Seeking feedback on our alternative (highly simplified) encumbrance system to replace 5e RAW encumbrance.
First, a link to a visual of the "system".
A couple of players from my D&D group and I have come up with a rough idea of how we'd like to handle encumbrance in our new campaign. In previous campaigns we ignored encumbrance entirely. As the DM, I didn't like this as it meant that we gave up lots of potentially interesting situations (running out of ammo, trying to carry something that's too heavy and needing another PC to carry your gear, you get the idea...)
Yet, we all agreed that we thought the 5e RAW were entirely too tedious and we'd hate using them. We also thought not having any variation to differentiate high strength characters from low STR characters would be undesirable as well. We then "beefed up" a little of the carrying capacity in the spirit of fun - so these don't translate perfectly to what a (for example) average strength human could carry (10.5 STR, Medium Humanoid). They're a little high.
Our version is, in part, inspired by Jacob Vickers and Tyler Legg's 5e Rule Variant for "Inventory Slots" which can be found over at DMs Guild. Props to those guys, their system is interesting and has a lot of what we liked but was still a little too crunchy for my players' tastes so we tried to borrow a bit and simplify further. Other inspiration from some 'Web DM' videos on YouTube that discuss the potential for encumbrance to perhaps be inspired by video games a la Diablo 2, etc.
This isn't a perfect one size fits all as I'm sure many of you may be quick to point out. I'm happy to offer any clarifications, answer questions, or hear any feedback you may have for us on this that could help me 1) make use of this to successfully allow encumbrance to play a role while eliminating the tedious nature of RAW 5e encumbrance, and 2) avoid unforeseen conflicts with the players or potential balance issues down the road.
Thanks for any input in advance!
Posted Jul 2, 2019, 8:08 PM UTC
What about items that aren't weapons or armor? Can I carry as many as I want, one of them (and then fuck me if I find a chest with a reward in it), or none?
Am I really limited to 20 arrows, bolts, or sling bullets? If I have literally nothing else in my bag, I can't put 21 bullets in it?
What counts as a "negligible" and this can be ignored? Can I use this to haul around an anvil?
You never give out more than 1 quest reward per person? And if we chose to carry a magic item like, say, a Wind Fan, I now don't get to pick another quest reward?
There's no distinction by weight - I can carry around 1 set of full plate but not 4 hats.
Seriously, you expect them to carry one single item that's not Armor or Weapon? I just can't quite get past that and the fact that I can have exactly 20 pieces of ammo.
Thanks for your questions!
Good question, and not necessarily. This is where the players and DM get to spend that lovely time haggling over what is 'reasonable' because there seems to be a fairly healthy interest amongst the group of mostly ignoring the little stuff that adds to weight - but then disallowing things when they get to the point where it doesn't make sense. This sytem doesn't eliminate the need to keep track of everything you're carrying. You're fine until you want to carry that anvil back to town with you...
Under this system, that's correct. Arrows/bolts, etc. you can carry 5 by default, 20 if you're proficient in a ranged weapon and then another 20 for every quiver you decide to carry (which takes up a weapon slot). If we're not counting how many candles or feet of rope you're carrying, then you can't drop the rope to make room for stuff when it's convenient.
This is fair and back into the "subject to reason" with final say by DM. We we want to avoid is things like rations, rope, spade, parchment, quill, rings, tinderbox... to give you a few ideas. An anvil is, funny enough, the 'example' that we used to say "clearly that's going to need some DM intervention to see how that works". This is where the system is helpful because if you want to carry an anvil - well now it's something that narratively matters to encumbrance and we'll handle it one off. How do you know when it's narratively necessary to adjudicate? It's sort of like the governments definition of smut... "I'll know it when I see it."
This is where we got tired and quit. This may end up being 2,3, unlimited "loot slots" the idea was a slot that basically didn't count towards encumbrance. My players were a bit torn as to whether you should be able to equip things into your "weapon slot" out of this slot though. They didn't like the idea of not being able to pick up your loot and use it right away. So this was a stop gap. I'd honestly prefer eliminating this in favor of making them decide on what to carry in the moment.
You can carry around armor sets which tends to be how 5e sells you gear anyway. "Leather Armor" "Chain Mail" etc. To the extent you change your plate helm for hat, it's all still "plate" until you change your armor set for the rest. In your example of "I can't carry 4 hats". Honestly, to me, that's likely negligable. Now, 40 hats.....
No I expect that there's an unlimited amount of space for all other items that basically just aren't fun for my players to spend time tracking detailed weight. The "quest loot" slot is intended to be a heavy/significant item that basically ignores weight if you want the session to keep going and decide after the session is over if you want to keep it or not bring it next time. The slot is emptied at the start of the next session.
On the ammo front - you can have more ammo than 20; you just have to use a quiver which means you have to give up a slot where you'd have otherwise been able to carry a scabbard for a short sword, etc.