The data spec for Act 1's loot, and the first release's signature Relic. Written 2026-09-13. Feeds development-plan.md Step 8 (the data-driven itemization system) and Step 19 (the Act 1 content pass). Built on the canon item systems in ../plan-version-1/older-plan/future-game-project/items-and-sets.md, the Law of Relics (../plan-version-1/older-plan/book/10-the-law-of-relics.md), and the relic catalogue (../plan-version-1/older-plan/book/11-relic-entries.md).
Numbers are intent, tuned in-engine (the plan's no-fake-precision rule). What's fixed is the structure: tiers, bases, the affix pool, loot-table shapes, and the Relic. Bracketed values
[…]are starting points to tune against Gate 0/1 feel.
1. How this maps to the data model (dev-plan Step 8)
| Doc concept | ScriptableObject |
|---|---|
| Item base (a spear, a helm) | ItemDefinition — slot, base stats, allowed classes, icon |
| A rollable modifier | AffixDefinition — stat, value range (min–max) per tier, allowed slots, weight |
| A rolled drop | ItemInstance (runtime) — a base + N affixes rolled from their ranges |
| What an enemy drops | LootTable — weighted rarity → base → affixes |
| The Relic | An ItemDefinition flagged Relic with fixed powers (no random affixes) |
Authoring Act 1 = filling in these assets, not writing code. That is the whole payoff of building the system first.
2. Rarity tiers (canon names)
From items-and-sets.md, mapped to affix counts:
| Tier | Canon name | Affixes | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Common | Mortal | 0 | Plain base. "It is good steel or it isn't." |
| Magic | Blessed | 1–2 | "Present at a rite." |
| Rare | Heroic | 3–4, named | "Somebody did something with this." Names a place + date (flavour). |
| Unique | Relic | fixed powers | Closed set; names a person. One in Act 1: the Rarian Sheaf. |
| Set / Ichor-forged | (deferred) | — | No Sets or Ichor-forging in the first release. |
Item colours must be colourblind-safe (shape/label too, not colour alone).
3. Damage types & resistances in Act 1
Act 1 introduces the resistance system gently (from combat-and-stats.md):
- Physical dominates — most gear and most enemies.
- Umbral (underworld cold) is introduced by Polydegmon and the risen dead, so Umbral resist is the first meaningful resist to chase (see the boss doc).
- Divine (radiant) is the player-side answer — extra-effective vs the risen dead, natural for the Oracle. Divine-damage affixes appear in the pool.
- Fire/Lightning/Cold/Poison affixes exist (for build variety and later acts) but are rarer in Act 1 drops.
4. Item bases (Act 1 — bronze-age feel)
Grounded, not gilded: bronze, linen, oxhide, bone (per act-1-story.md). 2–3 bases per slot with rising base stats and level requirements.
Weapons (class-gated by type)
| Class | Type | Bases (low → high) |
|---|---|---|
| Hoplite | Spear (main) | Bronze Spear → Doru → Long Doru |
| Hoplite | Shield (off-hand) | Wooden Aspis → Bronze-Faced Aspis |
| Huntress | Bow | Hunting Bow → Hornbow → Cretan Bow |
| Oracle | Staff/Rod | Olive Rod → Laurel Stave → Priestess's Staff |
| (any) | Dagger (generic side) | Bronze Knife → Sacrificial Blade |
Armour (weight leans by class: Hoplite heavy, Huntress medium, Oracle light)
| Slot | Bases |
|---|---|
| Head | Pilos Cap · Bronze Helm · Hunter's Hood · Priestess's Veil |
| Chest | Linothorax · Bronze Cuirass · Boiled-Leather Jerkin · Temple Robes |
| Hands | Leather Bracers · Bronze Vambraces |
| Feet | Sandals · Bronze Greaves |
| Belt | Woven Girdle · War-Belt |
| Amulet | Bone Charm-cord · Bronze Pendant |
| Ring (×2) | Copper Band · Signet Ring |
| Charm (carried) | small/large charm slots — the Rarian Sheaf goes here |
Heavy armour grants Footing (combat-and-stats). So the Hoplite's bronze slots are also his anchor stat — a positional choice, not just mitigation.
5. The affix pool (Act 1 starter set)
AffixDefinitions. P = tends to prefix (offense/attributes), S = suffix (defense/utility) — a soft convention, not enforced. Tiers T1<T2<T3 gate on item level; Act 1 drops mostly T1–T2, with T3 from Heroic/Divine replays.
| Affix | Stat | Slots | T1 → T3 (intent) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| of Might (S) | +Might | most | [+2 → +12] | attributes still useful though they auto-scale |
| of Finesse (S) | +Finesse | most | [+2 → +12] | crit/ranged classes |
| of Vitality (S) | +Vitality | most | [+2 → +12] | |
| of Spirit (S) | +Spirit | most | [+2 → +12] | Favor pool (Huntress/Oracle) |
| Stalwart (P) | +Max Life (flat) | chest/belt/helm | [+10 → +80] | |
| Vigorous (P) | +Max Life % | chest/amulet | [+3% → +12%] | high-tier |
| Plated (S) | +Armour (flat) | armour | [+8 → +60] | |
| Reinforced (S) | +Armour % | chest/shield | [+5% → +20%] | |
| Sharp (P) | +Physical dmg (flat) | weapon | [+2 → +18] | |
| Cruel (P) | +Physical dmg % | weapon | [+5% → +25%] | |
| Swift (P) | +Attack Speed % | weapon/gloves | [+4% → +12%] | felt affix (skill-trees §feel) |
| Keen (P) | +Crit chance % | weapon/amulet/ring | [+2% → +8%] | Finesse synergy |
| Savage (P) | +Crit damage % | weapon/amulet | [+8% → +30%] | |
| Radiant (P) | +Divine dmg | weapon/amulet | [+2 → +16] | strong vs undead / Polydegmon |
| Shadebound (P) | +Umbral dmg | weapon/amulet | [+2 → +16] | build variety |
| Ember/Storm/Frost/Venom (P) | +Fire/Ltng/Cold/Poison dmg | weapon | [+2 → +14] | rarer in Act 1 |
| of Warding (S) | +Umbral resist % | armour/amulet/ring | [+6% → +30%] | the Act 1 resist to chase |
| of Light (S) | +Divine resist % | armour/amulet | [+6% → +30%] | |
| of the Elements (S) | +single elemental res % | armour/ring | [+6% → +30%] | |
| of the Bulwark (S) | +All resist % | amulet/chest | [+3% → +12%] | high-tier, rare |
| Grounded (S) | +Footing | belt/boots/chest | [+ small → + large] | ties to Footing system |
| Fleet (S) | +Movement speed % | boots | [+8% → +20%] | boots-only |
| Reaping (P) | +Life on Kill | weapon/amulet/charm | [+2 → +14] | harvest theme; pairs with the Sheaf |
| Leeching (S) | +Life Leech % | weapon | [+1% → +5%] | |
| Devout (S) | +Favor regen | caster gear/amulet | [+ small → + large] | Huntress/Oracle |
| of Fortune (S) | +Drachmae/Item find % | helm/ring/charm | [+8% → +30%] | "magic find" |
| Zealous (P) | +1 to a class Tree's skills | amulet/weapon | +1 (T3 only) | rare, build-defining; deferred if scope tight |
Design intent: a handful of affixes are felt (Attack Speed, Crit, +Life, Movement Speed, Umbral Resist) so upgrades change play, not just numbers — the Gate 0 lesson.
6. Loot tables (per enemy tier)
Weighted rarity rolls (LootTable SOs). Weights are intent; tune drop feel to be generous early (dopamine) without flooding.
| Source | Mortal | Blessed | Heroic | Special |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trash (Skeletal Hoplite, Keres, Shade) | high | low | rare | — |
| Elite / pack leader (Dryad Blight lead) | med | high | low-med | tiny Sigil chance |
| Miniboss (Threshold Warden) | — | guaranteed 1 | good chance | small Sigil chance |
| Chests / quest rewards | — | guaranteed | scaling | fixed quest items |
| Boss — Polydegmon | — | several | guaranteed ≥1 Heroic | first-kill bonus item; Rarian Sheaf chance; table weighted toward Umbral-res / Divine-dmg pieces (teaches itemization) |
Difficulty scaling (Mortal → Heroic → Divine): higher tiers raise the rarity weights, unlock higher affix tiers (T2/T3), and increase the Sheaf drop chance (best on Divine). Same tables, scaled parameters — not separate tables.
7. Sigils in Act 1 (a light taste)
Sigils are "found in old places" (Law of Relics). Act 1 seeds just two basic ones so the system is introduced without the full Inscription chase:
- Kleos — "What is said about you after."
- Arete — "Being good at the thing you are for."
The Forgemaster can socket them; full Inscriptions (runewords) are deferred. (One 1-socket base per weapon type should exist so a socketed Sigil is usable in Act 1.)
8. Currency & consumables in Act 1
- Drachmae — the only currency in the first release (vendor/gamble/repair). "Money. It does not mean anything and that is restful." (Obols are Act 5 — not here.)
- Ambrosia (rare full heal) — "A god's ration, issued in a year when there were rations." Rare in Act 1, as intended (the arc is how casual it becomes later).
- Nectar (Favor restore).
- Lethe Water — respec; obtainable, not free. (No God Boons in the first release, so respec only rewrites the skill trees.)
9. THE SIGNATURE RELIC — the Rarian Sheaf
Dedupe check (owed since
act-1-story.md): PASSED, with a rework. No "Rarian Sickle" exists in11-relic-entries.md. But a sickle (a) wouldn't obey the closed-set / names-a-person Relic law and (b) fits none of the three launch classes' weapon types (spear/bow/staff). Reworked into an all-class charm tied to a named person — the Rarian Sheaf. It collides with nothing in the catalogue.
Slot: Charm (carried, not equipped to a gear slot) → usable by all three classes, so everyone chases it. Tier: Relic (fixed powers, no random affixes) — the player's likely first Relic, like the Harpe is designed to be "the safe one." Drops from: Polydegmon (thematically: the stilled intake finally gives back).
Flavour text (ship as written — obeys the item-text law)
The first sheaf cut on the first field, carried at the head of the procession for nine hundred years. Triptolemus is not mentioned in the later records.
(Two sentences; names the person, Triptolemus, as a Relic must; uses the lapsed-rite pattern; never claims power; never mentions the Late-Born.)
The lore (for you, not the player)
Triptolemus was the mortal Demeter taught on the Rarian Plain — the first field ever sown — and sent out to give humanity the grain: the deed the whole world once remembered. The Sheaf is the first fruit of that first harvest, carried at the head of the Eleusinian procession for centuries until the Mysteries lapsed and the man at the front of the story was quietly dropped from the records. Its power is remembrance, nothing else (the Club-of-Heracles principle): it reaps — because his story is the harvest — and it gives life, because grain is sustenance. It went down as an offering through the Ploutonion and is recovered from the thing that took it.
Powers (fixed — the harvest, remembered whole)
- The Reaping: bonus damage vs enemies below [35%] health — they "cut like grain." (Shines against Act 1's massed risen dead.)
- First Fruit: +Life on Kill [scaling], and killing an enemy has a chance to drop a grain mote that heals on pickup.
- The Procession (the myth's own drawback — story remembered whole): the bonuses build as you move and reap through a pack, and lapse against a lone, strong target. A sickle is for fields, not for duels. No punishing curse — it makes the Sheaf a superb pack-clear / levelling charm and a modest one against bosses, which is exactly right for an early Relic.
Why a humble sheaf is a Relic: the Law of Relics is explicit — power is remembrance, not the object (the Club of Heracles is "a stick"). A first sheaf that the whole world once processed behind is a perfectly canonical Relic, and a far better Act 1 chase than a generic magic sickle.
10. Item flavour rules (from the Law of Relics — apply to all Act 1 text)
- Two sentences max; usually one. No adjectives about power.
- Never mention the Late-Born.
- Heroic items name a place and a date ("Carried in the retreat from Thria, the year the wells failed.").
- Relics name a person.
- Rotate the three patterns: the lapsed rite · the unanswered offering · the administrative note. "Filed under a name no longer in use" beats any amount of blood.
11. Implementation notes
- Build the base + affix + loot systems in Phase 0 (Step 8); author this Act 1 content in Phase 2 (Step 19).
- Affix rolling: rarity sets affix count; each affix rolls its value from its tier's min–max; item level gates which tiers can appear.
- The Sheaf is an
ItemDefinitionflagged Relic with fixed powers — no random affix rolling; it just needs its three powers as components. - Difficulty = parameters: one set of tables/affixes, scaled by tier — never fork.
- Colours + labels colourblind-safe; tooltips show affix tiers (so players don't overinvest — the skill-tree "show the soft cap" principle applies to gear too).
12. Open questions
- Include +skills (Zealous) affix in the first release, or defer? (Build-defining but adds balance load. Lean: one T3-only +1 affix, amulet/weapon.)
- Exact number of item bases per slot (2 vs 3) — set after the Phase-1 art survey (each base = an art asset).
- The Sheaf's drawback framing — confirm the "fields not duels" ramp vs a flat always-on bonus. (Lean: the ramp — more characterful, and it steers the Relic toward levelling, leaving boss-gear to come from affixes.)
- Whether a 1-socket base drops in Act 1 for the two Sigils, or Sigils wait until the Forgemaster's questline. (Lean: yes, a light taste in Act 1.)