For instance, take a man on horseback.
First, observe his horse.
If it's armored and robust, there's a high probability he's a knight, as such horses are expensive.
But if the horse is skinny, almost skeletal, then he's likely a common cavalryman.
His mount is probably a temporary loan from his lord, not his own, and of the lowest quality.
Of course, these are generalities.
There are exceptions, like Howard, who was once impoverished.
His horse was the skeletal kind, yet he held the status of a knight – a special case indeed.
Beyond horses, there are weapons and armor, seemingly common items that, upon closer inspection, reveal significant differences.
A single-handed sword, for example, can be an iron sword, a Norman sword, a knight's sword, or a hand-and-a-half sword, among others.
Sometimes a slight improvement in a weapon's damage can increase its value several-fold.
