A take on Simplified Encumbrance

[Warunsun]

My dozen players or so (in two games) all are really digging C&C and showing up! But nearly all of them hate Encumbrance Ratings and the rest don't like it either. We have been using it fairly straight up from the 5P and now 6P PH. The last couple of sessions I mixed in some pre-rolled up treasure from AD&D. I did this while prepping the adventure so I could disallow some treasure rolls and organize and convert the items.

I didn't want to assign ER/CV because we all have been talking about ditching it anyway. I couldn't find a traditional weight coverage example in the PH but maybe I overlooked it. All I seen was ER and notes about military press and dead lifted weight.

So I looked through all five editions of (A)D&D and my C&C PH and cobbled together the following house rule. Comments and suggestions are welcome. Thanks.
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Encumbrance and Movement
There are limits to how much your character can carry. These limits are determined by encumbrance. Encumbrance is measured in pounds. In general, the more weight carried by your character then the slower his movement rate will be. To calculate encumbrance, simply total the pounds of gear carried by your character. Add five pounds for clothing if worn.

The total weight your character can carry is primarily determined by his Strength attribute score. Encumbrance is divided into three categories: Unencumbered, Moderate, and Heavy Encumbrance. If your character caries weight in excess of 5 times his Strength score, he is moderately encumbered, which means his speed drops by 10 feet (to a minimum of 5 feet). If your character caries weight in excess of 10 times his Strength score, he is instead heavily encumbered, which means his speed drops by 20 feet (to a minimum of 5 feet) and your character looses his Dexterity bonus to armor class, attack rolls, attribute checks, and saving throws. The maximum total weight your character can carry is equal to 15 times his Strength score.

Special: If your character has either the Strength or Constitution attributes as prime, you may treat his Strength score as 3 points higher to determine encumbered weight categories. If your character has both the Strength and Constitution attributes as prime, you may treat his Strength score as 6 points higher to determine encumbered weight categories. Dwarves may ignore the movement rate penalties based on weight but still suffer the penalties to Dexterity for heavy encumbrance.

[Andrew]

I agree on this method. It is actually similar to how 2nd ed AD&D ruled it, though it didn't have a simple 5x, 10x, 15x setup. You could look in that PHB for ideas.

[Treebore]

I think it will work. The only thing I would do for dwarves is say that armor worn, including shields, does not count towards their encumbrance. Maybe include some weapons in that as well.

[TheMetal1]

Seems pretty straight forward. I've kind of hand-waved encumbrance, especially with a new party trying to understand the game. I've using Fantasy Grounds 2 the VTT, and that auto-calculates encumbrance. I've done a quick scan of the PCs and I think all of them are encumbered now. Your post has inspired me to do an encumbrance audit in the vein of Knights of the Dinner Table. We'll see what stays, gets transferred or dropped/hidden.

[jdizzy001]

Not a bad idea. Here are 2 other methods I have used, and love!
1.) total ev = str value x10. A PC with str 10 can carry 100 pounds of gear.
2.) ev = str value = # of items a PC can carry. You will have to determine how much extra they can carry if they are carrying a backpack and how many arrows takes up 1 "slot." My rule is +3 items for a small sack, +4 items for a harver sack and +5 items if they are carrying a backpack. 20 arrows = 1 quiver and 1 quiver takes up 1 str slot. For example, a PC with a str of 11 can carry 11 items. This is great for low fantasy games where you don't want your pc's to be carrying everything and the kitchen sink with them.

[Treebore]

I think I would want to make CON matter more too, because its not just all about how much you can pick up, but also about how LONG you can haul it! So if I were to adapt the system, I think I'd make it based off the average of STR and CON, then if Prime, have it add 3 to the total possible.

So if they have a STR of 14 and a Con of 12 I would say their Encumbrance base values is 13, Lets say its a Fighter type and both CON and STR are selected as Primes, then I'd add 6, to get 19 as their base value for calculating Encumbrance.

So the highest Encumbrance value we should ever see, to start the game with, is a 24. Meaning IF they had a CON of 19 (Dwarf) with an STR of 18, the average, rounded down, would be 18, if both are selected as the Dwarf's Primes, they'd have a base value of 24. Same for any other race that gets an 18 in both. Then the further advantage I'd give the Dwarf would be as I posted above, worn armor and used Shield would be "free", and I'd probably also give them a "free" weapon.

Elves would get/carry anything made of Mithril for "free", once they found/earned such items in game.

[maasenstodt]

ev = str value = # of items a PC can carry.

I use a similar system in my games. Players can have a number of "readied" items equal to half their STR, rounded down. Among those readied items are those carried in their hands. They can have a number of "stowed" items equal to the STR.

I count things like a quiver with 20 arrows as a single item. Some items, like heavy armor and two-handed weapons, are "oversized" and figure as two items. 200 coins count as one item.

In combat, players can use items in hand without penalty. Dropping one of those items (as opposed to packing it away) and grabbing another readied item allows them to act in the same round, but at a -2 penalty. Getting a stowed item requires 1d4 rounds of digging.

[Arduin]

I think I would want to make CON matter more too, because its not just all about how much you can pick up, but also about how LONG you can haul it! So if I were to adapt the system, I think I'd make it based off the average of STR and CON, then if Prime, have it add 3 to the total possible.

So if they have a STR of 14 and a Con of 12 I would say their Encumbrance base values is 13, Lets say its a Fighter type and both CON and STR are selected as Primes, then I'd add 6, to get 19 as their base value for calculating Encumbrance.

This one accounts for both parts of the equation and with the Engine portion of the game. Well played.

[Zudrak]

I think I would want to make CON matter more too, because its not just all about how much you can pick up, but also about how LONG you can haul it! So if I were to adapt the system, I think I'd make it based off the average of STR and CON, then if Prime, have it add 3 to the total possible.

So if they have a STR of 14 and a Con of 12 I would say their Encumbrance base values is 13, Lets say its a Fighter type and both CON and STR are selected as Primes, then I'd add 6, to get 19 as their base value for calculating Encumbrance.

This one accounts for both parts of the equation and with the Engine potion of the game. Well played.

I concur. Well done, Tree.

[Captain_K]

Super easy methods: a) Have each player draw a stick figure of their PC with everything they're carrying or b) Have each PC read all they are carrying to the group and the group votes on which of the three ratings they fall into... those with too much encumbrance are obvious to all.

Some PCs love to organize, locate, annotate and detail down to the last ink quill, but other hate it and are terrible at it. Let those who like it, do it. Encourage good record keeping, but use simple review and judgment to keep it fair and simple for others is commonly required. Sometimes helps to show examples of Burdened and Overburdened and you should be fine. Group review usually makes this task self evident and the character must lighten the load or suffer. When all methods must get down to the three simple PH p 67 ratings you really only need to worry about one tipping point (unburdened vs burdened) for most PCs most of the time.