Crew upgrades: What are the differences between Gear, Implements, Tools and Supplies? In many cases, they’re very much the same things. Thoughts?
Also, can you spend your intial crew upgrade points between the ones listed as “Crew Upgrades” on the crew sheet (in the middle gray box) as well as the untitled crew upgrades on the bottom left (Secure Lair, Vault, etc.)? Or are the latter for after-play only?
you can definitely pick from both lists at creation. I have some idea how i would differentiate between those 4 things but will wait for a more official answer
The terms Tools, Gear, Implements, Supplies are literal categories. Look at the item lists again and look for what things are called Tools, what are called Gear, what are called Implements. If you get an upgrade that improves Tools, it means everything that is called Tools (and probably any Playbook’s specialty items that otherwise show up under a particular heading). This isn’t explained very clearly in the rules, but this question has been asked before and the answer is: don’t read too much into it; it’s exactly what it says on the item list 🙂
Ah! Yes, I see it now. The verbage on the list slipped past me. Very subtle thing there but now that I see it, easy. Thanks.
So, a small thing but it could head off confusion for others: Lockpicks are listed under Burglary Gear, however in the explanation of Quality in crew upgrades the example is a set of lockpicks bolstered by Quality Tools, not Gear.
And is it a dark-sight mask or a set of goggles? 😉
John Harper! Maybe an important detail to keep your examples in line! ^
The mask/goggles bit is just me poking fun, if that needs to be said. Personally, I can’t help but imagine something like Corvo’s mask. I mean, how could you not? 🙂 I’m willing to bet that all these little bits we notice will be addressed, if they haven’t been already. Between John’s attention to detail, all of our eyes and the solid work of Evil Hat, this game is gonna shine.
Here’s what it says in the book:
Quality: Each upgrade improves the quality rating of all the PC’s items of that type, beyond the quality established by the crew’s Tier and fine items. You can improve the quality of Documents, Gear (covers Burglary Gear and Climbing Gear), Arcane Implements, Subterfuge Supplies, Tools (covers Demolitions Tools and Tinkering Tools), and Weapons.
So, if you are Tier 0, with fine lockpicks (+1) and the Quality upgrade for Gear (+1), you could contend equally with a Tier 2 quality lock.
Awesome!
and to clarify:
“contend equally with a tier 2 quality lock” means they would have the usual: risky/standard baseline? and contending with a tier4 lock in that situation would push to a limited effect and/or desperate position? from what i gather there is no rule where you would take away dice form the players’ action rolls… I guess I’m asking is position and effect the only way to balance PCs going after targets beyond their reach? or might you say a tier 4 lock is literally impossible (which seems no fun)?
The GM is allowed to say that an action will have zero effect. The players can modify effect up from zero in various ways.
“I want to bash down the reinforced door with my bare hands. I’m Wrecking it.”
“Okay… it’s Risky (you might break your hands) and you’ll have zero effect.”
“I’m gonna push myself to get limited effect, then.”
Same thing with super-fancy locks, or ultra elite soldiers, or whatever. You can set zero effect as the baseline for a given action.
ah ok awesome