EQUIPMENT BIBLE — full ladder

STATUS: filled — 5 tiers × (Weapon/Tool/Light/Armor/Trinket) + material chains. DONE v1.

Design rule: few slots, clear upgrades, every piece feels like a reward. Power comes from **tools

(verbs), forged weapons, light gear, and trinkets** that change how you play. POWER

values follow BALANCE.md bands. Difficulty HARD: each tier is a step ahead but gated behind grind

(rarer mats / a harder dungeon). Canon mats: black-iron nails, heartwood, ash, salt, glass.

Slots: Weapon · Tool · Light · Armor · Trinket ×2.

TIER BANDS (from BALANCE.md)

A. WEAPONS (Gideon melee / both)

T1 Cracked Hoe / Field Knife
+3 · improvised; the knife adds a quick jab. Earned: start / 5g.
T1 Iron Hammer
+4 · reliable smash, chips ore. Forge: 4 ore.
T2 Iron Longsword
+8 · fast 3-hit, Cadence cleave. Forge: 2 ingot + heartwood hilt (sword mold).
T2 Reaping Sickle
+7 · wide sweep, cuts thorn walls (verb). Forge: 2 ingot + 1 heartwood.
T3 Steel Greatblade
+15 · slow heavy arc, stagger. Forge: 3 steel + boss mat ×1.
T3 Stormnail Spike
+13 · anchor-dash, pins foes (verb). Dungeon-locked (R6 Medal line).
T4 Frostbrand Nail
+24 · freeze-on-hit, makes ice bridges (verb). Veil shard ×2 + steel.
T4 Heartwood Maul
+27 · breaks black-glass walls (verb), huge stun. R9 boss base.
T5 Black-Iron Greathammer
+40 · endgame; slow, massive, AoE stun. Forge at Cinderhold (finale mats).
T5 Starborne Nail-Blade (Lyra)
+44 · counted edge; every 3rd hit unwrites an enemy buff. Set piece.

B. TOOLS — permanent VERBS (mostly Veil Medals, see REGIONS.md)

Lantern · Pickaxe · Hoe (core) · **Counting Bell · Tide Whistle · Mirror Shard · Heartwood Hammer ·

Frostbrand Nail · True-Sight Lens · Reaping Sickle · Stormnail Spike · Veil Compass · Hush Censer ·

Concord Key (the 12 Medal items, one per dungeon). Tools never break; upgrades** (brighter lantern,

longer whistle, deeper pick) are the gold+material sink across the game.

Pickaxe line: Iron Pick (T2) → Steel Pick (T3, 2× ore) → Veil Pick (T4, mines rare ore).
Hoe line: Iron Hoe (T2) → Steel Hoe (T3, tills 3 tiles).

C. LIGHT GEAR (light = survival & weapon)

T1 Tin Lantern
small pool, burns oil fast. Start.
T2 Brass Lantern
+35% radius, −20% burn. Buy 180g / forge 2 ingot+glass.
T3 Warded Lamp
repels Wisps/Veilbats at the edge (Salt Sigil). Forge: steel + salt + glass.
T4 Sunfire Lantern
sears the dark for real chip-damage; reveals Shade Stalkers far. Veil shard.
T5 Starborne Beacon
wide unflickering pool; counts back one stolen hour at dawn. Set piece.

D. ARMOR

T1 Travel Leathers
Def 2. Start/craft hide.
T2 Smith's Iron Mail
Def 6, halves bleed. Forge 3 ingot + 4 hide.
T3 Steel Plate
Def 12, no guard-break on heavy hits. Forge steel + boss mat.
T4 Veil-Shard Mail
Def 19, resists chill/burn DoT. Veil shards + steel.
T5 Starborne Regalia
Def 30; set bonuses 2pc (+stamina) / 4pc (+Cadence) / 6pc (blood-bias costs less HP).

E. TRINKETS (×2 — define builds)

Counting Beads
Cadence arms on the 2nd action, not 3rd. (T2)
Salt Charm
+DoT resist, summons can't spawn adjacent. (T2)
Nail Reliquary
blood-bias spends 25% less HP. (T3)
Mirror Pendant
first hit each fight is parried free. (T4)
Aurelia's Ribbon
once per dungeon, survive a lethal blow at 1 HP. (T5, story)

F. MATERIALS (the grind chains)

ore → Iron Ingot (10 ore). 2 ingot + flux → Steel. Beast Hide (drops). Heartwood (forest dungeons).

Glass Pane (sand/observatory). Salt (mines/towns). Veil Shard (T4 dungeon-locked drops). **Counted-Nail

Relics (T5, finale-gated). Each tier needs a mat that only drops past the prior region's dungeon** — clear

content to advance (the Minecraft loop). Chase items = the boss-drop base + crafted top of each tier.