Characters may attempt to hide weapons, tools, contraband, and other equipment on their person.
Each item has a Bulk rating that represents how difficult it is to conceal. Bulk does not measure weight or physical size directly. It reflects the space the item occupies when hidden, including its shape, length, rigidity, and other factors that make it easier or harder to conceal.
The concealment rules assume the character is wearing ordinary everyday clothing. Clothing, equipment, hidden compartments, and other specialized gear may provide additional Concealment.
When circumstances provide unusually little or unusually good opportunity to hide equipment, the GM may modify the relevant Stealth test, reduce the maximum Concealment that can be generated, or rule that a particular item cannot reasonably be concealed.
Concealment Rating
Some clothing, holsters, compartments, and other equipment provide a Concealment Rating.
Compare an item’s Bulk to the Concealment Rating of the specific place or piece of equipment hiding it.
If several items are hidden in the same place, add their Bulk together.
Concealment Ratings from separate sources are never added together. A concealed holster, coat pocket, hidden compartment, and similar hiding places are each resolved separately.
An item is concealed when the Concealment available to it equals or exceeds its Bulk.
Concealing Equipment
A character may arrange equipment on their person to create additional concealment.
Make a Stealth test. Each positive Hit generates 1 point of Improvised Concealment, to a maximum of 4.
Distribute this Concealment among the items or hiding places being used. Improvised Concealment may supplement Concealment provided by clothing, holsters, compartments, or other equipment.
The arrangement remains in effect until the character meaningfully changes their concealed loadout, removes hidden equipment, or otherwise disturbs the arrangement enough that it would need to be set up again.
The GM may apply modifiers, reduce the maximum Improvised Concealment, or rule that an item cannot be concealed when the character’s clothing, equipment, or circumstances provide insufficient space to hide it.
Detecting Concealed Equipment
Concealed equipment is not normally detected unless someone has a reason to notice or actively look for it.
When detection matters, the observer makes a Perception test. Each positive Hit reduces the item’s effective Concealment by 0.5 against that observer.
If the item’s Bulk exceeds its remaining Concealment, the observer notices that something is being concealed. This does not necessarily reveal exactly what the item is.
A thorough physical search normally discovers conventionally concealed equipment. Specialized hidden compartments or other equipment designed to defeat searches may state otherwise.
Bulk
Bulk represents how difficult an item is to conceal. It is not a measure of weight or physical size. Length, shape, rigidity, protruding components, and the space an item occupies when hidden all contribute to its Bulk.
Bulk normally ranges from 0 to 12. Individual items may use decimal values for greater precision.
| Bulk | Reference Examples |
|---|---|
| 0 | RFID tag, contact lens, tiny data chip |
| 1 | Credchip, smartphone, pistol magazine, small folding knife |
| 2 | Holdout pistol, compact knife, small tool, microgrenade |
| 3 | Light pistol, grenade, collapsed baton |
| 4 | Large handgun, machine pistol, compact medkit, bulky handheld device |
| 5 | Compact SMG, small drone, large medkit |
| 6 | Full-size SMG, sawed-off shotgun |
| 7 | Sword, compact carbine, very short shotgun |
| 8 | Bullpup rifle, short rifle, katana |
| 9 | Assault rifle, full-size shotgun, crossbow |
| 10 | Sniper rifle, long sporting rifle, large bow |
| 11 | Machine gun, grenade launcher, similarly bulky long weapon |
| 12 | Rocket launcher, missile launcher, extreme personal equipment |
These examples are guidelines for assigning Bulk, not fixed categories. The equipment catalogue lists the actual Bulk of each item.