Editing Xia: Quality items (section)

=Introduction=
Every day equipment is little more than special effects in a wuxia film. It doesn't matter if our hero is using a sword, a three part staff or his bare fists - he still beats his enemies! As a result the Xia roleplaying game doesn't normally bother to take account of ordinary weapons and armour. As far as we're concerned, your choice of weapons is purely a stylistic one, and helps you describe your actions in the way that suits you.

Quality items are a little different. If a Xia is wielding the mastercrafted longsword that has passed through ten generations of his family, and which has a poem to elegant death inscribed on the blade... well it ought to be a but special. 

In the game system we treat quality items as ''kung fu secrets'' because like other kung fu secrets they are things that you must strive for to attain, and which are the product of excellence. Perhaps you forge a sword and invest your chi into the creation process, or perhaps you use your heaven-granted wealth to pay someone else to do so... regardless these are not just items of property, but rather as much a part of a Xia as his wushu and his inner masteries.

However, more so than any other kung fu secret type, Quality Items are '''not generic'''. More so than any other kung fu secret type, Quality Items should not be picked off a shopping list and treated as mere collections of numerical bonuses. Its worth noting that all Quality Items are created equal. A sword forged by a chi-strong smith may be powerful, but it is far from unique as he has made a hundred equally great weapons in his career. In contrast, the Emperor's Ji Yu and the legendary Green Destiny Sword are greater weapons by far. However, for elegance and game balance, all Quality items take up a single Kung Fu Secret, and all cost 1 XP. 

This page sets out a workshop to help you balance these factors. You get ''5 Building Points'' to start off, then can earn extra ''Building Points'' by taking ''Drawbacks''. You then spend Building Points to gain ''Benefits''. 

This though, just gives you numbers and a rather dry list of powers. This is not enough. Every Quality Item should have a story behind it. There are no simple +1 Swords in this game. Players who don't want to take on this creative task are best off avoiding this aspect of the game altogether.

GMs should beware of players who seek to abuse the system by accumulating a mass of Quality Items and trying to combine all their benefits. Rules of common sense should be applied as to using multiple items at once. At the very least, it should be noted that any one attack can only benefit from one Quality Item at a time, and any one defence can only benefit from one Quality Item at a time.
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