Rage question

[Li Shenron]

Do you always take into account the speed increase when a Barbarian rages?

Since he gets a +4 in Strength, his carrying capacity increase, and with the same load he is very likely to switch from "medium load" to "light load", or from "heavy load" to "medium load".

As per the PHB table, a +5 in Strength exactly doubles the numbers for carrying capacity (for Strengths above 10), so with the +4 from Rage it should be very often that you find your medium-loaded Barbarian becoming light-loaded, and should increase his speed and max Dex to AC, isn't it?

It seems a pain to recalculate this all times (I'd probably go with some pre-calculations...) but the benefit for the character are way too important to forget, IMO!

 

[Crothian]

Good Point. It is something most people seem to forget. I'd go with the pre calculations.

 

[Deadguy]

I think that if you play any character whose Strength is likely to change regularly (through buffs, Rage ability or magic items), it's worth jotting down at least part of the relevant Strength table (it's easy enough to cut-and-paste from the System Resource Document )

For a Barbarian, you tend to get to know where you stand relative to the Load boundaries, so you can adjust fairly automatically.

 

[Archer]

Gee, I can't remember a time I've had a character at anything other than light load. Now a 6 str halfling means that's only 10 lbs but its doable. Barbarians are so incredibly strong and don't wear heavy armor I have trouble visualizing a heavy load.

 

[Christian]

IME, Barbarians are usually wearing Medium armor, which makes it pretty much irrelevant whether they are carrying a light or medium load ...

Now, a Barbarian/Ranger, on the other hand ...

 

[Deadguy]

Gee, I can't remember a time I've had a character at anything other than light load. Now a 6 str halfling means that's only 10 lbs but its doable. Barbarians are so incredibly strong and don't wear heavy armor I have trouble visualizing a heavy load.

I agree it's possible. A lot depends on factors like:

(i) how many PCs there are (some stuff doesn't need duplicating in a party, so it can be shared out widely)
(ii) proprtion of musclebound heroes in the party!
(iii) availability of either Strength-enhancing or Load-diminishing magic
(iv) whether a party uses pack animals (and a DM's attitude to beasts of burden)
(v) the level of detail in equipment carried (do you keep track of everything or just approximate?)

As such it's hardly surprising that people have widely varying experiences. For my own campaign, we use a spreadsheet to keep track of equipment carried, and I can assure you that a small party can quite easily find itself struggling with the load of equipment carried!

 

[Li Shenron]

Well, I guess that if a Barbarian wears a Medium Armor, then it has the speed reduction NO MATTER how much weight he is carrying, and in that case it doesn't benefit from the Rage about it (he may however have a higher Max Dex to AC from the Armor alone than from the load).

And a Barbarian with a light armor is probably also on light load overall, so maybe the case doesn't come up that often.