RPG Evolution: Weight, What?

Picture courtesy of Pixabay.​

This mantra echoes through the mind of any experienced backpacker, a constant negotiation between necessity and comfort, safety and speed. Extended wilderness trips demand meticulous packing, where every item is weighed, scrutinized, and often grudgingly left behind. Philmont Scout Ranch taught me some strict guidelines: carry no more than 30% of your body weight. This isn't just a suggestion; it's a foundation for endurance and injury prevention. Yet, when factoring in essential consumables like food and water, this is no easy task. Here's what I learned the hard way.

The Relentless Math of the Pack​

Achieving that ideal 30% body weight target is a constant battle against gravity and temptation. As I experienced on the hike, even with fierce discipline, sacrifices are inevitable. Getting my base pack weight down to 35 lbs. often meant leaving behind creature comforts. A lightweight, foldable chair might seem like a luxury, but after miles on the trail, the promise of a comfortable seat can become a powerful motivator (I gave up mine in favor of an inflatable pad, no regrets there). Rain pants, initially deemed optional to save ounces, were sorely missed when a sudden downpour hit, leading to the beginnings of hypothermia (a LOT of regret about that one!). Every item, from an extra pair of socks to a favorite snack, adds to the total, forcing hikers to prioritize ruthlessly. It's a stark lesson in minimalism, where every personal item must justify its existence in ounces, not just in utility.

The Consumable Conundrum​

Even after stripping down to the bare essentials, the true weight challenge emerges with food and water. Water weighs approximately 2 lb. per liter; Philmont recommended 5 liters minimum per person (10 lbs). For a ten-person crew, even with careful rationing and planning for resupply, the initial water weight is substantial. Add to that the necessary caloric intake—around 3,000 calories per day per person for high-intensity activity (approximately 5 more lbs), which for a group of ten, translated to a considerable mass of food and cooking gear that must be carried. For my Philmont trek, these essentials pushed my pack weight past a daunting 50 lbs.

The good news is that this load doesn't remain static. As food is eaten and water is consumed, the pack naturally lightens, providing a small, much-anticipated psychological boost each day. The bad news is that this reduction is temporary. Strategic resupply at streams and camps is crucial, meaning the pack weight constantly fluctuates. We'd start the day off lighter, only to refill water at a river crossing and find the weight inceased, necessitating careful planning for where and when to carry maximum load.

Carrying the Burden​

The real-world struggle of managing pack weight finds a direct parallel in D&D's encumbrance and overland travel rules. Characters in D&D aren't immune to the laws of physics, and their carrying capacity can, depending on the campaign, affect adventurers quite a bit.

In D&D 5th (2024) a creature's normal carrying capacity is its Strength score multiplied by 15 pounds. For instance, a character with a Strength of 10 can comfortably carry up to 150 lbs, while a burly Strength 16 character can manage 240 lbs. However, many Dungeon Masters opt to use the Variant Encumbrance rules from the 2014 version, which add granular penalties for progressively heavier loads. Under these optional rules, a 50 lb. pack can quickly become a significant hindrance, even if it's below the absolute maximum carrying capacity.

• If a character carries weight in excess of 5 times their Strength score, they become encumbered, reducing their speed by 10 feet. For example, a character with a Strength of 8 would become encumbered at 40 lbs, meaning a 50 lb. pack would immediately reduce their movement. Even a Strength 10 character carrying 50 lbs would find their speed reduced by 10 feet.
• Should they carry weight exceeding 10 times their Strength score, they become heavily encumbered, suffering a 20-foot speed reduction and Disadvantage on D20 Tests involving Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution. While a 50 lb. pack wouldn't typically make a character heavily encumbered unless their Strength score was very low (e.g., 5 Strength makes 50 lbs heavily encumbered), the first tier of encumbrance is a common reality.

Overland travel further complicates this. Traveling at a normal pace covers 24 miles per day for 8 hours of marching, but this assumes relatively unencumbered movement. If a character is encumbered or heavily encumbered, their reduced speed translates directly to covering less ground each day, burning more resources (food, water, torches), and increasing exposure to random encounters.

We hiked 30 miles over 5 days at Philmont (not counting the first day at basecamp where we sleep over, and the fact that we spent half-days hiking on the second and last day), meaning our average daily travel was 6 miles per day. This was despite significant elevation changes (7,908' to 8,246') and the heavy 50 lb. packs. With 8 hours of travel, we were traveling at a Normal pace (4 miles per hour) of 24 miles per day, further complicated by:

• Difficult Terrain: D&D rules state that moving 1 foot in difficult terrain costs 2 feet of speed. While Philmont wasn't all difficult terrain, significant elevation changes, rocky trails, and even muddy patches due to storms certainly qualified. It effectively halved our speed for those segments, drastically reducing daily progress. The 24 miles per day became 12 miles per day.
• Elevation: We were at nearly 10,000 feet above sea level and I suffered from altitude sickness for two days: each hour such a creature spends traveling at high altitude counts as 2 hours for the purpose of determining how long that creature can travel. The 12 miles per day became 6 miles per day.

These factors do not include exhaustion rules, which (surprisingly) do not affect overland travel in D&D but certainly could. A DM could reasonably impose levels of exhaustion for characters pushing themselves with heavy loads over multiple days without adequate rest. It's worth noting that not all of my crew suffered from altitude sickness, just me, but the crew only moves as fast as its slowest member (my to my group's consternation as I kept taking breaks and asking for them to slow down their pace).

Add all this up, and our real-world pace of 6 miles per day matched the severe reductions caused by the effects of high altitude, heavy encumbrance, and difficult terrain. A DM aiming for realism might apply these layered penalties to make the journey an accurate, grueling test of endurance, just as we experienced.

The Weight of Adventure​

DMs have a powerful tool in encumbrance, not just for realism, but for narrative impact. Characters aren't just carrying their armor and weapons; they're hauling treasure from a goblin horde, vital rations for a besieged town, or the cumbersome magical artifact needed to save the world. The difference between a well-managed load and an overloaded party can define the pace, difficulty, and ultimately, the success of a quest.

Ultimately, the burden of carried weight can transform an adventure from a simple journey into a tactical challenge. A well-prepared party, making smart choices about what to carry and when to resupply, finds the adventure an exciting test of endurance. A heedless party, weighed down by unnecessary bulk, faces an excruciating slog, constantly fighting against the very gear meant to aid them, turning every step into a monumental effort. Using these rules fosters a healthy respect for logistics, making every ounce, every pound, truly matter. It certainly did for our hike.

 

[Celebrim]

No, it's a well-known fact that people value animals far more than they do other people. For instance, around here, you can be fined $100 if your child under 5 isn't restrained in a car seat. However, if you have a dog running around in your car and the police catch you, the fine is $1,000.

Errr... maybe people do value animals more than people, but in your example your reasoning is wrong. The reason you are fined more for a loose animal than a loose child is that it is assumed a loose animal is more likely to cause a traffic accident than a loose child.

 

[RealAlHazred]

Errr... maybe people do value animals more than people, but in your example your reasoning is wrong. The reason you are fined more for a loose animal than a loose child is that it is assumed a loose animal is more likely to cause a traffic accident than a loose child.

I have had both a dog and a child in the car, and I assure you, the child is far more likely to cause a traffic accident unless the dog is practically feral.

 

[AlViking]

I have had both a dog and a child in the car, and I assure you, the child is far more likely to cause a traffic accident unless the dog is practically feral.

Depending on age, the child by definition will virtually always be feral, so that makes sense.

 

[haakon1]

I can think of several things that would be situationally useful but too heavy to carry: Climbing kit, Crow bar, Shovel, Block and tackle etc…

Hearing people say tracking encumbrance is ‘unfun’ feels, to me, wanting to have their cake and eat it too.

At about 7th level, a party I was DMing encountered a lock - with an illustration - that the Rogue failed to open. The cleric said, “Wait, I have a crowbar!” He’d been carrying it on his character sheet from first level, and he explained what he’d lever to bust the lock. I let him roll for it, and he got it.

A fun use of inventory tracking, in our opinions.

 

[haakon1]

Sub thread here of (1) do you have magic shops, and (2) can PC’s just buy the magic items they want.

(1) I sort of do. In my many Greyhawk games, PC’s have come across magic dealers in 3 places. All are regulated by the Mages Guild and have a limited inventory, mostly potions and 1st-2nd level spells, with fancier ones maybe a random miscellaneous item or two, some armor, and a few weapons. They also have a limited fund for buying surplus items, and the trades of one group impact the inventory for the others. The magic dealer in Cauldron in Shackled City Adventure Path is one of the three I have, and only one of the hmm, 5 parties I’ve has in Greyhawk has been there.

(2) They have in stock what they have in stock. Finding a coveted item like a Bag of Holding in stock is rare, but in one case a PC sold his.

The one unique exception is the high level Wizard from a campaign I was a player in. When we ended that campaign, the player wanted his character to continue “offscreen” as a “teleport travel service and magic dealer”. I asked him if I could have a copy of the character sheet and use him as an NPC in the campaigns I DM’d.

He agreed, and I have been using that NPC for about 18 years now. My high-level knows him and contacts him by Sending if they want to trade. “Offscreen” he has a network of contacts and is a market maker, connecting buyers and sellers. He has a limited inventory of Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG’s): scrolls of Fireball, Sending, and Teleport. But for other things, it’ll take a few weeks and situations like a PC buying a Sword of the Planes led to them meeting the seller. Not everything is available, even with money and patience.

 

[RealAlHazred]

If there's not something specific about it in the setting (for instance, in Eberron magic item production is industrialized and controlled by guilds, and magic shops can easily be found as a result) then I follow the Real World. So, yes, I pretty much always have "magic shops".

EDIT: I should mention, the proprietor is most likely not a mage themself. They probably have some mage friends who pass things off to them to sell by consignment, and try to use their own judgement to acquire additional items; for intance, a magic shop I went to in NYC had a variety of old items once used in ceremonial magic by some magick practitioners in the 70s/80s, along with a bunch of New Age crystals, tarot cards, and the Necronomicon. My in-game magic shops are similar -- a hodgepodge of items that run the gamut from stuff that seems magical, to stuff that could probably be used to perform magic (material components), to items that might actually have some real power. Yes, the PC can use their detect magic to tell which ones actually are, but they still probably won't know what they do, unless the proprietor is extremely well-informed. That said, he might know what book you need to check out to learn the items' properties and command words...

 

[Micah Sweet]

If there's not something specific about it in the setting (for instance, in Eberron magic item production is industrialized and controlled by guilds, and magic shops can easily be found as a result) then I follow the Real World. So, yes, I pretty much always have "magic shops".

EDIT: I should mention, the proprietor is most likely not a mage themself. They probably have some mage friends who pass things off to them to sell by consignment, and try to use their own judgement to acquire additional items; for intance, a magic shop I went to in NYC had a variety of old items once used in ceremonial magic by some magick practitioners in the 70s/80s, along with a bunch of New Age crystals, tarot cards, and the Necronomicon. My in-game magic shops are similar -- a hodgepodge of items that run the gamut from stuff that seems magical, to stuff that could probably be used to perform magic (material components), to items that might actually have some real power. Yes, the PC can use their detect magic to tell which ones actually are, but they still probably won't know what they do, unless the proprietor is extremely well-informed. That said, he might know what book you need to check out to learn the items' properties and command words...

So does that mean you play exclusively in Eberron, and other settings with a similarly industrialized magic item economy? Interesting.

 

[RealAlHazred]

So does that mean you play exclusively in Eberron, and other settings with a similarly industrialized magic item economy? Interesting.

No. I run a huge gamut of times and settings. But I follow the Real World. So I almost always have a Magic Shop somewhere.

For instance, I'm currently running Traveller Hero. The campaign's current year by our reckoning is 5620 CE. Humans (and others) fly from star system to star system pursuing trade (or whatever). Antigrav tech exists.

And... there are magic shops on many worlds with a high population, and some with a low population.

Because people always believe in magic.

And if an NPC comes across some item of not-understood technology from a vanished practically-magical-high-tech precursor race, where do you think they're going to sell it? And it'll get stocked next to the holographic tarot cards, and the "hypertellurian magnetized headgear" and the books about unlocking your inner Demiurge.

So, yes and no. I don't always run in "industrialized magic" settings. And I practically always have magic shops.

 

[doctorhook]

In terms of RPGs beyond "common sense" encumbrance, I really only want any sort of logistics and tracking in two places.

1. An RPG where it's one of the main aspects, like Torchbearer 2. Where if I'm running it, it's because that's the specific feel I want in this campaign.
2. The once-a-campaign survival arc, be it shipwrecked or lost in a desert or whatever, where supply is the challenge.

The rest of the time, I don't want to add bookkeeping to a game.

Your #2 confused me, and I was gonna make a smarmy comment like “What do you mean, ‘once-a-campaign’?” But then I realize I play all the games I DM as your #1. Every game is a survival game.

 

[AlViking]

No. I run a huge gamut of times and settings. But I follow the Real World. So I almost always have a Magic Shop somewhere.

For instance, I'm currently running Traveller Hero. The campaign's current year by our reckoning is 5620 CE. Humans (and others) fly from star system to star system pursuing trade (or whatever). Antigrav tech exists.

And... there are magic shops on many worlds with a high population, and some with a low population.

Because people always believe in magic.

And if an NPC comes across some item of not-understood technology from a vanished practically-magical-high-tech precursor race, where do you think they're going to sell it? And it'll get stocked next to the holographic tarot cards, and the "hypertellurian magnetized headgear" and the books about unlocking your inner Demiurge.

So, yes and no. I don't always run in "industrialized magic" settings. And I practically always have magic shops.

I would also mention that most magic items can last forever. That magic sword can't rust so it gets lost in a shipwreck and 100 years later it's still in perfect condition. It's not "guaranteed to last 5 years" flame, it's continual flame and so on. Obviously there would also be scam artists, but if dear old auntie Em who was an adventurer in her younger years passes away there's no reason to not sell her old stuff.

Related to this, I don't see many magic items that adventurers care about becoming obsolete. I don't do the whole "10,000 years trope" thing that authors tend to throw in when they want to impress people, most D&D world seem to have pretty static magic and technology (with the exception of Eberron of course). If magic has limits on what it can achieve I can see that it could stagnate advancement at a certain point while stifling technological development. Another factor is that we take rapid technological changes for granted, that has not been the case for most of the world throughout history.

So my campaign has an open market on magical items. Some things may not be readily available, but most uncommon magic is. While there are exceptions rare or very rare items can occasionally be purchased, but it's more akin to trying to find a piece of art by a specific artist. You need to work with a broker you can't just stop by ye old magic mart.