Weightless/Small Items in BULK

[\A/_Sarlock_\A/]

Hi, I was creating a character straight from the Players Handbook. I continued down the list of requirements, until I came to "choose equipment". I looked at the starting equipment table, and noticed that candles cost 1cp each and were - pounds. Now I was wondering if the - meant not realavent in small amounts, which is my guess. I had a few gp left over after buying all of my things, so I bought 100 candles for a gp. I didn't feel like the - poundage applies. I rounded to 20lb, out of a pure guess. How much should I weight these at? And also, if theres anything regarding cheap items you bought unneeded amounts of or any kind of weight problems, please share. If this topic is lame or i sound like an ftard, please forive as this is my first topic.

[NecroRebel]

By a strict reading of RAW, if one candle weighs nothing, so does one million

Hmm... A cursory Google search suggests that candle wax is just slightly less dense than water. I guess the weight of a single candle would depend on how big the candles are; if they're little birthday-cake candles the size of a cigarette, they'll probably weigh less than an ounce each, but if they're larger formal-dinner-style or chandelier candles they'll weigh more. I'd guess that they'd be somewhere in between; the sort you'd carry one of to light your way at night. Probably around 1 oz. each, or 16 to the pound. 100 would be 6 1/4 lbs.

Edit: Actually... Apparently 2 oz. votive candles can be expected to burn for 15 hours, while candles in D&D burn for only 1 hour. I'd guess that weight:burn time isn't a linear ratio IRL, but still, that suggests that D&D candles are significantly less than 1 oz. 100 might well be about 3/4 lbs

EditEdit: Hmm... Wikipedia's article on candles suggests that they burn at about 0.1g/min. Assuming candles are completely consumed with no leftover wax, that would put each at a bit over .2 oz. 100 would be 1 1/4 lbs, in other words.

[Christopher K.]

This might be one of those "go ask yer DM" sorts of questions. Failing that, if a player at my table got 100 candles, I'd be tempted to say (VERY) roughly 5 pounds as a quick and dirty way of keeping the game flowing.

[Fallbot]

We actually had a player take "advantage" of this without any of us realising until the player left the group and I took over control of the character. She turned out to be carrying 200 candles along with a lantern, an everburning torch, and some sunrods. None of which had ever been used because she had darkvision anyway.

[NotScaryBats]

As a DM who doesn't worry about carrying capacities, I would have no problem with someone carrying 200 candles. Just as believable as 1000 arrows, really.

[MLH]

I'm pretty sure a weight of "-" and a price of 1 cp are the designers' way of saying "you have a candle with you at any point you might need one." And there are countless applications for a single candle - light, sealing a letter, arson with a time delay - but only very limited ones for 200 unless you're a Vampire and recently gained a stronghold.

[\A/_Sarlock_\A/]

Thanks, I'll set it at about 5lb, making them about the size of a finger or hotdog,waiting for DM to get back from vacation to clear it with him.

[Ouatcheur]

We have 3 hints here.

#1 is that those candles last 1 hour.

#2 is that those a low-tech medieval-quality candles, not the nice candles of today. Today's candles burn smoothly and efficiently, without making tons of smoke, and at much lower temperature too, thus they burn slower than more primitive candles. Even the cheapest most badly done candles of today are super good quality compared to the crackling flickery candles of past ages. Cheap wax is actually much less "dense" than the modern "compact" waxes we have, so using about water density is quite ok as a rough approximation.

#3 Those candles can still give off a nice amount of light, providing *bright* light up to 5 feet then dim light for another 5 feet. In real like it is more like bright light if the candle is right next to the page you are reading, and then dim light to at best 10 feet. So we can assume those candles burn hotter and brighter, with a thicker wick, and thus quite quicker.

Hotter candles needs bigger radius to not have most of the wax away melt out of the cylinder shape.

After a bit of online research, as a DM this is my best approximation: 10 candles per pound.

[Yakk]

Edit: Actually... Apparently 2 oz. votive candles can be expected to burn for 15 hours, while candles in D&D burn for only 1 hour. I'd guess that weight:burn time isn't a linear ratio IRL, but still, that suggests that D&D candles are significantly less than 1 oz. 100 might well be about 3/4 lbs

EditEdit: Hmm... Wikipedia's article on candles suggests that they burn at about 0.1g/min. Assuming candles are completely consumed with no leftover wax, that would put each at a bit over .2 oz. 100 would be 1 1/4 lbs, in other words.

So, TL;DR: modern candles of that kind are about 1 lbs for 100.

That is pretty close to "-" per candle.

[dariathalon]

My question in this situation is why this character bought 100 candles. That ought to be extra weight no matter how you slice it, plus a bunch of unnecessary objects rattling around in his backpack. Yes, having a few of them on hand can be useful, but that quantity would just be annoying to have on you constantly.

But, if there is a reason for him to want this many, then I'd say it is best to just let the DM know your intention. Between the two of you, you should be able to come up with a reasonable estimation of the weight without too much trouble.

[darkbard]

My question is why is a 9+ year-old thread the "hottest" 4e thread in this forum?!?