D&D 4E Encumbrance in 4e

[Jan van Leyden]

My answer was Who cares... easily.

Encumbrance is a major pain in a sensitive part of your body, but what really baffles me is the unimaginative handling of encumbrance rules by all those character generators out there.

Why not calculate all encumbrance effects into the sheet and - very important - address possible changes. What happens if the character drops her backpack, her second greataxe? Why not prominently display how much room for weight a character has before the next penalty sets in?

Encumbrance as a rule only makes sense if it is fully supported by a character generator. If that's not the case: forget it.

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Huldvoll

Jan van Leyden

 

[Dykstrav]

When I was in the army there were times when we had to carry around quite a bit (about 20 to 30 pounds in gear, nevermind the backpack) and it was more about weight distribution than how much something weighed. Gortex web belts were a life-saver over the older, late '80s-early 90s web belts as they allowed for a more even distribution of weight over the entire torso and hips.

I can totally see that. Whenever I do script supervision, I typically carry about 20 pounds of gear on my person. I try to stuff any piece of gear I'll concievably need for the job on my person because those odd little pieces of gear save alot of time over the course of the day. But I barely carry any if I'm doing art department or grip/electrical. Carrying around gear all day wears you out.

BDUs and vests (with tons of pockets) are a real lifesaver.

 

[JVisgaitis]

I just hope that when the weights do come out, WotC applies some common sense. If I see another 25 lbs sword I'll lose my mind.