Non-Plussed - d36 Magical Weapon Properties

Hand Weapons of Mass Destruction/ Victor Naumenko

Most suitable, I think, for the lower level/magic end of the game scale, or for when you don't expect to go beyond a few sessions.

Some things aren't going to work the same (or possibly at all) due to the niceties of various similar systems. Eg. even across AD&D, Chainmail OD&D and LotFP a 4th level Fighter is different.

System agnostic but reeks of D&D.

I've generally got swords in mind here, but why not axes, spear, hammers and bows, too?

1. Roll d6:

1. Won't break through normal use. Creative misuse, specialised technique or a feat of great strength to destroy. Still needs sharpening.
2. A blade that won't bend or blunt. You can shave with it, hack apart doors and vines, run through countless armoured foes, and you'll also have to institute damage & degradation subsystems for other weapons, or it's not really worth a damn. Can still be broken.
3. Invulnerable Monsters are vulnerable to it. But this pre-supposes a setting where immunity to normal weapons is much more special than in vanilla fantasy, or maybe a monster whose Invulnerability is a function of its great size.
4. Raise your Strength to the next adjustment/bonus tier (eg. penalty to no penalty, no penalty to bonus etc) while wielding the weapon. Maximum benefit is superhuman/one tier above human maximum.
5. Raise your Dexterity to the next adjustment/bonus tier (eg. penalty to no penalty, no penalty to bonus etc) while wielding the weapon. Maximum benefit is superhuman/one tier above human maximum.
6. When you wield the weapon, you go berserk until there are no suitable enemies in range to engage (as 1e AD&D Cavalier?). At which point you immediately take any negative effects. Use variations of 3e+ Barbarian Rage, DW Blood Rage, or any other suitable berserking mechanics.

2. Roll d6:

1. Ignore non-magical protective value of leather armour.
2. Ignore non-magical protective value of metal and leather armour.
3. Ignore protective value of all armour.
4. A shield or helmet will only protect against the weapon by being Splintered.
5. When wielding the weapon you roll to hit as a higher level Fighter (suggest 4th or 8th).
6. When wielding the weapon you Cleave as a higher level Fighter (suggest 4th or 8th).

* Unarmoured monsters' high protective value are only bypassed if the weapon is specifically enchanted to harm them, whether randomly or as plot device.

3. Roll d6:

1. Boost the Morale and Loyalty of your allies when wielding the weapon in their presence. 
2. Reduce the Morale and Loyalty of your enemies when wielding the weapon in their presence.
3. A successful hit forces a Morale Check on the victim.
4. A successful kill forces enemies nearby to check Morale.
5. Enemies nearby must take Morale Checks when you draw (to attack) or brandish/flourish (foregoing your attack that round) the weapon.
6. Anyone fighting you makes all rolls with disadvantage/penalty.

* I suggest HD/level limits for who or what is affected; further suggest 1-3 levels, but HD limit might vary to exclude/include various beasts of war (mainly normal fantasy-setting animals).

* Effects could be specific to a particular type associated with the weapon/wielder.

4. Roll d6:

1. All hits cause min. average damage per die.
2. All hits cause max. damage per die.
3. All hits are crits/double damage. You cannot use this weapon to inflict non-lethal/subdual damage. 'Double crits' are spectacular killing blows, enough so that they will shock onlookers - even the weapon's wielder.
4. Any mortal wound is incurable except by extraordinary means. Successful death saves/recovery rolls only means you linger for another day/week, remaining at 0 hp/casualty state. Might feel like cold, might feel like poison; might be accompanied by creeping shadows drawing ever closer, or a little white bird refusing to look you in the eye.
5. Any crit also inflicts a cumulative level of fatigue. This is now the most rested/restored the victim can be unless treated with extraordinary means. Some more powerful opponents get a save and will be alerted to the risk.
6. Any crit immediately reduces enemy to 0 hp/casualty state, regardless of their current hp. Some more powerful opponents get a save and will be alerted to the risk.

5. Roll d6:

1. Weapons wielded against yours much save vs. normal or crushing blow (1e/2e AD&D DMGs) each round or break. If you already have weapon breakage rules in place, this weapon is more likely to do it. Not necessarily resistant to breakage itself.
2. As above, but also affects armour and shields. 
3. The weapon vibrates/hums/screams/chimes/bursts into ethereal flames/twists in your hand when enemies (or treasure or secret doors) are within range. This is sometimes helpful.
4. A dazzling (blinding?) flash when drawn in dungeon darkness, gloomy wilderness or the fog of war. As well as illumination and dazzling, this could also extend the range of Morale/Loyalty effects.
5. The weapon is always at hand when needed. This is more subtle (and also maybe more unnerving) than it just teleporting to your hand. You can still be disarmed and have to pick it up. It can be taken from you and held hostage
6. As long as it's within range, the weapon comes when called (command word, concentration, whistling etc). It travels at least as fast as a thrown missile. You could conceivably fumble the catch, but have it jump into your hand on the next round.

6. Roll d6:

1. Make your attack/combat rolls with advantage. Negated vs. an equally or more powerful magic weapon.
2. Your opponent makes their defence/combat rolls at disadvantage. Negated vs. an equally or more powerful magic weapon.
3. When using the weapon against a more powerful (higher HD/level) opponent, you attack and defend at their ability, rather than your own. 
4. The Fighter is the traditional enemy of the Magic-User (and the Evil High Priest) and this weapon is the exemplar. You make all your saves vs. their magic with advantage/bonus - on a critical success, you are immune to their spells for the rest of this encounter. You must be holding the weapon.
5. When using the weapon against a more powerful (higher HD/level) opponent, they attack and defend at your ability, rather than their own.
6. Every hit connects, regardless of target's armour, agility, damage resistance etc. Roll to hit, but only for crits and fumbles. Crits as normal, but a fail takes you straight to 0 hp/ Casualty state as the weapon turns against you. If you survive, you can never wield it again. You can make max. 1 attack per round with this weapon, but can dual-wield if appropriate.

Further Thoughts.

Multiple properties for individual weapons. Of course. Why not? You can see that some abilities above are geared towards the mass combat and even social/downtime portions of the game, and don't have much application in dungeon-bashing.

Magical weapons are intelligent and controlling. No independent personality or speech (unless they're a spirit or demon bound to the object) - they're just addictive objects that get you into all sorts of scrapes.

And you can also use their stats to decide which magic weapon is strongest when their effects clash with/contradict each other.

Magical weapons are unique. I think I might have said this somewhere before, but each magic weapon is the only one of its kind - if you find a +1 shortsword, then that's the only one that exists in the game. 

This is not entirely compatible with the d66 presented above, but I'm calling them alternatives and options, not another canon.

Except when they're not. The shared characteristics of (say) Dark Elf knives and Wood Elf bows is down to the materials and traditional skills of the users. But you can't just pick them up and expect the same bonuses.

You can/can't craft your own. Following on from the third point above, you can't make a second +1 shortsword if one already exists in the game - you certainly can't churn them out in your downtime. You could make a shortsword of venom instead, or a frost brand, and so on. 

Magic arrows (and other ammunition) are something of an exception, but - unless it's just a single special arrow of slaying - any set of arrows will include a cursed one that you won't know about until you nock it. As is tradition.

The scarcity of magic weapons and the desire/need for them in the fiction means that making them should be part of the adventure anyway; every weapon is, at some stage, Sacnoth.

That weapon? It's not yours to keep. You need to be a particular type of epic hero to get a magic weapon for keeps. Even then, it will inevitably betray you and lie in your tomb for countless centuries until a new epic hero stumbles upon it, to continue the cycle and keep everyone's fate suitably tragic.

Magic weapons have an unfortunate tendency to switch owners when a more suitable (or less wilful) one happens along, as well as being objects of desire.

More powerful entities than you will take custody of weapons so that you don't try and raise yourself into the place of the Dark Lord you just vanquished.

Plus, sometimes you just want to put the weapon down so the killing will stop.

d66/d36 Introductions for Replacement Adventurers

Guess what? You went on an adventure and you got killed. Hand in your character sheet and shed a tear.

But you don't have to stop playing. 

Either get yourself raised from the dead, or roll 2d6/d66 to see how a new character can be introduced mid-session, seamlessly or with a great thump of deus ex machina. 

There's no particular reason why the surviving adventurers would hand over their late comrade's equipment for you to use, so maybe roll on some other tables to kit yourself out.

This leans into the old school dungeon adventure type of game, but is system agnostic and should easily adapt to other settings and systems. These are narrative prompts to get you going when you don't have the luxury or will to research, hone and carefully edit a 30-page backstory.

1. Roll d6:
1. Solo Adventurer. A Solo Adventurer (sword, leather armour, backpack, rations, 1 potion, 3 random not necessarily useful/not necessarily useless items) approaches the party after the fatality.
2. Survivor. The party stumble on the aftermath of what looks like mutually assured destruction, but someone was knocked out and hidden under the blood and bodies. You're in need of some healing, but otherwise functional.
3. Bounty Hunter. Roll d3: 1. Hunting one of the party members, 2. Hunting the dead character, 3. Hunting an NPC in the dungeon.
4. Assassin. Roll d3: 1. Contracted to kill a party member, 2. Contracted to kill the dead character, 3. Contracted by an NPC in the dungeon (odds/evens, on their way to/from receiving orders/collection payment)
5. Messenger. Roll d3: 1. Delivering a message to the party, 2. Delivering a message to an NPC in the dungeon, 3. Bringing a ransom for a prisoner in the dungeon.
6. Spider Victim. Caught in a web or wrapped up in silk. Spider(s) present, 1 on d6.; Spider(s) nearby on a 2.
2. Roll d6:
1. Ghoul Victim. You're paralysed, but it will wear off in a few rounds. The Ghouls themselves have been driven off or are waiting in ambush (odds/evens).
2. Swallowed Whole. You're either in the next appropriate monster (vomited up, shat out or cut from belly during the battle) or the beast is already dead and you struggle free as the party arrive.
3. Prisoner. Locked or tied up in the nearest appropriate location. If a rogue-type, you may already have escaped.
4. Sacrifice. If you're not being dragged to the altar/ edge of the pit, you're either a prisoner or being prepared (odds/evens, you're drugged, hypnotised or otherwise subdued).
5. Black Ichor Addict. A twitchy, hollow-eyed, compulsive dungeoneer.
6. Amnesiac. Not necessarily equipped to have made it this far. Baffled, but you know your name and adventurer type. 
3. Roll d6:
1. Sleeping Beauty. Roll d3: 1. A sleep spell is expiring, 2. Can be woken with a kiss, 3. Naked and looted, your last memory is setting off a gas trap at a dead-end.
2. Friendly Doppelganger. "Their life's work was not done - I shall take their form and make sure this death is not for nothing."
3. Unfriendly Doppelganger. "No, I wasn't really dead - you just left me behind."
4. You were the Doppelganger. "Thank goodness, my evil twin has been slain and I can take my life back."
5. Activated Clone. You arrive on the scene with a convenient gap in your memory and a debt of 24,000 standard wealth units + 100 per Ability Score point (or adjust to reflect cloning procedures in your campaign/setting), but you're otherwise the same character.
6. Vengeful Revenant. Doesn't have to be the dead character. Dies a true death when avenged.
4. Roll d6:
1. Stone-to-Flesh. You transform as the party happen by. You may be from the distant past if you were petrified by magic or monster. If you were originally a statue, you will either be like the sculptor's subject (which might be a famous historical figure, allegory or deity) or an amnesiac. Or you could be a Living Statue.
2. Lovecraftian Resurrection. Someone said the right words and you have risen from your essential saltes. You are vulnerable to effects which can reverse this and blast you back to dust.
3. Mercenary/ Hireling. You were part of another adventuring party, but they couldn't pay/cheated you out of your share. It's possible you are just lost.
4. Treasure Hunter. You know the whereabouts in the dungeon of a significant hoard or object, and see the wisdom in teaming up.
5. Pilgrim. You are visiting the sacred sites. It's possible you are lost.
6. Sent by Fate. A righteous quest, the needs of cosmic balance or a karmic debt have driven you to seek out the party and fight alongside them.
5. Roll d6:
1. Vampire Victim. You are free of the Vampire's clutches now. Or are you? Obviously.
2. On the Run/ In Hiding
3. Berserker. When the red-mist cleared, here you were.
4. Summoned Monster. Plucked out of time and space by a spell, you completed your task and find yourself stuck here rather than back there.
5. Trapped by Lava. You seem to have got yourself stuck on the wrong side of the lava and would be ever so grateful for some help.
6. Trapped by Monster. "Such good luck that you turned up when you did - LOOK OUT!"
6. Roll d6:
1. Binding Circle. You were trying to keep something out or something was trying to keep you in. In any case, someone else needs to break the circle to set you free.
2. Forlorn Encystment. Your sentence is over and the enchantment wears off - you are unceremoniously expelled from the earth, and you don't remember a dungeon being here. Your sorcerous incarcerator could be long dead by now.
3. Monster Hunter. You're after a specific monster (or type of monster) found in the dungeon. You know its habits and weaknesses, but it turned out to be more than you can manage on your own.
4. Sorcerer's Apprentice. Someone has to collect the rare, raw leavings of the dungeon denizens so some tower-wizard can do their experiments. You're that someone, you're not necessarily magically gifted or even interested.
5. Outcast. You have been rejected, hounded out of the mainstream, and you walk the liminal spaces of the world, seeking solitude or rare companionship.
6. Doom Seeker. You can be found in the dark and dangerous places seeking the deadliest monsters and/or the most destructive artefacts - you fully intend to die trying.

d66/d36 Monsters of the Dry Red & Ochre Hills

1. Roll d6:
1. Horntoads: Somewhere between toad and lizard; very patient; more than can be fed will gather to take you down, then sort it out between whoever’s left.
2. Sailbacks: Dimetrodons, but about the size of dog (seem bigger, due to sail, tail and thickset). Strong jaws, slow-witted. Not very aggressive. Scavengers that can crunch up bone.
3. Venomous Flying Frogs: Some Scientician will tell you that they’re toads, actually; glide on flaps of skin along their sides; everything about them exudes a paralytic venom. Favourite food is Sand Dwellers.
4. Wretched Mi-Go: Something has ripped away their head-part and their intelligence. They cluster together without reason, bumbling about, setting up a hummadruz at movement within 10', light 30'. If you have means of interface, you can have them guide you to buried treasure and rare mineral deposits.
5. Strangling Vines: Tumbles of dry looking creepers that snare passing prey; stronger and not as flammable as you’d think. Bulbous root wedged in a dark crevice, vines can regrow as long as this survives.
6. Owl Bards: Look like child-sized burrowing owls (reskinned B/X halflings); can only fly in short hops; intelligent, can talk, like to pilfer; oral, poetic culture.
2. Roll d6:
1. The Owlbear (1): Reminiscent of a giant lion, but definitely an Owlbear; prodigious excavator and burrower; considers itself the apex predator.
2. Constellation Mimics: Bioluminescent chameleonic gelatinous levitating vampires (drain cranial and spinal fluids, too); pretend to be patches of sky at night; envelop then extrude hollow fangs; rapidly liquefy on death; vulnerable to fire and sunlight. You decide if they’re blob monsters, humanoids or a type of undead.
3. Grotesque Flying Heads: Out-and-about at night; quite chatty and gossipy when they don’t think anyone’s watching; they’ve got a shelf of their own in a cave/tomb somewhere, or on the mantlepiece of an abandoned cottage.
4. Hungry Dead: They won’t try to eat you until they’ve bought, begged or stolen all of your supplies; might trail you for days, but won’t leave the hills; they don’t look that dead by daylight, but become more obviously so as the sun sets.
5. Sand Dwellers: Enigmatic Mythos entities. Cave, rather than sand, dwellers (a misnomer); surprisingly pink and fleshy, because they have plenty of water in their lair. Will sacrifice you to the Hillbeast at certain times of the year, but otherwise not automatically hostile. Play mournful, discordant pipes.
6. Hillbeast (1): Terrifying, writhing, gargantuan lump of hairy flesh; usually confined to a cavern temple, but goes wandering on certain nights of the year; Sand Dwellers worship or otherwise attend it.
3. Roll d6:
1. Hunting Cacti: Vibration sense; move by jumping and tumbling; drain blood with hollow spines; will retreat if you can break enough spines; vulnerable core protected by thick, tough flesh.
2. Goblins: Brimmed hats, vizards and dark red robes to go out in the sun; share cave lairs with Spider and Fungoid allies; stake a claim on all Miniature Goats and Sheep.
3. Spider Elves: Naked, halfling-sized, with bestial (the rare and common fauna of the Dry Red Hills) caricatures of human features. Cut things with tiny triangular pieces of flint or obsidian, but as fond of general mischief as fatal exsanguination. Can turn their feet backwards or to leave animal tracks.
4. Grey Hags (1-3): Three squabbling immortal carnivorous sisters. Share an enchanted tooth, tongue and eye (symbolic or real). When they’re not scheming against each other, they’re making trouble recreationally. If you’re looking for a particular object, place or spell, they’ll be ones who know what, where and how. The price is always horrible.
5. Sphinx Elves: Tawny, with black eyes and yellow hair, but otherwise much like their mountain cousins.
6. Stone Scorpions: Smaller, redder and much less strong than their mountain cousins, but more aggressive, numerous and venomous.
4. Roll d6:
1. Flock of Sheep: Odds/evens, these are a double-sized flock of Miniature Sheep.
2. Herd of Goats: Odds/evens, these are a double-sized flock of Miniature Goats.
3. Monotaur (1): Massive, single-horned bull; dainty hooves, surprisingly agile; intelligent, but aggressive; stamp, trample, gore. Pick one other monster to be its local rival, or another Monotaur.
4. Jackalhydra (1): Pony-sized jackal with exploding d3 heads on branching telescopic necks. Cut off a head and two grow back (max. 18). Gaze attack causes sleep. Intelligent and can talk – using the languages and voices of those it devours.
5. Fink Harpies: Scrawny, long-legged, winged cats. So filthy and disease-ridden that their attacks are effectively venomous. Strong smell and repulsive habits. Scavengers, but will prey on the lost and the weak. Can sense and are utterly afraid of all types of undead.
6. Sun Loungers: Lazy, glittering things that stretch out on hot rocks to soak up the rays. At a distance, when they’re not conscious of your presence, you can’t tell if they’re a predatory iguana or a beautiful potential lover. Lure predators using adaptive telepathic feedback. Can blaze images onto your retina so you think you’re under attack from all sides.
5. Roll d6:
1. Pool Goblins: Tied to shrinking seasonal pools, these larval Fossergrims are unlikely to mature. Will attempt to stow away in your backpacks and water bags in hope of reaching a more suitable pool.
2. Urn Mummies: Dry, crumbly and stick-like, their gracious tombs long despoiled, these itinerant mummies carry their burial urns with them and use them as a vampire does a coffin-and-native-earth. Battered by the years and the elements, they have a cynical sense of humour and a desire to recount their great pre-mortem accomplishments.
3. Dwarves/Trolls: Reskinned B/X Halflings with Stone Giant Strength. The main difference between the two types is that Trolls are nocturnal, and have tougher skin and bones (Stone Giant AC). Brightly and noisily dressed, so stealth ability is paramortal glamour.
4. Cave Toads: Stone coloured, inside and out, but with iridescent, jewel-like eyes. Mama Toad's yawning maw is indistinguishable from a cave mouth; Mama Toad's hypnotic young sit on her tongue and exude an acid-resistant slime.
5. Tomb Raiders: Adventurers looking for plunder. Unfriendly and don't like competition.
6. Sere Ghouls: Jackal-fanged, with limbs like jerky, head and body wound about with dusty red cloth. Venomous spiked finger-sleeves and bronze sickle-swords. Lair on the cool, shady banks of secluded, welcoming pools. Cough blinding dust into your face to escape. 
6. Roll d6:
1. Old One Eye (1): A colossal, towering cloud on the horizon, resembling a bearded old man with hat, cloak, staff and vast, trailing beard. A break in the clouds is his missing eye. Sporadically benevolent, he can interact with creatures on your scale across many miles.
2. Griffins: Cat-sized, feathered dinosaurs with outsize gutting claws - fore and hind. Can glide and make fluttering jumps. Known as agile scavengers. Not widely known as highly successful ambush predators, which is unfortunate for you.
3. Carnivorous Horses: These sturdy-looking wild ponies seem attractively playful and guileless.
4. Monster Hunters: Adventurers looking for trophies. Friendly but insist on competition.
5. Dust Drake (1): Somewhere on the Venn of crocodile, hippopotamus and jackal, this brutish thing can direct a sonic lance causing rock and earth to crack and crumble. It can vibrate its scales to create a choking, blinding dust cloud (save vs. disease from shed scales and parasites). Enjoys a good wallow, preferring mud to clear water. Makes noises like a whale on starry nights, supposedly calling for a mate.
6. Skeleton Army: 2d6 x 12 Skeletons, blackened by the years of sun and dust, and arranged in orderly units, armed with scimitars and shields. They will wait patiently for the Triumph of Death, but -if disturbed- animate one at a time, one per round, as long as one is still animate, going from slow and jerky to swift and deadly in 3 rounds. Until animated, they are unaffected by Turning.

"We Belong Dead" - d66/d36 Consequences of Resurrection.

Ruddy heck - it's Lazarus!
William Blake.

Isn't resurrection meant to be a miracle? Otherwise, it's Hellraiser and Pet Sematary.

If you think raise dead and the like cheapens things, here's 36 prices to pay (and that's not including Death Itself wanting you back where you belong).

System agnostic, but clearly D&D adjacent.

Roll d6.

1.  Roll d6:
1. You are undead - immune to poison, sleep, charm and hold; you can be Turned/ Destroyed and/or Rebuked/ Commanded.
2. Daylight discomforts you: -1 to Hit, Morale and detection (as appropriate).
3. Affected by protection from, dispel and detect evil.
4. Affected by protection from, dispel and detect magic.
5. You are an evil were-creature, appropriate to your culture and beliefs.
6. You have the minimum possible hit points for your level, class and Constitution.
2. Roll d6:
1. You do not heal naturally, nor respond to non-magical healing methods.
2. You cannot be healed with magic.
3. If you sleep in a camp or house with beings of 3hp or less, they must make a save vs. death or be at 0 hp when the morning comes.
4. You do not need to eat human flesh to survive, you just really want to (save to resist - paralysis or Wisdom); your bite carries the traditional zombie venom and those bitten will rise from the dead as flesh-eating, infection-spreading zombies. You are not a zombie.
5. You do not need to drink human blood to survive, you just really want to (save to resist - paralysis or Wisdom); your bite carries the traditional vampire taint and those bitten will rise from the grave as blood-sucking fiends. You are not a vampire.
6. If you die again, you rise as an appropriately powerful undead.
3. Roll d6:
1. You are invisible, silent and non-corporeal in daylight; you cannot affect the material world in any way.
2. Your touch spoils normal food and water (including iron rations), holy water and magic potions. I guess you'll have to find alternative sources of nourishment.
3. You cast no reflection or shadow; you cannot be photographed (distorted blur) or recorded (barely discernible scratching sound).
4. Uncontrollable fits of rage at the sound of laughter.
5. If you suffer a crit, you lose 1 hp per round thereafter until death or magically healed.
6. While you sleep, your body or your spirit goes abroad as an appropriately powerful undead. You have no control over or recollection of this.
4. Roll d6:
1. Your eyes hold the reflection of your glimpse of the ultimate hereafter, too big and terrible to explain or imagine. All mortals that meet your gaze must save or be afflicted with hopelessness, being consumed with sorrow and sympathy so they can do nothing but weep, contemplate, commiserate and mourn for 2d6 rounds. 
2. Your Charisma is permanently reduced to 3.
3. Normal animals fear you and instinctively shy away - you will have to get used to walking.
4. Elves, Druids and Clerics recognise you for what you are.
5. You are in constant pain: -4 to all rolls. Drugs, spells and mysterious alternative therapies may alleviate this temporarily.
6. Your Strength, Dexterity and Constitution are all permanently reduced to 3.
5. Roll d6:
1. If you suffer a crit from an edged weapon, a random extremity is severed. 
2. You are subject to summoning spells and the like, as if you are an undead or extra-planar monster.
3. If struck by an Energy Draining attack, you are temporarily transformed into an appropriately powerful Energy Draining undead under the GM's control. Duration 2d6 rounds, or save each round to recover yourself. 
4. Uncontrollable fits of laughter in the presence of suffering.
5. You are troubled by shadows and whispers, swamped in a miasma of creeping grue - you will always be Surprised.
6. Shadows, whispers and a sudden chill presage your coming - you can never win Surprise.
6. Roll d6:
1. If you suffer a crit from a piercing weapon, it pierces your heart and holds you helpless and immobile (as a vampire by a stake). It can still kill you if the damage rolled was enough; otherwise it's just a horrifying wound that defies explanation.
2. No Hostile undead will attack you (your companions and innocent bystanders are not so protected), but they will follow/track you as long and as well as they are able.
3. You are bound to the place you were raised from the dead - if you go further than 1 mile distant, you are reduced to the state of a basic zombie until returned or destroyed.
4. Ghouls can smell you from way off and will come to investigate (always at night). They are not automatically Hostile.
5. Demons can always detect/recognise you, whatever precautions you take.
6. Whenever you harm a living thing, you immediately suffer the same damage/effect.

Three d66/d18 Starting Equipment Tables

I like an equipment list - they can often tell you something about the setting, maybe author intentions/ obsessions, too.

For instance, I like how Tunnels & Trolls (5e, UK Corgi Edition) has Warm dry clothing & pack (5 gp) at the top of the list, implying that a) you start out naked (not disabused of this notion by the Josh Kirby illustrations) and b) that you're going to end up cold, wet, naked and separated from your goods with some frequency.

Here's a d66/d18 table of kits for new adventurers, suggested by this Prior Experience table, so you can roll or just take the equivalent result.

d66	Result
11,12	Good boots; sword; dagger; leather jack; change of clothes; rations; wineskin.
13,14	Change of clothes; good boots; dagger; poison; medicinal herbs; light crossbow; dark lantern.
15,16	Mail shirt; soldier’s coat; medicinal herbs; two-handed weapon; dagger; hand axe; heavy crossbow; trapper’s tools.
21,22	Soldier’s coat; helmet; sword; mancatcher or spear; cudgel; dagger; letter of authority/ discharge papers.
23,24	Leather jack; good boots; wineskin; rations; medicinal herbs; cudgel.
25,26	Wineskin (empty)/ drug paraphernalia; just one last hit/ drink; roll again and take one item from result (choose or randomise).
31,32	Coil of rope; hammer and pitons; bullseye lantern; flask of oil; squeezing grease; healing draught; chalk (sticks & powdered); charcoal and parchment; flask of brandy.
33,34	Fancy clothes; change of clothes; dagger; cards/ dice; fake letter of credit; fake letter of introduction.
35,36	Pick & shovel; pry bar; dark lantern; hammer & wedges; coil of rope; leather jack.
41,42	Healing salve x 3; healing draught x 3; bandages; herball (book); wineskin; flask of brandy; basic surgical tools.
43,44	Soldier’s coat; whip; sword; pistol; medicinal herbs; map; notebook & pencils; torches x 3.
45,46	Fine clothes; change of clothes; letters of introduction; dagger; sword; letters of credit.
51,52	Mask; bell; concealing robes; begging bowl.
53,54	Leather jack; sword; dagger; rations; wineskin; pistol; concealing robes.
55,56	Medicinal herbs; drug paraphernalia; flask of brandy; holy symbol; dark lantern; thieves’ tools; notebook & pencils.
61,62	Holy symbol; ceremonial vestments; holy book/ pocket liturgy.
63,64	Change of clothes; livery of noble house; dagger; shaving/ beauty kit; letter of introduction.
65,66	Dagger; cudgel; thieves’ tools; leather jack.

Even without specialist gear, every new adventurer should probably get to start out with: staff/ cudgel, knife, tinderbox/ fire-starter, travelling clothes, rain cape, backpack, belt pouch/ wallet/ purse, a few coins*.

*J.H.Brennan's paperback rpg Monster Horrorshow had a rule that what you sat down at the table with was translated into the game. So, any change becomes copper, silver or gold pieces (regardless of value).

Brennan said paper money became bits of paper, but why not make them promissory notes or debts you can call in? Go further - bank and credit cards become debts the character owes. If you don't want to share balances and limits, just say 500 for a bank card and d3x1000 for a credit card.

It works better when the players don't know this. 

I used the following table (new adventurers get d3 rolls) to equip pre-gens for the first game I ran in 20+ years. 

These are meant to have directly applicable adventuring uses. If a player needs/wants it, animals get plot armour vs. death but the player can't mechanically take advantage of that, which also means they don't take part in combat except abstracted as part of the PC's actions and rolls.

d66	Result
11,12	Alpenstock: see Weapons table below. You don't think of it as anything other than a mountaineering tool.
13,14	Lock picking tools: you could persuade people they’re just for tinkering.
15,16	Trained Bird: comes with cage & drape or gauntlet & hood, depending on whether it’s a hunting or singing bird; you need to feed it.
21,22	Hound: well-trained, obedient, with a spiked collar, but not devoted to you; comes with leash, harness and muzzle; you need to feed it.
23,24	Leather Jack & Helmet: in case of ruffians.
25,26	Decoctions of Medicinal Herbs: you know what you’ve got and what it does (3 types).
31,32	Mule with Panniers: it’s on its last legs, but should make it there and back again; you need to feed it.
33,34	Dice, Cards, Board & Pieces: games of chance and strategy, rigged or otherwise. Could include a full, incomplete or homemade set of The Game of Dungeon or The Game of Vampire.
35,36	Pick Axe, Shovel & Crowbar: for prospecting, and for breaking into tombs.
41,42	Leech’s Kit: all the cutting, prodding and tying bits for ‘healing’; jar of leeches, too. For the keen amateur and semi-professional.
43,44	Silk rope & grappling hook: 50’, light and strong, plus an improvised weapon.
45,46	Horse and Saddle: great wits wherever you go offer to buy your saddle and take the horse off your hands as a favour; you need to feed it.
51,52	Lantern and Oil: enough for the next adventure.
53,54	Telescope, Sextant, Compass & Signalling Mirror: for some reason, local authorities confiscated your star charts.
55,56	Novelty Vampire Hunter’s Kit: garlic, wolfsbane, bullet mould, wooden stake x 3, piton hammer, small silver mirror, holy symbol, miniature prayer book.
61,62	Training Sword & Buckler: martial practice kit, but you’ve sharpened the blade so it cuts well enough.
63,64	Antique Breastplate & Helmet: just like modern stuff, but old and unfashionable. Might actually be worth something, but has definitely seen action in the past.
65,66	Turnip Watch* & Barometer: also, notebooks and writing kit to take down your observations.

* Because it came up when we played, a Turnip Watch is a big old-fashioned pocket watch not a magical vegetable. I ruled it would be enough to bash someone's head in with, maybe even a Wight if it was silver-plated.

80s UK rpg Dragonroar prices Leather Armour at 10 Crowns, Chainmail 50-150 and Plate Armour 300-6,000! Despite the range, the cost makes no mechanical difference to the armour.

Characters start off with the standard 3d6x10 and loot/rewards tend to be lower than in (say) D&D. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that at least one of the designers didn't like how easy it was to get plated up in other games. 

Which is one way to try and enforce a low armour game.

This table of weapons complements the adventuring gear above, with some opportunity for doubling up. I liked the idea you might be carrying an ancient sword around, but you might not use it - because you've got guns, or bodyguards, or you're not planning on getting into that kind of trouble. 

d66	Result
11,12	Brandistock: stout cudgel from which you can shake out a blade and two prongs; bash, stab, cut or parry & disarm.
13,14	Assassin’s Dagger: treated for a dull, dark, unreflective finish, and easy to conceal in a sleeve, this weapon has a hollow handle for secret messages and packets of poison.
15,16	Short Sword: five fingers wide at the base, perfect for the cut-and-thrust of tunnel fighting.
21,22	Holy Water Sprinkler: you made this deeply intimidating spiked club yourself; there are no doubts as to its function or your intention.
23,24	Antique Sword: old, reliable, has a history; they don’t make them like this anymore - possibly cursed or haunted or belonged to the next significant undead you encounter.
25,26	Swordstick: whether simple or fancy, the main function of this is to conceal the fact you can stab someone through the heart or cut off their ear as you parade around town; parry and misdirect with the stick in your off-hand.
31,32	Bow: you’re a barbarian, a hunter, unusual specialist or an eccentric badass. You've put in your 10,000 hours on this.
33,34	Sickle, hammer, adze, pick axe etc.: your weapon is really just a tool that’s got (or going to get) someone else’s blood on it.
35,36	Ironshod Quarterstaff: you call it a ‘traveller’s friend’.
41,42	Sling: it's not taken seriously, but you've put in your 10,000 hours and it's genuinely frightening what you can do with this.
43,44	Boarding Axe & Dirk/ Tomahawk & Hunting Dagger: a combo favoured by pirates and rangers; hook, hack, throw and eviscerate.
45,46	Fancy Sword: it’s a rapier, but clearly someone paid a lot for it; d6-1 gems decorate the hilt and/or scabbard. Worth at least 10x normal, even without gems.
51,52	Cavalry Sabre: double chance of a crit when mounted, triple if charging.
53,54	Brace of Pistols: use them as cudgels once the smoke clears. Comes with enough stuff for d6 + 2 shots.
55,56	Kris: wavy-bladed and not from round here, this dagger is thought to have special properties - odds/evens, it can hit monsters immune to normal weapons/ 1 on d6 spells cast against you by L/HD 1-3 will fail (you cannot cast any spells or benefit from protective magic devices while you carry the kris).
61,62	Antique Mace: old, reliable, has a history; they don’t make them like this anymore; modern armour was not built with this kind of weapon in mind.
63,64	Alpenstock: ice axe, pick and short spear in one robust walking stick; helps with climbing, cutting handholds and checking for hidden crevasses.
65,66	Notched Heavy Cutting Blade: this axe/ cleaver is an ugly piece of work - it is clearly not for self-defence but for stomach-churning mayhem.

No stats, because most Games of Dungeon will already have them for most of these. As much as being objects for violence, they are meant to suggest something about the character's personality and background.

Because this has all been about equipment in fantasy rpgs, I'm going to round off with an example from 'the largest game-book ever printed' F.A.T.A.L (Fantasy Adventure to Adult Lechery or From Another Time, Another Land - depending on your edition):

Bowl: This is a small, hand-sized reservoir that is most often used to hold beverages or food. Bowls may be made of wood, metal, clay or a variety of materials, though wood is most common.

(p. 410, 1st edition) 

Evidence that F.A.T.A.L. was written by and/or for Mi Go infiltrators?