Settler Cultural Gear

Tasked (perhaps by themselves) with taming a frontier of some kind, settlers are gritty, pragmatic…and often a bit paranoid. These folk must rely upon themselves and perhaps their neighbors even in dire circumstances, and the frontiers where they make their homes have a variety of dangers—potentially including other settlers. They are therefore often concerned with security and emergency measures..

Barbed Wire. The quintessential frontier fortification, barbed wire is thick metal wire with sharp metal barbs along its length. A square with a barbed wire fence or coil across it is difficult terrain, and requires a DC 13 Dexterity check to avoid being grappled as the barbs snag on clothing and flesh alike, dealing 1d4 points of piercing damage and requiring DC 12 maneuver check to escape. Each attempt (successful or not) inflicts a further 1d4 points of piercing damage on the trapped creature, as does any physical movement beyond speaking (or, more likely, shouting or screaming). Settlers will often hang bells on the wire, giving them an audible alert if a creature becomes stuck. The wire can be cut; it has an AC of 11 and 5 hit points per 5-foot section. It comes in spools, each one suitable for building a coiled fortification of up to 50’ in length, which takes an hour. If used to make fencing, it stretches 5 times as far, but requires a full day of work.

Settler’s Glass. The settler’s glass is an extremely durable (and heavy) spyglass. Designed to stand up to the worst punishment that the frontier can dish out, a settler’s glass can be used as a normal spyglass, but is ruggedized to the point it can be used as an improvised weapon that deals 1d4 bludgeoning damage. However, inflicting a critical hit with it destroys the settler’s glass.

Trip Lantern. Another security device, a trip lantern is a heavy, hooded, bulls-eye lantern that can be rigged to a tripwire and is typically mounted atop a fencepost. Triggering the tripwire aims the lantern toward the tripwire, ignites and uncovers the light source, and shines dazzlingly-bright light through a focusing lens at the triggering creature, which must make a DC 12 Constitution save or be blinded until the beginning of its next turn.

Wide-Eye. A powerful stimulant brewed as a bitter tea, wide-eye can allow a person to stay awake for 36 hours (starting when it is imbibed) with no penalties for missing sleep (though spells and similar resources recovered on a long rest are not restored), but the crash afterward is awful. Immediately after the 36 hours ends, the user suffers 2 levels of fatigue , which must be removed normally, and is rattled until they finish a long rest . Still, it’s a rare settler that doesn’t have some on hand in case a disaster or attack requires an all-nighter.