Skills & Feats
 

There are quite a number of new skills and feats available to characters in Færith, most of them reflecting the world's more advanced technology level compared to a typical fantasy setting.  Certain skills (Craft, in particular) and feats (like Power Attack and Two-Weapon Fighting) also have needed revisions that help to integrate them into the whole rules system.

• Skills

• Feats

 

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Money

The medieval scale of copper, silver, and gold, has long since fallen into the history books, replaced by national currencies whose values depend on the wealth of the country that backs them.  In fact, were it not for the stable trade-currencies that are used commonly between all nations (the Dolloch guilder and the Mercutian dollar), an adventurer trying to cash in his recovered gold doubloons would find it a most dreadfully complex and confusing affair.  Luckily, the trade currencies have a relatively steady rate of exchange with the common sorts of coin and gems used on Færith before the days of paper money.

       

Silver pieces were once used much as the guilder (ƒ) and dollar ($) are now, to track everyday monetary transactions.  Gold pieces were used to keep track of very expensive purchases, such as land or magic items, and it remains true into modern times that gold will be used as a medium for large exchanges, though an actual purchase of such magnitude is likely to be made in bars of gold bullion, or large bills and bank notes, rather than actual chests of old coins---and even then, the value of the gold will be expressed in guilders.  The exchange rate between the two forms of money is still relatively stable: 1 gold piece equals 10 silver guilders (or dollars).

Both the dollar and the guilder are further subdivided into silver dimes and copper cents (there are also half- and quarter-guilders and half-dimes made of silver, and half-cents made of copper, but these coins are relatively uncommon).  Fractional coins are essential to the economies of most cities and villages, because most people use them in everyday transactions; but most adventures don't deal with denominations much smaller than the silver dime, outside of buying drinks or meals at small-town taverns.

 

Large gold doubloons (worth 2 gold pieces, hence "doubloon") and platinum pieces are generally only found in ancient treasure hoards.  Doubloons date back to the age of exploration and piracy, while platinum coins were minted in the days of the Connaian Empire for the disgustingly wealthy; and some have survived into the present, recovered from lost catacombs or dungeons by daring adventurers.  Gold doubloons are worth 20ƒ in modern money, while platinum pieces are worth 100ƒ.

 

The Pensulan sovereign is a widely-used unit of large currency, circulated far and wide on account of its home country's dominant navy and far-reaching empire of colonies---when found in coin form, rather than paper, it's minted from electrum, a gold-silver alloy.  Pensulan sovereigns are each worth 4ƒ (or, put another way, 1ƒ is equivalent to a Pensulan crown or quarter-sovereign).

 

	Exchange Value
Coin or Gem	Silver Guilder (ƒ)	Gold Piece (gp)
Copper cent (¢)	1/100	1/1,000
Silver dime (d)	1/10	1/100
Silver guilder (ƒ)	1	1/10
Electrum sovereign (£)	4	2/5
Gold piece (gp)	10	1
Platinum piece (pp)	100	10
Typical ruby	1,000	100
Typical emerald	10,000	1,000
Typical diamond	100,000	10,000

The individual nations of Lethandria also have their own currencies, in addition to the trade moneys, and while these different currencies' relative values can fluctuate somewhat, the various governments, banks, and money-changers of Lethandria try to keep the currencies set on a "gold standard", so that their values in hard coin maintain some consistency.

The dinar ("DEE-nar") is a silver-based currency used in Al-Quahad and what little of Archania that has been reclaimed from the orcs by human civilization.  Dinars are small silver coins roughly equal to a silver dime (one-tenth of a guilder).

 

The dollar is a unit of currency that was originally derived from the medieval silver piece, and later from a fraction of the Pensulan sovereign (the crown).  It is the official currency of the two nations on the North Mercutian continent, the F.R.M. (Federated Republics of Mercutia) and Commonwealth of Kanata.  Crowns, which are equal in value to both guilders and dollars, are used as a fractional currency in Pensula, and both crowns and dollars are used as the official currencies of Laomark and Arettia, where they are known as the krœne (pronounced "KRÖN-uh") and the thaler.

The ducat  ("DUK-ut") is a coin minted in either silver or gold; the common silver ducat is equal to a guilder in value.  It was first minted in the northern regions of Corscony, and its use then spread into Vanja and Rûne.

The écu (pronounced "EH-kü") is the official currency of the Kingdom of Eryia, from whence it also spread to the Republic of Lattéa.  The currency is equal in value to a guilder.

 

The guilder is the most successful international trade currency in Lethandria.  It was first minted in Dollo, where its value was set at equal to the Corscon ducat; but the Dolloch traders soon proved themselves better than the Corscons at shipping, and so their currency overtook the ducat and became Lethandria's standard.  The symbol for the guilder, ƒ, is a tall "s" for "silver", with a bar through it.  ("Because," the author said with a nervous laugh, "it certainly can't be an 'f' for 'florin' if there's no city of Florence in the game world, right?  Heh heh heh... ooh, boy.")  Just as dollars are sometimes referred to as "bucks" and pounds are often known as "quid", the guilder has its own slang term in Lethandria---"gil" (as in, "That rapier cost me 200 gil!").

 

The peso de ocho, the piece of eight, is the currency of Sarid and most of that nation's former colonies, including the islands of the Calidico Archipelago, as well as the West Calidicos and the countries of South Mercutia.  The piece of eight is so called because it could be cut into eight "royals" or "bits" -- with four bits equaling half a piece, and two bits equaling a quarter.  The peso is equal to the dollar or guilder in value.

 

The ruble is the currency of Ruloskiva.  It's a silver coin, valued at one quarter of a guilder.

 

The sovereign is the currency unit of Pensula, easily the wealthiest of Lethandria's nations.  The sovereign is equivalent in value to four guilders, or two-fifths of a gold piece, which makes it one of the most valuable (and stable) currencies in Lethandria.  The elves of Parus find this particularly agreeable, since they generally prefer hard currency, and typically refuse to trade in paper guilders, dollars, ducats, pesos, &c.---but because of their close proximity to Pensula, and the currency's stable vaule, the Parusans will happily trade in sovereigns, and indeed, they have taken to minting electrum sovereigns as their own national coin.  (Ecadia, though in a state of rebellion against Pensula, also uses the sovereign---and likewise for Mephret, still a colony in Pensula's empire.)  The sovereign also has its own divisions, which are different from the standard dime and cent system used to divide guilders and dollars---a pound is divided into 4 crowns (which are, incidentally, equal in value to a guilder); each crown is worth 5 shillings (making each shilling twice as valuable as a dime); and each shilling is divided into 5 pence, or pennies.  Pence are further subdivided into ha'pennies ("half-pennies") and farthings ("fourth-ings"), and 1 farthing is equal to 1 cent of trade currency.

 

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Weapons

Several new weapons, foremost among them firearms, exist on Færith.  A couple of old weapons (special martial arts weapons in particular) also have some changes to their stats.
 

• Melee & Ranged Weapons

• Firearms
• Explosives & Splash Weapons

 

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