How much gear does an adventurer need? (AKA, why do I always start with 100+ lbs?)

[Greywander]

A lot of time when building characters just for the fun of it, we, or at least, I, tend to focus more on the aspects of things like class, race, feats, spells, etc., and not so much on equipment. When I get a chance to play, though, I tend to go over the equipment list rather thoroughly and seem to always end up carrying a lot of weight, often in the ballpark of 100 lbs. Do I really need all this crap? What would an adventurer normally carry? What do you really need, and what would you be better off leaving behind?

Armor, of course, can be a big chunk of that weight, even with just medium armor. Then you have clothing, your backpack, pouches, sacks, rope, tools, "tools" (hammer, crowbar, shovel, etc.), healer's kit, caltrops, ball bearings, oil, rations, waterskins, torches, a lantern, bedroll/blanket/tent, mess kit, tinder box, a flask/tankard, a bucket, pouches of flour or salt, and, of course, a few weapons. And probably a few I'm forgetting.

Obviously, magic can obviate the need for some items. For example, with the Light cantrip, you have less need for things like torches or lanterns (though they could still be useful in certain situations), and with Prestidigitation you don't really need a tinder box anymore. But let's assume that you're not a magic user. How much of this junk do I really need? Is it better to travel light, or to be prepared for any situation?

[Hellpyre]

I'd say, for a typical adventurer, it's probably best to be prepared, as long as you figure out ahead of time what you can afford to lose along the way when things get hairy. Then put that stuff in separate baggage that you can quickly drop/cut away/wiggle out from in the event you really need the mobility.


And then of course from a game perspective: any pounds you aren't carrying are just wasted stats.

[Greywander]

Then put that stuff in separate baggage that you can quickly drop/cut away/wiggle out from in the event you really need the mobility.
I made a spreadsheet character sheet with a checkbox to drop your backpack. If checked, it will subtract the weight of the backpack itself, as well as everything inside the backpack and strapped to the outside, from your encumbrance. If you're using variant encumbrance, you might start combat by dropping your pack. Unfortunately, I don't have it sophisticated enough that you can drop individual sacks or pouches.


And then of course from a game perspective: any pounds you aren't carrying are just wasted stats.
I'm not super big on dungeon crawls myself, but the feeling I've gotten is that those running dungeons have the opposite sentiment: any weight you carry in is loot you can't carry out. Sure, you can drop things to make room for more gold, but you paid for that stuff. Ideally, you'll enter the dungeon with only the things you'll actually use, and fill the rest of the space with loot. That said, this is a bit of a niche situation, but the basic principle still stands that you probably want to have enough room to pick up things you find along the way. There are also times where you may need to pick up an unconscious party member and drag them to safety, which will be difficult if you're already at your encumbrance limit.

[OldTrees1]

It is best to travel prepared, but packed in a manner that can be shed quickly.

When you need a pick or a shovel, not only do you not want to trek back to town, you might not be able to.

100 lbs sounds light. Here is my list. Albeit, I was a dungeon guide so I expect to carry a bit more stuff than the tourists do.
30 lbs in my 5 lbs backpack.
Another 30 lbs in a 0.5 lbs sack.
Yet another 15 lbs in another 0.5 lbs sack
A pouch for coins
And the gear I was directly wearing.
Calculated so I knew how heavy a person I could drag at 90 ft/rd vs 15 ft/rd (Cunning Action double Dash!)

https://i.imgur.com/nAkQ3dj.png

[qube]

Hi. Using a real life perspective: im a medival reenactor, using public transportation to get to event.
Also, sometimes we do tactical exercises were we're away from the camp all day

I have found that the right amount is "as much as you van carry, for the time you are required".

> Total material: as much as I can haul on a train without being a nuiscance to other travelers.

> Tactical exercises: as much as I can carry all day, spending the next day a bit soar.

> Combat event: as much as I can carry after the fight, back to the camp (backup sword, spear, ...)

[Elbeyon]

Gear is cheap. Nothing wrong with carrying as much as possible. It can be thrown away, dropped, or stashed away. Grab a couple donkey's if even more gear is required. Nothing wrong with being able to carry around a few hundred or thousand pounds.

[Greywander]

Maybe I should clarify a bit. If you can use a donkey/wagon, then great. But, especially at 1st level, what if it's more like you're going on a hike but also expect to have to fight monsters? I kind of imagine that adventuring basically boils down to multi-day hikes interspersed with occasional fights with monsters or bandits. You're expecting much more dangerous situations than a typical hiker, but you also don't have the logistical support of a professional soldier.

[Dork_Forge]

Maybe I should clarify a bit. If you can use a donkey/wagon, then great. But, especially at 1st level, what if it's more like you're going on a hike but also expect to have to fight monsters? I kind of imagine that adventuring basically boils down to multi-day hikes interspersed with occasional fights with monsters or bandits. You're expecting much more dangerous situations than a typical hiker, but you also don't have the logistical support of a professional soldier.

It doesn't seem like a lot of weight when you think how much a modern camper woud carry and then think that these PCs don't have the weight advantages of modern materials. There's a certain degree of necessity to it, but then also the thought of "I don't really know when I'll be able to get to a settlement again, or even necessarily what provisions would be available at said settlement." In modern times if that was the case, I would carry as much as I possibly could, that's for sure. Throw in the inherent nature of needing to fight, and come up with solutions to problems you may not have even been able to conceive of, and the weight adds up pretty quickly.

Pack animals is one option, if there's a Str based character with the Powerful Build feature then that's another option if the carrying weight seems daunting.

[Elbeyon]

A character carrying nothing and one pound under their encumbrance act exactly the same. It is as easy to hike with those one-hundred pounds as it is the zero. The average person in dnd can carry one hundred and fifty pounds all day. I would not worry about carrying too much and only too little!

[da newt]

Outfit your PARTY not your PC. No reason to lug around redundant stuff. Mules/donkeys are CHEAP. A simple pull cart is great as long as you are on a road or path - but who goes tromping through the wilderness randomly?

As long as you have a good water proof cloak, something warm, and drinking water you can survive just fine in most environments. There are tons of spells that create things so you don't need to carry so much.

Make base camps, leave your stuff there.

IRL - only hobbyists and the very poor walk. Get a mule, ride. You cover much more ground and can carry your crap.

[Sigreid]

Thing is, an adventuring party doesn't know what they are going to face. It's better to have something you don't need this outing than need something you don't have.

[jjordan]

Are you roleplaying or roll-playing?

For the former, welcome to the world of logistics. It's why armies had carts and mules and travelled at relatively slow paces and had to make use of existing logistical areas or build/establish new ones. It determines the course of empires and travelers alike. If you're dungeon crawling you might want to establish a hidden supply depot (and potential treasure cache) near the dungeon which you can return to as needed.

For the latter, just game the system and bring everything you can.

[KorvinStarmast]

Based on the adventuring rules, I can go five days without eating if I have a constituiton of 14.
Food and Water
Food

A character needs one pound of food per day and can make food last longer by subsisting on half rations.
Eating half a pound of food in a day counts as half a day without food. A character can go without food for a number of days equal to 3 + his or her Constitution modifier (minimum 1). At the end of each day beyond that limit, a character automatically suffers one level of exhaustion. A normal day of eating resets the count of days without food to zero.
Water

That's where to put your preparation. Waterskins. The Iron Rations? I'll have 1 or 2 as an emergency, but water skins I usually have two of in a game where the DM includes the environment as a challenge.
On the way to the dungeon, I prefer to forage. In the dungeon, I'd rather not eat unless I need to. After a day in the dungeon, keeping hydrated remains of prime importance.

Beyond that? I sell off most of the starting equipment in the "pack" and focus on a few very important things.
Water Skins, backpack, blanket. 1 or 2 iron rations.
50 feet of rope. I prefer the silk rope since it is lighter.
A way to start a fire (if one or two of us have cantrips that do this, so much the better.
A few torches as a back up. More if we have multiple non dark vision characters.
A few spikes and some caltrops(one member of the party)
A mirror
Weapons, me and a few coins left over, usually.
I always have at least one dagger.

[ProsecutorGodot]

This is reminding me of a pretty good RPG of recent years that I've played called Outward, the main difficulty of the game early on is inventory management.

One of the other main features is that you drop your backpack during combat, the encumbrance of the pack inhibits your maneuverability in combat.

The most basic tools I would focus on always carrying actually translate very well to DND:
-Waterskin (2 in the desert)
-Flint & Steel (unless I could make fire with magic)
-A woodcutting axe
-The game uses rations to travel between zones, also effective food if you're conserving space
-2 weapons

Important to note that waterskin and food, as well as any healing supplies like bandages would usually be kept handy in pockets rather than deep in my bags in case I had to leave my bag in a hurry.

There are supplies in DND that I would also consider essential that don't translate well:
-Rope (I try to carry at least 100ft between all party members)
-Pitons
-Mess Kit (surprisingly useful for jamming into doors/traps where a Pitons won't do)

[Hand_of_Vecna]

I feel like everyone in this thread is coming at this question with the wrong attitude. With the exception of the reenactor, everyone seems to wants a single rule for how much should be carried. The real answer is it depends a lot on the Adventurer and what sorts of adventures they go on.

In a classic hexcrawl game, yes the answer is as much as they can. The characters should all have certain items that "every Adventurer needs" and then the players can discuss how to spend the excess encumbrance to carry as many nice to have tools as possible and make sure they aren't duplicating items that aren't so vital that the party should have duplicates.

In some games the correct method is similar to the above with the equipment divided into a heavy set of gear to haul to the "base camp" at the dungeon entrance and a pre selected lighter load to carry while fighting and exploring in the dungeon. Or to have the gear for long term wilderness survival. Due to the lack of modern materials this will probably be more weight than modern hikers or survivalist carry, but the heroic capabilities of the parties Strength based character(s) can help make up the difference.

For games that aren't centered around the logistical aspects of travel and exploration including those running modules by the book, the dungeon won't require the expert application of exotic tools to survive. Just carry what makes sense for your character. You might be tempted to say "but they're an adveturer and this big list of stuff is the tools of the trade for adventurers. " Says who? Generally this idea comes from the culture of D&D players whether in private discussions, forums, articles, or even some official books.


When the D&D player community discusses equipment and load out it is generally from the perspective of there being an in world adventurer culture and adventurer guilds which generally need to be built around mega-dungeons. Even in worlds like Forgotten Realms where mega-dungeons undoubtedly exist under cities like Waterdeep and Neverwinter they aren't the default adventure and the adventurer culture they create shouldn't be ubiquitous.

Even if your character has been to these cities or been taught by a veteran mega-dungeon delver and does a near perfect performance of the optimal dungeon delver they should stand out in a more standard adventure where most characters say "Weapon, backup weapon, tent, cloak, three days rations, torches, rope, yep I'm good!" Sometimes your gear will be useful, but usually you'll be like the guy with the tacticool gear in the local day hike group.

[Demonslayer666]

In my playing experience, gear is very unnecessary. Most DMs will not require that you have the proper tool, and you can improvise with your weapons. It may take longer is all.

Stopping the adventure for lack of tools is not really fun. "OK, we go back to town, buy the tools you are requiring and return." It's kinda pointless.

The DM should be warning you if you need something specific, and if you don't heed the warnings, then it's ok to hinder you.

[Hand_of_Vecna]

Important to note that waterskin and food, as well as any healing supplies like bandages would usually be kept handy in pockets rather than deep in my bags in case I had to leave my bag in a hurry.


This reminds me of another survival game Neo Scavenger in which you have to store your equipment in hands, pockets, backpack, sacks, and evehicle (a cart or a dragged sled). Fleeing or surviving being knocked out in a fight you are likely to lose vehicle and may lose one or more bags. You'll find yourself with a multitool, a pill bottle (if I remember right the game is kind enough to let you mix pills on a pill bottle), and some high density food in your pockets. A balled up plastic bag is also useful to help you get started gathering resources again if you lose your bags.

One real world survival technique the game beat in to me was preserving the edge of my pocket knife by wearing down the knife in my bag so if I was left with just one knife it would be of the highest quality.

[greenstone]

I'm amazed by how all PCs in my games seem to have hammerspace.

Player: We did up the graves.
GM: OK, do you have shovels?
Player: *Stunned look, as if no-one has ever asked them that question before* Um, why?

[Mikal]

All I’m going to say is it’s easy for two travelers to carry 100 pounds worth of clothes and luggage when going on a temporary vacation.

If two people are carrying 100 pounds of gear for a pleasure trip for what they need, why wouldn’t your adventurer carry at least that much stuff while trying to survive in the wild, plunging into dungeons and ruins and whatnot, far from civilization?

[Elbeyon]

If the assumption is the characters have what gear they need, I do not even see a reason to track encumbrance. That part of the game is no longer a factor in the group's play style.

[ProsecutorGodot]

I'm amazed by how all PCs in my games seem to have hammerspace.

Player: We did up the graves.
GM: OK, do you have shovels?
Player: *Stunned look, as if no-one has ever asked them that question before* Um, why?

Most of my Spellcasters end up with Mold Earth because of this, it's not always about weight.

Of course, the one time I played a Wizard without it was because the fighter in our Party wanted to go with "I have everything including the kitchen sink strapped to my back" as a character build. I'd like to get back to that campaign someday, even though all of the weapons were in effect very similar the narration was on point from the player.


If the assumption is the characters have what gear they need, I do not even see a reason to track encumbrance. That part of the game is no longer a factor in the group's play style.

As most have said, encumbrance tracking (for good or ill) is most often looked at when it comes down to looting rather than preparation.

[Elbeyon]

As most have said, encumbrance tracking (for good or ill) is most often looked at when it comes down to looting rather than preparation.The average party can probably carry, what, like 700 pounds? That is a lot of loot. A donkey carries 400. A donkey with a cart carries like 2,000 pounds.

[ProsecutorGodot]

The average party can probably carry, what, like 700 pounds? That is a lot of loot. A donkey carries 400. A donkey with a cart carries like 2,000 pounds.

The assumption that you're going to fit a cart and donkey into every cave, dungeon or place you go (or park one outside and make several trips back and forth) is something I'd prefer to avoid.

A cart and horse is where you store loot, not a reliable metric of how much you can carry out of the place. Of course it helps but it's not a straight bonus to your carrying capacity.

[Elbeyon]

The assumption that you're going to fit a cart and donkey into every cave, dungeon or place you go (or park one outside and make several trips back and forth) is something I'd prefer to avoid.

A cart and horse is where you store loot, not a reliable metric of how much you can carry out of the place. Of course it helps but it's not a straight bonus to your carrying capacity.How many caves have hundreds of pounds of loot? A donkey is carrying a dragon's hoard. It is 50 coins to the pound. A donkey can carry a 100,000 coins. It isn't like there is anything to do with gold anyway. If people are going for high scores on the gold count, they can probably micromanage a couple donkey's. It is pretty easy to carry stuff.

[Mikal]

The assumption that you're going to fit a cart and donkey into every cave, dungeon or place you go (or park one outside and make several trips back and forth) is something I'd prefer to avoid.

A cart and horse is where you store loot, not a reliable metric of how much you can carry out of the place. Of course it helps but it's not a straight bonus to your carrying capacity.

Why?
You clean the place out, then you start making several trips in and out to fill the wagon.

There’s a reason why I convince my party whenever we can go have a wagon carried by two horses. Well that and we can put a LOT more supplies into it when traveling including spare ammo, clothing, ropes, torches etc.

Honestly a wagon and horses (plus barding) are great investments for an adventuring party where the DM actually tries to give them a challenge for traveling around.

[ProsecutorGodot]

How many caves have hundreds of pounds of loot? A donkey is carrying a dragon's hoard. It is 50 coins to the pound. A donkey can carry a 100,000 coins. It isn't like there is anything to do with gold anyway. If people are going for high scores on the gold count, they can probably micromanage a couple donkey's. It is pretty easy to carry stuff.

How many dragons are keeping their hoard somewhere a donkey can get to? What kind of dragon is only hoarding gold?

I suppose we just have different assumptions on how large quantities of loot are found or presented.



Honestly a wagon and horses (plus barding) are great investments for an adventuring party where the DM actually tries to give them a challenge for traveling around.

I'm not denying that, I'm just denying the claim that a donkey and wagon "solves" encumbrance because we assume they go everywhere, aren't killed and the loot always waits for you to be done.

[OldTrees1]

Why? You clean the place out, then you start making several trips in and out to fill the wagon.

Your DM must love this opportunity. It allows them to provide you with meaningful choices about how to carry loot out while there could be opportunistic groups seeking to steal your success. Treasure hunting as portrayed in media usually railroads in this kind of conflict, but your group has dug into the logistics enough to make meaningful choices about this risk.

[Mikal]

Your DM must love this opportunity. It allows them to provide you with meaningful choices about how to carry loot out while there could be opportunistic groups seeking to steal your success.

Well that’s why you leave guards behind to keep an eye on it.

Doesn’t negate it, but hey, having the ability to carrying like 20 times the things we could carrying on our backs is worth it.

And it actually works to our advantage to have the groups try that. It’s always fun to have some random bandits mistake us for basic traders or the like and come to threaten us. Makes it much easier to flush them out and make the land a safer place!

It also helps that we have an artificer in our current group with all the tool proficiencies who can both keep it in good repair and help make the wagon itself a little tougher than normal.

[Elbeyon]

How many dragons are keeping their hoard somewhere a donkey can get to? What kind of dragon is only hoarding gold?

I suppose we just have different assumptions on how large quantities of loot are found or presented.Uh, all of the dragons are hoarding gold where a donkey can reach. A donkey can reach anywhere a player can with enough logistics work. The characters are a donkey's hands. I never mentioned the coins were gold. I said a coin. Which is not a bad way to value items. 100,000 gold coins is 100,000 gold. 10,000 gold in silver. 1,000 gold in copper. The character's will most likely be able to carry the most valuable gold/pound items in their first haul. And, the first haul might allow them to carry all the valuable items on their person.

Perhaps. The difference could be in the players as well.

[ProsecutorGodot]

Uh, all of the dragons are hoarding gold where a donkey can reach. A donkey can reach anywhere a player can with enough logistics work. The characters are a donkey's hands. I never mentioned the coins were gold. I said a coin. Which is not a bad way to value items. 100,000 gold coins is 100,000 gold. 10,000 gold in silver. 1,000 gold in copper. The character's will most likely be able to carry the most valuable gold/pound items in their first haul. And, the first haul might allow them to carry all the valuable items on their person.

Perhaps. The difference could be in the players as well.

At some point the benefit of the donkey is not worth the effort it would take to bring him along.

All I'm saying is that a donkey and cart is great for getting some loot home, or all of it in cases that you can safely manage the several trips it may take, but there are times and places where this does not solve your problem of having to pack light in hopes of taking home the most loot.

[Elbeyon]

At some point the benefit of the donkey is not worth the effort it would take to bring him along.

All I'm saying is that a donkey and cart is great for getting some loot home, or all of it in cases that you can safely manage the several trips it may take, but there are times and places where this does not solve your problem of having to pack light in hopes of taking home the most loot.Understandable. I find it fun to puzzle through how to loot everything.

A character can usually pack heavy and dump stuff if needed. If the loot is valuable enough, they can just buy the gear back plus more. A 10 pound crowbar is not worth 500 gold coins.

[sophontteks]

My barbarians carry capacity is 1080lbs. His job is to carry the mule when its not needed.

[Mr Adventurer]

Understandable. I find it fun to puzzle through how to loot everything.

A character can usually pack heavy and dump stuff if needed. If the loot is valuable enough, they can just buy the gear back plus more. A 10 pound crowbar is not worth 500 gold coins.

I understand what you mean.

Out of interest, what do you do when the adventure isn't close to a place which can absorb that loot?

I'm thinking most times the nearest settlement will be a village or small town. They won't be able to help you with thousands of gold pieces and won't have the funds, desire, or infrastructure to buy high-price items from you.

This is something I have struggled with: at what point does the adventuring take a back seat to managing the rewards, and is it worth it?

[noob]

I understand what you mean.

Out of interest, what do you do when the adventure isn't close to a place which can absorb that loot?

I'm thinking most times the nearest settlement will be a village or small town. They won't be able to help you with thousands of gold pieces and won't have the funds, desire, or infrastructure to buy high-price items from you.

This is something I have struggled with: at what point does the adventuring take a back seat to managing the rewards, and is it worth it?

If it is too complicated to find interesting stuff to buy then you just make an hoard and use all of the hoard to pay people to make defences for the now non-existent hoard.
Then low level adventurers goes in the trap halls and gains levels and the cycle continues with new adventurers.

[Kurt Kurageous]

Make base camps, leave your stuff there.


For the win. Hire guards (paid at end of day) if you actually care about replacing things. The guards can carry stuff to the camp. Prolly solved then, innit?