Horse and mule carrying capacity

[jk7275]

I am in a 1st edition campaign and some party members want heavy warhorses because the monster manual says they can carry 500 lbs . I seen numerous articles stating that as a general guideline how much a horse can carry is 20-30% percent of body weight. My is understanding when used as a pack animal you should never go over 20% of body weight and while you can as high as 30% you are putting the horse at risk if he has to carry that much weight for any length of time
do people think those numbers are right

In Wilderness survival guide it list normal load for a mule as 5000 which I am assuming is a misprint

[Lapak]

Heavy warhorses would be weirdly expensive as pack animals. :smallamused:

5000 pounds for a mule is either a misprint or a flat-out absurd calculation, neither of which would be surprising or exceptional in AD&D. You should absolutely feel free to adjust rules as necessary for your table, because it wasn't really intended to be played 100% RAW in the first place.

Now that I say that, of course, it's possible the encumbrance for mules is being listed in gold pieces (as a lot of encumbrance values were) in which case you're actually only talking 500 pounds, which is probably still too high but no longer ridiculously so.

But yeah, long story short: don't feel bound to the book on this one.

[Telok]

Recall too that the gp-encumberance thing isn't a direct weight calculation. If it were they would have just listed everything by weight. It's supposed to represent bulk and the difficulty of carrying the item too.

[jk7275]

Recall too that the gp-encumberance thing isn't a direct weight calculation. If it were they would have just listed everything by weight. It's supposed to represent bulk and the difficulty of carrying the item too.

I am aware for most if not all items the weight is given in gold pieces not pounds and 10 gp equals 1 pound and I understand the concept. Most of this group never played any tabletop roleplaying game before and for the DM this is her first time with 1st. She only played 3.x and wanted to try 1st

I had to explain how encumbrance worked but back to my question

A heavy warhorse normal load is 5000 gp which going by the 10-1 ratio is about 500 pounds. Mules in RL when used as pack animals carry bout 200 pounds and according to the monster manual can carry 2000 gp so I understand how they came up with 2000.
Now can a heavy warhorse carry 500 pounds for several hours a day 7 days a week? That is what someone in my group wants to do.

[hamlet]

I am aware for most if not all items the weight is given in gold pieces not pounds and 10 gp equals 1 pound and I understand the concept. Most of this group never played any tabletop roleplaying game before and for the DM this is her first time with 1st. She only played 3.x and wanted to try 1st

I had to explain how encumbrance worked but back to my question

A heavy warhorse normal load is 5000 gp which going by the 10-1 ratio is about 500 pounds. Mules in RL when used as pack animals carry bout 200 pounds and according to the monster manual can carry 2000 gp so I understand how they came up with 2000.
Now can a heavy warhorse carry 500 pounds for several hours a day 7 days a week? That is what someone in my group wants to do.

According to the rules, that is correct.

However, keep in mind, historically, no knight rode their Destrier (heavy war horse) around like a riding animal. It was kept fresh for combat. They would have other animals to ride from place to place and the war horse would be expected to hold up the knight for only a few hours at a time at most.

Again, that's up to the DM. If she decides that the warhorse can do that, then it can.