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Pet Peeve: Weapon Weights
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<blockquote data-quote="Hautamaki" data-source="post: 6045258" data-attributes="member: 42219"><p>Encumbrance is actually fairly easy to bookkeep when you have a good system.</p><p></p><p>I go by 'stones'; that archaic British unit of measurement that equals about 14 lbs. 'Stone' is a perfect unit of weight for DnD for so many reasons.</p><p></p><p>1) Very few people outside of England know exactly what it equals so they don't have a clear frame of reference to nitpick at.</p><p></p><p>2) Its archaic nature makes it fit into the DnD fantasy world nicely.</p><p></p><p>3) 14 lbs is a nice big unit of measurement so that you don't have to calculate large figures to a very precise degree.</p><p></p><p>A character can carry a number of Stones equal to half his Strength Score without suffering any encumbrance penalty. Once he exceeds that number of Stones he is considered encumbered and suffers a penalty to movement and all strength based checks; he also suffers fatigue damage to his HP every hour of travel and after every battle (or similar sustained exertion like sprinting or climbing a cliff). So there are only 2 conditions to track, and the encumbered condition is sufficiently onerous that PCs are likely to make every possible effort to avoid it.</p><p></p><p>Most weapons and shields weigh 1 stone. Of course they are normally lighter, but they count as a stone based also on how awkward they are to carry. Armour is much heavier than a weapon but because it is perfectly distributed, armour generally also weighs 1 stone for light, 2 for medium, and 3-4 for heavy. Ammo packs (eg a quiver of 20 arrows or 30 crossbow bolts) also weigh 1 stone. A large amount of coinage (I go with 200) weighs 1 stone. Potions, scrolls, amulets, helmets, daggers, throwing knives, and other small items of negligible weight can all be listed together as a single stone of miscellaneous gear, as long as a player isn't carrying a ridiculous amount like 20 daggers or something.</p><p></p><p>4 legged animals like horses and donkeys can carry or pull double their strength in stones rather than half, as 4 legs are much more efficient for moving heavy loads (but not necessarily for other strength based actions like attacking).</p><p></p><p>And that's it. Using this system, a 10 Str character can carry 5 stone worth of gear without being encumbered. That could include a primary weapon, a ranged weapon, plenty of ammo for that weapon, light armour, and some coinage and miscellaneous gear. In other words: not a lot. But the average Fighter is clearly not going to be a Str 10 character. Well trained soldiers that would have to carry and fight with a lot more gear would probably be at least Str 12 to 14 (if it bothers you that average soldiers would have above average strength for humans, another explanation could be that training as a soldier--or coolie for that matter--could count as a sort of feat or specialty that improves carrying capacity), while heroic adventurer Fighters are likely to have 16-20 Str and thus have no problem carrying around 1 weapon and a backup or shield, a ranged weapon with ammo, medium or even heavy armor, some adventuring gear and coinage, and still have some capacity left over for a bit of treasure. But still, if a big treasure haul is in the offing, even high strength characters most likely need to hire porters and/or pack horses/donkeys to get it all back to town.</p><p></p><p>I do think that tracking encumbrance is important. It can be a major balancing factor for certain types of equipment. It prevents a fighter from carrying around 6 types of primary weapon for example. It also means that going with heavier armor for example is a serious trade-off in terms of how many other sorts of useful gear like potions you can bring into a dungeon. This gives a DM a firm baseline of what sorts of drawbacks a player incurs when choosing what equipment to bring into a dungeon.</p><p></p><p>Those who want to hand wave it or just don't think that the balance issues are important or fun don't even have to turn this into a module or anything; just give every character a bag of holding or a cloak of many pockets--problem basically solved instantly.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Hautamaki, post: 6045258, member: 42219"] Encumbrance is actually fairly easy to bookkeep when you have a good system. I go by 'stones'; that archaic British unit of measurement that equals about 14 lbs. 'Stone' is a perfect unit of weight for DnD for so many reasons. 1) Very few people outside of England know exactly what it equals so they don't have a clear frame of reference to nitpick at. 2) Its archaic nature makes it fit into the DnD fantasy world nicely. 3) 14 lbs is a nice big unit of measurement so that you don't have to calculate large figures to a very precise degree. A character can carry a number of Stones equal to half his Strength Score without suffering any encumbrance penalty. Once he exceeds that number of Stones he is considered encumbered and suffers a penalty to movement and all strength based checks; he also suffers fatigue damage to his HP every hour of travel and after every battle (or similar sustained exertion like sprinting or climbing a cliff). So there are only 2 conditions to track, and the encumbered condition is sufficiently onerous that PCs are likely to make every possible effort to avoid it. Most weapons and shields weigh 1 stone. Of course they are normally lighter, but they count as a stone based also on how awkward they are to carry. Armour is much heavier than a weapon but because it is perfectly distributed, armour generally also weighs 1 stone for light, 2 for medium, and 3-4 for heavy. Ammo packs (eg a quiver of 20 arrows or 30 crossbow bolts) also weigh 1 stone. A large amount of coinage (I go with 200) weighs 1 stone. Potions, scrolls, amulets, helmets, daggers, throwing knives, and other small items of negligible weight can all be listed together as a single stone of miscellaneous gear, as long as a player isn't carrying a ridiculous amount like 20 daggers or something. 4 legged animals like horses and donkeys can carry or pull double their strength in stones rather than half, as 4 legs are much more efficient for moving heavy loads (but not necessarily for other strength based actions like attacking). And that's it. Using this system, a 10 Str character can carry 5 stone worth of gear without being encumbered. That could include a primary weapon, a ranged weapon, plenty of ammo for that weapon, light armour, and some coinage and miscellaneous gear. In other words: not a lot. But the average Fighter is clearly not going to be a Str 10 character. Well trained soldiers that would have to carry and fight with a lot more gear would probably be at least Str 12 to 14 (if it bothers you that average soldiers would have above average strength for humans, another explanation could be that training as a soldier--or coolie for that matter--could count as a sort of feat or specialty that improves carrying capacity), while heroic adventurer Fighters are likely to have 16-20 Str and thus have no problem carrying around 1 weapon and a backup or shield, a ranged weapon with ammo, medium or even heavy armor, some adventuring gear and coinage, and still have some capacity left over for a bit of treasure. But still, if a big treasure haul is in the offing, even high strength characters most likely need to hire porters and/or pack horses/donkeys to get it all back to town. I do think that tracking encumbrance is important. It can be a major balancing factor for certain types of equipment. It prevents a fighter from carrying around 6 types of primary weapon for example. It also means that going with heavier armor for example is a serious trade-off in terms of how many other sorts of useful gear like potions you can bring into a dungeon. This gives a DM a firm baseline of what sorts of drawbacks a player incurs when choosing what equipment to bring into a dungeon. Those who want to hand wave it or just don't think that the balance issues are important or fun don't even have to turn this into a module or anything; just give every character a bag of holding or a cloak of many pockets--problem basically solved instantly. [/QUOTE]
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