Gearing up
Your gear is the other half of what you can do. A weapon decides how you fight; armor decides how much you can take; the rope, torches, and tools in your pack decide whether a problem has an easy answer.
Everything you carry has a Bulk — a loose measure of weight and size, where ten light items make 1 Bulk and most odds and ends are negligible until they pile up. You can haul Bulk equal to 5 + your Strength modifier before you're encumbered (clumsy and slowed), and 10 + your Strength modifier is the hard ceiling. So what you carry is a real choice, not just a list.
Money
Coin comes in four metals: copper, silver, gold, and platinum. Ten copper pieces (cp) make a silver (sp), ten silver make a gold (gp), and ten gold make a platinum (pp). Gold is the currency you'll think in — prices, rewards, and treasure are usually counted in gp.
Weapons and armor
A weapon is defined by its damage die and its traits. The die is the obvious part — a dagger's d4, a greatsword's d12 — but the traits are where character lives. Agile softens the multiple-attack penalty. Finesse lets you attack with Dexterity instead of Strength. Reach hits from a step further away. Traits, more than raw damage, decide how a weapon wants to be played.
Armor trades mobility for protection. Heavier armor gives a bigger bonus to AC but caps how much of your Dexterity you can add and can slow you down, while unarmored or light armor leans on being nimble instead. The best armor for you is the one that fits how your character already fights.
Runes
Here's the engine that keeps gear relevant for twenty levels: runes. Rather than hunting for a bigger sword every few levels, you etch runes onto the gear you love.
The fundamental runes are the backbone, and they come online on a schedule. A weapon potency rune raises your attack bonus — +1 around level 2, +2 at 10, +3 at 16. A striking rune adds an extra damage die at level 4, with greater striking (two extra dice) at 12 and major striking (three) at 19 — so a striking greatsword rolls 2d12, not 1d12. On armor, potency lifts your AC on the same +1/+2/+3 cadence and resilient adds +1 to +3 to your saving throws. These are the numbers that keep you on-level as the monsters get tougher, and in the Forge you etch them yourself rather than praying for the right drop.
Property runes add the flavor on top — a flaming rune that adds fire damage on every hit, a rune that bites harder against a certain foe, one that helps you move. Stack a few onto a trusted weapon and it grows into something legendary without ever leaving your hand.
Treasure by level
Behind the scenes, a campaign hands out treasure on a curve — roughly enough gold and gear each level to keep a party equipped for what's coming. You don't have to manage that math as a player; it's the GM's dial. But it's worth knowing the shape of it: your power grows as much from what you find and craft as from leveling up, and the two are meant to rise together.