Encumbrance - how strict are you?

[Hairfoot]

As a DM, I'm a bit lax about encumbrance. It sometimes occurs to me that players seem to be lugging about 5000gp, a battering ram, and an arsenal of equipment. If I notice I'll usually query it, but I don't pore over character sheets to make sure that PC X is carrying 37.5lb and not 39lb.

How strict are you with PC carrying capacity, or how strict is your DM with you?

 

[marune]

As a DM, I'm a bit lax about encumbrance. It sometimes occurs to me that players seem to be lugging about 5000gp, a battering ram, and an arsenal of equipment. If I notice I'll usually query it, but I don't pore over character sheets to make sure that PC X is carrying 37.5lb and not 39lb.

How strict are you with PC carrying capacity, or how strict is your DM with you?

I use some Excel sheet to manage players equipement list. Those are updated at each level change. When Bag of Holding, Portable Hole and HHH are used, there is rarely a emcumbrance issue.

 

[Bad Paper]

I'm more strict with how-much-loot-can-you-haul-out-of-this-dungeon. I have required the party to get a wagon and mule team before. The party is pretty good in self-regulating the amount of stuff they carry around, so I don't get heavy on encumbrance, except when someone is required to be Lightly loaded, for example.

 

[Li Shenron]

As a DM, I'm a bit lax about encumbrance. It sometimes occurs to me that players seem to be lugging about 5000gp, a battering ram, and an arsenal of equipment. If I notice I'll usually query it, but I don't pore over character sheets to make sure that PC X is carrying 37.5lb and not 39lb.

How strict are you with PC carrying capacity, or how strict is your DM with you?

I quite dislike the "grab everything" attitude of certain games, so when I notice that the characters are load with too much stuff, I usually ask the players to think about it for a second and be more responsible. Leave something at home before adventuring, and when looting make a choice about what can you reasonably take.

If the players refuse, only then I check the encumbrance rules, and that can easily result in more restrictions for them that I would have thought of...

 

[Thanee]

Not very strict. PCs are usually quite reasonably equipped.

And at some point there is the bag of holding to take care of that.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Yair]

I'm strict when making characters, and when managing them off-game - when I have the time to go over the finer points. In-game, I just play it by ear (having the done the math in character generation gives a pretty good feel anyway).

 

[mirivor]

I am very careful to follow the encumbrance rules as a player.

As a DM, I do not make habit of questioning but I do ask for sheets now and then at random times. If I notice someone is being stupid (I once caught someone carrying 40, that is 40 with a zero, shortbows and no bags at all!) I wait until the most inconvenient time possible to point out that they cannot move due to their overburdened state.

After a few embarrassing moments, everyone caught on really quickly

It may sate some of you to know that the poor player that I caught like that never really lived it down. We comment on it nearly every week, envisioning this human ranger with both arms stuck straight out, shortbows draped from armpit to fingertips.

 

[werk]

I'm fairly strict. I wasn't strict at all until I calculated it and realized that the party was overloaded. Since then, I decided to keep a closer eye on it.

I think it gives an advantage to low strength characters if you don't manage it. The party also spends less money on magical containers, freeing up the money to items that have a better power to gp ratio.

 

[Infiniti2000]

As a DM, I'm a bit lax about encumbrance. It sometimes occurs to me that players seem to be lugging about 5000gp, a battering ram, and an arsenal of equipment. If I notice I'll usually query it, but I don't pore over character sheets to make sure that PC X is carrying 37.5lb and not 39lb.

A battering ram weighs only 1.5 lbs?

 

[Arnwyn]

How strict are you with PC carrying capacity, or how strict is your DM with you?

Strict. (But then, I'm an accountant IRL...!)