Consumables

Players start each [Quest] length period with three consumables per character under almost all circumstances. Should players be exceptionally poor either in money or sense, they may end up starting with less. This is a fairly significant change, however, so consider it carefully. It can lead to failure becoming a slippery slope, as consumables are designed to take the edge off of that exact same slope.

We offer a large set of items with different durations, and enough of them that a single party is actually making meaningful choices about their loadouts. Notably, consumable items are rarely open to monsters, as it would not make sense for them to have such equipment. We use this to distinguish bosses, recurrent foes, and the like as well!

Finally, consumables offer something really special to players: loot they can use right away which directly affects their short term survival and can be accumulated meaningfully, unlike other magical or mundane items. This means that it is perfectly reasonable for players to find a chest of healing potions, or recover a pair of ancient Ankhs. Players should be able to expect one consumable per character about every 6 encounters, varying based on difficulty and likely not received all at once. On average, a character can expect to use or need a consumable about every three encounters, leading to a gradual but virtually inevitable loss of resources across the arc of the [Quest]. It's up to the GM how much this scarcity receives emphasis.

Consumable Rules Summary

Starting Consumables per Level

	Lesser	Greater	Relic	Artifact
Lvl. 1-4	3	0	0	0
Lvl. 5-9	2	1	0	0
Lvl. 10-20	1	1	1	0

• Consumables normally require a swift action to activate, however exceptions exist.
• Consumables listed with a skill are considered linked with it. A character that wants to use that consumable must have that skill trained.
• A good general rule in trading or attempting to acquire Consumables is that a consumable is worth two Consumable items of the next tier down. Artifact Consumables cannot be traded down.
• The Artifacts are never available for trade, and are generally only found as rewards for perilous quests, or created via a recipe as part of an Artifact level magic item. Some games may find it useful to make the Ankh considerably more available, however.
• Again, we recommend that each player get 3 consumables per [Quest].

Consumables by skill and item type

	Lesser Item	Greater Item	Relic	Artifact
General	Healing Potion	Formal Favor	Rusted Ring	Ankh
		Gloss Armor		Hourglass
		Tiny Model
Arcana	Hollow Horn		Illusionary Terrain
Diplomacy		Limited Diplomatic Immunity
Engineering	Brush Shield	Canned Lightning
	Floating Eye	Daedalic Wings
	Meat Grenade	Intricate Headgear
Geography	Granite Spike	Affable Cube
		Shape Earth
History	What Someone Else Knew	Spirit's Shielding
Larceny	Firebrand	Friends in Low Places
Nature	Instant Tree	Strange Acid Flask
Perception	Curious Monocle	Wolf Totem