Encumbrance: How do you Handle it?

[Lucius]

Encumbrance is a weighty subject, I know.

 

Do you use the rules in 6th ed vol 2, Combat and Adventuring? Some other system for dealing with it? Don't worry about it at all?

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Unencumbered palindromedary

 

[Markdoc]

I do use the current encumbrance rules, but don't obsess too much about every last jot and tittle - a decent estimate of weight is enough, with some extra penalties tossed on for carrying ridiculously large or odd-shaped objects. The rules actually get most use when I look at what people are carrying and work out LTE cost: players quickly work out that if they carry heavy loads for very long, they get really tired, and it slows them down. At that point, they usually start dumping all but the essentials.

 

cheers, Mark

[Ninja-Bear]

Since you asked, I don't use the rules, but will keep an eye on it if it gets excessive. Same thing as having having extra weapons. Fwiw, I'm teaching my brother the game and adding in rules as he and I are comfortable with them till we get a feel we are both happy with. I see no need to overwhelm him.

[mhd]

In my personal fantasy RPG experience, the only thing that I disliked more than bothering with encumbrance was checking for infected wounds (my first RPG didn't have lots of rules, but for some kind of reason it thought that was important).

Having said that, especially in a campaign where armor and/or looting plays a role, things shouldn't run unchecked. So generally I do this "audit" style, where I don't demand constant vigilance, but might take a timeout where the player has to tally his load. This usually takes care of most bit-by-bit encumbrance issues, and most larger items are plot issues anyway ("How do we get this 100,000 copper piece hoard into Basecampington village?")

 

Currently, I'm postponing most of this. HERO is still pretty new in our group and we all started out basically naked and shipwrecked, so there wasn't that much to encumber the players. When I start doing it properly, I want to do it right, and that means fiddling a bit with said 6E encumbrace rules, some suggestions from FH regarding armor penalties, never mind LTE due to the climate and circumstances (lots of treks through jungles currently, with an arid desert environment scheduled next).

[NuSoardGraphite]

I generally use 4th edition Encumbrance rules, even in 5th edition game. I find that the Encumbrance rules for 5th edition to be too generous for Heroic level play. Generally, all I do is count the weight of their armor, shield, and weapons, then add 1 or 2 kg for good measure and go from there. It's usually pretty easy to keep track of just those weights and easy enough to change if the character loses a major piece of equipment.

 

I would never count the weight of every object the characters are hauling about. That way lies madness. I would, however, count the weight of something unusual, unwieldy and heavy that the character is hauling around (like that big old sack of gold coins you found in that trolls nest)

[docdoom77]

I just ignore it, unless it becomes ridiculous. I do use a version of the armor penalty rules (pretty much as written, except Def 1 items have no penalty).

[Christougher]

Audit style as mentioned above, but only a few encumbrance 'levels'. No Encumbrance until Casual STR is exceeded - minimal(-1) penalties applied(this is Light Encumbrance). Heavy Encumbrance(heavy penalties, usually halving) kicks in at STR -5 level.

 

Chris.

[Ternaugh]

The last FH campaign used Encumbrance rules sparingly, and usually only for the basic kit (armor + weapons + any big items). For the most part, the game wasn't about gathering up huge amounts of coin*, or getting lots of slightly generic magic items. Magic items were sufficiently rare that there was really no market, beyond commissioning a wizard to make it (or a thief to steal it).

 

JoeG

*Coins in the game ran from just slightly smaller than a US penny (2.5 grams) to just slightly larger than a US Morgan silver dollar (26.73 grams). Most gold coins in the game were around the size of the old Spanish Doubloon (6.77 grams, or a little heavier than a US nickel).

[Vondy]

What is this "encumbrance" you speak of?

 

In most circumstances I ignore it. Insofar as a character is carrying a "reasonable" amount of gear for their concept / physical powers I don't nitpick. I will apply Dexterity and DCV penalties for characters who wade into battle or try athletic feats of prowess laden down with expedition gear, etc/ If the question is whether a character is strong enough for a particular weapon or armor type, then we can look at strength minimums. Overall, however, however, I mostly regard it is yet another thing that doesn't have to be strictly defined with mechanics. Pan-mechanicism as a game philosophy doesn't do a great deal for me. I need mechanics for conflict resolution when outcomes are not certain. I prefer, in all other situations, to use dramatic sense rather than rules and dice rolls. I am involved in a cooperative storytelling effort, not a bookkeeping enterprise.

[Derek Hiemforth]

It's been a while since I've run a game where I cared about Encumbrance.  But the last time I did, I assigned armor a STR Min, and based the Encumbrance penalties on how far below the STR Min you were.  A strong enough character might have no penalties. Weapons and other gear generally weren't factored in, but if you were carrying an unusual amount of gear or heavy items, that could add an additional penalty.

[Kraven Kor]

I'm a fan of "keep it simple, stupid" and so long as they aren't trying to carry everything but the kitchen sink, it rarely comes into play.  Armor, main weapon, back-up weapon, dagger or two, backpack, bedroll, and rations and maybe a tent or rope or the like?  Fine.  "I want one of everything and two grappling hooks" I start threatening to use the actual encumbrance rules and the players pare down the list.

 

On occasion, it has come up when a player has STR drained or the like.

[Tasha]

Encumbrance is a weighty subject, I know. Do you use the rules in 6th ed vol 2, Combat and Adventuring? Some other system for dealing with it? Don't worry about it at all? Lucius Alexander Unencumbered palindromedary

We used to obsess about every ounce of weight. Since HD doesn't include the weights of anything(it could, but the HD FH supplements never have prefabs of equipment). Anyways we only really "worry" about the weigth of Weapons + Armor + anything always carried (not including Packs that can be dropped in the first phase).

[docdoom77]

It's been a while since I've run a game where I cared about Encumbrance.  But the last time I did, I assigned armor a STR Min, and based the Encumbrance penalties on how far below the STR Min you were.  A strong enough character might have no penalties. Weapons and other gear generally weren't factored in, but if you were carrying an unusual amount of gear or heavy items, that could add an additional penalty.

 I like this.  I may experiment with it.  Thanks

[Lucius]

The consensus seems to be to worry about it as little as possible.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary says I burden myself too much.