Basic Equipment:

You'll want the same equipment as nearly any other guild to begin with. An important trader skill is appraisal, and you'll start right out using it as you begin gathering equipment. Appraise everything you are wearing (type INVentory to see what you have), and see what it does or what it covers. Appraise your weapons as you acquire them, to see important information about the type, condition, and value. (APPRAISE MY JERKIN for example.) Always appraise anything you find, both for your information, and to help with learning the skill.

Going out to buy equipment can be an adventure in itself. The city DIRectory LIST shows you various shops to which you can get directions.

Type HELP MERCHANT for basic information on how to buy things in a shop. Traders get a little better prices than most adventurers, and you'll learn a tiny bit of trading skill by haggling with the merchant, so don't just accept the first price offered. Try offering 20 or 30 coppers less, and meet the merchant half way.

Be careful that you have enough of the right type coin in your pocket when you are trying to make a purchase! If you don't, and the merchant accepts your offer while you have no coin to back it up, he'll toss you out of the shop. His prices will go up quite a bit when you return to the shop, and will stay high through five or six subsequent purchases. He will also be less inclined to haggle with you after such an experience.

Some shops list details about their merchandise in their catalog, others do not. A few even have examples of their inventory out on display so that you can appraise them. If you need information on a particular item, you can often ask around or find a web site from the main DragonRealms web page that lists such helpful facts.

Armor is a way of life in the Realms. Light chain or leather are a good first choice for a novice trader, but mixing up several styles (for example, light chain body, leather hand coverage, plate helm) has some advantages when it comes to gaining TDPs. Since our guild is not combat oriented and is excluded from learning most forms of magic, every rank extra you can garner helps. Keeping the leather body armor you were given at first arrival is fine, but add other pieces to gain full coverage as soon as you can. You don't have to spend much to do this, check donation racks (there's an armoire up in the Gathering Room of the Crossing guild for example that you can look in) or buy inexpensive things at the local armor shop.

Do use a shield. It's another armor style and is highly helpful in protecting from ranged or magical ranged attacks. You can usually find one on a donation rack, or ask around to see if someone might help you obtain one from the local hunting area. Don't go out there alone! Until you know more about combat and how to survive, you should always have someone more experienced help you when it comes to scavenging the hunting grounds. The goblins west of Crossing drop target shields, and dusk ogres outside Riverhaven drop shields as well.

We aren't specifically required to learn weapons, so it matters little for purposes of guild advancement which one you use. The first thing you should get is a carving knife from the cook in the kitchen at Tenderfoot Inn of Crossing, or Aldamus Guesthouse at Riverhaven. DIR COMBAT TRAINING will take you there. The cook gives you a scuffed-up carving knife. That is just fine to begin with, for tasks such as skinning, carving, or even use as a light edged blade. If you really want to, you can get it repaired at the local forge, but that costs coin and isn't necessary when you are starting out.

In general, it is wise to pick one melee (close up) weapon and one ranged (distance) weapon, such as a medium edge blade and a short bow, for example. Remember that light edge weapons don't have a lot of damage power, so you tend to nick your opponent to death over a long period of time, while heavy edge weapons have higher damage power to kill faster but are slower to wield and more tiring to swing. Short bow is a ranged weapon that is quick to use and does considerable damage to many types of opponents. Ammunition is cheap, too. We do have a fun ability later on in our careers that uses some light thrown skill, so that can be helpful to learn also if you care to invest in a throwing blade. You can find some weapons on donation racks or ask someone to help you scavenge one from a hunting area. Basic weapons at the local weapon shop are usually not too expensive either.

The container you're given on arrival in the realms is adequate but as soon as you can afford it or find something a bit bigger, you will probably want to upgrade. A plain backpack from the local general store is a good all purpose container, and not too expensive. Sometimes, again, you'll find some of these in donation spots.

Guild Specific Equipment:

Ledger - Your ledger is vital. Obtain one by typing GET LEDGER when you are standing by the guild minister (he's in the front lobby in Riverhaven, or in Crossing from Imaar's office go west and down to find him). To read it, OPEN MY LEDGER, then READ MY LEDGER. TURN MY LEDGER TO CHAPTER 1 (for example), then TURN MY LEDGER TO PAGE 1 (for example), and then either READ MY LEDGER to see the information, or STUDY MY LEDGER to learn scholarship, and on the summary page to see your contract and commodities summary totals. The Notes chapter is particularly helpful. You can pretty much find anything you need to know about the activities of our guild by reading your ledger.

Feedbag – This is a nice luxury for the contract trader. You can manage without one, but if you are able to find or have someone buy you one, do so. They're sold in the Crossing Guild shop for about 7 silver kronars, to traders over 5th circle. To use it, put grass or apples in it, then hold it in your right hand and GIVE CARAVAN (or mule, donkey, or whatever pack animal you are using). This will bring your animal to full in one feeding, unlike separate pieces of grass where you keep feeding until the animal seems full.

Contract containers – Just a convenience, we'll go over how these are used in the section on contracts.