On SlothMUD, the equipment is pretty much what gives the game its flavor.  It's very hard to play the game without acquiring better equipment so that you can kill bigger things to get even better equipment!  There are 18 slots for a normal character (bard primes get an extra slot, making it 19 and monk primes don't usually use a weapon, having 17 slots then).  Those slots are as follows: light, 2 rings, 2 neck items, body, head, arms, hands, feet, legs, shield, waist, robe, 2 wrists, a weapon, and a held low.  Bards also get an instrument slot.  Monks don't use a weapon, preferring to barehand.

A new player is given only a few items when the character is created - mostly low-end leather items and you'll have to buy more leather items from the armor shop to fully armor yourself.  Mobs pop better equipment but it'll take some time in order to pop your own equipment.  My best suggestion is to get a full set of wearable armor and then get a holy item (which is a special piece of equipment that isn't permanent).  Start collecting gold and saving up gold to buy pieces of equipment that other players sell to the shops.  You can usually find a great deal of excellent low level equipment pieces in the various armor shops across the continents.

Mobs don't always pop wearable equipment items.  Some of the items you will find from corpses may be treasure, food, junk, components, books, or tokens.  You should drop the spellbooks unless it's one you can read immediately, keep some food, and sell the rest to the various shops (supply shop usually buys most of the items) to get extra gold.  Also - a shoulder item counts as a neck slot item, but you cannot have 2 shoulder items, although you can have 2 neck slot items.  A shoulder item and a neck slot item or 2 neck slot items are your options there.  A two-handed weapon will remove the shield slot.

Most equipment is permanent but there's a bunch of extra special equipment items - here's a brief description of what those items are and what they do:

Temporary items (temp) are items that are similar to holy items with some further restrictions.  You can remove the item and it won't crumble.  You cannot rent with the item, it will crumble.  Temporary items are only found on Lyme and Valkyre.  They also cannot leave these continents - if you attempt to sail or leave the continent via any means, the item will crumble and vanish with no way of getting it back.  The only way to keep temporary items is to store them in a vault or a locker before you rent out.

Triple 40 items (3x40) are special items that a player is given access to for achieving a level of 40 in three separate classes, six separate classes, and eight separate classes.  In other words, once you get to 3x40, you may pick one item from the 3x40 item list.  Reaching 6x40 gets you a second choice and 8x40, a third choice.  You may only have three items and exchanging the items costs a lot, so choose wisely - you do not have to pick the item immediately.  The items are also personal.

Personal items are items that are attached to a specific person.  They get set to that person's name, and that person will be the only person that can wear that item.  In other words, if you loot a personal item from a mob, it gets named in your name and someone else cannot use it, even if you give it to them.  The item will sting them when they try to put it on.

Forged/Traded/Exchanged/Brewed items are special pieces of equipment that require equipment components and gold to be forged at a specific mob.  Unfortunately, the forges are not always successful and can blow up (and you'll have to start all over again).

Drachma items are special quest items that you purchase from the drachma shopkeepers using drachma (points you acquire from doing quests).  They are also personal items.

Prime items are restricted to that prime class only.  Some items have dual prime restricts (such as an aura of the moon, for which you need to be a bard or druid prime).  Each class also gets a special quest that grants them some drachma and an unique prime only item.  For Warriors - that item is Brilliant Sword of Valor, Bards get Ivy-Etched Shoulderguards, Thieves get Sleeves of Molten Lava, Monks get Sleeves of Black Ice, Mages get Sphere of Enchantment, Druids get a Wolf-Head Hat, Necromancers get Woven Shoulderguards of Flesh, and Clerics get Crystalline Silk Leggings.

Clasps are special equipment items that are clasped onto existing equipment.  You can only have one clasp attached to an equipment item at any time.  To attach a clasp, you use attach claspname equipmentname and to remove it, it would be detach claspname equipmentname.  The most common clasps you will see are random newbie items - a sloth-shaped brooch that is clasped to a neck item (or shoulder item) and a pretty little bow that is clasped onto a body armor item.