D&D 5E Encumbrance rule, do you use it?

[Mercule]

Not a huge fan of the 5E encumbrance numbers -- both ends seem out of whack. I do use encumbrance, though, mainly as a way to have a non-arbitrary "you're just being silly now" point. In every edition of D&D, I've been surprised at just how quickly PCs hit the point of carrying too much.

While I think there's some value in encumbrance, it's a bit cumbersome (no pun intended), so I don't require the players to constantly track encumbrance. Generally, they have a base value for "mandatory" gear. I'll usually have them check current values at some mid-point in a large dungeon, often right before they head back to town. If my gut says they're doing something odd, I might have them check at some other point, too. I don't think I've ever had them check if the excursion takes less than a half-dozen sessions between town stops.

FWIW, I really promote House Kundarak vaults and letters of credit in Eberron. Having, essentially, bearer bonds and a checkbook really cuts down on weight.

 

[KarinsDad]

The quick and dirty solution would be to have everyone (except dwarves) drop their movement rate by 10 feet to budget for being encumbered (not even heavily encumbered).

To give you an indication of pack weights...
Burglar's Pack 49lb
Diplomats 36lb
Dungeoneers 61.5lb
Entertainers 38.5lb
Priests 25.5lb
Scholars 10.5lb

This is before Weapons, Armour, Healer's Kit, Treasure and in some cases Food. Granted most of this can be stored on one's steed, but in those instances where one cannot use an animal the weight plays a role. I would certainly hand wave most of this should the party obtain a bag of holding.

Our group of 6 PCs got a bag of holding at level 2 and by level 5, had 480 pounds of stuff in it.

We even house ruled encumbrance to be 10x light and 15x heavy (instead of the normal 5x light, 10x heavy) and most PCs are knocking at the door of light, even with the (nearly full) bag of holding.

 

[designbot]

You might be interested in my simplified 5e encumbrance tracker—the players just track the number of items they're carrying instead of the exact weight. It's tuned to work out about the same without as much math.

I think there's value to tracking things like encumbrance, torches, food, water, ammunition, and especially time, if you can do it without making it a huge hassle—imagine how boring the game would be if every player had infinite hit points. It's all related—if you can carry an infinite amount of ammunition, food, water, and gold, and your torches never run out, then yes, it's pointless bookkeeping to keep track of it. It's only interesting when there's a real risk of hitting a limit, and consequences for doing so.

For example, did you know that a waterskin only holds half a gallon, but you need to drink one gallon of water per day (two if the weather is hot)?

PHB 185:

A character who drinks only half that much water must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or suffer one level of exhaustion at the end of the day. A character with access to even less water automatically suffers one level of exhaustion at the end of the day.

To me, that's interesting. Now Survival skills and Create Water spells actually matter. Resting deep in a dungeon has some risk to it, and finding a fountain or a stream is a big deal. Why can't you just carry a month's worth of water in your pack? Encumbrance.

What is the point of gold? Well, how about to pay for pack animals and hirelings to help you carry all your stuff? Maybe you've accumulated too much treasure to carry around, so now you need to build or buy a safe place to keep it, and hire trustworthy people to guard it.

Of course, if you don't want to track these things, you can just hand wave it away, but by doing so, you do eliminate some interesting motivations and mechanics.

 

[neobolts]

Now Survival skills and Create Water spells actually matter. Resting deep in a dungeon has some risk to it, and finding a fountain or a stream is a big deal. Why can't you just carry a month's worth of water in your pack? Encumbrance.

What is the point of gold? Well, how about to pay for pack animals and hirelings to help you carry all your stuff? Maybe you've accumulated too much treasure to carry around, so now you need to build or buy a safe place to keep it, and hire trustworthy people to guard it.

Of course, if you don't want to track these things, you can just hand wave it away, but by doing so, you do eliminate some interesting motivations and mechanics.

How many times can a player do these things before they lose their luster? I've been playing for 25 years (oh god I've been playing for 25 years). That stuff got boring somewhere along the way.

 

[Demonspell]

Your players are not real familiar with economics, are they? In most D&D versions, 10,000 GP is the equivalent of about $1 million (and weighs about 200 pounds, hard for a farmer to lug around without his cart). A cart and 3 mules is probably worth about 40 GP in most versions of D&D.

They simply didn't care, to them, they had made a killing and giving a poor guy a ton of money didn't matter to them. They were not worried about the economy, they only wanted to get home with their load. Regardless, 10K gp is still only going to buy 10K gp of stuff in any D&D version. Finally, 200 lbs is well within the range that the farmer's remaining mule can carry even under 5e rules. Additionally, it was a nice thing to do but it eventually came back to haunt the group. But that is a story for another time.

My group is in UnderMountain and just defeated a Dragon. They had about 12,000 coins (copper, silver, and gold) or about 240 pounds of it. They emptied a significant portion of the nearly full bag of holding, just to stuff it all in (most PCs are already near their weigh limit). They haven't thrown away food yet, but it's just a matter of time before they do and those precious third level Cleric spells start being used for food. I like the encumbrance rules because it forces the players to make hard decisions once in a while.

I too like encumbrance for the same reason. Is having that amount of gold worth while or should you make another decision? That is another reason why my group gave a farmer, 10K gp for 25-50gp worth of stuff. They couldn't carry it all, and this guy happened to have what they needed at the very moment they needed it. This is another way to remove excess from the game and the group's generosity has been known to make that easier on me from time to time.

 

[Demonspell]

How many times can a player do these things before they lose their luster? I've been playing for 25 years (oh god I've been playing for 25 years). That stuff got boring somewhere along the way.

It sounds like you have been missing out on some great RP opportunities as well. My players all had keeps/towers/shops/homestead they were either building or maintaining. They would go out adventuring, but when they returned home they would have to deal with all kinds of neat/painful/wonderful events that happened while they were away. Frequently, it would be a create a whole new set of problems/adentures that the group would need to handle. Those types of things added to the campaign, and adds flavor, and interest to the world, which makes it all encompassing. It makes getting together more about telling the story rather than just a hack and slash adventure.

 

[neobolts]

It sounds like you have been missing out on some great RP opportunities as well. My players all had keeps/towers/shops/homestead they were either building or maintaining. They would go out adventuring, but when they returned home they would have to deal with all kinds of neat/painful/wonderful events that happened while they were away. Frequently, it would be a create a whole new set of problems/adentures that the group would need to handle. Those types of things added to the campaign, and adds flavor, and interest to the world, which makes it all encompassing. It makes getting together more about telling the story rather than just a hack and slash adventure.

You misunderstand me. Running a keep/town/merc guild, having a ship or airship, having military command. I love that sort of thing. I'm talking about the minor stuff, how much you are carrying around and how much it costs to fill up your waterskin every day or whatever.

I will also throw out an idea I used in a campaign. The party had letters of credit from noble and merchant class patrons. Whereever on the continent there was civilization, they always had room and board.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

And just how close to reality to you try to model it?

Yes. But. I usually don't calculate it. The 5E rule is generous enough that I'm usually confident that they are well under the limit. Just like with initiative, I only calculate pack loads when it makes a material difference.

I am actually more likely to ask "how are you carrying that?" than "can you handle the weight?"

 

[Blackwarder]

You might be interested in my simplified 5e encumbrance tracker—the players just track the number of items they're carrying instead of the exact weight. It's tuned to work out about the same without as much math.

I think there's value to tracking things like encumbrance, torches, food, water, ammunition, and especially time, if you can do it without making it a huge hassle—imagine how boring the game would be if every player had infinite hit points. It's all related—if you can carry an infinite amount of ammunition, food, water, and gold, and your torches never run out, then yes, it's pointless bookkeeping to keep track of it. It's only interesting when there's a real risk of hitting a limit, and consequences for doing so.

For example, did you know that a waterskin only holds half a gallon, but you need to drink one gallon of water per day (two if the weather is hot)?

PHB 185:


To me, that's interesting. Now Survival skills and Create Water spells actually matter. Resting deep in a dungeon has some risk to it, and finding a fountain or a stream is a big deal. Why can't you just carry a month's worth of water in your pack? Encumbrance.

What is the point of gold? Well, how about to pay for pack animals and hirelings to help you carry all your stuff? Maybe you've accumulated too much treasure to carry around, so now you need to build or buy a safe place to keep it, and hire trustworthy people to guard it.

Of course, if you don't want to track these things, you can just hand wave it away, but by doing so, you do eliminate some interesting motivations and mechanics.

That's a great sheet, How did you came to it?

Warder

 

[designbot]

That's a great sheet, How did you came to it?

It's inspired by the system used in Lamentations of the Flame Princess, adjusted to fit the 5e rules. I put it together in Adobe Illustrator.