Two swords with the same name, the same picture and the same place in your bag can still be different swords. That is the tier.
Five rungs, and T1 is the top
Every piece of equipment has a tier from T5 to T1.
- T5 is the ordinary one. Everything you are given when you make a character, and everything a shop sells, is T5.
- T1 is the best. Each rung up makes every figure on the item bigger: more damage on a weapon, more armour on a suit, more of whatever a ring or a belt gives. The numbers run backwards, so read "T1" as "first place".
- It is every kind of equipment: weapons, shields, armour, hats, boots, gloves, belts, necklaces, rings, armlets, bracers and accessories.
Where the better rungs come from
A better tier is something you find, not something you buy.
- The Sunken Warren can pay a Defender, and the Ancient Crypt a Sand Sword, anywhere from T4 to T1. The lower rungs turn up most often, and a T1 is the one people will ask you about.
- Even a crow now and then drops a bow better than it has any right to.
- A tier is decided when the item is made and never changes afterwards, so there is no rerolling a T3 into a T1.
Tiers and upgrades
A tier and a plus are two different things, and they stack. A Charge Dice adds a plus (see upgrading your gear), and a plus is worth exactly as much on a T1 as on a T5. So a T1 at +10 is the item to chase: the best rung, pushed as far as it goes.
How to tell
- On the name, as in "Sand Sword +3 T2". The ordinary tier prints nothing.
- On the item in your bag, as a small label in the corner of its cell.
- Other players cannot see it. They will see your weapon glow if it has a plus of +4 or more, but what tier it is stays your business.
A tier and a plus both survive a trade, the post and the bank, and two items with a different tier never stack together.
Next: shops, for the ordinary gear to start from.