View source for Smoke and Mirrors: Personal Equipment

Personal equipment comes in two types: Legal, and illegal. Furthermore there are two overarching kinds of personal equipment-external equipment, or augmentation.

=External Equipment=

==Legal==
Civilian Pistols (100 units per 1 wealth): Good civilian pistols are cheap and reliable-excellent tools for people who only need minimal self-defense capacity that can be easily concealed. However when I say minimal, I mean minimal.<br>

Civilian Longarms (100 units per 1 wealth): Although not capable of using high-velocity armor piercing ammunition, nor equipping many of the accessories military-grade firearms are, civilian firearms are reasonably useful against weaker enemies like unarmored humans.<br>

Marksman Rifles (10 units per 1 wealth): Highly accurate rifles, these can be used for hunting animals or hunting cultists just fine.<br>

"Elephant Guns" (5 units per 1 wealth): "Elephant Guns" are a broad-ranging category of extremely large-caliber unwieldy weapons. Although difficult to use effectively against eldritch horrors that may shrug off entire magazines of standard rifle fire, they will often be the only legal recourse.<br>

Nonlethal Weapons (20 units per 1 wealth): There are times where you want someone alive, instead of dead. There are times when that person might fight back. These are weapons for those times.<br>

Concealable Body Armor (10 units per 1 wealth): High-grade concealable armor can stop most civilian pistol rounds, edged weapons, and a handful of military AP pistol rounds without being easily visible.<br>

Heavy Body Armor (5 units per 1 wealth): Heavy Body Armor is much more effective at stopping bullets and blades but is not concealable.<br>

Nightvision (5 units per 1 wealth): Nightvision systems make the dark a lot less scary. This just means you have more time to be afraid of what's in it.

Surveillance Equipment (2 units per 1 wealth): Bugs and the like are legal to purchase, if not always legal to use. When the enemy is also hidden, you may want to invest in it.<br>

Paramedic Kit (2 units per 1 wealth): Most agents are going to need patching up, unless they're cybered up to the eyeballs or biotically enhanced. Paramedic kits increase the chances someone will survive long enough to get there.

==Illegal==
NOTE: Illegal weapons may often be marked up depending on your relation with the black market.<br>

Small IEDs (50 units per 1 wealth, single-use): Generally not purchased, Improvised Explosive Devices are buildable with the contents of a decent chemistry lab and electronics store. These IEDs are generally smaller designs, capable of booby-trapping a room or wounding human-sized foes. However, their backyard engineering makes them not nearly as reliable as military-grade explosives.<br>

Large IEDs (5 units per 1 wealth, single-use): Larger IEDs can be used to destroy vehicles if properly emplaced, as well as kill larger, more dangerous foes.<br>

Very Large IEDs (5 wealth per unit, single-use): When subtlety is completely out the window sometimes the only recourse is a truck bomb. Beware, Very Large IEDs are extremely dangerous to one's own secrecy and are likely to bring the wrath of a god (or at least government special operations groups) down on you.<br>

Machine Pistols (50 units per 1 wealth): Machine pistols are military PDWs, using rounds designed more for armor penetration and low recoil than stopping power. Only truly effective against weak foes, their high rate of fire lets you at least pretend to defend yourself against eldritch horrors.<br>

Assault Rifles (25 units per 1 wealth): With advanced electronics integrated, and normally using high-velocity rounds for maximum armor penetration, ARs are the staple infantry weapon, and excellent general-purpose tools for dealing with enemy combatants when subtlety has gone out the window.<br>

Machine Guns (10 units per 1 wealth): Deadly antipersonnel weapons, machine guns are useful for mowing down hordes or pumping larger creatures full of lead. Either way, they are fairly effective weapons against all sorts of foes.<br>
Grenade Launchers (1 unit per 1 wealth): Advanced grenade launchers can fire a variety of payloads against enemies. Useful against groups, armored enemies, buildings, and the occasional vehicle.<br>

Antimateriel Rifles (2 wealth per unit): Antimateriel Rifles are generally advanced sniper rifles firing large-caliber armor piercing munitions. Normally they might be overkill, but sometimes there are eldritch horrors that just don't quit unless you hit them with a 20mm shell.<br>

Anti-Tank Weapons (1 unit per 3 wealth, single-use): Ranging from advanced rocket-propelled grenades to smart missiles, sometimes you really want to throw subtlety out the window. Usable against tanks and things that take as much punishment as tanks, unless you want to face off some horrible demon spawn with just rifles, you might want to invest in a handful.<br>

Enhanced Imaging (1 unit per wealth): Combining IR, light amplification, lidar, and a host of other senses, EI or "Gargoyle" gear provides a soldier with an impressive view of the battlefield.<br>

Adaptive Camo Systems (10 wealth per unit): Expensive, but well worth it, adaptive camo allows an agent to reduce their visibility. Although still visible to close inspection, especially when not hiding behind cover or shadows, it allows them to stay relatively undetected in many situations.<br>

Combat Armor (5 wealth per unit): Combat Armor uses lightweight polymer plates, combined with ballistic fabric and shear-thickening fluid to create armor that is light and very protective, although extremely difficult to acquire and almost always questionably legal at best.<br>

Powered Armor (15 wealth per 1 unit): Highly expensive, power armor only sees use in the militaries of first world countries. Acquiring one on the black market would be extremely difficult to attempt without good connections. However, its combination of mobility, protection, and ability to wield heavy firepower makes it a very desired device for any hunter.

=Augmentations=
Augmentations are fairly common in 2038, although they are not ubiquitous. Originally military in use, civilian cybernetics is still an immature field (save for cosmetic enhancement), with most augmentations dealing more towards making someone better in combat. Augmentations are generally a combination of genetic treatments (to prevent rejection and reduce negative side effects) and hardware.

==Civilian Augs==
Muscle Boosters (2 wealth): A person with muscle boosters is enhanced by grafted synthetic muscle as well as cardiovascular capacity boosters. As cheap strength augmentation, it works well, moderately increasing one's capability in melee combat.

Agility Boosters (5 wealth): A more expensive modification, agility enhancement is a combination of treatments to reduce reaction time, as well as modifications to muscle chemistry. Agility boosters increase one's movement speed and defense.

DNI (5 wealth): A DNI is used for many situations, including interfacing with vehicles and computers. DNI-equipped soldiers make excellent pilots, 

Backup Systems (5 wealth): A backup set of vital organs/systems allows one so implanted to survive more grievous harm than normal.

Sense augmentation (5 wealth): Improved senses increase the ability to see things that are "off". They also provide nightvision which allows you to no longer carry around a set of NVGs, freeing up that item slot for something else.

Cosmetic Mods (2 wealth): Cosmetic mods are normally used to look good, but they also have one important use-hiding other cybernetics. Obviously certain full-conversions cannot be hidden (like the Dragoon).

==Military-Grade Augs==
Wired Reflexes (5 wealth): Adding a second neural net of wiring and implanted computers that take over the body when certain stimuli are met, Wired Reflexes allow a soldier to react extremely quickly to predetermined events.

Myomer Body Augmentation (5 wealth): Myomer artificial muscles are implanted in the user's body, as well as support struts for bone. The end result is a person who is much stronger than normal.

Skul-Gun (5 wealth): You have a gun. In your head. That shoots bullets. You can kill at the speed of thought now, you no longer need to worry about punks that can draw a pistol before you can draw your assault gun. The days of complaining about being a target practice backstop are over!

Dermal Armor (10 wealth): Although extremely expensive the additional protection from dermal armor is well worth it, as it supplements armor. Alone, it is only as protective as concealable body armor but this protection is cumulative with whatever additional armor or warding you have, allowing someone with it to shrug off incredible amounts of punishment.

Talos Full Conversion (20 wealth, maintenance 0.5 wealth/month): The Talos is a full cybernetic body, replacing every organ but the brain and spinal cord. Superior to just building around the flesh (but not superior to esoteric augmentations such as Biotics), the Galatea as it comes is human in size although not necessarily in looks, and masses at a fairly dense 130 or so kilograms. It can be further combined with other augmentations, the most common being cosmetic modifications. Talos bodies are normally used by paramilitary security, as they are far too maintenance-intensive for military special forces teams.

Dragoon Full Conversion (40 wealth, maintenance 1 wealth/month): Full Conversion 'borgs are the deadliest cyborgs of any type, and are exclusively military. The user is literally reduced to little more than a brain in a box, then built into a vehicle. Dragoons are extremely lethal, agile, and deadly, but their size (2.3 meters tall) and mass (2000 kilograms) make them difficult to field. Dragoons can use vehicle-grade weapons and applique armor owing to their powerful limbs, and also have smaller manipulators that allow them to still use personal-scale equipment. The Dragoon prevents the use of other cyberware.

[[Category: Smoke and Mirrors]]