Weapons affect your characters’ attack power. Certain weapons can only be used by specific characters. For example, only Crono can wield a samurai sword, whereas some other swords are exclusively used by Frog. Marle is the only character that can use crossbows, only Lucca can equip guns, and only Robo can use replacement parts. Here are some examples:

Dart Gun	Increases attack points by 7.
Dream Bow	Increases attack points by 60.
Shock Wave	Increases attack points by 110, and sometimes causes chaos which confuses enemies.
Rune Blade	Increases attack points by 120, and increases magic power by 4.

Note: Attack points influence a character's overall attack power.

Armour and helmets determine your characters’ defence power. Examples include:

Aeon Helmet	Increases defence power by 33.
Lumin Robe	Increases defence power by 63, and increases magic defence power by 5.
Rock Helmet	Increases defence power by 20.
White Vest	Increases defence power by 45, and absorbs 50% of Lightning magic attack damage.

Accessories modify your characters' abilities. Examples include:

Dash Ring	Increases speed by 3 points.
Gold Stud	Reduces MP consumption by 75%.
Third Eye	Increases evade ability to 200%.
Wallet	Changes EXP points into Gold.

When your HP or MP are low, you will need items to recover. The rate of recovery is different depending on the item. Special items will help you overcome challenges during the early stages of the game, but they will only be found in certain eras. Examples include:

Elixir	Recovers all HP and MP of a single character.
Mid Tonic	Recovers 200 HP.
Magic Tab	Increases magic power by 1 point.
Ether	Recovers 10 MP.
Ruby Knife	An important item that is vital to the events of the past.
Seed	Something which has important implications for the future.