How much equipment can a PC carry?

[dreaded_beast]

I have a PC that carries the following equipment in the following manner:

2 Long swords on his back
2 Short swords on his waist
2 Quivers on his waist
1 Bow over the shoulder
2 Hammers, 1 in each boot

Would you allow this?

I'm fudging on the side of letting him, minus the hammers, which I'm gonna say he has to carry in his backpack.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Looks good to me.

All you as a DM have to care about is encumbance weight and what he can pull out in combat. If the PC can walk 10 miles through the forest off of any trails and still jump into combat unfatigued, why not let the guy carry two swords, a bow, and a shortsword?

Two quivers sounds a little silly to me, but why bother arguing? It's not like he's going to use up an entire quiver in combat.

Cripes, I'm half-inclined to suggest you let him carry the hammers in his feet or whatever. He's clearly paranoid about weapon damage types, just don't run the guy through the Dungeon of Skeletons and Oozes.

 

[Hjorimir]

I will give you these words of wisdom:

How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

 

[Numion]

Those who've served in military will say that a man can carry surprising amounts of stuff.. even in strange places sometimes

 

[the Jester]

I would just use the encumberance rules.

 

[marune]

I would just use the encumberance rules.

Ok, I have 20 STR, so I put the 20 great-swords found on the dead barbarians into my backpack

 

[howandwhy99]

Well, let's say I have a Dwarf PC with 19str, carrying 340lbs of gear, which includes the adamantine platemail he is wearing.

First off:
Carrying capacity is determined by Strength. 19str is:
Light - 116 lb. or less
Medium - 117-233 lb.
Heavy - 234-350 lb.
So = 340 lbs of gear means the dwarf's encumbrance is immediately in the "Heavy" category.

Secondly,
Armor comes in Light, Medium, and Heavy versions. Each corresponds to an encumbrance category. Even if you are carrying nothing else your encumbrance can change depending on your worn armor type.
So = the adamantine platemail also places the dwarf in the "Heavy" encumbrance category.

However,

Dwarf base land speed is 20 feet. However, dwarves can move at this speed even when wearing medium or heavy armor or when carrying a medium or heavy load (unlike other creatures, whose speed is reduced in such situations).

As you can see from the quote above, Dwarfs suffer no speed penalty when under medium or heavy encumbrance (of either type).
So = a dwarf can move just quickly with 340lbs. of gear and full plate as he can carrying or wearing nothing. (though the Run option is impaired)

Lastly, - and here's where things get interesting.

Tumble - You can’t use this skill if your speed has been reduced by armor, excess equipment, or loot.

Ignoring whatever "loot" encumbrance is, this skill is plainly unusable by anyone with any kind encumbrance penalty - unless they happen to be a dwarf.
So = A dwarf with a total tumble skill bonus of +15 or better can tumble around his enemies, in adamantine fullplate, carrying 340lbs of gear, with relative impunity.

I wonder how many 10' poles he could purchase before reaching 340lbs.

 

[Arnwyn]

I have a PC that carries the following equipment in the following manner:

2 Long swords on his back
2 Short swords on his waist
2 Quivers on his waist
1 Bow over the shoulder
2 Hammers, 1 in each boot

Would you allow this?

Well, not quite for our group, but close.

We have a house rule for our group about the amount one can carry (in terms of physical space, beyond the encumbrance rule):
- 2 items on your back (including backpacks, quivers, swords, shields, etc)
- 2 "large" items (bows, swords) and 6 "small" items (pouches, daggers) on your waist
- 4 "small" items on your boots/legs
These are all immediately retrievable items that can be "drawn" during battle as per the normal rules.

On the other hand, we're pretty easy going about the backpack, simply relying on weight as opposed to physical space (ie. it can carry 50 lbs worth of stuff) - virtually anything within reason can fit inside or on it (including swords or even suits of armor), but we consider them "non-retrievable" (ie. it's a full-round action or more to get at an item).

Works for us, but likely is too much bother/bookkeeping for other groups.

 

[Vertaxis]

2 Long swords on his back
2 Short swords on his waist
2 Quivers on his waist
1 Bow over the shoulder
2 Hammers, 1 in each boot

You won't be able to carry hammers in your boots. They'll chafe and tend to fall out because they're too large and off balanced. A dagger in each boot is perfectly fine.

Also, do you have the necesasry feats to minimize the penalties for 2-weapon fighting? If not, then why carry so many weapons?

 

[Goddess FallenAngel]

I would disallow the hammers and Quivers on a common-sense basis. The reason for the hammers have been mentioned - as for the quivers... yeah, you could carry them there, but every time you lean over or bend to pick something up, I see arrows falling out. Also, I used to do archery with a hunting bow while in college - and while I am far, far, far from an expert, it just seems like it would be difficult to draw an arrow from a waist-quiver.