Materia is a strange crystalline substance imbued with ancient mystical powers. Materia occurs naturally in remote areas of the world, where concentrated spiritual energy crystallizes into a physical form. Some civilizations have actually been able to synthesize Materia by creating an artificial environment for this reaction to take place. Materia can be inserted into slots in a character's weapons and armor, bestowing its wondrous powers upon him. These powers may range from powerful magic spells and elemental resistances to long-lost sword arts and unique Minor Abilities.

USING MATERIA
Unlike the core ZODIAC rules, Materia characters do not learn Techs or Enemy Skills on their own. They also do not posess innate Minor Abilities. All of a character's capabilities are determined by the Materia he is equipped with. Materia crystals are equipped in a character's weapon and armor; as the character gains experience, his Materia also grows and becomes more powerful.

Each piece of equipment has a certain number of slots available for Materia crystals, depending on its Equipment Level. Except in the case of the Elemental and Added Effect Materia, weapons and armor are considered identical for purposes of Materia placement. A character has access to all of the powers contained in the Materia he is equipped with, and may use them as per the normal ZODIAC rules for using Techs and Minor Abilities. The table below lists the Materia-related stats of each level of equipment; an explanation of each stat follows the table.

WEAPON / ARMOR LEVEL	NUMBER OF SLOTS	MATERIA GROWTH
1	O	x1
2	O O	x1
3	O-O	x1
4	O-O O	x1
5	O-O O O	x1
6	O-O O-O	x1
7	O-O O-O O	x1
8	O-O O-O O O	x2
9	O-O O-O O-O O	x2
10	O-O O-O O-O O-O	x3

Materia Slots are depicted by circles. A single O represents a space for a single Materia crystal. A Linked Slot, depicted by a O-O, has space for two crystals. A Linked Slot is equivalent to two normal slots in every way, except that Linked Materia ONLY functions when placed in a Linked Slot along with an appropriate Tech or Skill Materia.

Materia Growth determines how quickly a Materia crystal increases in power. Only very powerful weapons and armor possess the necessary energy to speed the growth of a Materia crystal. See below for details.

MATERIA GROWTH
Materia crystals, like adventurers, will grow and change over time, becoming more powerful and gaining access to new abilities. Materia growth is handled through the use of ABP (Ability Points). Ability Points, like a character's Experience Points, can be gained by defeating monsters in battle. After a victorious battle, ALL Materia that the character is currently equipped with gains an amount of ABP equal to 1 / 10 the number of Experience Points that its owner gained from the battle. This AP is multiplied by the Materia Growth stat of the weapon or armor it is equipped in. Note that ONLY the Materia that is currently equipped in a weapon or piece of armor will gain ABP.
Example: Diff the Biffer has just destroyed a group of lowly Imps. He got a total of 140 XP from the battle. He's got three Materia crystals equipped in his word, which happens to have a Materia Growth multiplier of x2. He's also carrying another crystal in his belt pouch, but it's not actively equipped, so it doesn't gain any ABP. Each of the three crystals in Diff's sword has 28 ABP added to its total.

When a Materia crystal gains enough ABP, its level will increase, granting its owner new, more powerful spells and techniques. When it reaches MASTER level, it has reached its maximum potential and will no longer earn any ABP. Upon being mastered, a Materia crystal will divides itself, forming a brand-new crystal. The new crystal is of exactly the same type as the Master Materia that created it, but starts out at Materia Level 1, with 0 AP.

BUYING MATERIA
Materia can be bought and sold in shops just like any other piece of equipment. A Materia crystal may be bought at any level of growth, and a newly-purchased crystal has the exact amount of AP needed for its level- for example, a Fire Magic crystal purchased at Materia Level 3 has exactly 1,800 ABP. A character cannot, for example, choose to buy a Materia crystal with 11,999 ABP. Naturally, higher-level Materia are much more expensive than younger, less powerful crystals. It is up to the Master to decide what levels of Materia are available for purchase in a given location. The price of each type of Materia crystal is given in the chart below. Players may sell Materia crystals for half the amount they would pay to buy it.

MATERIA GROWTH / PRICE CHART
This chart lists the amount of ABP required for a Materia crystal to reach a certain level, and the price of a crystal of that level.

MATERIA LEVEL	ABP NEEDED	TECH MATERIA PRICE	SKILL / SUPPORT MATERIA PRICE
1	0	100	50
2	400	500	200
3	1,800	1,200	400
4	4,200	2,000	800
5	7,600	3,000	1,200
MASTER	12,000	4,500	1,500

MATERIA LISTINGS
This section lists the different types of Materia, their prices, and charts showing the powers they gain as their level increases. Note that the lowest level on the chart is the MINIMUM level for the crystal to function. A first-level Invulnerability crystal, for instance, is about as useful as an ordinary rock. In cases like these, the crystal still gains ABP if equipped, but does not gain any abilities until it reaches its minimum level. For the sake of brevity, descriptions of Tech and Skill Materia are not included; these can be found in the ZODIAC rulebook.

TECH MATERIA
Tech Materia is imbued with a particular Tech that becomes more powerful as the Materia crystal grows. Any normally allowable Secondary Effects may be included as well, EXCEPT Drain Attack, Amplify, and Area Effect. The "Tech Levels Available" field lists the level of the Tech contained in the Materia; if there is more than one listed, the user has access to several different levels of the same Tech. For example, a third-level Damage Tech crystal gives the user access to a Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 version of the same attack. If there is no table entry for a given Materia Level, the crystal gains no additional abilities at that Materia Level. For example, a Level 4 Stat Break crystal is functionally the same as a Level 5 crystal. Note that Materia with no listing for MASTER level still divides as normal.

LINKED MATERIA
Linked Materia is a symbiotic type of Materia that only functions when joined to another crystal. Linked Materia must be be placed alongside a Tech Materia or Skill Materia crystal in a linked slot; otherwise, it has no effect. Linked Materia adds an additional effect to the power, but DOES NOT affect the MP cost of the power. Any Linked Materia that does not have a level progression chart has a minimum level of 1, and never gains any additional abilities.