chalk, (1 piece): Chalk is often used by those who do not intend their writing to last long. It is favored by those shipping items, to scrawl destinations and numbers, as well as by graffiti artists.
Chest (empty): This heavy wooden chest is meant for storing items meant to be kept (relatively) safe. It is reinforced with iron bands, and is often fitted with a lock. A simpler version is often used for packing crates.
Firewood (per day): This bundle of wood is tied up with twine, which makes excellent tinder for fire starting. It is dry and lights quickly, creating a nice blaze for cooking and keeping back the dark, and creatures that lurk within it.
Fishhook: This crooked piece of heavy wire has a small barb in the crooked end to prevent the escape or hooked fish. The other end has a small eye, to attach the line to.
Fishing net (25 sq. feet): This net is tied with a simple series of knots, creating a mesh of about 1 inch. It has floats attached every 5 feet, so as to keep netted fish in.
Mug/Tankard, clay: This simple clay drinking utensil is often used in taverns, and has the potters seal stamped on the bottom. It holds roughly 1 pint of liquid.
Pick, miners: This heavy tool is used by miners and prospectors to break up rock and clumps of dirt. It is not made for war, however.
Pitcher, clay: This pouring utensil is fashioned from clay, with the potters seal embossed in the bottom. It holds roughly 1 gallon of liquid.
Pot, iron: This large cauldron is much like a dutch oven. It has a handle for hanging over fires, and holds roughly 3 gallons of liquid.
Sealing wax: This colored wax comes in 1 oz. sticks, and is melted into a small pitcher before being poured onto a folded piece of paper or parchment and stamped with a signet ring. It is most often red or blue in color.
Sewing needle: This small, thin piece of metal or bone has an eye in one end. Thread is pushed through the eye, and the needle is used to sew together cloth, leather or other pliable materials.
Signal whistle: This small, thin whistle is made of tin or wood. It produces a shrill, piercing whistle when blown, and is useful for sending signals using simple combinations.
Soap (per lb.): Soap is made from lye and lard, and is useful for cleaning anything from your body to your clothing. It can also be used to grease rusty hinges and so on.
Spade or shovel: Another useful tool, spades are used by farmers, gardeners, miners and any others who must move dirt, manure or other such substances. It consists of a metal scoop on a wooden handle.
Whetstone: This soft stone has a rough texture, and is used for sharpening blades of all sorts. It performs best when wet or oiled, giving it its name.
Tools and Skill Kits
Hourglass: This glass instrument is filled with sand, which slips through the narrow center one grain at a time. It needs turning every hour, and is a method of telling time. Smaller versions are made for cooking and alchemical purposes.
Food, Drink and Lodging
Ale (Gallon or Mug): This brew is made from hops and barley, and is also known as beer. It is served in most taverns, and is a staple of an adventurers diet.
Banquet (per person): This beautiful spread may or may not include whole roast creatures such a piglets and calves, beautiful marzipan sculptures, vegetables and fruits served in any way possible, as well as every kind of dessert one could imagine. It is surely a meal of the wealthy.
Bread (per loaf): This loaf of simple bread is made from coarse wheat flour, and has been baked in a relatively round shape. It is a dietary staple of all peoples.
Cheese (per hunk): This lovely cheese is made from cows or goats milk, and has a hard rind along the outside. It is another dietary staple of most peoples.
Meat (per chunk): This chunk of red meat is usually pork, beef or venison. It is best if stored chilled, and is a staple of most diets.
Wine (common): This thin grape wine is in a clay jug, which does not preserve flavor well. It may have silt in the dregs, but never the less is a fine drink.
Wine (fine): This excellent wine may be made from grapes, plums, damsons, pears or any number of fruits. It is in a fine glass bottle, and contains only the best and sweetest flavors.
Mounts and Related Gear
Bit and bridle: This leather tack consists of straps that go around a horses head, and a metal bit that is clenched in the horses’ teeth. It also has reins for the rider to hold onto.
Dog (guard): This creature is large and heavy, and often vicious. It is often let loose in areas in need of protection from common thieves.
Saddlebags: These small pouches attach to a riding saddle by leather woggles, and are not unlike belt pouches in manner and purpose.
Transport
Oar: This long wooden implement has a long handle, with a wide wooden blade on the end. It is used to propel a small boat through water.
Also...Everytime I see another fencer, I have to ask: Which weapon do you fence?
Chalk, twine, flint and steel, tinder, firewood, pen and parchment, utility knife, signal whistle, wineskin, jug, candle -- all have come in useful to me at one time or another, sometimes to serve an unexpected purpose for which the item was never intended.
You may need one of these items only once during an entire campaign that lasts over a year's worth of sessions. With a bag of holding, or handy haversack, it does no harm to stock up on these mundane and inexpensive items. You may never use them, but if you happen to need one, and you have it, it can be a lifesaver, and you'll be glad you planned ahead.
-A
I'll fence any of the three weapons for rec and practice, but fleur (foil) is my only tournament weapon.
Cloak of Charisma: This lightweight and fashionable cloak has a highly decorative silver trim. When in a character’s possession, it adds a +2, +4, or +6 enhancement bonus to her Charisma score.
I don't know if this is in the errata or not, but from the SRD...
Cloak of Charisma: This lightweight and fashionable cloak has a highly decorative silver trim. When in a character’s possession, it adds a +2, +4, or +6 enhancement bonus to her Charisma score.
Ah..there is some history behind that wording.
Originally it was an untyped item, a mirror I think.
Then they realized it would be unfair to have one attribute boost item be unslotted for no extra cost (or to force anyone wanting to boost cha to use an unslotted item) so they made it a cloak.
But they didn't change the last sentence.
This is a "I heard it from somebody" story, so I can't say for sure if it is accurate, but it fits the known facts pretty well, and seems like the sort of thing that could have happened. D&D books, including more recent books are filled with this kind of last minute edit error or similar copy/paste mistakes. (see Rainbow Servant text vs chart in original edition, vs newer and foreign language editions. In current versions, text matches chart. In original version, the text indicated it was a full casting class, chart 7/10 level prestige class - a rare case where the table was right, but the text wasn't - AND the book wasn't erattad, just quietly changed in future printings)
Block and Tackle: These increase how much a creature or person can tug, but not how much they can carry. Dunno if that's what you meant, but the description seems vague.
Meat (per chunk): Poorer folk cannot afford much meat, and live primarily on bread. Eating lots of meat might be a modern thing.
Other than that, nicely done. And ya, I did quickly read every one trying to be nit-picky.
Barrel: It takes about 3 cups of grain to make a pound. There are 16 cups in a gallon. Which means your barrels can hold 107 lbs. of grain. Except the modern standard barrel is 40 gallons (213lbs. of grain). I've seen a 50 gallon barrel in person and, well, it's about the size of a barrel.
Actually, I hauled out a scale and weighed some flour. However, it is quite possible that I erred somewhere along the line. I will edit your changes in once I have checked them against my own.
Block and Tackle: These increase how much a creature or person can tug, but not how much they can carry. Dunno if that's what you meant, but the description seems vague.
That is exactly what I meant, and I should have been more exact in my wording. Actually, it increases the weight they can lift, and tug, as you said. Having a block and tackle in your backpack does nothing whatsoever to lighten the load.
Meat (per chunk): Poorer folk cannot afford much meat, and live primarily on bread. Eating lots of meat might be a modern thing.
This depends on the diversity of individual campaign worlds. Livestock can be more common, and D&D Commoners do make plenty of money...
Other than that, nicely done. And ya, I did quickly read every one trying to be nit-picky.
I was waiting for someone to do exactly that, and you have been extremely helpful in correcting my mistakes. Thank you.
Actually, I hauled out a scale and weighed some flour. However, it is quite possible that I erred somewhere along the line. I will edit your changes in once I have checked them against my own.
A given volume of flour will weigh more than the same volume of grain. The flour is smaller so there is less air gap between each 'piece' of flour than there is between each grain of, er, grain.
So its quite possible you're both right.
Adventuring Gear
Bottle, wine, glass: This glass bottle is filled with fine wine. Its color ranges from clear to green to purple, depending on where the glass was made.
Food, Drink and Lodging
Ale (Gallon or Mug): This brew is made from hops and barley, and is also known as beer. It is served in most taverns, and is a staple of an adventurers diet.
Meat (per chunk): This chunk of red meat is usually pork, beef or venison. It is best if stored chilled, and is a staple of most diets.
By Odin, the opulence your native land must have!
You squander translucent glass on wine jugs? In my land, making glass translucent is so difficult, and requires such rare materials, that we would never make containers out of it: opaque glass is good enough for that. What luxury you must be used to.
And you consider meat a "staple"?
Seriously, though, ale is not beer. Or rather, beer is not ale (ale is a kind of beer). I don't even drink and I know that.
Dictionary.com says that the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, says ale is "a malt beverage, darker, heavier, and more bitter than beer, containing about 6 percent alcohol by volume.", and that The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition says ale is "A fermented alcoholic beverage containing malt and hops, similar to but heavier than beer."
But, the Online Etymology Dictionary says that, "Ale and beer were synonymous until growing of hops began in England early 15c." In other words, "ale" and "beer" only mean the same thing if one doesn't have any beer around. ;)
While ale is a kind of beer, when you say "beer", most people in the world think of "pale lager", which isn't ale.
According to wikipedia, while modern ales will be flavored with hops, before the 15th century part of the distinction between "ales" and "beer" was that beer contained hops. So, if D&D ale is like the ales of the middle ages (and I think it is), it will be hopsless, and therefore sweeter than beer.
By Odin, the opulence your native land must have!
You squander translucent glass on wine jugs? In my land, making glass translucent is so difficult, and requires such rare materials, that we would never make containers out of it: opaque glass is good enough for that. What luxury you must be used to.
And you consider meat a "staple"?
Seriously, though, ale is not beer. Or rather, beer is not ale (ale is a kind of beer). I don't even drink and I know that.
Dictionary.com says that the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, says ale is "a malt beverage, darker, heavier, and more bitter than beer, containing about 6 percent alcohol by volume.", and that The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition says ale is "A fermented alcoholic beverage containing malt and hops, similar to but heavier than beer."
But, the Online Etymology Dictionary says that, "Ale and beer were synonymous until growing of hops began in England early 15c." In other words, "ale" and "beer" only mean the same thing if one doesn't have any beer around. ;)
While ale is a kind of beer, when you say "beer", most people in the world think of "pale lager", which isn't ale.
According to wikipedia, while modern ales will be flavored with hops, before the 15th century part of the distinction between "ales" and "beer" was that beer contained hops. So, if D&D ale is like the ales of the middle ages (and I think it is), it will be hopsless, and therefore sweeter than beer.
Well, thank you for that! I learn something new every day...
Taverns shall now be required to distinguish Beer from Ale, and brewers shall all be informed.
Seriously though, thank you. Critisism is accepted along with praise.