D&D 5E Too many weapons?

I'm a DM and a player wants to enter my campaign with a warforged character. That's not really an issue but the fact he wants to equip 4 weapons and a backpack on his loadout is. It includes a 2H maul, heavy X-bow with 20 bolts, hatchet and a dagger. Oh, and a backpack as well containing smithy tools to repair his character. Is this even remotely possible? Should his character be penalized with disadvantage on initiative and dex rolls? Do others allow this number of weapons? Just curious what other dm's allow?

I carry a hatchet and dagger every time I go on a long bushwalk. They don't really enter into the equation of being cumbersome at all. I would imagine pretty much any outdoors person carries as hatchet, and every PC carries a dagger, in addition to their normal weapons. So all he is really looking to do is carry one big ranged weapon and one big melee weapon, I can't see that being an issue. I could carry a sledgehammer and a crossbow without much of a problem.

Truth be told, I would expect every melee PC to have something like this. It sound really reasonable. A guy carrying a shield, longsword, longbow and dagger should not raise an eyebrow.

Smithy tools are an abstraction that is just a bit silly, but is standard to the fantasy genre and should not really worry you either. It is always a bit unclear about just what that entails. Is it just hammer, tongs and files, or does it include a small anvil, which I imagine would be a pain to carry, but no moreso than a metal shield.

In short, I don't see a problem here.

Low level:




And then high level:



(not the same guy, I know, but still)


This guy looks a little overburdened:




Or you could get wholly ridiculous:

No, that's about right. Most adventurers should be carrying around four weapons, on average. Even a wizard should have a staff, dagger, and crossbow.

The only question is with the smithing tools, which are too vague to know how reasonable they are.

As per the PHB.154, smithing tool's will weigh 8 lbs. I would assume it doesn't include an anvil (the lightest of which come around 75lbs according to Google.), and the hammer itself would weigh a few pounds. This leads me to assume a smithing kit is only the most basic of tools.

Additionally, if you wish to keep your character's load capacity in check, you could enforce encumbrance rules. At a strength of 16, maximum carry weight would be 240lbs (STRx15), and light encumbrance would be felt at 80lbs( 33% load capacity). A weight between 80 and 160 (33%-66%) would reduce movement speed by 10. Between 160 and 240 (66%-100%), your movement is reduced by 20 and you have disadvantage on ability checks, attack rolls, and CON/STR/DEX saves.

When determining what might be overkill, it's important to recognize a few things about relative weight. A 2hand Maul weighs 10lbs, while a heavy xbow weighs 18lbs. This may seem like a lot, but scale mail and half plate are about 40lbs each, while Chain, splint, and plate are 55, 60, and 65lbs respectively. A handaxe and dagger are 2 and 1 lbs. In total, plate armor+Maul+xbow+handaxe+dagger comes to 96lbs. If your player's strength is less than 18, you could impose a movement penalty. This is before considering the weight of other misc items he may carry, as well as the weight of gold.

Overall, I would say the equipment loadout is fine. For a weaker character, the loadout would be a great strain. For a strong fighter-type character, it would be a regular load.

i'd have no qualms whatsoever about carrying 4 weapons like the player wants to.

russkiemikhail said:

I'm a DM and a player wants to enter my campaign with a warforged character. That's not really an issue but the fact he wants to equip 4 weapons and a backpack on his loadout is. It includes a 2H maul, heavy X-bow with 20 bolts, hatchet and a dagger. Oh, and a backpack as well containing smithy tools to repair his character. Is this even remotely possible? Should his character be penalized with disadvantage on initiative and dex rolls? Do others allow this number of weapons? Just curious what other dm's allow?

Click to expand...

I'd allow it. That's a primary melee weapon, primary ranged weapon, and a few small tools. Seems perfectly reasonable to me. If you're really concerned, you can use either of the options in the Player's Handbook, page 176. Make the player do the math, but check his work.

things haven't changed much in the real modern world...



although the guys have certainly heavy load penalty.

I think many games and game systems undervalue encumbrance for playability reasons; just as action movies, video games, and various other fiction drastically undervalue the severity of injuries such as stab wounds, gun shots, and/or concussions sustained when an individual is "knocked out". The concept of a "sheathed" polearm is, in many cases utterly ridiculous. That said:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/...s-from-the-Battle-of-Hastings-to-Helmand.html





Of course, one wonders about the extent to which a soldier would actually enter battle with all this equipment, as opposed to merely carrying it around when travelling.

russkiemikhail said:

I'm a DM and a player wants to enter my campaign with a warforged character. That's not really an issue but the fact he wants to equip 4 weapons and a backpack on his loadout is. It includes a 2H maul, heavy X-bow with 20 bolts, hatchet and a dagger. Oh, and a backpack as well containing smithy tools to repair his character. Is this even remotely possible? Should his character be penalized with disadvantage on initiative and dex rolls? Do others allow this number of weapons? Just curious what other dm's allow?

Click to expand...

A melee weapon and a ranged weapon is pretty much always allowed by every gaming group. Additional smaller weapons rarely make a difference on top of your main two weapons.

I don't even think there is much of a practical problem in allowing infinite encumbrance. Even if someone had 100 weapons, it wouldn't make much of a difference in practical gameplay. She could occasionally switch to a weapon better for the current foe, but most of the times it would be a small advantage. I don't allow this myself, but my reason has to do with making narrative sense, not with balance.

I wouldn't worry about balance. Just make a choice that caters to your narrative preferences:

- you can enforce strict encumbrance rules and add your own judgment about volume (since the official rules take into account only the weight but not the size)
- you can just use a rule-of-thumb
- you can handwave everything except the extremes
- you can gift the PCs with a bag of holding and ignore the problem

If you notice, the vast majority of gaming groups already does something similar with treasure. IMXP nearly every group allowes you to buy stuff using your total GP, and never asks how do you manage to carry around 10k of gold coins...