Twelve Surprising Facts about Gear (Patreon)

For a bit of fun, here are twelve pieces of information you may or may not know. Some of them are mechanical, others are mostly curios of lore.

1. Rib Blades are the only one handed Grand Weapon currently in the game

That's right, if your Grand Weapon user loses an arm they can still keep training if you have access to the Gorm expansion.  Despite it's massive size and unwieldy looking nature the Rib Blade requires only one hand to wield!

Sadly we only get one single rib blade on the Gorm sprue. So it's difficult to model the dual wielding Blood Paint/Rib Blade/Rawhide survivor this game truely deserves.

2. Skleavers are the only non-Slow Grand Weapon available

I think the cat is out of the bag when it comes to assessing how good the Skleaver is, people have twigged that it's really good (So good that I call it one of the top 5 crafted weapons in the game) and one of the reasons is that it's a speed 1 grand weapon that doesn't have the Slow "drawback".  This means it's more flexible than 

3. The Trash Crown destroys the King's Man

Activate this at the start of each round and wave goodbye to those stupid battle pressure cards! Enjoy!

4.  The Sunshark Bow is a Melee and Ranged Weapon 

This doesn't mean too much at the moment as there are not that many things that reference this (ambidextrous, the Screaming Antelope), but it's something to bare in mind in the future - especially if we get melee and range focused fighting styles.

5. Tools are not weapons

While this seems obvious, it does have a couple of key applications.  First of all this means you can't dual wield tools with Blood Paint (Boo!) secondly it means that you can have the awesome Shadow Saliva Shaw, Tool Belt, Pickaxe combo pioneered by my friend Tom because Shadow Saliva Shawls make all "weapons" slow. 

6 Evasion, and a (2/5+/2/Sharp) non-frail pickaxe is incredible to get from three gear pieces (plus affinity support).

6.  Rolling "Armor" is not Armor 

See? Not a single 'armor' keyword anywhere in the set.  This means you can add whatever armor pieces you want to this and create some really unique builds.  Perhaps the next item below might give you some ideas!

In addition because it isn't armor, according to the current rules it is not 'worn' which means rolling armor can be used by People of the Sun despite being heavy because they can only not 'wear' heavy gear and only armor is worn.  They can 'carry' heavy gear and according to RAW?  Rolling armor is carried, not worn.

7. You can have a hybrid Club Bow

If you wear the green plate (chest slot) it gives all weapons in your grid the Club keyword.

What you choose to do with this information is up to you (because the Green Plate is a PITA to make). However...

8. The Full Leather Vagabond Quandary

The Manhunter's hat is supposed to have the 'outfit' keyword. Meaning that it works as the head piece for leather and rawhide armor sets.  This "ruling from Poots" if it becomes official means that if it is worn with full leather apart from the mask you qualify for having both Vagabond and Leather armor at the same time.

What happens if that becomes the case is as good your guess as it is mine!

9. The Gorn is silent

The Gorn is the only musical instrument currently in the game that does not have the 'noisy' keyword.  Is this because when you blow it the noise it makes cannot be heard out loud? Is it a psychic sound?

10. Dragon and Sun Vestments are made of Silk

In game this only has the effect that a survivor with the Tiny Arachnophobia drawback cannot wear them. But Lorewise it asks us a questions. We have the recipe for the Sun Vestments (6 Hide, 1 Golden Whiskers, 2 Pustules), but the Dragon Vestments are gifted by The Tyrant.  Does he farm White Lions and Phoenixes when no-one is looking in order to make them, or does he have a contract with the local Spidicules Silk Weaver Guild, trading silk in exchange for not destroying them all?

11. Only Mineral gear can be calcified

The updated Zanbatos from the Dung Beetle Knight Expansion are the main point where you can see this, but once you notice it you can see the pattern.  People think that it's "bone" items which are calcified, but it's not, it's mineral ones.  So that's a keyword to keep an eye out for in the future, anything that is a mineral gear card can potentially be calcified, making it ideal for homebrew designs!

12. There are only two sets of Paired Weapons in the game that have different names

This is important because the current (and imo flawed) weapon rules make two identical Paired Weapons not very good because the second copy is 'blank of all special rules' to paraphrase the FAQ.  However if you have paired weapons which are not identical, they work in interesting fashions because both all of the special rules remain active on them.  The first set are the only completely official set.  They are the Lion Knight's Claws

You can use them in a number of different ways, but the above pairing tends to be best, giving a choice of either (4/8+/8/Deadly) or (4/5+/4/Deadly) with +1 Survival on a Perfect hit and the ability to gain +1 Speed on the weapons if you desire.

The other set are a curio from one of the scenarios and might make an appearance in the wanderer system.  You've seen them before if you've ever read the comic at the back of the rulebook. 

The interesting thing about these two items is that combined they give you a hybrid Sword/Spear.  However the stat lines on them are pretty bad, worse than a Bone Axe.  You can see why Aya switched them out and instead picked up a Black Sword and Beacon Shield!