Does Anyone Find the Encumbrance Amounts Unrealistic?

[El Mahdi]

It seems to be a sub-mechanic designed with only ease of remembering and ease of play in mind, rather than also accounting for realism. A good amount of D&D mechanics have only this as their base, instead of also considering realism.

I however believe that things can be realistic, and still be easy to remember and resolve, and also remain fun and flexible (easy to adapt) for other specific feels. It just takes keeping realism in mind as much as these other aspects. I've found that in general, it's usually easier to add, rather than subtract...and in this area even more so. Removing aspects of a system that are unrealistic is a very complicated endeavor...unless those aspects are already there. Then if one wants aspects with other feels, simply add them on or ignore "realistic" aspects in favor of something else.

Unfortunately, too many designers don't do this...leading to the inevitable occurance of a player suddenly going "Hey, wait a minute...that just doesn't seem right..."

 

[Kzach]

According to http://www.powerliftingwatch.com/files/PLWR-M-03-19-12.pdf deadlift world records (by weight class/gender) range between 573 lbs and 1,015 lb. Sounds like they got it about right.

20 strength (max possible in D&D for adventuring human) = 1,000 lb dead lift.

D'oh! That'll teach me to post when I'm suffering insomnia. I read 506kg as pounds...

Gods, I can't even imagine lifting that much weight. 80kg hurts me to lift. Still, I think the scale is whacky if that means it gives me a strength of 3.5. 80kg deadlift isn't that bad.