Weight allowment problems

[Rev.Scarecrow]

I'm doing a wisdom based unarmed sword sage build so weight allotment is a big thing. I have a strength of 10 (to avoid negative modifiers) meaning I have a light weight allotment up to 33 pounds. I would like to avoid putting points in strength or using feats (i have so few) so are there any items that will help me carry more. I use to play NWN and there were bags that made the items in the bag weigh a certain percentage less but I can't think of the name of it.

Any ideas I would prefer staying with stuff in the books not homebrew stuff.

[yilduz]

Heward's Handy Haversack. Best thing ever.

It can hold (I think) 120 lbs of stuff, and no matter how much stuff is in it, it always weighs 5 lb.

[pingcode20]

Ah, now this is an easy question.

You want either a Handy Haversack (2000gp), or a Bag of Holding (2500gp and up).

All in the SRD.

[UglyPanda]

Handy Haversack only holds eighty pounds, but it has the wonderful secondary effect of allowing you to grab anything from it as a free action.

Bags of Holding are for if you need something a bit bigger.

There is also a belt in the Magic Item Compendium which makes anything carried within it reduced to 10% of its weight. But there are already a number of good belts, so I usually stick to my nice slotless backpack.

[yilduz]

Handy Haversack only holds eighty pounds, but it has the wonderful secondary effect of allowing you to grab anything from it as a free action.

Nope. I was right, 120 lbs. :)

The description you posted even says it. "each is like a bag of holding and can actually hold material of as much as 2 cubic feet in volume or 20 pounds in weight. The large central portion of the pack can contain up to 8 cubic feet or 80 pounds of material."

Two side pouches for 20 lbs each, and one main pouch for 80 lbs.

[Grumman]

The Easy Travel armour property from the MIC lets you carry a medium load as if it was a light load. It could be useful if you need things at hand rather than sticking them in your backpack.

[sofawall]

Handy Haversack only holds eighty pounds, but it has the wonderful secondary effect of allowing you to grab anything from it as a free action.

Bags of Holding are for if you need something a bit bigger.

There is also a belt in the Magic Item Compendium which makes anything carried within it reduced to 10% of its weight. But there are already a number of good belts, so I usually stick to my nice slotless backpack.

Also, move action, not free action.

[UglyPanda]

I should go to bed.

I wonder what the point of the side pouches are. I've yet to see anyone who actually separates out their gear. Maybe it's a holdover from a previous edition.


Other items:
The expensive Portable Hole
Efficient Quiver if you're an archer or use spears
The spell Secret Chest if you're a Wizard and have to play keep-away with your spare spellbook.

[awa]

I believe the move action was changed to a free action in errata or something(magic item compendium maybe) because if i recall correctly you can normally take something out as a move action.

[sofawall]

I believe the move action was changed to a free action in errata or something(magic item compendium maybe) because if i recall correctly you can normally take something out as a move action.

SRD includes all errata, and MIC didn't update it.

HHH is special because you can take something out of it as a move action and it is always on top. No rummaging around for 3-4 rounds in your 200 pounds of stuff in a Bag of Holding trying to find that scroll of Wall of Force.

[Darrin]

I have a strength of 10 (to avoid negative modifiers) meaning I have a light weight allotment up to 33 pounds. I would like to avoid putting points in strength or using feats (i have so few) so are there any items that will help me carry more.

Easy Travel armor property, MIC p. 10, +1500 GP. Allows you to carry up to a medium load and treat it as a light load. It has a fixed cost, and is fairly easy to add to existing magic armor without getting all your enhancement bonuses out of whack.

Belt of the Wide Earth, MIC p. 204, 8000 GP. This doubles your carrying capacity. Yeah, okay, a Handy Haversack or Bag of Holding is cheaper, but not everything you need in combat, particularly weapons/armor, can fit in the Haversack. A swordsage isn't likely to get much use out of the Teleport slot thingy, but combined with the Easy Travel property, you get the equivalent of 264 lbs as a light load, or just a few whiskers less than a character with 25 Strength.

Feycraft template, DMG II p. 275, +500 GP/+1500 GP. This only shaves 10% off of the weight, but when combined with Darkwood or Mithril, you can get a 60% reduction in weight. It also provides an untyped +1 bonus on Bluff checks, so you can stack several feycraft armor/shield items for a little "social engineering" optimization.

Feycraft weapons are a little trickier... more expensive, and the damage for the weapon goes down a size category. However, if you add this to a one-handed weapon such as a bastard sword or dwarven war-axe, you get the equivalent of a longsword or battleaxe that you can use Weapon Finesse with. If the weapon was already light, you can use your Dex bonus for attack *without spending a feat on Weapon Finesse*. This can be quite handy with a pair of daggers if you're trying to optimize TWF + Shadow Blade + Bloodclaw Master and are a bit starved for feats. Two feycraft daggers + Gloves of the Balanced Hand = about 11600 GP, which is a great bargain for two feats (Weapon Finesse + Improved TWF).

Beyond that... look for anything you can shave a few pounds off by getting it made out of Darkwood, Mithril, Duskwood (MoF), Glassteel (RoF), Bronzewood (ECS), Soarwood (ECS), etc.

Some other items to consider:

Glove of the Master Strategist, Ghostwalk p. 71, 3600 GP. Works just like a Glove of Storing (plus True Strike 1/day), but without the exorbitant price tag 3.5 slapped on it. And yes, 3.5 errata was issued for Ghostwalk, and they didn't change the price.

Ring of Arming, MIC p. 122, 5000 GP. Draw your weapons, ready your shield, and put on your armor all with a single standard action. When not in use, no weight to worry about.

Pure Element (Air), Planar Handbook p. 77, 1000 GP. Too expensive to be useful, but pour on an object to reduce its weight by half for 10 minutes.

[Sstoopidtallkid]

There's a Relic version of the Portable Hole for ~3,000 GP. If you're LE, I can track down where it is, but otherwise you can't use it, unfortunately.

[pffh]

What about putting a bag of holding into a Handy Haversac would that work?
I know you can't put a bag of holding into a portable hole but I can't find anything about the HHH.

[drengnikrafe]

Here's the strategy I find very effective, and so, ignoring for a moment that it's not RAW...
Look at your DM with big, puppydog eyes and say "Please don't track encumberance very closely. I promise not to be unreasonable." And then don't be unreasonable with what you carry.

What? It might work.

[Jastermereel]

Here's the strategy I find very effective, and so, ignoring for a moment that it's not RAW...
Look at your DM with big, puppydog eyes and say "Please don't track encumberance very closely. I promise not to be unreasonable." And then don't be unreasonable with what you carry.

What? It might work.

The last game I played (the first our group ran) worked that way for a long time without issue. I think the only time it was called into question was when my halfling monk (first game!) tried lugging a fallen foe's fullplate around (which was legitimate for the weight, given my strength, but absurd for the logistics). It works well enough for a light casual game, but I'm finding that tracking weight (as we do in the newly restarted campaign) helps the players think about their actions more.