Lifting and Carrying Variant: Burden

[Laurefindel]

This houserule aims at offering a quick and dirty way to track encumbrance. So if you are on the fence between keeping track of your player's stuff and viewing encumbrance as a waste of time and efforts, this houserule might interest you.

In a nutshell, forget about weight in lbs; objects have burden. As long as a character does not carry more burden points than its Strength score; it remains unencumbered. If the total burden is above the character's strength score, it is encumbered (-10 ft. to speed). If a character carries a burden greater than twice its Strength score; it is heavily encumbered (-20 ft speed and disadvantage on attacks, skills and saves).

Normal clothing and small objects (such as a dagger or a potion) have negligible burden; a character can carry as many such items as sensibly possible. As a rule of thumb, items with a listed weight of 1 lb. or less in the PHB do not have a burden rating.

Armors are the most burdensome items typically carried by adventurers. A suit of armour has 1 point of burden for each point of AC over 10. For example, a padded armor (AC 11) has a burden of 1 and a plate armor (AC 18) a burden rating of 8.

Most other adventuring gear has a burden rating of 1 or 2. One-handed weapons, shields and other manageable items (such as a blanket or a bedroll, a wizard's spellbook or a waterskin) have a burden rating of 1, while weapons with the heavy property and other cumbersome objects have a burden rating of 2. The definition of "cumbersome objects" is left intentionally vague but if a line has to be drawn, items with a listed weight of 10 lbs or more (such as a sledge hammer, 50 ft. of hemp rope or a two-person tent) are considered cumbersome.

Items sold or carried in bulk (such as 7 days worth of rations, 10 torches, 20 arrows, 100 coins) have a burden rating of 1 per bundle. A half-used bundle conserves its burden even though it should logically be lighter; this represents the growing weariness of the adventurer compensating for the loss of weight.

When calculating burden, do not include the weight of bags and backpacks. In this philosophy, the backpack is an extension of the character’s ability to carry things more than an object in it own right. If players insist on carrying large chests and heavy barrels, just tell them that they can't fight with those in hand.

'findel

[Freelance GM]

This houserule aims at offering a quick and dirty way to track encumbrance. So if you are on the fence between keeping track of your player's stuff and viewing encumbrance as a waste of time and efforts, this houserule might interest you.

In a nutshell, forget about weight in lbs; objects have burden. As long as a character does not carry more burden points than its Strength score; it remains unencumbered.

When calculating burden, do not include the weight of bags and backpacks. In this philosophy, the backpack is an extension of the character’s ability to carry things more than an object in it own right. If players insist on carrying large chests and heavy barrels, just tell them that they can't fight with those in hand.

'findel

Ooh, I like this!

I had been using a slight modification of Edge of the Empire's carrying capacity rules for a while. (I stop tracking encumbrance once the PC's get their hands on a Bag of Holding.) It's remarkably similar, but not as fleshed out as this.

The main difference between that and this was that Backpacks had 0 Encumbrance and wearing 1 increased your carrying capacity by 4. (Obviously, this bonus does not stack for multiple backpacks, but it rewarded players for actually buying something to put their gear in when they aren't using it.)

Belt Pouches gave you 1 extra point of encumbrance as well, but in my houserule it could only be used for light, stack-able items, the ones you called "bundles."