HELP! Reduce ENC @ Level 3?

[Nellisir]

My solution, so far, is to carry what's light and most necessary on my PC, and toss the rest into a pack... When I toss the pack, however, I lose all my food except one meal, all but one waterskin, all my ropes, grapnel, bedroll, blankets, clothes, gallon pot (for purifying water), mug, instrument, soap, extra weapon, and whetstone. Most of that I can probably live without (and my PC is smart enough to have extra food and water on the mount, as well), but being too weak to have food and water with my PC worries me...

Well, I'd ditch the soap as a first step. Being clean is nice, but not at the expense of a meal.

I don't have the PH in front of me, but I didn't think the first set of clothes was counted. If you've got a second, ditch those.

Bedroll + blankets is redundant. A bedroll keeps you warm at night. Ditch one or the other.

You count the weight of a mug? That's harsh.

Ditto on the pot. I realize it's quasi-reasonable in todays world, but I don't think it was so until the late 1800s. Anyways, you can share the pot with other characters. Make one of them carry it.

Cheers
Nell.

 

[Trainz]

Heh! We're THIRD level, Trainz! I have two magic items (the armor and Everburning Torch), and three MW items (bow, I forget what else). I don't see how any of that has anything to do with decreasing ENC.

I'm trying to give you options here man.

You're not going to reduce your encumbrance without sacrificing AC. Depending on how close you are to your limit, there's a certain min-maxing to be done. I just wanted to toy with digits and try to help you out.

On an related note, let's assume you have a +1 full-plate (you didn't tell me). At low levels it is much more important to have a +1 weapon than a +1 armor, since many critters have DR x/magical. You could ask your DM (if the game hasn't started yet) to switch your FP+1 (2650 gp) for a +1 weapon, which would leave you about 300 g.p. (800 gp total with your remaining 500 g.p.).

With that 800, you can either buy a half plate (but the weight would remain the same), or a banded mail (clearing 15 pounds if that's the only thing you need to clear). With the remaining coins, you could buy silk rope instead of hemp rope, clearing another 5 pounds for each rope thusly swapped.

In thruth, if you're die-hard on your AC, you're just going to have to accept the penalties you encumbrance gives you for the time being. Note that being 3rd level, the next level gives you a stat increase, which you could put on strength, thus giving you an encumbrance boost.

 

[Joshua Randall]

It's a small thing, but be sure to convert all your excess coins into gems.

I used to track encumbrance in detail, but now I just don't care. I look at the PC's armor to see if his speed is reduced, and other than that, pfft! It's a game. Tell your DM to lighten up.

 

[Thanee]

Any half-orc barbarians you could get to take part of your stuff? They're like pack mules, but different.

Yeah, and then they walk onto that trap door and fall through into a stream of lava, taking all your equipment with them...

That actually happened to our Str 7 Mystic Theurge... altho the loss for the Hobgoblin Fighter was a bit more... severe...

Bye
Thanee

 

[DragonShadow]

Even with any weak characters I may happen to roll up, I have never managed to make myself encumbered right from the start. The real question is:

What possessed you to buy so much crap in the first place?


By what I can see, all of your "essential" gear is near to being useless. The rations and the waterskin, those are fine. The bedroll, way to go. Everburning Torch...alright, not something I would have gone with, but if you can't see in the dark, you can't see in the dark. Rope. I don't think I've ever bothered buying hemp rope, since it weighs an extra 5lbs over the silk, and isn't as tough. Spring the extra gp and buy silk rope, man. -.- Are you really going to be that cheap?

Instrument? Unless you're a bard, you don't need one of those, and I have yet to encounter a DM that would count a Bard's instrument against his weight unless he was trying to carry a Grand Piano on his back.

What do you need a mug for, even if the thing is practically weightless? Waterskins are designed that you can drink straight out of them. Unless you're planning on going into "the ruins" and finding a keg, ditch the mug.

You really, honestly, and truly don't need much other than that. Some tindertwigs would be nice, since you'll need a fire, but you can buy a million and one of them for 2gp and they don't take up any weight. (That was an exaggeration, don't take me seriously. -.-)

You can also try and, oh...I don't know...rely on your fellow party members? If the campaign is such that you've all never met before and are just going to be meeting up to go into some dark, dank, scary place where nobody in their right mind would have any business in going...then, fine, I guess you're going to have to have your own stuff for the RP reasons. You can still ditch a lot of the crap that you have. Rethink your load.

If the PC's happen to know each other and are meeting each other up to go adventuring in said place, then take a leap of faith and assume you're not going to be the only one trying to supply the party.



I don't think you named your character Oaka XXIII, Merchant Extrordinaire, did you?

 

[Thanee]

First, are you sure you need to detail the Encumbrance ? "Standard D&D" typically goes by the armor, shield, and weapons only, unless you are carrying a lot of stuff.

I'm pretty sure that Standard D&D actually lists weight for all that 'stuff', so it's probably meant to be included in the encumbrance... and that can add up pretty fast, if you don't have an 18 Str.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Thanee]

There are three possible solutions to this problem:

1) Just go with medium encumbrance.
2) Drop some weight, only keep onto the essentials, and I mean essentials. That is, stuff you need to survive. Any extra carrying capacity can be 'spent' on luxuries (of course to some characters soap is not a luxury, but rather necessary for survival, keep that in mind ).
3) Better distribute. Keep your essentials (see 2)) with you and all the stuff, that you don't want to drop, but that isn't really essential, on your horse.

Meanwhile, save for a bag of holding or a travel cloak (MoF), those will reduce the weight you need to carry considerably.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Goobermunch]

An alternate, and elegant solution. 15 gp buys you a cart. You've already got a horse.

Presto! Instant gear storage.

How often do you engage in mounted combat anyway?

--G

 

[Silveras]

I'm pretty sure that Standard D&D actually lists weight for all that 'stuff', so it's probably meant to be included in the encumbrance... and that can add up pretty fast, if you don't have an 18 Str.

Bye
Thanee

Granted. But the SRD, and the PH, indicate that most of the time, you just need to worry about how much the armor and weapons slow you down. I know some DMs who play it exactly that way. All I am saying is, don't assume you have to account for all the weight without checking, first.

 

[Deadguy]

I encountered (and still have) this problem in a campaign I started last year. It was made worse by the fact that we were travelling in mountains and would have to possibly climb, so we couldn't take any pack animals at all. Combine that with playing a TWF-ranger and I was in a world of pain.

The solution was to carry only a minimum amount on my person and in my pack. I managed to get the weight down to just under my Light load limit. The rest of my gear went in a good quality sack, which I tied over my shoulder, so I could drop it as a free action.

Now I no longer had that gear. We were attacked by a large orc force, and were forced to retreat from the fight. Still, I had enough food left on me that I could afford to hunt for the party.

Encumbrance in these circumstances is meant to be a problem (if it's not, then the DM doesn't bother tracking encumbrance in my experience, just keeps track of armour and weapon load!). The best advice is to see if you can share the load out. Failing that, split up your stuff into ditchable and otherwise. Miss out on what you can, put what else you can on the horse (better that it's encumbered than you are - unless all of you are mounted). And look forward to the day when you get a HHH or BoH (or even a mule!)