Cloth Gloves

Lore & Background

In the Outer Worlds, the Halcyon is a ship that has seen better decades. Its crew — the Monarch's loyal (or at least employed) hands — wear whatever the ship's stores can scrape together. Cloth Gloves fit that aesthetic perfectly: a utilitarian pair of woven fabric mitts, slightly frayed at the knuckles, dyed a faded charcoal or off-white depending on the batch. They are not designed for combat. They are designed so that a dockworker hauling cargo crates in the Halcyon's lower decks doesn't tear their palms on rough metal. That is their entire purpose, and they fulfill it with quiet, unglamorous competence.

The Monarch's operation in the Halcyon is, by all accounts, a mid-tier smuggling and mercenary outfit. The gear aboard reflects that: functional, unremarkable, and occasionally held together with tape. Cloth Gloves sit in the same category as the canvas boots and the plain cotton undershirts that populate the ship's storage lockers. They are the uniform of the background characters, the NPCs who will later be found slumped in a corner with a plasma burn across their chest, still wearing their trusty cloth gloves.

For the player character, Cloth Gloves represent the starting point of a long journey up the equipment ladder. Swapping them for Leather Gloves, Tactical Gloves, or the far more exotic options available later in the game is one of the small, satisfying 'upgrades' that punctuate the early hours of play. They are not memorable in themselves, but the moment you pull them off and slot on something better, you feel the game's progression system click into place.

In Their Own Story

The locker in the Halcyon's crew quarters was stuck. You had to kick the base of it twice before the rusted latch gave way with a shriek. Inside: a folded canvas shirt, a pair of scuffed boots, and a pair of Cloth Gloves, one slightly longer than the other, the left one bearing a faint coffee stain shaped like a continent you couldn't name. You picked them up. They were soft, warm from the ship's ambient heat, and smelled faintly of the engine grease that soaked everything below deck. You slipped them on. Your fingers felt a little less exposed. You kicked the locker shut, walked down the corridor toward the bridge, and did not think about them again until you found a pair of Leather Gloves in a dead smuggler's pocket three days later.

Reader's Guide

Cloth Gloves Type: Equipment — Hands slot Tier: Common (White)

Stat block: Provides a minimal amount of defense (baseline value for the slot). Very light weight. No special effects, no elemental resistances, no stat bonuses. It is, by design, the floor of the Hands equipment category.

Availability: Cloth Gloves are a base-game item with no quest gating and no DLC exclusivity. They can be found as loot in early-game locations on Halcyon (crew quarters, storage areas, basic vendor shops), on the bodies of low-level enemies, or purchased from common-tier merchants. They are among the most frequently encountered pieces of gear in the first several hours of play.

Notable notes: As a Common item, Cloth Gloves have no unique flavor text beyond the standard item description. They serve as the default 'you are wearing something on your hands' option. Swapping them for any higher-tier glove (Leather, Tactical, or above) will immediately improve your defense rating. They are not quest-gated, not DLC-exclusive, and not tied to any faction. They are simply gloves made of cloth.

Easter egg: The slightly asymmetrical fit (one glove a touch longer than the other) is a small, consistent detail in the item's visual model, a nod to the hand-stitched, mass-produced feel of Halcyon's supply chain.

Did You Know?

• Cloth Gloves occupy the Hands equipment slot, which is distinct from the Arms slot in The Outer Worlds' gear system — you can wear both simultaneously.
• They are one of the few items in the game that provide no special effects whatsoever, making them a true 'blank' piece of equipment and a useful baseline for comparing upgrades.
• The Halcyon's lower-deck storage areas and basic vendor shops are the most common sources of Cloth Gloves, reinforcing their role as the default gear of the ship's working crew.
• Because they are Common tier, they can be sold to vendors for a small amount of credits, making them a minor but reliable source of early-game income if you find extras.