Monks and encumbrance

[tylermo]

Well, session 3 of The Rising Knight is coming up Monday. Good fortune has smiled on me. A friend of 7 years is returning to the game table for C&C. His nephew by marriage has played a little D&D 3 and 4, and is keen to join my group as well. The nephew wanted to play a human monk. After figuring his encumbrance rating, it seems the monk will be lightly encumbered. Movement is reduced by 1/4 and a plus 1 is added to all Dex-related rolls. One slight problem...the monk starts with a 35 movement which is busted down to 30 if the character is at medium or heavy encumbrance. This character is only lightly encumbered. Does the 1/4 reduction still apply, or have I misread something? Thanks for the help.

[CKDad]

I would probably handwave an exception for light encumbrance. Or, does the light encumbrance include a pack of some kind? The fast movement is usually only a factor in combat, so I'd allow him to drop his pack at the beginning of the round, probably as an attack action.

[kreider204]

First, just to be sure you have the most recent errata for encumbrance:

viewtopic.php?f=19&t=1158&hilit=encumbrance

Then, Ill agree with CKDad about the handwaving:

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=11522&hilit=handwav%2A

[tylermo]

I'll check out the link. I do have the 4th printing phb's in softcover, hc, and flipbook, but they could be wrong. The player does have a pack, so he'd have to drop that and/or bedroll(unless it's on a pack animal).

[tylermo]

I'll check out the link. I do have the 4th printing phb's in softcover, hc, and flipbook, but they could be wrong. The player does have a pack, so he'd have to drop that and/or bedroll(unless it's on a pack animal).

[tylermo]

I'll check out the link. I do have the 4th printing phb's in softcover, hc, and flipbook, but they could be wrong. The player does have a pack, so he'd have to drop that and/or bedroll(unless it's on a pack animal).

[kreider204]

Ya, I'm not sure that erratum ever made it into the PHB - it's not in my hardcover, anyway. It seems to be more lenient about encumbrance as long as things are packed away nicely. I'd certainly let the monk drop his pack as a free action once combat starts - just make sure he picks it up again when the party finds itself running away from that black dragon!

[cheeplives]

I would probably handwave an exception for light encumbrance. Or, does the light encumbrance include a pack of some kind? The fast movement is usually only a factor in combat, so I'd allow him to drop his pack at the beginning of the round, probably as an attack action.

I would agree with this, as the author of the Encumbrance rules. I'm not sure... has that distinction on the Monk's move been there since the first printing, or did it come in at a later printing?

Errata should be made to the Monk's Fast Movement ability to state that Monk's movement is not affected by the normal Encumbrance penalties for Light, Medium, or Heavy loads. Instead, the Monk's movement is 35 for None and Light, and 30 for Medium or Heavy. Overburdened Monks follow the normal rules.

Monks are still subject to Challenge Level penalties for their Encumbrance, however.