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Message: <blockquote data-quote="designbot" data-source="post: 6572979" data-attributes="member: 6777589">You might be interested in my <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/rpgdownloads.php?do=download&downloadid=1232" target="_blank">simplified 5e encumbrance tracker</a>—the players just track the number of items they're carrying instead of the exact weight. It's tuned to work out about the same without as much math.I think there's value to tracking things like encumbrance, torches, food, water, ammunition, and especially time, if you can do it without making it a huge hassle—imagine how boring the game would be if every player had infinite hit points. It's all related—if you can carry an infinite amount of ammunition, food, water, and gold, and your torches never run out, then yes, it's pointless bookkeeping to keep track of it. It's only interesting when there's a real risk of hitting a limit, and consequences for doing so.For example, did you know that a waterskin only holds half a gallon, but you need to drink one gallon of water per day (two if the weather is hot)?PHB 185:To me, that's interesting. Now Survival skills and Create Water spells actually matter. Resting deep in a dungeon has some risk to it, and finding a fountain or a stream is a big deal. Why can't you just carry a month's worth of water in your pack? Encumbrance.What is the point of gold? Well, how about to pay for pack animals and hirelings to help you carry all your stuff? Maybe you've accumulated too much treasure to carry around, so now you need to build or buy a safe place to keep it, and hire trustworthy people to guard it.Of course, if you don't want to track these things, you can just hand wave it away, but by doing so, you do eliminate some interesting motivations and mechanics.</blockquote>

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