D&D 4E Encumbrance in 4e

[Nikosandros]

I'm fascinated by realistic systems for encumbrance, but in D&D I tend to ignore any encumbrance rule that's even mildly complicated: in 3e I usually only pay attention to armor and don't bother tracking equipment.

 

[Delta]

Again, I had a thread with an attached system a week or so back. My recommendation is that if you just measure weights in English "stone" (14 pound units), it works out that people can carry about their Strength score, most equipment scores 1/2 or 1 factor, lots of little stuff becomes negligible, and the total approximately matches the current skill check penalty, to boot. http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=205496

 

[Delta]

Man, it seems like I'm killing these threads dead (and taking their stuff, I guess).

 

[tlantl]

I'm okay with what we have but would like to see a bulk system added. A tent weighs so much but it also takes a lot of space. I really hate people being able to add a piano to their backpacks and still move so what if you can lift it how do you carry the thing. Exaggerated I know, but eight sacks filled to capacity with coins would do. a simple 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4 to add to the encumberance of a player when he opicks it up 4 being a burden while 0 is insignificant until five of them (or ten) are accumulated.

 

[TarionzCousin]

I promise to continue my decades-long tradition of ignoring encumbrance rules.

Bless you!

The only games where I've played that encumbrance has been used, I've managed to have a Strength of 8 or lower.

"No, I can't carry my own week's worth of food because my clothing is so d@*&#! heavy."

 

[Stalker0]

1st of all, add in conditions that ensures dumping strength will be penalized for characters like wizards.

After that, dump the encumberance system. Just have the major big items factor in, and specifically mention in a clause for new dms to feel free and limit a player if they are getting crazy and trying to carry 50 weapons and a house on their back.

 

[Nikosandros]

and taking their stuff, I guess

How many stones did it weigh?

 

[Delta]

How many stones did it weigh?

Not much, -e^(i * pi)

 

[Pale]

I'm not going to bog down the discussion with an argument for "realism," but I will mention that real-world police officers, soldiers, and the like carefully consider the weight of their gear and how easy it is to carry it on duty.

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.

 

[Jer]

I voted simpler, because I also have a decades long tradition of ignoring encumbrance rules. The system still hasn't reached a point where the versimilitude of measuring encumbrance outweighs the pain-in-the-neck aspects of measuring encumbrance.

One of these days, though, I'm going to run a "survivor" type D&D game again - where the PCs are dropped off somewhere in the wilderness without weapons, armor, or any equipment. I did that once with the Isle of Dread waaaay back in the day, and it was worth tracking encumbrance then - keeping track of how much food everyone could carry became really important in that game. And that was back when encumbrance was tracked in "coins" - it was kinda fun trying to answer "just how many coins worth of meat can you get off of a dead triceratops anyway"