Hello, today I am going to talk about adventuring gear. The list can be found on chapter 5 of the player’s handbook, under the section dedicated to it. The book tells you what it weighs, costs, and a basic description of what it is, but offers almost zero elaboration on how to put it to good use. Trust me, you need this stuff. It is critical to your success at the table, so stock up on everything that list contains.
Abacus: You need this if you are trying to do any sort of calculation with numbers in game. This is a common occurrence during financial transactions or puzzle solving. As a rule of thumb, if you need a calculator in real life, you need an abacus in game to do the thing you are looking to do.
Acid (vial): Not recommended to be used in combat (not very cost efficient) but good if you need to corrode metal. Pour it on locks or chains or iron bars to corrode them and more easily break them open. Someone with alchemy tool proficiency can manufacture these half off.
Alchemist's Fire: Spendy, but nice to apply a damage over time effect to a dangerous opponent. They can either waste their action for the turn or take the damage. Someone with alchemy tool proficiency can manufacture these half off.
Antitoxin: Spendy but good to have against enemies that rely on poison. Someone with alchemy tool proficiency can manufacture these half off.
Backpack: This is the quintessential adventuring gear item; it allows you to carry 30 lb. of other adventuring gear on your person. Of course you need one.
Ball bearings (bag of 1000): You can use them to trip people, but other uses include testing the levelness of a surface (put a ball bearing on a surface and see if it rolls) this can allow you to dodge rolling boulder traps and find hidden passages. You can jam a lock by pouring a few of them in it. Good targets for the animate objects spell. They can also enable you move heavy objects by pushing or pulling by reducing friction with the floor. Try tossing a ball down a pit or crevasse to listen intently for a faint clink to judge how far- safer than using a rock for this because the noise isn’t as loud and obvious.
Barrel: Don't go on an adventure of any significant length without at least 2 barrels of water. You will need it to refill your waterskin at the end of each day to avoid exhaustion levels stacking on you. Keep the water barrels in your cart or ship. You usually store food and other items you don't want exposed to weather in barrels as well.
Basket: Enables you to carry 40lb of loot out of the dungeon. Sacks are generally preferable due to being lighter, but a strength-based character can take advantage of baskets getting 10lb more loot.
Bedroll: A necessity if you are taking a long rest with no bed nearby. Sleeping on the hard ground is a bad idea.
Bell: Attach bells to the collars of livestock you own. If they go missing you can track them down much easier. Use bells instead of words for simple coded communication so enemies don't know what your plans are. Also, when setting up camp attach bells to strings to create and alarm system. Can be used as chimes to detect wind, in particular in places there shouldn't be wind such as in a dungeon, giving you a clue as to a secret passage or foe such as an air elemental.
Blanket: Necessary if sleeping outside in the cold. Sleeping without one in such conditions is a bad idea. Good way to catch a disease. Keep one as a makeshift tourniquet when needed, if someone is making death saves.
Block and tackle: Allows you to hoist things up out of the dungeon or over obstacles, this could be loot, livestock, other people, chests, you name it. First secure it with a piton to a wall or ceiling above the target lifting zone, then thread your rope through it and tie it off around the object to be lifted. Now everyone gets ready to pull. You can lift a couple thousand pounds this way. Get a large solid gold statue out of the dungeon this way.
Book: Keep any books with pertinent information regarding things you are likely to encounter on your journey on you. For instance, for instance a book on Underdark flora and fauna if you are heading down there. Another universally important book is one on precious metals and gemstones, so you can identify your loot. Asking your DM where the town library is before adventuring off is very important.
Bottle, Glass: Needed for storing liquids (or other things such as messages) of all kinds.
Bucket: Needed to serve your livestock feed or water, or bailing water from a boat, raft or ship. Any situation where you want to splash liquid over a wide area you will want one. Wash your hands and mess kit in one after eating to avoid disease.
Caltrops: Reminds you of that Home Alone scene where Marv steps on the ornaments barefoot. Spread them in a location where you are being chased or plan to lure enemies to.
Candle: much more cost efficient than burning torches, use them at night for light indoors and save the torches for the dungeon. You can break them down into wax using a mortar and pestle. (See sealing wax section).
Case: crossbow bolt: If you use a crossbow, having this strapped to your belt is what enables you to shoot 20 times before you need to take a full minute before being able to dig in your pack for more bolts.
Case: Map or scroll: If you want to have the opportunity to use a scroll with your action during combat you can store up to 5 of them in this case strapped to your belt.
Chain: Chain is used similar to rope, but in situations where more durability is required. It is more expensive and a lot heavier, per foot however. Use chain in combination with a lock- you chain and lock a door shut to stop enemies from pursuing you for instance. You can restrain someone with a chain and lock. The chain is exactly what you need for heavy duty pulling operations, such as rigging up a solid gold sarcophagus to your carriage to drag it back to town after dispatching the greater mummy that dwelled there. Wrapping it around your waist to create a diving belt in situations where you need to sink quickly works too. And hey, if you need to get rid of a body at sea, there you go..
Chalk: Use chalk to mark where you have been in the dungeon, especially in more labyrinth like conditions were getting lost is easy. When climbing, always chalk up your hands first so you don’t fall to your death. In fact, any athletics check using the hands could benefit. Better grip.
Chest: This is where you will be storing most of your valuables; coins, gems and the like so that you are not encumbered by those items as you plunder the dungeon searching for more of such things. Make sure to get a lock for it like with the chain. Keep the chest on your carriage or ship in a secure location.
Climber’s kit: Get one of these if you expect to do some heavy duty climbing, otherwise pitons and rope should suffice.
Clothes: Change into costumes when events call for it, and fine clothes when meeting rich and powerful NPCs to avoid negative reactions. Otherwise, traveling clothes are preferred for all the pockets. Common clothes are fine on a budget.
Component pouch: Absolutely necessary to have as a spellcaster, otherwise you can’t access any components.
Crowbar: Use it to force locked door, chests, pry something apart. Only need one player to have one, usually whoever has the best strength score.
Fishing tackle: Allows you to engage in fishing, a good source of food when bodies of water are accessible to take pressure off of your ration supply. Fishing line is useful for other things like tripwires and stringing things together. (Such as the bells to make chimes).
Flask: Always have your personal flask, how else are you suppose to have a drink of something stronger than water?
Grappling hook: Only need one of these on the party’s carriage but it is critical to enabling you to scale a wall or other vertical surface. Can also be used to hook something for towing behind your wagon or boat.
Hammer: Use it to pound things, such as pitons in place during climbing or iron spikes into doors to jam them. It is better to use this that your weapon, which isn’t designed for doing such things.
Hammer, Sledge: Use in conjunction with the crowbar for particularly stubborn doors or chests. Have one player pry with the crowbar, then with the door weakened have another slam it with the sledge hammer.
Healer’s kit: Always have one of these as a fail safe if someone is dying, no one has slots left for healing magic and you don’t want to run the risk of failing a medicine check.
Holy water: Always have some holy water for nasty undead monsters who don’t like to stay dead.
Hourglass: Someone needs one of these for a situation where tracking time is important, otherwise you can’t do such a task accurately.
Hunting trap: Important item to have, only way to catch game unless you are proficient in survival checks, which will take pressure off of your ration supply. You can also use them defensively by setting them up on the perimeter of your camp.
Ink (and pen): Always have a bottle of ink and pen otherwise you can’t write anything. The most common thing you are writing down are sketches of the wilderness features and dungeon layout so you don’t get lost. Also, remember you are not allowed to jot down notes out of game if your character is not doing so in game, so always have ink, and pen, and parchment.
Jug: Keep it next to your keg for serving. Needed in order to fill barrels with liquid efficiently.
Ladder: remember you can also lay it flat to use as a makeshift bridge over a pit.
Lamp: A good general purpose light source to light up your dwelling or campsite at night with a few of these.
Lantern, bullseye: Useful in the dungeon for lighting up an entire corridor. You can’t beat the length of light it can cast.
Lantern, hooded: Has utility in the dungeon because you can snuff the light when you don’t want monsters to notice you, but still need to see what you are doing.
Lock: Put in on your chest to secure your valuables, doors you want locked, and also use it to link two ends of a length of chain that you have wrapped around something (or someone).
Magnifying glass: Only need one of these for, but anytime the DM indicates that something has small fine detail, break it out to have a look. Check letters and maps and other interesting things with it, you never know when you will notice something you would have missed otherwise. When there is sun out, you can use it to focus the light and start fires.
Manacles: Use them to restrain prisoners. When there is a chance the party could get separated, you can manacle their arms together and form a chain.
Mess kit: You need this to eat in sanitation when out of town, which you should do to avoid tempting your DM to roll for diseases after eating.
Mirror, steel: Very important item. Always be peeking around corners in the dungeon with it so you aren’t exposing your face to be spotted by monsters. A good item to attach to the end of your 10 ft pole to have a look in places you couldn’t otherwise. You can combo it with a bullseye lantern to redirect the light cone in a direction of your choosing. A critical defense mechanism against any petrification enemy such as medusa or basilisk.
Oil (Flask): A fuel source for your lamps and lanterns. Other uses include greasing up any metal-on-metal contact points, for instance it is good practice to oil up door hinges in the dungeon before opening them to prevent them from groaning. Also, try filling a glass bottle with oil and making a Molotov cocktail rather than screwing around using alchemist’s fire- it is a much more cost-efficient alternative.
Paper/parchment: Use the paper for writing words and taking notes, the parchment is fine for sketching the country side and mapping out dungeons.
Perfume (or cologne): Use it before meeting with high class NPCs, in conjunction with changing into your fine clothes. When being pursued, you can spray it behind you to mask your scent when being chased by monsters or brigands with dogs.
Pick: Keep a couple of these on the carriage or ship in case a vein of naturally occurring precious metal is found so you can loot that. If the dungeon has stone walls, you can pick axe your way through weak sections in the wall or floor sometimes. Something to keep in mind, just be mindful of the noise.
Piton: For those who don’t know, a piton is a spike with an eyehole intended to secure or guide a rope. When climbing, always be tied off to a piton for safety; hammer in a piton to the cliffside then step on it, hammer a new one to tie off to, then pry out the previous piton with the prying-side of the hammer and scoot it up then step on that one. Rinse and repeat to safely climb a cliff. Whenever you are creating a pully system you will use rope and pitons to guide the thing. Let’s say the party is trying to boost a gold statue out of the dungeon but we need to get it up a 30 ft. ledge- after securing the statue with rope we can hammer pitons into the side of the ledge so the rope has a guide and therefore doesn’t fry and snap as the entire party pulls.
Poison: Quite spendy for what it does, but in a heated fight any little bit can make a difference. You can also pour it into someone’s drink if you are a more, you know, evil sort of party.
Pole (10 foot): A classic and very necessary item. The pole is used for so many things. The pole is always the first thing to touch anything in the dungeon. Prod at the ground in front of you to detect tripwires and pit traps before they get you. Useful things to rope on to the end of the 10-foot pole is a mirror to get looks around corners and up ledges, a grappling hook so you can snag and drag things to you without getting too close. When there is a larger pit obstructing the way that can’t be jumped, pole vault over it. When traversing narrow ledges, have a 10-foot pole in hand held horizontally to act as a balancing beam. Another trick to keep in mind is the pole can be snapped in half for compactness during storage, then repaired by a player with the mending cantrip when needed.
Pot: Use it for cooking or boiling water for sanitation. Do so when near a river to refill your water barrels.
Potion of healing: best time to drink a potion of healing is after a fight, when you expect there to be another one before you have a chance to rest up. Doing so during a fight burns up your action and then you take a hit and it was all for nothing- don’t let that frustrating situation happen to you.
Pouch: You will have spell components here if a caster, but as a martial you can keep other things here to have on hand to use with your action in a fight. You can have your ball bearings here to dump them, or caltrops. You can fill it with sand to throw that in your enemy’s face with an action.
Quiver: Obviously you will need one if you plan to use a bow, it will enable you to take 20 shots before needing to dig in your backpack for more arrows.
Ram, portable: Usually the crowbar and sledge hammer does the trick, but having this for reinforced doors is a good idea. Keep on the cart.
Rations: You will need to consume one of these per day when out in the wilderness or dungeon to avoid an exhaustion level. Stock up, and have some extra in case you get lost.
Robes: Good to throw on in cold weather.
Rope: Where to even begin- rope is probably the single most important item other than food or water. Used for so many things, from climbing to tying things up, to rigging basically anything. Rope is your best friend and its uses are only limited by your creativity. (Or lack thereof).
Upgrade to lighter silk rope when you have the funds.
Sack: This is your primary storage method transporting loot out of the dungeon. Go into the dungeon with enough sacks in your backpack to max out your carry capacity in loot if need be. Can also be used to conceal your identity if you cut holes for eyes and mouth and put it over your head.
Scale: An important tool to verify your loot. Here is how the process works: find a book in game on precious metals and gemstones (gold is 31.1 grams per ounce for instance, the book will give you a reason to argue your character would know this). Put the loot in an incremented vial to see how many ounces of water are displaced, then weight it on the scale to see if everything checks out. If it does, then bingo. If not, must be fool’s gold. Request merchants walk through this process before accepting their coins or gems when selling, in particular if they seem on the seedy side or you haven’t done honest business before.
Sealing wax: Besides the obvious use of stamping letters, use this stuff to create molds, for instance a key. Press the item in the wax, to get an outline of the mold that you can then take to a smith, or use smithing tools if proficient to replicate it. Use it to plug up holes too, for instance if your raft springs a leak.
Shovel: Keep one of these on you. It isn’t a matter of if, but when will you need to dig.
Signal whistle: Every party member should have one of these slung around their neck. Practice a simple set of coded commands that you can whistle to each other, this keeps your identities and intentions concealed from foes. If you get separated beyond shouting distance, the whistle is louder.
Signet ring: The party members should have a signet ring devoted to them or the organization they work for. Your persons and letters will be identified that way. If you need to punch someone, you have a makeshift brass knuckle too. It’s weightless so why not.
Soap: A very important item. Scrub your mess kit and flask down after use in a bucket full of water and yourself when possible. Don’t give your DM a reason to slap you with a disease. When in the dungeon, you can scrub away spots of grime that are so thick they are concealing something you want to inspect. Scrubbing the floor to create a slippery surface that monsters could fall on to give you the jump is another good trick. When squeezing through tight passages, scrub yourself down so that you can slip through more easily.
Spellbook: If you are a wizard clearly you will have one.
Spikes: Iron spikes are a critical piece of adventuring gear. Whenever you need to nail something together, or shut, or pin anything to anywhere, you hammer a spike into it. Clearly the situations where this comes up are endless, so for gosh sakes don’t forget your iron spikes. Spikes can also be used for landmarks in the wilderness to stop you from getting lost- Every mile or so when traveling through uncharted wilderness stop to hammer a brightly painted spike in the ground, and make a clear indication of that on your wilderness sketch map. Now you have a reference point to triangulate to.
Spyglass: Quite expensive, but very useful for scoping out scenes from afar. Get one when you can afford to.
Tent: Make sure to have enough tent space for everyone when traveling through the wilderness. Last thing you want is to have cold and/or wet weather interrupt your rest and cause you to catch a disease.
Tinderbox: Necessary for starting fire, lighting torches and lanterns. Get one.
Torch: The standard source of light in the dungeon. Remember folks: even if you have dark vision, you still generally want a light source, because you will be making perception checks at disadvantage otherwise. If you want to light up a pit, drop a torch down there. You can burn away webs if there are giant spiders. Finally, consider placing more torches in sconces around the dungeon if there are some- that way you can light up a larger area if so desired.
Vial: Vials are small and compact and are designed to be slotted in your belt for quick access. Normally potions will go in these.
Waterskin: You will need to drink one of these each day to avoid an exhaustion level. Refill at the water barrel on your cart.
Whetstone: Have one to keep the party’s weapons and tools sharp.
Bonus, from trade goods section.
Flour: Sprinkle flour on the floor to highlight any inconsistencies- a tripwire, pressure plate or footprint will stick out like a sore thumb. When there is an invisible enemy nearby, throw a cloud of flour in their direction. Hopefully the particulates cling to them and highlight them, or at least you can see where they are stepping.
Salt: Use salt to ruin the potablility of drinking water if you want to do that for whatever reason. Also used to cure meat that you hunt or fish but won’t be eating right away. Store it for later.
Well folks, that’s about it. Hopefully you found something useful in here. Share your thoughts on ways to use adventuring gear. What did I miss, in other words.
A chest is standard gear for the haunted one background so I recently had one at the start of CoS and during Death House we ended up, after some really good rolls, trapping a grick inside the chest to attempt to sacrifice it to the voices. Now we have a running joke in the party of that one time we had a grick-in-a-box https://routerlogin.uno/ .
Easily an S-tier item after that, and I am still carrying it around with me (the chest, not the grick)
A chest is standard gear for the haunted one background so I recently had one at the start of CoS and during Death House we ended up, after some really good rolls, trapping a grick inside the chest to attempt to sacrifice it to the voices. Now we have a running joke in the party of that one time we had a grick-in-a-box.
Easily an S-tier item after that, and I am still carrying it around with me (the chest, not the grick)
Yes, chest is S tier. The barrel is more cost efficient for bulk storage but the security of a chest makes much better for storing valuables. You see, you don’t want to be taking up any of the precious storage space in your backpack’s 30 pounds of storage space with coins and gems that you looted from the previous excursion into the dungeon. You need to offload to a chest. I recommend getting a lock for it and looping a chain through the handle ring and chaining it to something solid, then putting another lock through the gaps of the chain links to secure that.
I'll be honest, while sometimes I've been in parties where we've carried some of the basic adventuring gear, I've never in the last 25 years actually played a game where someone actually carried a ladder, spyglass (barring a few magic items), or scale. It's so rare to actually need them when you're not in a place where you can go buy one, there's been no point in lugging one around and having it take up a line on your character sheet.
Using acid and alchemist's fire used to be common back in 2nd and 3rd Edition back when spellcasters didn't have cantrips (2E) or couldn't spam them for guaranteed acid/fire damage (3E) so you needed something else to guarantee your party's ability to kill trolls at lower levels, but when Fire Bolt, Conjure Bonfire, Green Flame Blade, Primal Savagery, Chill Touch, and Acid Splash are readily available there's not much need for them anymore.
I'll be honest, while sometimes I've been in parties where we've carried some of the basic adventuring gear, I've never in the last 25 years actually played a game where someone actually carried a ladder, spyglass (barring a few magic items), or scale. It's so rare to actually need them when you're not in a place where you can go buy one, there's been no point in lugging one around and having it take up a line on your character sheet.
Using acid and alchemist's fire used to be common back in 2nd and 3rd Edition back when spellcasters didn't have cantrips (2E) or couldn't spam them for guaranteed acid/fire damage (3E) so you needed something else to guarantee your party's ability to kill trolls at lower levels, but when Fire Bolt, Conjure Bonfire, Green Flame Blade, Primal Savagery, Chill Touch, and Acid Splash are readily available there's not much need for them anymore.
Understandable. I'm not going to pretend that isn't how most tables work, in fact I would reckon more than half never even look at this list. Maybe I'm just a bit weird but I'm that guy at the table that would be breaking out a spyglass to get a better look at "a strange light at the end of a longcorridor" in a dungeon or weighing coins and gems on a scale to see if they are legit or not when found using the ounce displacement trick I outlined. As a DM I try to subtly nudge my players in that direction, too. I think it adds immersion to the game, and certainly can be tangibly rewarding. You don't want to waste your time and carry capacity screwing around with a vein of pyrite, for instance.
I'll be honest, while sometimes I've been in parties where we've carried some of the basic adventuring gear, I've never in the last 25 years actually played a game where someone actually carried a ladder, spyglass (barring a few magic items), or scale. It's so rare to actually need them when you're not in a place where you can go buy one, there's been no point in lugging one around and having it take up a line on your character sheet.
Using acid and alchemist's fire used to be common back in 2nd and 3rd Edition back when spellcasters didn't have cantrips (2E) or couldn't spam them for guaranteed acid/fire damage (3E) so you needed something else to guarantee your party's ability to kill trolls at lower levels, but when Fire Bolt, Conjure Bonfire, Green Flame Blade, Primal Savagery, Chill Touch, and Acid Splash are readily available there's not much need for them anymore.
Understandable. I'm not going to pretend that isn't how most tables work, in fact I would reckon more than half never even look at this list. Maybe I'm just a bit weird but I'm that guy at the table that would be breaking out a spyglass to get a better look at "a strange light at the end of a longcorridor" in a dungeon or weighing coins and gems on a scale to see if they are legit or not when found using the ounce displacement trick I outlined. As a DM I try to subtly nudge my players in that direction, too. I think it adds immersion to the game, and certainly can be tangibly rewarding. You don't want to waste your time and carry capacity screwing around with a vein of pyrite, for instance.
boy, this really just hits home how strong that feeling is sometimes that no dm is ever going to run exactly the kind of game you'd want to play in so you just have to dm it yourself.
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If someone is looking for a class that utilizes adventuring gear to the fullest I recommend the artificer. At level 2 you’ll create a bag of holding into which you can place all of these items and plenty of extra rope, chain, books, spikes and pitons, drawing out the one needed for the situation.
When there is a ledge or pit that needs to be traversed or the ceiling of a room reached you will be right there with the ladder, when there is something ominous in the distance you grab the spyglass to have a look, etc. That, coupled with the “right tool for the job” feature will give you the tools and gear to tackle almost any problem. It’s one of my favorite characters and I’m certain that you will enjoy it too.
Hello, today I am going to talk about adventuring gear. The list can be found on chapter 5 of the player’s handbook, under the section dedicated to it. The book tells you what it weighs, costs, and a basic description of what it is, but offers almost zero elaboration on how to put it to good use. Trust me, you need this stuff. It is critical to your success at the table, so stock up on everything that list contains.
Abacus: You need this if you are trying to do any sort of calculation with numbers in game. This is a common occurrence during financial transactions or puzzle solving. As a rule of thumb, if you need a calculator in real life, you need an abacus in game to do the thing you are looking to do.
Acid (vial): Not recommended to be used in combat (not very cost efficient) but good if you need to corrode metal. Pour it on locks or chains or iron bars to corrode them and more easily break them open. Someone with alchemy tool proficiency can manufacture these half off.
Alchemist's Fire: Spendy, but nice to apply a damage over time effect to a dangerous opponent. They can either waste their action for the turn or take the damage. Someone with alchemy tool proficiency can manufacture these half off.
Antitoxin: Spendy but good to have against enemies that rely on poison. Someone with alchemy tool proficiency can manufacture these half off.
Backpack: This is the quintessential adventuring gear item; it allows you to carry 30 lb. of other adventuring gear on your person. Of course you need one.
Ball bearings (bag of 1000): You can use them to trip people, but other uses include testing the levelness of a surface (put a ball bearing on a surface and see if it rolls) this can allow you to dodge rolling boulder traps and find hidden passages. You can jam a lock by pouring a few of them in it. Good targets for the animate objects spell. They can also enable you move heavy objects by pushing or pulling by reducing friction with the floor. Try tossing a ball down a pit or crevasse to listen intently for a faint clink to judge how far- safer than using a rock for this because the noise isn’t as loud and obvious.
Barrel: Don't go on an adventure of any significant length without at least 2 barrels of water. You will need it to refill your waterskin at the end of each day to avoid exhaustion levels stacking on you. Keep the water barrels in your cart or ship. You usually store food and other items you don't want exposed to weather in barrels as well.
Basket: Enables you to carry 40lb of loot out of the dungeon. Sacks are generally preferable due to being lighter, but a strength-based character can take advantage of baskets getting 10lb more loot.
Bedroll: A necessity if you are taking a long rest with no bed nearby. Sleeping on the hard ground is a bad idea.
Bell: Attach bells to the collars of livestock you own. If they go missing you can track them down much easier. Use bells instead of words for simple coded communication so enemies don't know what your plans are. Also, when setting up camp attach bells to strings to create and alarm system. Can be used as chimes to detect wind, in particular in places there shouldn't be wind such as in a dungeon, giving you a clue as to a secret passage or foe such as an air elemental.
Blanket: Necessary if sleeping outside in the cold. Sleeping without one in such conditions is a bad idea. Good way to catch a disease. Keep one as a makeshift tourniquet when needed, if someone is making death saves.
Block and tackle: Allows you to hoist things up out of the dungeon or over obstacles, this could be loot, livestock, other people, chests, you name it. First secure it with a piton to a wall or ceiling above the target lifting zone, then thread your rope through it and tie it off around the object to be lifted. Now everyone gets ready to pull. You can lift a couple thousand pounds this way. Get a large solid gold statue out of the dungeon this way.
Book: Keep any books with pertinent information regarding things you are likely to encounter on your journey on you. For instance, for instance a book on Underdark flora and fauna if you are heading down there. Another universally important book is one on precious metals and gemstones, so you can identify your loot. Asking your DM where the town library is before adventuring off is very important.
Bottle, Glass: Needed for storing liquids (or other things such as messages) of all kinds.
Bucket: Needed to serve your livestock feed or water, or bailing water from a boat, raft or ship. Any situation where you want to splash liquid over a wide area you will want one. Wash your hands and mess kit in one after eating to avoid disease.
Caltrops: Reminds you of that Home Alone scene where Marv steps on the ornaments barefoot. Spread them in a location where you are being chased or plan to lure enemies to.
Candle: much more cost efficient than burning torches, use them at night for light indoors and save the torches for the dungeon. You can break them down into wax using a mortar and pestle. (See sealing wax section).
Case: crossbow bolt: If you use a crossbow, having this strapped to your belt is what enables you to shoot 20 times before you need to take a full minute before being able to dig in your pack for more bolts.
Case: Map or scroll: If you want to have the opportunity to use a scroll with your action during combat you can store up to 5 of them in this case strapped to your belt.
Chain: Chain is used similar to rope, but in situations where more durability is required. It is more expensive and a lot heavier, per foot however. Use chain in combination with a lock- you chain and lock a door shut to stop enemies from pursuing you for instance. You can restrain someone with a chain and lock. The chain is exactly what you need for heavy duty pulling operations, such as rigging up a solid gold sarcophagus to your carriage to drag it back to town after dispatching the greater mummy that dwelled there. Wrapping it around your waist to create a diving belt in situations where you need to sink quickly works too. And hey, if you need to get rid of a body at sea, there you go..
Chalk: Use chalk to mark where you have been in the dungeon, especially in more labyrinth like conditions were getting lost is easy. When climbing, always chalk up your hands first so you don’t fall to your death. In fact, any athletics check using the hands could benefit. Better grip.
Chest: This is where you will be storing most of your valuables; coins, gems and the like so that you are not encumbered by those items as you plunder the dungeon searching for more of such things. Make sure to get a lock for it like with the chain. Keep the chest on your carriage or ship in a secure location.
Climber’s kit: Get one of these if you expect to do some heavy duty climbing, otherwise pitons and rope should suffice.
Clothes: Change into costumes when events call for it, and fine clothes when meeting rich and powerful NPCs to avoid negative reactions. Otherwise, traveling clothes are preferred for all the pockets. Common clothes are fine on a budget.
Component pouch: Absolutely necessary to have as a spellcaster, otherwise you can’t access any components.
Crowbar: Use it to force locked door, chests, pry something apart. Only need one player to have one, usually whoever has the best strength score.
Fishing tackle: Allows you to engage in fishing, a good source of food when bodies of water are accessible to take pressure off of your ration supply. Fishing line is useful for other things like tripwires and stringing things together. (Such as the bells to make chimes).
Flask: Always have your personal flask, how else are you suppose to have a drink of something stronger than water?
Grappling hook: Only need one of these on the party’s carriage but it is critical to enabling you to scale a wall or other vertical surface. Can also be used to hook something for towing behind your wagon or boat.
Hammer: Use it to pound things, such as pitons in place during climbing or iron spikes into doors to jam them. It is better to use this that your weapon, which isn’t designed for doing such things.
Hammer, Sledge: Use in conjunction with the crowbar for particularly stubborn doors or chests. Have one player pry with the crowbar, then with the door weakened have another slam it with the sledge hammer.
Healer’s kit: Always have one of these as a fail safe if someone is dying, no one has slots left for healing magic and you don’t want to run the risk of failing a medicine check.
Holy water: Always have some holy water for nasty undead monsters who don’t like to stay dead.
Hourglass: Someone needs one of these for a situation where tracking time is important, otherwise you can’t do such a task accurately.
Hunting trap: Important item to have, only way to catch game unless you are proficient in survival checks, which will take pressure off of your ration supply. You can also use them defensively by setting them up on the perimeter of your camp.
Ink (and pen): Always have a bottle of ink and pen otherwise you can’t write anything. The most common thing you are writing down are sketches of the wilderness features and dungeon layout so you don’t get lost. Also, remember you are not allowed to jot down notes out of game if your character is not doing so in game, so always have ink, and pen, and parchment.
Jug: Keep it next to your keg for serving. Needed in order to fill barrels with liquid efficiently.
Ladder: remember you can also lay it flat to use as a makeshift bridge over a pit.
Lamp: A good general purpose light source to light up your dwelling or campsite at night with a few of these.
Lantern, bullseye: Useful in the dungeon for lighting up an entire corridor. You can’t beat the length of light it can cast.
Lantern, hooded: Has utility in the dungeon because you can snuff the light when you don’t want monsters to notice you, but still need to see what you are doing.
Lock: Put in on your chest to secure your valuables, doors you want locked, and also use it to link two ends of a length of chain that you have wrapped around something (or someone).
Magnifying glass: Only need one of these for, but anytime the DM indicates that something has small fine detail, break it out to have a look. Check letters and maps and other interesting things with it, you never know when you will notice something you would have missed otherwise. When there is sun out, you can use it to focus the light and start fires.
Manacles: Use them to restrain prisoners. When there is a chance the party could get separated, you can manacle their arms together and form a chain.
Mess kit: You need this to eat in sanitation when out of town, which you should do to avoid tempting your DM to roll for diseases after eating.
Mirror, steel: Very important item. Always be peeking around corners in the dungeon with it so you aren’t exposing your face to be spotted by monsters. A good item to attach to the end of your 10 ft pole to have a look in places you couldn’t otherwise. You can combo it with a bullseye lantern to redirect the light cone in a direction of your choosing. A critical defense mechanism against any petrification enemy such as medusa or basilisk.
Oil (Flask): A fuel source for your lamps and lanterns. Other uses include greasing up any metal-on-metal contact points, for instance it is good practice to oil up door hinges in the dungeon before opening them to prevent them from groaning. Also, try filling a glass bottle with oil and making a Molotov cocktail rather than screwing around using alchemist’s fire- it is a much more cost-efficient alternative.
Paper/parchment: Use the paper for writing words and taking notes, the parchment is fine for sketching the country side and mapping out dungeons.
Perfume (or cologne): Use it before meeting with high class NPCs, in conjunction with changing into your fine clothes. When being pursued, you can spray it behind you to mask your scent when being chased by monsters or brigands with dogs.
Pick: Keep a couple of these on the carriage or ship in case a vein of naturally occurring precious metal is found so you can loot that. If the dungeon has stone walls, you can pick axe your way through weak sections in the wall or floor sometimes. Something to keep in mind, just be mindful of the noise.
Piton: For those who don’t know, a piton is a spike with an eyehole intended to secure or guide a rope. When climbing, always be tied off to a piton for safety; hammer in a piton to the cliffside then step on it, hammer a new one to tie off to, then pry out the previous piton with the prying-side of the hammer and scoot it up then step on that one. Rinse and repeat to safely climb a cliff. Whenever you are creating a pully system you will use rope and pitons to guide the thing. Let’s say the party is trying to boost a gold statue out of the dungeon but we need to get it up a 30 ft. ledge- after securing the statue with rope we can hammer pitons into the side of the ledge so the rope has a guide and therefore doesn’t fry and snap as the entire party pulls.
Poison: Quite spendy for what it does, but in a heated fight any little bit can make a difference. You can also pour it into someone’s drink if you are a more, you know, evil sort of party.
Pole (10 foot): A classic and very necessary item. The pole is used for so many things. The pole is always the first thing to touch anything in the dungeon. Prod at the ground in front of you to detect tripwires and pit traps before they get you. Useful things to rope on to the end of the 10-foot pole is a mirror to get looks around corners and up ledges, a grappling hook so you can snag and drag things to you without getting too close. When there is a larger pit obstructing the way that can’t be jumped, pole vault over it. When traversing narrow ledges, have a 10-foot pole in hand held horizontally to act as a balancing beam. Another trick to keep in mind is the pole can be snapped in half for compactness during storage, then repaired by a player with the mending cantrip when needed.
Pot: Use it for cooking or boiling water for sanitation. Do so when near a river to refill your water barrels.
Potion of healing: best time to drink a potion of healing is after a fight, when you expect there to be another one before you have a chance to rest up. Doing so during a fight burns up your action and then you take a hit and it was all for nothing- don’t let that frustrating situation happen to you.
Pouch: You will have spell components here if a caster, but as a martial you can keep other things here to have on hand to use with your action in a fight. You can have your ball bearings here to dump them, or caltrops. You can fill it with sand to throw that in your enemy’s face with an action.
Quiver: Obviously you will need one if you plan to use a bow, it will enable you to take 20 shots before needing to dig in your backpack for more arrows.
Ram, portable: Usually the crowbar and sledge hammer does the trick, but having this for reinforced doors is a good idea. Keep on the cart.
Rations: You will need to consume one of these per day when out in the wilderness or dungeon to avoid an exhaustion level. Stock up, and have some extra in case you get lost.
Robes: Good to throw on in cold weather.
Rope: Where to even begin- rope is probably the single most important item other than food or water. Used for so many things, from climbing to tying things up, to rigging basically anything. Rope is your best friend and its uses are only limited by your creativity. (Or lack thereof).
Upgrade to lighter silk rope when you have the funds.
Sack: This is your primary storage method transporting loot out of the dungeon. Go into the dungeon with enough sacks in your backpack to max out your carry capacity in loot if need be. Can also be used to conceal your identity if you cut holes for eyes and mouth and put it over your head.
Scale: An important tool to verify your loot. Here is how the process works: find a book in game on precious metals and gemstones (gold is 31.1 grams per ounce for instance, the book will give you a reason to argue your character would know this). Put the loot in an incremented vial to see how many ounces of water are displaced, then weight it on the scale to see if everything checks out. If it does, then bingo. If not, must be fool’s gold. Request merchants walk through this process before accepting their coins or gems when selling, in particular if they seem on the seedy side or you haven’t done honest business before.
Sealing wax: Besides the obvious use of stamping letters, use this stuff to create molds, for instance a key. Press the item in the wax, to get an outline of the mold that you can then take to a smith, or use smithing tools if proficient to replicate it. Use it to plug up holes too, for instance if your raft springs a leak.
Shovel: Keep one of these on you. It isn’t a matter of if, but when will you need to dig.
Signal whistle: Every party member should have one of these slung around their neck. Practice a simple set of coded commands that you can whistle to each other, this keeps your identities and intentions concealed from foes. If you get separated beyond shouting distance, the whistle is louder.
Signet ring: The party members should have a signet ring devoted to them or the organization they work for. Your persons and letters will be identified that way. If you need to punch someone, you have a makeshift brass knuckle too. It’s weightless so why not.
Soap: A very important item. Scrub your mess kit and flask down after use in a bucket full of water and yourself when possible. Don’t give your DM a reason to slap you with a disease. When in the dungeon, you can scrub away spots of grime that are so thick they are concealing something you want to inspect. Scrubbing the floor to create a slippery surface that monsters could fall on to give you the jump is another good trick. When squeezing through tight passages, scrub yourself down so that you can slip through more easily.
Spellbook: If you are a wizard clearly you will have one.
Spikes: Iron spikes are a critical piece of adventuring gear. Whenever you need to nail something together, or shut, or pin anything to anywhere, you hammer a spike into it. Clearly the situations where this comes up are endless, so for gosh sakes don’t forget your iron spikes. Spikes can also be used for landmarks in the wilderness to stop you from getting lost- Every mile or so when traveling through uncharted wilderness stop to hammer a brightly painted spike in the ground, and make a clear indication of that on your wilderness sketch map. Now you have a reference point to triangulate to.
Spyglass: Quite expensive, but very useful for scoping out scenes from afar. Get one when you can afford to.
Tent: Make sure to have enough tent space for everyone when traveling through the wilderness. Last thing you want is to have cold and/or wet weather interrupt your rest and cause you to catch a disease.
Tinderbox: Necessary for starting fire, lighting torches and lanterns. Get one.
Torch: The standard source of light in the dungeon. Remember folks: even if you have dark vision, you still generally want a light source, because you will be making perception checks at disadvantage otherwise. If you want to light up a pit, drop a torch down there. You can burn away webs if there are giant spiders. Finally, consider placing more torches in sconces around the dungeon if there are some- that way you can light up a larger area if so desired.
Vial: Vials are small and compact and are designed to be slotted in your belt for quick access. Normally potions will go in these.
Waterskin: You will need to drink one of these each day to avoid an exhaustion level. Refill at the water barrel on your cart.
Whetstone: Have one to keep the party’s weapons and tools sharp.
Bonus, from trade goods section.
Flour: Sprinkle flour on the floor to highlight any inconsistencies- a tripwire, pressure plate or footprint will stick out like a sore thumb. When there is an invisible enemy nearby, throw a cloud of flour in their direction. Hopefully the particulates cling to them and highlight them, or at least you can see where they are stepping.
Salt: Use salt to ruin the potablility of drinking water if you want to do that for whatever reason. Also used to cure meat that you hunt or fish but won’t be eating right away. Store it for later.
Well folks, that’s about it. Hopefully you found something useful in here. Share your thoughts on ways to use adventuring gear. What did I miss, in other words.
A chest is standard gear for the haunted one background so I recently had one at the start of CoS and during Death House we ended up, after some really good rolls, trapping a grick inside the chest to attempt to sacrifice it to the voices. Now we have a running joke in the party of that one time we had a grick-in-a-box https://routerlogin.uno/ .
Easily an S-tier item after that, and I am still carrying it around with me (the chest, not the grick)
Yes, chest is S tier. The barrel is more cost efficient for bulk storage but the security of a chest makes much better for storing valuables. You see, you don’t want to be taking up any of the precious storage space in your backpack’s 30 pounds of storage space with coins and gems that you looted from the previous excursion into the dungeon. You need to offload to a chest. I recommend getting a lock for it and looping a chain through the handle ring and chaining it to something solid, then putting another lock through the gaps of the chain links to secure that.
I'll be honest, while sometimes I've been in parties where we've carried some of the basic adventuring gear, I've never in the last 25 years actually played a game where someone actually carried a ladder, spyglass (barring a few magic items), or scale. It's so rare to actually need them when you're not in a place where you can go buy one, there's been no point in lugging one around and having it take up a line on your character sheet.
Using acid and alchemist's fire used to be common back in 2nd and 3rd Edition back when spellcasters didn't have cantrips (2E) or couldn't spam them for guaranteed acid/fire damage (3E) so you needed something else to guarantee your party's ability to kill trolls at lower levels, but when Fire Bolt, Conjure Bonfire, Green Flame Blade, Primal Savagery, Chill Touch, and Acid Splash are readily available there's not much need for them anymore.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Understandable. I'm not going to pretend that isn't how most tables work, in fact I would reckon more than half never even look at this list. Maybe I'm just a bit weird but I'm that guy at the table that would be breaking out a spyglass to get a better look at "a strange light at the end of a long corridor" in a dungeon or weighing coins and gems on a scale to see if they are legit or not when found using the ounce displacement trick I outlined. As a DM I try to subtly nudge my players in that direction, too. I think it adds immersion to the game, and certainly can be tangibly rewarding. You don't want to waste your time and carry capacity screwing around with a vein of pyrite, for instance.
boy, this really just hits home how strong that feeling is sometimes that no dm is ever going to run exactly the kind of game you'd want to play in so you just have to dm it yourself.
unhappy at the way in which we lost individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
tell them you don't like features disappeared quietly in the night: provide feedback!
If someone is looking for a class that utilizes adventuring gear to the fullest I recommend the artificer. At level 2 you’ll create a bag of holding into which you can place all of these items and plenty of extra rope, chain, books, spikes and pitons, drawing out the one needed for the situation.
When there is a ledge or pit that needs to be traversed or the ceiling of a room reached you will be right there with the ladder, when there is something ominous in the distance you grab the spyglass to have a look, etc. That, coupled with the “right tool for the job” feature will give you the tools and gear to tackle almost any problem. It’s one of my favorite characters and I’m certain that you will enjoy it too.