Encumbrance

[turnip_farmer]

Alright kids. I'm getting ready to start a new campaign, and I'm trying to figure out what encumbrance rules I want to force the players to track this time.

I'm interested in any novel ideas for both tracking encumbrance, and for mechanical effects. What I want from an encumbrance system is something that's relatively easy to keep track of with pencil and paper, and that will force the players to make decisions and tradeoffs.

Moving a little slower in combat because you're encumbered is not interesting, but most systems I've seen that have more varied and interesting effects end up being very bookkeeping intensive. Hence my request for inspiration.

I have no interest in hearing from you if you don't bother with encumbrance. Get your own thread.

 

[Ulfgeir]

Maybe have clearly marked slots for where things are carried/equipped. So for example: Oh, you have a polearm, well that takes up one of your hands just to carry it. What's that? You have a longbow as well, well that takes up the other hand just to carry it, so you will have to drop one of them to use the other... And a shield as well, well both your hands are already used, so you would have to sling it across your back, which means you can't have any backpack (so you can't carry anything else you need unless you are creative with belt pouches), and it can not be used together with either the polearm or the bow, so you would have to drop both of them to equip the shield and be able to use your sword, and it will not give you any plus to AC if it is not equipped....

Shadiversity did a fun video where he tried illustrating how much space just the weapons a typical adventurer uses takes up. I think Matt Easton of Schola Gladiatora has done some stuff about it as well.

edit: so less about caring about the weight of things as the logistics of where they are. Would probably be needed to use a drawing of the adventurer with the slots marked. Just like you have a drawing for showing which slots magical items take up.

 

[turnip_farmer]

Maybe have clearly marked slots for where things are carried/equipped. So for example: Oh, you have a polearm, well that takes up one of your hands just to carry it. What's that? You have a longbow as well, well that takes up the other hand just to carry it, so you will have to drop one of them to use the other... And a shield as well, well both your hands are already used, so you would have to sling it across your back, which means you can't have any backpack (so you can't carry anything else you need unless you are creative with belt pouches), and it can not be used together with either the polearm or the bow, so you would have to drop both of them to equip the shield and be able to use your sword, and it will not give you any plus to AC if it is not equipped....

Shadiversity did a fun video where he tried illustrating how much space just the weapons a typical adventurer uses takes up. I think Matt Easton of Schola Gladiatora has done some stuff about it as well.

I like the idea on principle, but I can't help but feel it would just before a mess trying to keep track as things moved from hands, to bag, to belt pouch. I think abstracting it a bit might help.

Perhaps give them three 'on-person' slots where they can keep things ready to hand (eg. one weapon, one shield, one healing potion), anything else requires an action to remove from backpack.

Maybe that could then make the speed reduction in combat interesting. 'Sure, you can take your backpack off to be unencumbered and move faster, but your backup weapon and other healing potions are in it.'

 

[Morrus]

I like it fairly simple. Pathfinder 2E's bulk rules are about right for me. I definitely feel that tracking the locations of individual items is too far.

One easy way to do it is to just count bulky items. Depending on the system, but say in D&D maybe you can carry one bulky item plus your Strength modifier. And heavy weapons and armor count as a bulky item each. Easy to track.

 

[Fenris-77]

I vastly prefer the Usage Die mechanic from The Black Hack to any other system I've used.

 

[timbannock]

Check out Five Torches Deep.

 

[Emerikol]

I like it fairly simple. Pathfinder 2E's bulk rules are about right for me. I definitely feel that tracking the locations of individual items is too far.

One easy way to do it is to just count bulky items. Depending on the system, but say in D&D maybe you can carry one bulky item plus your Strength modifier. And heavy weapons and armor count as a bulky item each. Easy to track.

This is pretty close to what I'd like. I don't want the group to be able to carry infinite coins though but sometimes it's just DM judgment. If they've just found a dragon's hoard, I might ask "How are you planning on taking this back to civilization?" The implication of such a question is they aren't just carrying it. I also tend to make my coins smaller so instead of 1/10 a pound I make them 1/50 or 1/100 a pound.

Most of the time you just ignore it because there isn't enough to worry about.

 

[BookTenTiger]

I bought a ton of weighted lap blankets, and as the characters take on more equipment I force the players to wear more and more weighted blankets.

In reality, I always thought a "slot" system on grid paper could work well. Your character has a number of squares equal to X. A tiny item takes up 0 squares. A small item 1 square. A big item 3 squares...

Some other ideas for encumbrance effects:

Long rests take extra time (because you are organizing all your stuff)

Overland travel is slower

Disadvantage on stealth checks

Disadvantage on Strength, Constitution, and Dexterity Saving Throws...

 

[Grogg of the North]

I have always taken a bit of a handwaving approach on things like this. As long as what you have on your sheet is more or less reasonable, I don't care too much. I'm more interested in how you're feeding yourself than how many arrows you have. I think I have been very lucky that I have had players that always seem to buy things like wagons, chests, and pack animals. And since I am running PF, the abundance of extradimensional spaces makes this a problem that goes away as the players gain power.

 

[turnip_farmer]

Check out Five Torches Deep.

Funny you should mention that, as I recently bought it.. This may well end up being what we run. But I find it odd that FTD has rules for carrying too much stuff; and rules for exhausting yourself by marching too far for too long; but these rules don't interact. Obviously this needs houseruling - encumbered players should reduce your resilience.

I also think the exhaustion rules seem a bit binary. You go from being fine and jogging along quite happily to suddenly being unable to move. I think degrees of exhaustion make more sense.

I'm also still kind of tempted by something like Ulfgeir suggested, that will force them to track what's carried where; rather than only how much. But I know there's only so much of this crap they will tolerate so I might have to dial that back.