Encumbrance: Simplified & Flexible
Features
- easy to calculate (~30 seconds)
- meaningful (but not punishing) carry limit
- Strength is slightly more useful
Encumbrance Units
| Size | Max. Encumbrance Units |
|---|---|
| Small / Medium | 2 x Strength Score |
| Large | 3 x Strength Score |
Most races can carry 'encumbrance units' up to twice their Strength score. For example, a Human Paladin with 18 Strength can carry up to 36 encumbrance units.
Mounts ignore the weight of their rider, but must count the rider's gear against their carrying capacity.
Encumbrance units are always expressed as integers.
Zero-Encumbrance Items
The following standard adventuring items do not contribute to your carried weight:
- basic clothing, backpack, bedroll, tent, waterskin
- up to 4 'small items'
- coin values up to 99 gp
'Small Items': n / 5
'Small items' comprise almost everything that isn't a weapon, armour, or currency. Weapons with the Thrown property also count as small items.
Collectively, five small items make one encumbrance unit. For example, 23 small items would be 4 encumbrance units.
Currency: n / 100
All coins have weight relative to their value. 100 copper pieces weighs the same as 10 silver pieces, or 1 gold piece.
To find your encumbrance from coinage, take the total value in gold pieces, and remove the last two digits. For example, 456 gp is 4 encumbrance units.
Characters may also carry ingots of precious metals, which are worth 1000 gp and take 1 encumbrance unit each.
Magic Items: +1 per item
The power of many magic items makes them taxing to carry. Any magic item that requires attunement costs one more encumbrance unit.
For example, a Dragonbane Longsword is 2 encumbrance units: 1 for the sword, and 1 for the magical property.
Mithral, Adamant etc
If using this system with my Materials module, different materials increase or reduce the encumbrance of an item. Consult the full table on page [?], or the summary table here.
Shields & Armour
| Type | Encumbrance |
|---|---|
| Shield | 2 |
| Padded, Leather, St. Leather, Hide |
3 |
| Chain Shirt, Breastplate |
6 |
| Scale, Half-plate, Ring-mail |
9 |
| Chain-mail, Splint, Plate |
12 |
Weapons
| Type | Encumbrance |
|---|---|
| Thrown property | small item |
| Heavy property | 2 |
| Other weapons incl. bows | 1 |
| Quiver | 1 |
| Ammunition | — |
Small Items (misc. gear, thrown)
| Quantity | Encumbrance |
|---|---|
| 1-4 small items | 0 |
| 5-9 small items | 1 |
| 10-14 small items | 2 |
| 15-19 small items | 3 |
| ...etc |
Currency
| Value | Encumbrance |
|---|---|
| Mithril / Adamant Ingot (1000gp) |
1 |
| 0-99 gp | – |
| 100-199 gp | 1 |
| 200-299 gp | 2 |
| 300-399 gp | 3 |
| ...etc |
Additions
| Type | Encumbrance |
|---|---|
| Magic Items | +1 per item |
| Light Materials: Mithral / Silkweave / Elderwood |
-1 for shield -2 for armour |
| Heavy Materials: Adamant / Dragonhide / Giantsbone |
+1 for weapon/shield +2 for armour |
Encumbrance (cont.)
Quick Encumbrance Calculations
- Armour – take armour encumbrance from the table
- Coinage – drop the last two digits
- Weapons – number of weapons, excluding Thrown
- Heavy weapons – +1 for every Heavy weapon
- Small items – 1 for every 5, including Thrown weapons
- Magic items – +1 for every magic item
- Adamant – +1 for each weapon or shield, +2 for armour
- Mithral – -1 for a shield, -2 for armour
Example: Bruce's Backpack
Bruce, an 18-Strength Human Paladin, can carry at most 36 encumbrance units. He's currently carrying the following items (magic properties in bold):
- Sturdy Adamantine Plate
- Adamantine Shield
- Longsword of Smiting
- Javelin x12
- Adamant Dagger
- Health Potion x4
- Bag of Caltrops x2
- Block & Tackle
- Climbing Pitons
- Silk rope, 50ft
- Calligrapher's Supplies
- Book x3
- 456 gp
- Amulet of Athletics
- Periapt of Fire Resistance
- Boots of Speed
Bruce's gear takes 33 encumbrance units (see table →). This leaves Bruce 3 encumbrance units of free space. If he needs more, he might consider leaving a few of those small items behind, or swapping some of his adamant equipment for much lighter steel or mithral options.
Materials: Full Encumbrance Tables
| Shields & Armour |
Mithral / Silkweave |
Steel / Leather |
Adamant / Dragonhide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shield | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Padded, Leather, St. Leather, Hide |
1 | 3 | 5 |
| Chain Shirt, Breastplate |
4 | 6 | 8 |
| Scale, Half-plate, Ring-mail |
7 | 9 | 11 |
| Chain-mail, Splint, Plate |
10 | 12 | 14 |
| Weapons |
Mithral / Elderwood |
Steel / Wood |
Adamant / Giantsbone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thrown property | small item | small item | small item, +1 |
| Heavy property | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| All other weapons | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Quiver | 1 | ||
| Ammunition | ─ |
Example: Bruce's carried weight
| Items | Weight |
|---|---|
| Armour | 12 |
| Shield | 2 |
| Weapons (non-Thrown) | 1 |
| 456 gp | 4 |
| 29 Small Items (incl. 13 Thrown weapons) | 5 |
| Magic Items | +5 |
| Adamantine gear | +4 |
| Total | 33 |
add in section on design rationale & the problems this is trying to solve? like a mini-blog post?