Creatures’ gear
Creatures you meet in the dungeons come with gear of their own, and so do creatures that a place puts somewhere without a set kit. The gear follows the “Gear” column of what creatures carry. Each line of the table is rolled in turn by its chance, and gives one of the things it lists. Now and then a creature also gets a magic piece, made as loot is, at the floor’s item level.
- A kind’s racial weapon is its first line. It comes 90% of the time unless the table says otherwise, and every kind with one is trained in its weapon skill.
- An armed creature gets no flat bonus to hit. Its ranks in the weapon’s skill (and in Duelist, for a one-handed weapon with no shield) are the fewest that bring the weapon to a quarter of its level to hit (a spellcaster’s, to an eighth), as the creatures that fight with claws and teeth hit. No rank is higher than a trained warrior of the creature’s level holds (2 at level 1, 7 at 15 to 22, 10 from 42), so a heavy weapon (great blades, axes, polearms) may stay below and hit harder instead.
- Its ranks bring what ranks bring anyone: damage, speed, Parry, and the abilities they teach that work by themselves (Deep cut, Crushing blow, Brace, Riposte).
- What a creature could not carry (over its carrying limit) it goes without.
- What it gets is made of a material by the creature’s level, as drops are.
- What falls when it dies is unidentified, as any find is.
Condition
Each piece of arms or armour a creature gets is often worn out and now and then finer than most. It may be damaged, a point worse than a plain one, or Fine, Marvellous, or Masterwork, with one, two, or three improvements in what an improvement can better, as if worked at a forge (each counts as one attempt made on it). A damaged piece is called by what wore it out: rusted iron and steel, corroded bronze, silver, and other metals, and plainly damaged wood, leather, and cloth. The creature fights with it as it is, and it falls as it is. A stack of several (thrown weapons, ammunition), rings and amulets, a unique item, one of Proof, anything a quest may ask for, and a set kit a place gives a creature are always as made. The chances, by the creature’s tag:
| Creatures | Damaged | Fine | Marvellous | Masterwork | As made |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
devil | 8% | 10% | 2.5% | 0.6% | 78.9% |
drow | 10% | 12% | 3% | 0.8% | 74.2% |
duergar | 8% | 15% | 4% | 1% | 72% |
goblin | 50% | 1.5% | 0.2% | 0% | 48.3% |
hobgoblin | 10% | 10% | 2% | 0.4% | 77.6% |
kobold | 55% | 1% | 0.1% | 0% | 43.9% |
orc | 45% | 2.5% | 0.4% | 0.1% | 52% |
troll | 50% | 1% | 0.1% | 0% | 48.9% |
undead | 95% | 1% | 0% | 0% | 4% |
| Everyone else | 30% | 4% | 0.8% | 0.2% | 65% |
A creature with more than one of these tags takes the first in this order: undead, duergar, hobgoblin, drow, devil, kobold, goblin, orc, troll.
Damaged gear of metal is rusted (rust) or corroded (corrosion), whichever its material withstands less (the first on a tie), never one it always withstands; one that always withstands them all is plainly damaged. Gear of anything else is plainly damaged.
Deeper down, gear is better made: the chances of Fine, Marvellous, and Masterwork in the table of deeper finds are added to these, and the chance of a damaged piece shrinks to make room.
See also: Creatures, What creatures leave, and Equipment.