Alternative system for carry weight and encumbrance

[Dankus Memakus]

My group finds the current way to count encumbrance very tedious. Counting up all the weights and comparing it to what you can carry. Due to this it is totally ignored in my games which greatly upsets me, does anyone have a simple to manage system that could help me out here? There are neat scenarios I can cause here if we use carry weight therefore I am searching for an easier to manage system. Please help

[JackPhoenix]

You can hardly find simpler system than what's currently used, unless you make something like "you can have one armor, x number of weapons/shield and y additional items"

[Eric Diaz]

Here is mine (but its pretty punishing comapred to 5e, since its based on BX):

Rule of three (encumbrance):

- Unecumbered = carrying a number of units equal to STR or lower.

- One item = 3 pounds (more or less) = one-handed weapons such as sword or mace (with belt, scabbard, etc.), a winter blanket, climbing gear, a backpack, a grappling hook, 40’ of rope, 20’ of chain, clothes, a toolkit (for hiking, healing, disguising, fishing, or other specific purpose), a bedroll, an iron pot.

- Heavy items such as two-handed weapons, 10 foot poles, a shovel, winter clothing, etc., count as two or three items (or more, depending on the case – see the equipment section). A thirty-pound sack will count as ten items, for example.
Armor weights 3 items per point of AC. Shields are lighter: 2 items per point of AC (if you’re using more than one type).
Small things may be bundled together and count as one single item (for example, three knifes, 30 arrows, 1000 coins). Things that fit in the palm of your hand usually count as small items.

Weight carried Speed Penalty
Less than Strength Normal -
Strength or more ¾ Disadvantage
Strength x2 ½ Disadvantage, -2
Strength x3 ¼ Disadvantage, -3
Strength x4 0 Disadvantage, -4

Example: a PC with Strength 12 can carry 11 items with no problems, 12 or more items with ¾ speed, etc. Carrying 24 items or more will cause him to get disadvantage and a -2 penalty to his stealth checks, but only a -2 penalty to his attacks and AC. Carrying 48 units will stop him from walking.

Post (http://methodsetmadness.blogspot.com.br/2016/04/encumbrance-movement-and-rule-of-four.html) - PDF (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8yC9untvl8NZG1VbkpDd3RfV0U/view)

EDIT: to make it more compatible with 5e:
* STR x 2 = encumbered
* STR x 3 = heavily encumbered
* STR x 4 = maximum carrying capacity

[Tanarii]

You can go with torchbearer-style. It's basically gear slots. Something like 2 hands, a belt pouch, an armor, a back, a backpack. It's a little more complicated than straight slots, but not much. Also it's intentionally designed to be VERY limiting compared to 5e, more so even than Classic or 1e. So you'd probably want to change the slots.

Honestly though I found the best method is figure out the standard pack weights. The total up standard pack*, weapons & ammo & quiver, armor, belt pouch and anything in belt pouch (thieves tools, disguise kit, etc). That's 4-8 numbers that almost never change. It might drop by 3-5 lbs as you eat some rations or burn a torch, but those typically get replaced rapidly, so you can ignore that unless it's critical.

Then subtract that from your Strx15 (or Strx5 if using variant encumberance). That's your free-to-carry weight for loot and whatever you find while running around murderhero-ing. As long as it's probably less than that number, you don't need to do anything special.

*dont forget to add 2 lbs for 4 empty sacks. Otherwise you won't have anything to carry your loot in.

[TrinculoLives]

Yeah I worked on a system for quite a while a few months back. I'm still not happy with it, but perhaps this could be helpful? The link is in my signature.

[Puh Laden]

Something I came up with off top of my head: you have a number of slots equal to your Strength score. One large item can fit in a slot, Two medium items can fit in a slot, and four small items can fit in a slot. 10 tiny items can fit in a slot. (Optional: using a slot requires having enough containers such as backpacks, sacks, and satchels, with each kind of container enabling some arbitrary number of slots.)

What size an item is can either be put into a chart by the DM beforehand or be adjucated by the DM based on his or her own gut feeling. Armor and weapons taking up a slot is optional. A full suit of armor would be large, a greatsword would be medium, and a dagger would be small.

(EDIT: a large item should probably stake up more slots or there should probably be fewer slots so the average human isn't carrying 10 suits of armor, but it's the idea that's the thing.)

[Dankus Memakus]

Something I came up with off top of my head: you have a number of slots equal to your Strength score. One large item can fit in a slot, Two medium items can fit in a slot, and four small items can fit in a slot. 10 tiny items can fit in a slot. (Optional: using a slot requires having enough containers such as backpacks, sacks, and satchels, with each kind of container enabling some arbitrary number of slots.)

What size an item is can either be put into a chart by the DM beforehand or be adjucated by the DM based on his or her own gut feeling. Armor and weapons taking up a slot is optional. A full suit of armor would be large, a greatsword would be medium, and a dagger would be small.
I may use an edited form of this thanks

[Specter]

Multiply your Strenght score times 4, and that's what you can carry without being encumbered. Times8, heavily encumbered. Realistic and simple.

(If you're American, multiply these by 2 for pounds).

[TrinculoLives]

Multiply your Strenght score times 4, and that's what you can carry without being encumbered. Times8, heavily encumbered. Realistic and simple.

(If you're American, multiply these by 2 for pounds).
Why not just use the PHB guidelines then? This isn't helpful for anyone who wants to avoid having to add up the individual weights of all their gear.

[Beelzebubba]

We use a self-calculating PDF, that solves it.

But, really, it takes 10 minutes to figure it out once, maybe 15 if you then do a 'this much when traveling / this much in the dungeon because my sleeping roll and extra set of clothes are at camp' kind of thing.

Really, it's a pain the first time, but the values doesn't change all that quickly, and if you have an idea of how close you are to encumbered (i.e. to a 5kg / 10 pound accuracy) it's easy enough to adjudicate on the fly.

We had it last game. "I run and pick up the Halfling as I go by - wait, I probably can't, I'd be encumbered." "You were both having lunch, it's safe to assume you left your packs back by the food" "OK, I have 60 pounds left" "My handling only weighs 40 and I wear no armor" "OK it's fine, not encumbered. Run with him!"

[Anonymouswizard]

My favourite way to track it is via 'significant items'.

Depending on how much I want PCs to carry (and it varies) the exact formula changes, but it'll be something like 'take the average of Strength and Consitution' or '4+Strength mod+Constitution mod'. This total is the number of significant items you can carry, defined as an item that is either heavy or awkward to carry. Very rarely something that is both might have an encumbrance of two, but that's rare. So things like armour, weapons, books, PCs, and the like would be significant items.

The following are never significant items, and you can have as much as you want:
-Anything smaller than a candle, it's basically not taking up enough space to be worth it.
-Rations, ammunition, and potions, they go down enough that tracking them is annoying.
-Jewellery, because it rarely matters.

[Laurefindel]

Something I came up with off top of my head: you have a number of slots equal to your Strength score. One large item can fit in a slot, Two medium items can fit in a slot, and four small items can fit in a slot. 10 tiny items can fit in a slot. (Optional: using a slot requires having enough containers such as backpacks, sacks, and satchels, with each kind of container enabling some arbitrary number of slots.)

What size an item is can either be put into a chart by the DM beforehand or be adjucated by the DM based on his or her own gut feeling. Armor and weapons taking up a slot is optional. A full suit of armor would be large, a greatsword would be medium, and a dagger would be small.

(EDIT: a large item should probably stake up more slots or there should probably be fewer slots so the average human isn't carrying 10 suits of armor, but it's the idea that's the thing.)

I had a system like that in 3e. Characters could carry burden = STR score before getting encumbered. Items needing two hands to use/carry = 2 burden. Item requiring 1 hand to use/carry = 1 burden. Consumables (food, torches, arrows etc). usually came at 1 burden per "bundle" (one day's water, one week's ration, dozen torches, quiverfull of arrows). Very small items were either negligible or calculated at 100 per burden (coins/gems, caltrops, sling bullets etc).

Armor was 1 burden per basic AC bonus, -1 burden per magical "pluses". It would need some tweaking for 5e, but the idea's there.

There is a RPG (forgot which one) using a system of lodestones (whereas items have an encumbrance measured in "stones"), which is essentially 1 slot per STR point.

[Pope Scarface]

There are neat scenarios I can cause here if we use carry weight therefore I am searching for an easier to manage system. Please help

So what kind of scenarios are you talking about? Whatever you come up with, you'd want to be sure it accommodates that.

Encumbrance only really comes up in my groups in 3 scenarios:

1) Can we lift/carry/drag X heavy object?
2) How much of this massive hoard of treasure can we haul off?
3) How much does this paralyzed/unconscious/dead party member weigh?

[Slipperychicken]

does anyone have a simple to manage system that could help me out here?

OSR games got this right a long time ago. I'll summarize the one I like most, from 'Adventurer Conqueror King'.

-Characters can carry a maximum of 20 units of encumbrance, plus or minus strength modifier (in that system it only goes to +/-3, but that's not a big deal here).
-Up to 5 units a character moves at full speed, 5-7 is three-quarters speed, 7-10 is half speed, and 10-max is one-quarter speed. Some groups houserule that strength modifies these values.
-Encumbrance units represent both weight and portability at once, and each unit corresponds to roughly 8-14 pounds
-Armor and shields encumber 1 for each point of AC bonus (in 5e, take the armor's AC before dex and magic and subtract 10 to get this number). Magic armor weighs 1 unit less for each point of magical AC bonus it gives.
-"Heavy" objects, like two-handed weapons, spears, ten-foot poles, and anything weighing 8-14 pounds, occupy 1 unit
-Items like one-handed weapons, scrolls, and potion-vials are 1/6th of a unit each
-Smaller items which are sold in a bundle (spikes, torches, arrows) are considered a single item.
-If you have just one tiny item (i.e. a single pebble, one silver arrow), you ignore it for encumbrance.
-Coins and gems occupy 1 unit for each 1,000 you carry
-When you're unsure, like if the item is a piece of furniture or barrel full of drink, just rule it occupies 1 unit per 10 pounds of weight.

I've played with it. It's accurate, fast, and easy-to-use. It creates a real balance between preparedness, mobility, and loot capacity which can lead to players doing smart things like using mounts, vehicles, and hirelings. For adventuring logistics, it is by far my favorite inventory system.

[Malifice]

My group finds the current way to count encumbrance very tedious. Counting up all the weights and comparing it to what you can carry. Due to this it is totally ignored in my games which greatly upsets me, does anyone have a simple to manage system that could help me out here? There are neat scenarios I can cause here if we use carry weight therefore I am searching for an easier to manage system. Please help

You can carry one weapon, wand, staff, lantern, quiver of arrows, potion, waterskin or similar object per point of strength.

Incidental items dont count. 250 coins count as 1 object.

[Tanarii]

I've played with it. It's accurate, fast, and easy-to-use. It creates a real balance between preparedness, mobility, and loot capacity which can lead to players doing smart things like using mounts, vehicles, and hirelings. For adventuring logistics, it is by far my favorite inventory system.That's considerably more complicated than just adding up the weight of items carried, and subtracting it from what you can carry to see what your available carrying loot weight is.

And needing to use mounts, vehicles, and hirelings is just a factor of the weight limit the game sets relative to desired gear. If you want that in D&D 5e, use variant encumberance. For the vast majority of players, that effectively cuts the carrying capacity by 1/3.

[Grod_The_Giant]

I've always kind of liked this one (http://rottenpulp.blogspot.com/2012/06/matt-rundles-anti-hammerspace-item.html). It's basically a slot-based system, but has the added benefit of making you think about where your stuff is.

[Slipperychicken]

That's considerably more complicated than just adding up the weight of items carried, and subtracting it from what you can carry to see what your available carrying loot weight is.

I was skeptical too, but once my group learned it, it turned out much easier to use, in part because we don't need to know the precise weight or dimensions of individual items. That alone saved us a lot of lookups (Say you pick up a one-handed sword, you instantly know it's 1/6th and fits in your backpack without even touching a book). Also it keeps numbers small and easy to sum up by hand. And you don't get into the bulkiness argument either; if something is really hard to store and carry (like a pole), in seconds you just rule it to be a "large" item which is 1, and move on with the game.

Also there's a short reference sheet which explains it in a much prettier, easier to use format than I did. I'd have put up a link if I had one.

[Tanarii]

Ah okay. I can see how that'd be an advantage during play, when you don't want to go looking through the PhB for items weights.

During character creation though, it's just adding extra steps. You've already got all that info at your fingertips in the table you're already referencing as you're buying items, and having to instead cross reference a second list to determine slots of each item would increase the time required. Let alone if you need the DM to make a judgement call.

But I don't think it's, like, oh no the sky is falling more complicated or anything. :smallwink: I just couldn't see how it was saving time.

[Slipperychicken]

Ah okay. I can see how that'd be an advantage during play, when you don't want to go looking through the PhB for items weights.

During character creation though, it's just adding extra steps. You've already got all that info at your fingertips in the table you're already referencing as you're buying items, and having to instead cross reference a second list to determine slots of each item would increase the time required. Let alone if you need the DM to make a judgement call.

There is no cross-referencing. Once a player takes like 5-10 minutes to review the rules, he doesn't really have to look at it again during play. I don't remember seeing any confusion after session 1. Using easily-remembered rules to eliminate the need for lookups is part of the OSR design philosophy.

I have GMed it before, and there's not much of a judgement call. You just see if something is roughly equivalent to a two-handed weapon, a one-handed item, or a bundled item. If it's a sack of coins, it only counts when a character has 1000 or more. If it's a stupidly big item like someone carrying a whole door, you guess its weight in pounds and divide that by 10. It's really easy in practice. Usually the players figure it out themselves in seconds or less.

In my experience, especially during chargen, I've found it goes much faster than digging up weights for every object in the inventory and adding them all together.