When you create a character, you receive equipment based on your class.
Heavy Armor. Heavier armor interferes with the wearer’s ability to move quickly, stealthily, and freely. If the Armor table shows “Str 13” or “Str 15” in the Strength column for an armor type, the armor reduces the wearer’s speed by 10 feet unless the wearer has a Strength score equal to or higher than the listed score.
Stealth. If the Armor table shows “Disadvantage” in the Stealth column, the wearer has disadvantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks.
Shields. A shield is made from wood or metal and is carried in one hand. Wielding a shield increases your Armor Class by 2. You can benefit from only one shield at a time.
The weapons listed in the weapon table show you the statistics of the various weapons in the game.
Weapon Properties. These are always active passive features. The Weapon Properties are detailed blow.
Weapon Abilities. Weapon abilities are special abilities that can be used if you are proficient with the weapon you are wielding. Each ability has the cost to activate it and the amount of uses detailed in the Weapon Abilities table. You can only use one weapon ability per encounter regardless of the amount of weapons you have.
Finesse. When making an attack with a finesse weapon, you use your choice of your Strength or Dexterity modifier for the attack and damage rolls. You must use the same modifier for both rolls.
Heavy. Creatures with less than 10 strength have disadvantage on attack rolls with heavy weapons. A heavy weapon’s size and bulk make it too large for a weak creature to use effectively.
Light. A light weapon is small and easy to handle, making it ideal for use when fighting with two weapons. If you are wielding a weapon with the light property, you may wield another weapon with the light property in your offhand. When you take the attack action and attack with the light weapon in your main hand, you can attack with the light weapon in your offhand as a bonus action
Loading. Because of the time required to load this weapon, you can fire only one piece of ammunition from it when you use an action, bonus action, or reaction to fire it, regardless of the number of attacks you can normally make.
Range. A weapon that can be used to make a ranged attack has a range shown, listed by two numbers. The first is the weapon’s normal range in feet, and the second indicates the weapon’s long range in feet. When attacking a target beyond normal range, you have disadvantage on the attack roll. You can’t attack a target beyond the weapon’s long range.
Reach. This weapon adds a number of feet to your reach when you attack with it, as listed by the number in the table.
Two-Handed. This weapon requires two hands to use, meaning that you do not have any free hands while this weapon is drawn.
Versatile. This weapon can be used with one or two hands. A damage value in parentheses appears with the property—the damage when the weapon is used with two hands to make a melee attack.
Special. Due to the special nature of this weapon, you have disadvantage to hit targets that are within 5 feet of you.
Thrown. If a weapon has the thrown property, you can throw the weapon to make a ranged attack, and you can draw the weapon as part of the attack. You use the same ability modifier for the attack and damage roll of the weapon that you would use for a melee attack with the weapon. The range of the thrown weapon is listed by two numbers. The first is the weapons normal range in feet, and the second indicates the weapon's long range in feet. When attacking a target beyond normal range, you have disadvantage on the attack roll. You can’t attack a target beyond the weapon’s long range.
Firearm. A weapon with the firearm property is loud when you make an attack with it.
Reload. The weapon can be fired a number of times equal to its Reload score before you must spend an action to reload. If you have the extra attack feature, you can replace one of your attacks to reload. You must have one free hand to reload a firearm.
Misfire. Whenever you make an attack roll with a weapon that has a misfire score and the number rolled on the die is equal to or lower than the weapon’s misfire score, the weapon misfires. The attack misses, and the weapon cannot be used again until you spend an action to try and repair it. To repair your firearm, you must make a successful Tinker’s Tools check (DC equal to 8 + the weapon's misfire score). If your check fails, the weapon is broken and must be mended out of combat at a quarter of the cost of the firearm.
Sometimes characters don’t have their weapons and have to attack with whatever is close at hand. An improvised weapon includes any object you can wield in one or two hands, such as broken glass, a table leg, a frying pan, a wagon wheel, or a dead goblin. In many cases, an improvised weapon is similar to an actual weapon and can be treated as such. For example, a table leg is akin to a club. At the DM’s option, a character proficient with a weapon can use a similar object as if it were that weapon and use his or her proficiency bonus. An object that bears no resemblance to a weapon deals 1d4 damage (the DM assigns a damage type appropriate to the object). If a character uses a ranged weapon to make a melee attack, or throws a melee weapon that does not have the thrown property, it also deals 1d4 damage. An improvised thrown weapon has a normal range of 20 feet and a long range of 60 feet.