A weighty issue

[Ratskinner]

I wanted to toss this out there. For myself and a lot of the players I've seen, the number one thing that slows down character generation, and occasionally adventuring as well is encumbrance and equipment purchasing.(no pun intended)

Equipment purchasing, is mostly done with equipment packages. There will still need to be a list of junk to buy, for when your level three party decides it needs to buy a new lantern or mule or something.

Encumbrance, though, 4e's method is pretty good, but really do we need to add up and figure out exactly how much each potion, torch, spell component, etc. weighs? For smaller items, its not so much the half-pound or pound that it weighs as it is the fact that its one more thing to keep track of, not drop, or find a pocket for. I mean, if you're carrying 10 china dolls, you're encumbered. It doesn't have to do with the weight of the dolls, just that fact that you are trying to cart around 10 of them.

Now there's plenty of systems out there that use "slots" or the like, I'd much prefer one of those to a weight-based system. However, I'm curious as to how you folks feel. Does anyone out there actually worry about encumbrance? Are there fans of adding up all the weights?

(PS: This is not a "deal-breaker" or anything like for me. I'm perfectly happy working out my own "module" if they stay "traditional")

 

[MortalPlague]

In my games, I almost never track encumberance. The only times I do is when the party finds something obviously too big to carry; like a pile of coins as vast as a whole cavern. Then they have to hire some wagons or something.

My buddy is running a great 4e game where he wanted to keep track of the little things like encumberance, light sources, and all that. It was tracked for the first few games, but since we hit level 4, it's fallen by the wayside.

So in my experience, it simply gets ignored, even with the best of intentions.

 

[Sunseeker]

The biggest problem I have with encumbrance is that is isn't claculated relatically and therefore becomes silly. Wizards can barely walk around with clothes on while they're required to carry seven tons of material compnents, even the 60lbs of a Bag of Holding can be too much for them. Conversely, encumbrance is meaningless for anyone with a str score over 18.

I mean, I pulled a thought experiment and made a lvl 3 creature(LA+2, Lvl 1 Fighter), with a 30 strength.

And nobody likes being the party mule.

 

[LostSoul]

If encumbrance is important to the game - like, say, how many coins you can carry out of the dungeon determines if you level up or not - then it should be tracked. Better than has been done in the past, but still. If it doesn't matter to the game then just hand-wave it.

 

[tlantl]

Well seeing as D&D is a role playing game, perhaps thinking about purchasing gear and toting up the encumbrance values of the stuff they buy as part of the gaming experience and not as some onerous detail that impedes the more important rush to the next level or the next three hour combat might help.


If you don't like it don't do it, don't find fault with it like it's the games fault.

 

[Kynn]

Encumbrance is probably one of the most ignored rules in any edition I've ever played in.

And thank goodness for that. It doesn't add anything to the game, especially once the players are high enough level to acquire bags of holding or portable holes.

I'd be happy issuing each player a bag of holding at the start of their adventuring career, even -- and then never worry about it again. Maybe I'll do that next time I run a campaign.

As far as buying stuff goes, I like the 4e concept of "adventurer kits" or other packs of materials that are easy to simply grab off a list and move on. In my games, such packs are automatically refilled between adventures as part of the player character's normal upkeep and living expenses.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I love equipment lists that are full of junk to purchase and carry around with you!

My favourite encumbrance system was from RQ, where anything that you could carry easily in 1 hand was ENC1, in 2 hands was ENC 2, and built out logically from there. Didn't sweat the small stuff, but gave people real choices in terms of how much they wanted to carry, and (critically, to my mind) included bulk and not mere weight.

Cheers

 

[Alan Shutko]

I disagree. I'd say encumbrance and mundane consumables are essential to certain types of games. It forces you to choose between multiple things you might want, because you can't carry everything. Since you can no longer be optimally prepared for everything, you may now have to jury rig solutions to problems which would be trivial to solve if you had the right stuff. You have to make decisions about going forward: your arrows are getting low. Do you press on knowing that ranged attacks are less viable, or do you head back?

Without keeping track of how much you can carry, getting lost in the desert isn't as scary, because you either fiat that you've had enough food with you or you aren't tracking rations and water anyway. Maybe you abstract it away with some survival rolls.

The editions of D&D have trended to abstract away everything except combat. That's a trend I dislike. I want some level of detail in non-combat because I think that those can also be interesting activities. I think some of the Old School Renaissance has been to restore this balance.

You can certainly go too far. I'm not interested in playing a game where I track inches of bandages. (Been there. But the other players enjoyed that game.)

 

[Hassassin]

I would appreciate an easier way to track encumbrance, but having the rules for tracking it is important.

IMC, I ask my players to track anything on their person. Most stuff is carried by pack animals and I just make a ruling on it.

 

[innerdude]

Equipment purchasing, is mostly done with equipment packages. There will still need to be a list of junk to buy, for when your level three party decides it needs to buy a new lantern or mule or something.

The mighty Donkey Horse is enraged at your insinuation that its majesty, its grace, its ability to be your party's cannon fodder could be contained by the mere appellation of "mule."

Repent, and consult your copy of the Mulenomicon, to give your Donkey Horse the respect (and oats and barley) it deserves.