Dungeon Master Forum

Are items split into types? And can pads detect these types? Like a pad that will activate if food is carried, or a pad that weill activate if weapons are carried, etc

No. Unlike DM there's no distinction between different object types (with the exception of monsters, which obviously, require special code to animate them). Pads are triggered by one of:

1) Everything
2) The Party
3) Any Monster
4) Any other object
5) The party or any monster (bot not other object)
6) The party or any object (but not monsters)
7) Any object (or monster)
A specific object (or monster)

I could add more though, but doing something like "Any food" would be awkward.