suddenly overloaded

[paranoid]

What happens to a character that suddenly exceeds his maximum carrying capacity, say, because he was hit by a ray of enfeeblement or similar magic? Can he drop some of his equipment as a free action? Or does he fall to the ground, being prone? Or even helpless?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.
paranoid

 

[Cedric]

I would let someone drop a backpack as a free action, anything more then a backpack is a move equivalent action.

If they are suddenly so overweight that they can't possibly move, I might require a reflex save for them to not go down to one knee.

Cedric

 

[Henrix]

You can stagger around 5 ft as a full round action while carrying more than your capacity

I'd let them take a move action to unload stuff, provided their hands are free, of course.

 

[Tabarnak Smokeblower]

it's a free action to drop something that you are holding, but taking off anything else (backpack) is going to take longer (MEA+)

TS

 

[Rel]

One similar circumstance happened in my last campaign.

Two members of the party got into a fight with some Shadows and suffered substantial Strength drain. When it was time for them to retreat, the party Druid cast a Feathers spell (from MotW) and transformed them into birds. Unfortunately, these birds had a much lower base Str than their humanoid forms did and applying the Str damage to that number resulted in them being reduced to 0 Str. They lay helplessly on the ground for a round until they were able to revert to normal form and try to retreat on foot.

One of the two made it out alive.