D&D 5E Encumbrance

[EzekielRaiden]

There is immediately a "bug" that i can think of; a 8-str wizard carrying a staff around. Is a staff heavy? Surely you can't cram 8 staves on your person. An 8-str character gets 0 heavy items allowed. Should 1 be allowed at a minimum?

Well, something that immediately sticks out to me is: why are you excluding the things you actually do carry around, literally in hand? That is, you're not counting the weight of worn armor, yet you are counting the weight of "wielded" weapons and shields. That seems strange to me! Why not count each piece of "equipped" gear as excluded? That gets around the "why can't a wizard lift his staff" problem without creating the "why can the wizard carry twelve staves without penalty" problem: the one staff actually "in hand" (or stowed, when needing both hands free) doesn't count, but any EXTRA weapons would.

To simplify issues of "multiple simultaneous-use items," e.g. sword-and-board or TWF, a character proficient in such stuff would consider sword-and-board (or two paired weapons) as a "single" heavy item, as long as they are kept together. If they are separated for some reason, they both count individually as heavy items unless properly paired again.

That way, a Paladin could swap from mace-and-shield to greatsword and not spontaneously "gain" an extra heavy item out of nowhere, nor "reduce" her load by switching back.

 

[Madeiner]

Well, something that immediately sticks out to me is: why are you excluding the things you actually do carry around, literally in hand? That is, you're not counting the weight of worn armor, yet you are counting the weight of "wielded" weapons and shields. That seems strange to me! Why not count each piece of "equipped" gear as excluded? That gets around the "why can't a wizard lift his staff" problem without creating the "why can the wizard carry twelve staves without penalty" problem: the one staff actually "in hand" (or stowed, when needing both hands free) doesn't count, but any EXTRA weapons would.

To simplify issues of "multiple simultaneous-use items," e.g. sword-and-board or TWF, a character proficient in such stuff would consider sword-and-board (or two paired weapons) as a "single" heavy item, as long as they are kept together. If they are separated for some reason, they both count individually as heavy items unless properly paired again.

That way, a Paladin could swap from mace-and-shield to greatsword and not spontaneously "gain" an extra heavy item out of nowhere, nor "reduce" her load by switching back.

Your idea really make sense.
If you can exclude your current wielded weapons while they are in your hands, then you can carry ONE staff or two-handed sword in your hands. You just cannot hang it on your back. You will have to leave it along the wall somewhere if you want to open the door, which is something that always happens in movies, but never in rpgs.

On the other hand, a paladin probably cannot have his weapons drawn at all times, so he better have enough heavy slots for that shield or that two-handed sword.

 

[Mercule]

Encumbrance is one of those rules that I like in theory, but in practice I find is more hassle than it's worth - it's too much work for too little value-add.

Yeah. The first time I used it was when I had an argumentative player trying to carry something like four chests out of the dungeon -- and fight normally while doing so.

In theory, I do a periodic check of encumbrance, but don't make players track it real-time. In practice, I inflict the pain of calculating it once. After that, if they start to carry enough for me to think about it, I give them the option of either going with my gut feeling (DMO) or recalculating their encumbrance. I can't ever remember anyone choosing door number two.

 

[Kobold Stew]

Deep down I believe that if the designers actually intended us to track encumbrance, they would have given weights for the equipment packs.

I mean seriously, has anyone totalled them up?

 

[redrick]

I think the restrictiveness of the variant encumbrance is a deliberate feature rather than a bug. If I'm going to go to the trouble of closely tracking my inventory, it's going to be because it's constantly relevant. It becomes the backpacker's D&D, where you're constantly looking at the trade offs of versatility in what you're carrying vs being able to move without encumbrance.

Furthermore, we should expect characters under this rule to sometimes be encumbered. And we'll see a lot more pack animals.

The numbers also feel reasonable. As a young man, I was probably at least 14 strength (athlete, laborer), but I didn't exactly skip under a 60 pound pack.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

Deep down I believe that if the designers actually intended us to track encumbrance, they would have given weights for the equipment packs.

I mean seriously, has anyone totalled them up?

Did just that a few days ago to assist in character creation. Some of the items in the packs aren't actually on the equipment list though, so you just have to guess (fortunately I'm DM so I can).

 

[not-so-newguy]

I like the slot system used from this character inventory sheet found here: http://www.reddit.com/r/DnDBehindTh.../5e_inventory_tracking_sheet_with_simplified/


(All this is noted on the sheet for easy reference)
-padded/ leather armor 2 slots
-studded/hide 3 slots
-chain shirt/ breast plate 4 slots
-half plate/ring mail 8 slots
-scale mail 9 slots
-chain mail 11 slots
-splint 12 slots
-Plate mail 13


You can carry a number of items equal to your Strength score without suffering penalties.

If you carry more than your Strength score, you are encumbered, which means your speed drops by 10 feet. (Dwarves may ignore this penalty.)

If you carry more than twice your Strength score, you are instead heavily encumbered, which means your speed drops by 20 feet and you have disadvantage on ability checks, attack rolls, and saving throws that use Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution.

You cannot carry more than three times your Strength score.

• Worn clothing or jewelry, soft containers, and items that you can conceal in your palm do not count towards encumbrance.

• Items (and bundles of similar items) that you can hold in one hand fill 1 slot.

• Easy: 5 torches, oil flasks, or rations fill 1 slot.
Hard: 1 torch, oil flask, or ration fills 1 slot.

• Items that require two hands fill 2 slots.

• Very large items (such as chests) fill 1 slot for every 5 pounds of weight. (Round up.)

• Every 250 coins or gems fill 1 slot. (Round up.)

Note: I did not create this, it just seems like the best solution to the encumbrance dilemma.
Version 2.2 [MENTION=25785]Carl[/MENTION]jonard

 

[The Crimson Binome]

-Plate mail 13
You can carry a number of items equal to your Strength score without suffering penalties.

I've played games like this before. The sticky part is the area between "plate armor" and "plate armor and a greatsword".

Iconically, we expect the strong person to be wearing heavy armor and use a heavy weapon. Depending on how encumbrance breaks down, though, you might end up with someone who can only carry one or the other. The impressive bruiser with the giant axe might be restricted to light armor, while the implacable knight in shining armor is reduced to wielding a dagger. At least, that's the common pitfall. I don't see weapons anywhere on this chart, so I'm not sure how they're supposed to interact.

 

[not-so-newguy]

I've played games like this before. The sticky part is the area between "plate armor" and "plate armor and a greatsword".

Iconically, we expect the strong person to be wearing heavy armor and use a heavy weapon. Depending on how encumbrance breaks down, though, you might end up with someone who can only carry one or the other. The impressive bruiser with the giant axe might be restricted to light armor, while the implacable knight in shining armor is reduced to wielding a dagger. At least, that's the common pitfall. I don't see weapons anywhere on this chart, so I'm not sure how they're supposed to interact.

One handed items are 1 slot, two handed are 2 slots.

Plate mail + two handed sword = 15 slots.

A character with 15 strength could carry these two items with no penalties. Extra slots taken up to 30 will penalize the this PC 10 feet reduction in movement (a dwarf receives no penalties). 30-45 slots incur heavy penalties (it's listed above, I can't remember). The character can not carry more than 45 slots.

Eta the worst penalty a plate mail fighter would receive is a 10 foot movement reduction. I'm fine with this, YMMV

 

[Sword of Spirit]

I'm just not sure it's really any easier to create custom systems where you are tracking item slots or numbers of items of particular types, etc.

 

[Warunsun]

Deep down I believe that if the designers actually intended us to track encumbrance, they would have given weights for the equipment packs.

I mean seriously, has anyone totalled them up?

Yes. Further, using Variant encumbrance encourages the player to dump items out of their background gear they would never need for their play-style.

 

[Warunsun]

I'm just not sure it's really any easier to create custom systems where you are tracking item slots or numbers of items of particular types, etc.

Actually, it can be a nightmare. LOL.

When my gamers started playing Castles & Crusades we tried their Equipment Value system. At first blush it seems reasonable to read. However, in implementation it was a nightmare. We stuck with it for a while and eventually I had to implement a system almost identical to the 5th Edition Variant Encumbrance for everyone's sanity. About the only difference under C&C I was envisioning coins being a more reasonable roman size instead of the over-sized gold pirate Doubloons often pictured in D&D stuff. So I let them have 100 coins to a pound.

When we started our D&D game I just used the standard coin weights listed in the 5E books.

 

[Warunsun]

If using Variant Encumbrance, how does the dwarvish racial trait interact?
I'm inclined to not count the armour weight when figuring the weight carried.

This is exactly how I have done it. I have them totally everything up including their armor weight but subtract it off again before considering encumbrance.

The funny thing is during the campaign the only character that reported to a dungeon heavily encumbered was the party dwarf. He was carrying pretty much everything he found including a bunch of stuff he'd never use. After a good laugh he dug a hole in the ground and put some of the extra stuff in it and other garbage he chucked. I have seen our bard and cleric both leave a dungeon heavily encumbered but they also reconsidered the extra junk they were carrying. So for my campaign it has been a plus.

 

[designbot]

If using Variant Encumbrance, how does the dwarvish racial trait interact?

I made the tracking sheet referenced elsewhere in this thread.

The rules do not specify how the dwarf's racial feature works with variant encumbrance. Based on the rules for standard encumbrance, and similar rules in earlier editions, I think a good compromise would be to say that the dwarf does not suffer any speed penalty for being encumbered or heavily encumbered, but they do have disadvantage on ability checks, attack rolls, and saving throws that use Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution when they are heavily encumbered, and they cannot carry more than the standard carrying limit.

 

[EvanNave55]

Deep down I believe that if the designers actually intended us to track encumbrance, they would have given weights for the equipment packs.

I mean seriously, has anyone totalled them up?

I did, and I'm playing a character who is (pretending) to be a merchant. Plus ivve bought and am carrying every item I think id have from my background so ended up totalling up what was somewhere between 50-100 items. Only reason I can bring all this stuff (despite most of it being small things like soap or candles) is because I have a cart with me.

Id give you the list but I dont have my character sheet with me.

P.s. sorry for any spelling errors typing from a nook.

 

[Kobold Stew]

I did, and ...
Id give you the list but I dont have my character sheet with me.

P.s. sorry for any spelling errors typing from a nook.

No worries! Pot them when you can.