Does Anyone Find the Encumbrance Amounts Unrealistic?

[Kobold Avenger]

I know that 10 x Strength Score is easy math, but me and a friend of mine find it to be quite unrealistic...

Because assuming I'm average and not a weakling, I think I'd have quite a problem carrying 100 pounds and being able to hustle at my normal pace. 100 pounds is apparently the unencumbered limit for an average person. Now I know these pounds may be a different sort of measurement from British Imperial pounds from our world. But I feel that maybe they should just have it be 5 x Strength score (which is also pushing it a bit as I feel a lot of people would have a problem carrying 50 pounds), if they want something that's more realistic and fairly easy math, and apply the rule that what you wear as armour/clothing doesn't count towards encumbrance if that's another excuse for why the weight limit is so high.

 

[Morrus]

Yeah, it does sound a lot. 100lbs is like carrying round a small person; that's gonna get pretty tiring.

 

[IronWolf]

Yeah, looked at it in that perspective it seems a bit off.

It looks hard to find the right balance through a simple "multiply by" formula though. If you use 5 as the multiplier then it makes a STR score of 10 seem a little more reasonable, but now your fighter at 18 strength is only carrying 90 pounds.

 

[Gargoyle]

One good thing about the 10 x multiplier is that someone with a decent Strength can carry a wounded person off the battlefield without a reduction in speed, making escapes possible without abandoning people in a non-heroic fashion. I don't think player characters run away enough as it is; reducing the multiplier to 5 x would make it impossible.

Therefore, I'm in favor of leaving it as 10x for gameplay purposes, even though I agree it may not be realistic.

My only concern about encumbrance is that I don't think any armor should count toward your carrying capacity, since it's being worn. Heavy armor in particular already features a speed penalty.

 

[Klaus]

Yeah, looked at it in that perspective it seems a bit off.

It looks hard to find the right balance through a simple "multiply by" formula though. If you use 5 as the multiplier then it makes a STR score of 10 seem a little more reasonable, but now your fighter at 18 strength is only carrying 90 pounds.

You could add the Strength modifier to the Strength score before multiplying by 5.

Str 8 = 35 pounds weight allowance
Str 10 = 50 pounds weight allowance
Str 12 = 65 pounds weight allowance
Str 14 = 80 pounds weight allowance
Str 16 = 95 pounds weight allowance
Str 18 = 110 pounds weight allowance
Str 20 = 125 pounds weight allowance

 

[ThirdWizard]

As a skinny 16-19 year old with next to no muscle back in the day, I used to hike with 80-100 pounds for up to six hours a day. I don't think its too unrealistically high for carrying packs at least, based on my own experience.

 

[Kzach]

Maybe this would be a great opportunity to have D&D use an encumbrance score for items instead of weights?

Encumbrance scores take into account weight and difficulty in carrying based on size, awkwardness, etc. That way you could keep the simplicity of Str x 10 but also add in a great new mechanic for carrying items.

 

[Kzach]

I just did some basic math and realised how incredibly messed up the carrying capacity mechanics are.

I can deadlift a maximum of 180lbs (well, technically 80kg including the bar), once, and hold it for about five seconds before having to drop it. By DDN's numbers, that would give me a Strength score of 3.5.

The world record for a deadlift is 500lbs which would give this monster of a human being a measly strength score of 10.

 

[IronWolf]

The world record for a deadlift is 500lbs which would give this monster of a human being a measly strength score of 10.

Ouch! I hadn't looked at the lift and drag weight rules closely.

 

[Dausuul]

You could add the Strength modifier to the Strength score before multiplying by 5.

Str 8 = 35 pounds weight allowance
Str 10 = 40 pounds weight allowance
Str 12 = 65 pounds weight allowance
Str 14 = 80 pounds weight allowance
Str 16 = 95 pounds weight allowance
Str 18 = 110 pounds weight allowance
Str 20 = 125 pounds weight allowance

[Edited Something like this could work. This is the equivalent of "7.5 x Strength - 50," only easier to calculate and with some rounding errors. A 3E-style exponential system would be best, but it's hard to turn that into a clean formula.

(Note that by this formula, Strength 10 should be 50 pounds, not 40.)