Gear in Paradox
Paradox is the latest attempt to create a viable system for Karbon.
Many Agents in the game have Explicit Steps that come from their special gear. Here is how we handle gear in Paradox.
The Whitelist
The Whitelist a laundry list of gear for Agents in Paradox, a roleplaying game about a future which questions many aspects of humanity. This list is grouped by item Class, which is the general type of item. Each item has all its rules for use in the game, and sometimes some fiction about the item itself.
Classes
Here are the classes of gear in karbon. Following a link will give you the data of all Whitelist gear under that class.
Amplifier: Any device that takes human input and amplifies its ability. In general these are instruments for performance, but they can often be used as weaponry and be bent to even more creative uses. Amplifiers usually require training in: Hand-Eye and/or Prowess.
Armor: These items are meant to offer protection to the wearer, but often also give them additional abilities. Armor usually requires training in: Fight and/or Prowess.
Black Nano: Black nano are covert micromachines (nanobots) that coordinate to allow the user to do impressive thing without clearly revealing how. Black Nano usually requires training in: Prowl and/or Hack.
Blank Sig: Everyone has a sig in the modern world, an encrypted id and password that identifies them. Blank sigs have been stolen from the central sig bank, and are valid but unconfigured. A blank sig allows someone to literally be whoever they want, though its hard to make the sig copy a valid real identity. Such theft is the work of super-class-a hackers. Blank Sigs require training in: Hack and/or Guile.
Blue Lace: Blue lace is lace that is focused on the subtle. These lace always enhance the ability of the wearer to hide or shift their nature. Blue Lace generally requires training in: Prowl and/or Guile.
C2 Drone: A set of mobile automated weaponry that takes direction. Some are in the form of people, or animals, or even crawlers (legged tanks). Banned technology after the ten years war, but that doesn't mean your agent can't have access to them - with the proper paperwork. Cr Drones need training in: Fight.
Diamond Steel: This is a kind of enhancement that both disfigures (though perhaps not horribly) and grants awesome power. Its the cybernetics of 2212, a kind of diamond steel composite that is weaved into and on top of bone. Total body replacement is done with Diamond Steel. Regardless, all of these require training in: Prowess.
Green Lace: Green Lace is lace that better connects the wearer to the wire, allowing them to sometime almost fuse themselves with the digital world. Green Lace requires training in: Hack.
Lightwire: This was an amazing breakthrough in Lace, giving it more power at the sake of endurance. LightWire uses itself up and must be regenerated often. LightWire is more powerful than Lace, but costly to maintain. Lightwire can require training in many abilities: Fight, Prowess, Prowl, and Hand-Eye.
Projector: A very rare, high-energy, portable device the size of a briefcase. The projector does what the twister and PSI-9 device can't do: change the world around the user. Using the projector, the controller can create new matter within its operating radius (usually 10 meters or so). This matter is unstable and will collapse into a photon cascade if not maintained by the Projector, but is real all the same until that point. Projectors require training in Guile.
Psi-9 Device: This is a logical marriage of Nano with advanced quantum state scanning and the Rooted Omni. When the PSI-9 Device is used, people in the area's thoughts and feelings become readable to the user. Highly illegal and considered a blatant invasion of privacy. Difficult but not impossible to detect in use. Using a PSI-9 Device requires training in Guile and/or Hack.
Red Lace: This Lace is focused on combat and subtle motion. Red lace is the lace of assassins. It requires training in: Fight and/or Prowl.
Reflection: This an uncommon device that mates with an Omni. It is a huge storage device, normally loaded with the VersalLibrary (a collection of most of the knowledge of humanity) but can also hold other massive amounts of data: the state of 100 kg of matter, the brain of ten common people, or the image of the most advanced AI in existence. Think of it as one impressive hard-drive. Reflection requires training in Hack.
Rifle: The rifle is the weapon of snipers, the support of combatants in Karbon. Rifles require training in Hand-Eye.
Rooted Omni: The omni is the common powerful computing device carried by almost everyone. Its the price of living in such an advanced world. Many root their omni to access restricted features and write their own programs. The rooted omni is a minor illegality (a fine) but the damage it can do is often severe in the wrong hands. The rooted omni requires training in Hack.
Shadowlink: The Uplink is designed for linking to one point, the ShadowLink is meant to scatter data to many local sources that are keyed to its encryption. This is often used by agents to link shadow puppets (drones and the like) to them, letting them control them remotely. Shadowlink tools need training in: Hack and/or Hand-Eye.
Sparkle Nano: Automated, almost intelligent clouds of active Nano which can be coerced into making subtle changes to the people around them. These are very hard to detect and resist, but are also hard to control. Sparkle Nano is often used to change the mood, intent, and even knock-out people without Nano armor. Sparkle Nano requires training in Guile.
Suit: While Armor is a suit specifically meant to offer protection, Suits are enhancers of ability that don't focus on protecting the wearer. Suits require training in: Prowl and/or Prowess.
T1 Drone: The program has developed these so far unknown drones (to the public). They use cloak technology to remain invisible, but have powerful hover and sometimes other features. Originally designed for nearly undetectable surveillance, they have been bent to new purposes by creative agents. An agent can use a net of T1 drones to walk on air for instance, or seem too at any rate. T1 Drones require training in Prowess.
Twister: Employing the twister makes it possible to alter a person's perception of the world around them if they are using an Omni feed (commonplace in the modern world). Literally its a hack into a users omni as it offers them augmented reality. Using a twister is a class 2 personal attack and often warrants arrest if detected. Use of the Twister requires training in: Hack and/or Guile.
Uplink: While your omni can access the wire (internet) as incredible speeds, sometimes that is just not enough. In these cases your need an UpLink, a network transponder that offers 100 to 1000 times that bandwidth. Often, complicated local networks and devices use these same nodes for interfacing. The programmable links require training in Hack.
Vehicle: When you want to get from one place to the other and don't want it logged, you can't buy passage on autofares. This means you need to have your own mode of transport. Vehicles require training in Hand-Eye.
Weapon: Combat means weaponry, and there is plenty of that in advanced form in the markets because of the ten years war. Weapons require training in Fight.
White Lace: White Lace is all about enhancing the reflexes and speed of the user. Agents that use White Lace require training in: Hand-Eye and/or Prowess.
Ability Index
Here are the classes of gear in karbon as linked by their source Ability. Following a link will give you the data of all Whitelist gear under that class.
Fight
Guile
Hack
Hand-Eye
Prowess
Prowl