Usage
Gear in Fate is an Extra – something narratively significant enough to have mechanical weight. Most items don’t need stats. If you can pick up any sword off a rack, it doesn’t need an aspect. If the sword has a name, a history, or does something no other sword does – it does. Usually, gear aspects and stunts occupy your standard slots. However, if your campaign involves frequent loot or gear swaps, you might allow these extras to exist outside your normal limits – perhaps one per gear type.
Three patterns are used here, in increasing complexity. Use the simplest one that fits.
Aspect Only
The item exists, matters narratively, and can be invoked or compelled. No extra rules. Use this for most story-important gear.
How it works: Write the item as an aspect on your character sheet. Invoke it when relevant, accept compels when it causes trouble.
The Grandfather’s Revolver
An old service weapon, worn smooth, never cleaned but never jammed.
Aspect – My Grandfather Carried This at the End of the World
Invoke when the history or reliability of the weapon matters. Compel when sentiment overrides good judgment – you won’t leave it behind, won’t trade it, won’t let someone else use it.
The Stolen Signet Ring
Belongs to someone powerful. You have it for reasons you’d rather not explain.
Aspect – The Ring That Opens Doors and Closes Throats
Invoke when impersonating, gaining access, or leveraging the associated name. Compel when the real owner, their allies, or anyone who recognizes it makes your life complicated.
The Dead Mentor’s Coat
Heavy, patched, smells like tobacco and old decisions.
Aspect – She Wore This When She Was Unstoppable
Invoke when drawing on legacy, reputation, or sheer stubbornness. Compel when it marks you as her successor to people who hated her.
The Cursed Map
Shows the way to something. The something is not safe. The map may not be accurate.
Aspect – The Map That’s Always Right and Always Wrong
Invoke when navigating, investigating, or making a case that you know where you’re going. Compel when the map leads somewhere worse than expected or attracts people who want it.
The Alien Shard
Smooth, warm, hums at frequencies you feel in your back teeth.
Aspect – Something Old Enough to Have Watched Stars Die
Invoke when its age, strangeness, or unknowable properties are useful. Compel when it attracts attention from people or things that recognize what it is.
Aspect and Stunt
The item has narrative weight and a reliable mechanical effect. Use this for weapons, tools, or items with a consistent special property.
How it works: The aspect works as above. The stunt activates under specific conditions – usually once per scene or with a skill requirement.
Ironveil Armor
Plates of layered black steel, old craft, heavier than it looks.
Aspect – Proof Against Everything Except Regret
Stunt – Ironveil – Once per conflict, reduce a physical consequence by one step by letting the armor take it instead; afterward, the aspect Dented and Compromised is placed on the armor until repaired.
The Sharpshooter’s Longrifle
Custom-built, hand-balanced, accurate past the point of reason.
Aspect – Built for One Shot That Ends Arguments
Stunt – Breath and Trigger – When I take a full action to aim before shooting, my next Shoot attack gets +2 and ignores any single aspect that would penalize the shot (cover, range, weather).
The Surgeon’s Kit
Old leather case, everything in its place, nothing wasted.
Aspect – The Right Tool for Whatever Is Wrong with You
Stunt – Proper Equipment – +2 to Lore or Crafts when treating injuries, illness, or performing procedures; once per scene, clear a mild physical consequence from a patient without a roll if I have time and quiet.
The Lockbreaker
A device – mechanical, magical, or electronic depending on the setting – that shouldn’t work as well as it does.
Aspect – If It Locks, It Opens
Stunt – Master Key – +2 to Burglary or Crafts when bypassing physical locks, security mechanisms, or sealed systems; on success with style, I leave no evidence of entry.
The Bound Blade
Forged with something inside it. It has opinions.
Aspect – The Blade Remembers Every Kill It’s Made
Stunt – Blood Memory – When I attack a type of creature or person the blade has harmed before (established in play or at character creation), I get +2 to Fight; when I refuse a kill the blade wants, accept a compel or take a mild mental consequence from the resistance.
The Diplomat’s Seal
Official. Heavy. Opens mouths that should stay shut.
Aspect – Authority Stamped in Wax and Fear
Stunt – By Order Of – Once per session, invoke the seal’s authority to compel a minor NPC to cooperate, stand down, or grant access without a roll; this doesn’t work on anyone with reason to doubt the authority it represents.
The Exosuit Gauntlets
Hydraulic-assisted, cracked along one knuckle, loud when you flex.
Aspect – These Hands Have Punched Through Walls
Stunt – Augmented Force – +2 to Physique when breaking, lifting, or striking objects; Fight attacks made with the gauntlets deal one additional stress on a success (not success with style).
The Seeing Glass
A lens – monocle, scope, or implant – that shows more than it should.
Aspect – I See What You’re Hiding
Stunt – True Sight – Once per scene, use the glass to ask the GM one question about a person, object, or location in my line of sight; they must answer honestly.
Aspect, Stunt, and Boxes
The item has narrative weight, a mechanical effect, and a limited resource – charges, durability, ammunition, or uses before something changes. When the boxes are gone, something happens: the item breaks, runs out, needs recharging, or transforms.
How it works: Boxes are checked off as used. Define at creation what happens when the last box is checked.
The Healer’s Phials
Six vials of something clear and faintly warm. There were more once.
Aspect – One Dose Left Is One More Than Nothing
Stunt – Field Medicine – Spend a phial (check one box) to immediately clear a mild physical consequence on yourself or someone you can touch; no roll required.
Uses □□□□□□ When all boxes are checked: the phials are empty. They can be refilled with the right resources and a Crafts or Lore roll at the end of a session.
The Overcharged Pistol
Modified past what the manufacturer intended. Hits harder. Wears out faster.
Aspect – Dangerous to Everyone in the Room, Especially Me
Stunt – Overclock – When you fire on overcharge (check one box), the attack deals two additional stress on a hit; on a miss, something goes wrong – the GM decides what.
Charges □□□□ When all boxes are checked: the pistol is burnt out and useless until repaired (Crafts roll, one session downtime).
The Warding Stone
Carved with something old. Warm to the touch. Getting cooler.
Aspect – The Old Powers Still Owe Me a Few Favors
Stunt – Ward – Spend a charge (check one box) to negate one magical, supernatural, or psychic attack against yourself or someone adjacent; the attack simply does not land.
Charges □□□ When all boxes are checked: the stone is cold and dark. It may be recharged at a place of power, through a ritual, or at significant narrative cost.
The Blacksite Keycard
Cloned access credentials. Every use risks detection.
Aspect – Opens the Doors That Shouldn’t Open
Stunt – Unauthorized Access – Use the keycard to bypass any electronic security door, system, or checkpoint without a roll; check one box each use.
Uses □□□□□ When all boxes are checked: the credentials have been flagged. Using the card again automatically triggers an alarm and likely a response.
The Ticking Grenade
Whatever kind fits your setting. The point is it goes away.
Aspect – One Answer to Several Problems at Once
Stunt – Blast – Throw the grenade (check one box) to attack everyone in a zone at Fight or Shoot +2; on success, also place a scene aspect on the zone with one free invocation.
Grenades □□□ When all boxes are checked: you’re out. Resupply requires resources, contacts, or a relevant overcome roll.
The Dying Familiar
A companion, construct, or bound spirit. Still here. Not for much longer.
Aspect – Still With Me, Against All Reason
Stunt – Last Reserves – Once per scene, the familiar intervenes – taking a hit meant for you, providing a critical piece of information, or creating a boost through sacrifice; check one box.
Remaining □□□ When all boxes are checked: the familiar is gone. This should be a scene, not a footnote. The aspect becomes Already Gone and can still be invoked – as grief, as legacy, as memory.
Notes on Building Your Own
Aspect only – ask: does this item have a history, a reputation, or a complication? If yes, it gets an aspect. If it’s just a tool, it doesn’t need one.
Add a stunt when the item does something consistently special that no skill alone covers – a bonus under specific conditions, a permission to do something otherwise impossible, or a once-per-scene effect.
Add boxes when the item is consumable, fragile, or has a countdown built into its fiction. Define what happens at zero before play begins – broken, empty, transformed, or lost.
Cost and permission – consider what it takes to have the item at all. Some gear requires a skill rating, a faction affiliation, a specific aspect, or a narrative justification. That cost is part of what makes it feel significant.