D&D (2024) Chaosmancer Martial Brews

[Chaosmancer]

Please excuse the pedantry, but.... With a 21 Str and being Huge, a Hill Giant can carry 1,260 lbs., but it can lift 2,520 lbs. Assuming the standard rules (i.e., not using the Variant Encumbrance), the Hill Giant can lift and use anything up to that 2,520 lbs., but anything above 1,260 lbs. will cause the giant's Speed to drop to 5 ft. The Variant Encumbrance is less forgiving.

However, your point remains.

Yeah, I came up with the same numbers, and since ogres have a speed of 40ft, not 5ft, I knew something had to change.

Diminutive? 5e doesn't have that as a size category.

Yeah, I know. But I was getting frustrated. The smallest size of "tiny" covers everything under 2 ft. So, if you take something like your standard house cat and say it can easily carry 3 lbs and drags anything 6 lbs or over... that feels about right. Bit high, but not bad...

Having a gecko able to drag 4 lbs? It was just too much. So I wanted another category for things under a foot, the really tiny creatures. I haven't even added it to my chart yet, but it just helped define that end of it for me.

Yeah, that's something that requires a table because not all calculators can do exponents other the square. That in mind, I made this fore easy reference (I love Excel) to compare the existing rules with your proposed replacement:

View attachment 288907

Yep, those numbers look like my own chart.

I also agree it isn't easy to do on the fly, but I counter that with... not needing to do it on the fly. Monster lifts rarely actually matter (that's why so few people complain about how weak huge and gargantuan monsters are) and for PC lifts I can just calculate it ahead of time and write it down. It will VERY rarely change for most PCs.

Okay, I see that you mean "carrying capacity" when you say "lift". That confused me for a minute.

Yeah, sorry. I find it weird that they made "lift" one of the three at the far end, because I think about this whole section as "how much can I pick up". I need to be better about that.

Instead of multiplying the carry or lift, you could instead have it increase the characters effective Str for the check:

DC 15 = Str +2
DC 20 = Str +4
DC 25 = Str +6
DC 30 = Str +8

This gets close to your original numbers, but trades calculation for table lookup. Which is worse depends on your POV.

On the whole, I do like your proposals.

Ooooh. As long as it is close I can use this for just faster estimates. I do agree, it ends up depending on which people prefer, but as long as the margin of error is small, I don't mind which is which.

 

[AnotherGuy]

I'm not sure if someone has mentioned it or if you've even seen it but this article I found to be pretty decent about Strength.

I have often wondered if this DMDave is our very own @dave2008?

 

[Yaarel]

I'm not sure if someone has mentioned it or if you've even seen it but this article I found to be pretty decent about Strength.

I have often wondered if this DMDave is our very own @dave2008?

Some of my takeaways from that DMDave article.

When it comes to Carry, Lift, Push, and Break, the size is more important than the Strength.

Generally, D&D games dont care about encumbrance, but they do care if someone can situationally plausibly break something or easily carry someone.

The weightlifting rules need a more comprehensive systematization, and hopefully simpler and intuitive.

The Strength bonus for d20 rolls generally work well.

But the Strength, size, and weightlifting capacities generally dont correspond well with each other.

 

[Yaarel]

I propose the following.


Size. Player characters are typically Medium, but Small or Large is also possible. To describe the physique and proportions of your body, choose any human body type, or an other body type that both you and your DM agree on.

Typically, the size of a creature correlates with both Strength and Constitution. For example, a Large creature tends to have both Strength and Constitution around +4 (with scores around 18).

A Large size has no mechanics in itself, but other mechanics can refer to it.


STR AND CON (SCORES): TYPICAL SIZE

+9 (28−29)
+8 (26−27): Gargantuan
+7 (24−25)
+6 (22−23): Huge
+5 (20−21)

+4 (18−19): Large
+3 (16−17)
+2 (14−15): Medium (Heavyweight) (Powerful Build)
+1 (12−13)
+0 (10−11): Medium (Lightweight)

−1 (8−9)
−2 (6−7): Small
−3 (4−5)
−4 (2−3): Tiny
−5 (0−1)


Carrying Capacity. The amount that you can carry depends on your size. Treat Medium (Heavyweight) as a separate size category.

• Your unencumbered carrying capacity is a load that is two sizes smaller or less.
• Any more than this, you become encumbered.
• Your encumbered carrying capacity is a load that is upto the same size as you.

• Unencumbered pushing or dragging is upto same size.
• Encumbered pushing or dragging is upto one size larger.

• Treat the carrying capacity of a quadruped as one size larger.

A load that is heavier than the above list requires a Strength (Weightlifting) Check. The DC is 10 + 5 for each size larger.

 

[Chaosmancer]

I'm not sure if someone has mentioned it or if you've even seen it but this article I found to be pretty decent about Strength.

I have often wondered if this DMDave is our very own @dave2008?

I had not seen that before. It was an interesting read, but most if were things I already knew. And... I find myself somewhat disagreeing with the final conclusion.

While I can see an argument to be made that opposed checks should get advantage or disadvantage due to size, I actually don't like the idea that a medium barbarian, no matter how strong, can't pry open the jaws of a gargantuan creature. It is simply too iconic a moment to deny to players.

 

[AnotherGuy]

I had not seen that before. It was an interesting read, but most if were things I already knew. And... I find myself somewhat disagreeing with the final conclusion.

While I can see an argument to be made that opposed checks should get advantage or disadvantage due to size, I actually don't like the idea that a medium barbarian, no matter how strong, can't pry open the jaws of a gargantuan creature. It is simply too iconic a moment to deny to players.

That's fair, whatever works for your table.