Carrying Capacity

Encumbrance rules determine how much a character’s armor and
equipment slow him or her down. Encumbrance comes in two parts:
encumbrance by armor and encumbrance by total weight.
Encumbrance by Armor: A character’s armor (as described on
Table 7–6: Armor and Shields, page 123) defines his or her
maximum Dexterity bonus to AC, armor check penalty, speed, and
running speed. Unless your character is weak or carrying a lot of
gear, that’s all you need to know. The extra gear your character
carries won’t slow him or her down any more than the armor already
does.
If your character is weak or carrying a lot of gear, however, then
you’ll need to calculate encumbrance by weight. Doing so is most
important when your character is trying to carry some heavy object.
Weight: If you want to determine whether your character’s gear
is heavy enough to slow him or her down more than the armor
already does, total the weight of all the character’s items, including
armor, weapons, and gear. Compare this total to the character’s
Strength on Table 9–1: Carrying Capacity. Depending on how the
weight compares to the character’s carrying capacity, he or she may
be carrying a light, medium, or heavy load. Like armor, a character’s
load affects his or her maximum Dexterity bonus to AC, carries a
check penalty (which works like an armor check penalty), reduces
the character’s speed, and affects how fast the character can run, as
shown on Table 9–2: Carrying Loads. A medium or heavy load
counts as medium or heavy armor for the purpose of abilities or
skills that are restricted by armor. Carrying a light load does not
encumber a character.
If your character is wearing armor, use the worse figure (from
armor or from load) for each category. Do not stack the
penalties.
For example, Tordek is wearing scale mail. As shown on
Table 7–6: Armor and Shields, this armor cuts his maximum
Dex bonus to AC to +3, and gives him a –4 armor check
penalty (and cuts his speed to 15 feet, were he not a dwarf and
thus able to move normally even when encumbered by armor
or a load). The total weight of his gear, including armor, is 71-
1/2 pounds. Since Tordek has a Strength of 15, his maximum
carrying capacity, or maximum load, is 200 pounds. A
medium load for him is 67 pounds or more, and a heavy load
is 134 pounds or more, so he is carrying a medium load.
Looking at the medium load line on Table 9–2: Carrying
Loads, his player sees that these figures are all equal to or
less than the penalties that Tordek is already incurring for
wearing scale mail, so he incurs no extra penalties.
Mialee has a Strength of 10, and she’s carrying 28
pounds of gear. Her light load limit is 33 pounds, so she’s
carrying a light load (no penalties). She finds 500 gold
pieces (weighing 10 pounds) and adds them to her load, so
now she’s carrying a medium load. Doing so reduces her
speed from 30 feet to 20 feet, gives her a –3 check penalty,
and sets her maximum Dexterity bonus to AC at +3 (which
is okay with her, since that’s her Dexterity bonus
anyway).
Table 9–1: Carrying Capacity
Strength Score Light Load Medium Load Heavy Load
1 3 lb. or less 4–6 lb. 7–10 lb.
2 6 lb. or less 7–13 lb. 14–20 lb.
3 10 lb. or less 11–20 lb. 21–30 lb.
4 13 lb. or less 14–26 lb. 27–40 lb.
5 16 lb. or less 17–33 lb. 34–50 lb.
6 20 lb. or less 21–40 lb. 41–60 lb.
7 23 lb. or less 24–46 lb. 47–70 lb.
8 26 lb. or less 27–53 lb. 54–80 lb.
9 30 lb. or less 31–60 lb. 61–90 lb.
10 33 lb. or less 34–66 lb. 67–100 lb.
11 38 lb. or less 39–76 lb. 77–115 lb.
12 43 lb. or less 44–86 lb. 87–130 lb.
13 50 lb. or less 51–100 lb. 101–150 lb.
14 58 lb. or less 59–116 lb. 117–175 lb.
15 66 lb. or less 67–133 lb. 134–200 lb.
16 76 lb. or less 77–153 lb. 154–230 lb.
17 86 lb. or less 87–173 lb. 174–260 lb.
18 100 lb. or less 101–200 lb. 201–300 lb.
19 116 lb. or less 117–233 lb. 234–350 lb.
20 133 lb. or less 134–266 lb. 267–400 lb.
21 153 lb. or less 154–306 lb. 307–460 lb.
22 173 lb. or less 174–346 lb. 347–520 lb.
23 200 lb. or less 201–400 lb. 401–600 lb.
24 233 lb. or less 234–466 lb. 467–700 lb.
25 266 lb. or less 267–533 lb. 534–800 lb.
26 306 lb. or less 307–613 lb. 614–920 lb.
27 346 lb. or less 347–693 lb. 694–1,040 lb.
28 400 lb. or less 401–800 lb. 801–1,200 lb.
29 466 lb. or less 467–933 lb. 934–1,400 lb.
+10 ×4 ×4 ×4
Then Mialee is knocked unconscious in a fight, and Tordek wants
to carry her out of the dungeon. She weighs 104 pounds, and her
gear weighs 28 pounds (or 38 pounds with the gold), so Tordek can’t
quite manage to carry her and her gear, because doing so would put
him over his 200-pound maximum load. Fortunately, their
companion Jozan is able to carry her gear and the gold, so all Tordek
has to worry about is Mialee herself. Tordek hoists Mialee onto his
shoulders, and now the dwarf is carrying 175-1/2 pounds. He can
manage it, but it’s a heavy load. His maximum Dexterity bonus to
AC drops to +1, his check penalty worsens from –4 (the armor check
penalty for scale mail) to –6 (the check penalty for a heavy load), and
now he runs at ×3 speed instead of ×4.
Lifting and Dragging: A character can lift as much as his or her
maximum load over his or her head.
A character can lift as much as double his or her maximum load
off the ground, but he or she can only stagger around with it. While
overloaded in this way, the character loses any Dexterity bonus to
AC and can move only 5 feet per round (as a full-round action).
A character can generally push or drag along the ground as much
as five times his or her maximum load. Favorable conditions (such as
being on smooth ground or dragging a slick object) can double these
numbers, and bad circumstances (such as being on broken ground
or pushing an object that snags) can reduce them to one-half or less.
Bigger and Smaller Creatures: The figures on Table 9–1: Carrying
Capacity are for Medium bipedal creatures. A larger bipedal
creature can carry more weight depending on its size category, as
follows: Large ×2, Huge ×4, Gargantuan ×8, Colossal ×16. A smaller
creature can carry less weight depending on its size category, as
follows: Small ×3/4, Tiny ×1/2, Diminutive ×1/4, Fine ×1/8. Thus, a
human with a Strength score magically boosted to equal that of a
giant would still have a harder time lifting, say, a horse or a boulder
than a giant would.
Table 9–2: Carrying Loads
Max Check –—— Speed —–—
Load Dex Penalty (30 ft.) (20 ft.) Run
Medium +3 –3 20 ft. 15 ft. x4
Heavy +1 –6 20 ft. 15 ft. x3
Quadrupeds, such as horses, can carry heavier loads than characters
can. Instead of the multipliers given above, multiply the value
corresponding to the creature’s Strength score from Table 9–1 by
the appropriate modifier, as follows: Fine ×1/4, Diminutive ×1/2,
Tiny ×3/4, Small ×1, Medium ×1-1/2, Large ×3, Huge ×6, Gargantuan
×12, Colossal ×24.
For example, Mialee, an elf with 10 Strength, can carry as much as
100 pounds. Lidda, a halfling with 10 Strength, can carry only 75
pounds. A donkey, a Medium animal with 10 Strength, can carry as
much as 150 pounds.
Tremendous Strength: For Strength scores not shown on Table
9–1, find the Strength score between 20 and 29 that has the same
number in the “ones” digit as the creature’s Strength score does.
Multiply the figures by 4 if the creature’s Strength is in the 30s, 16 if
it’s in the 40s, 64 if it’s in the 50s, and so on. For example, a cloud
giant with a 35 Strength can carry four times what a creature with a
25 Strength can carry, or 3,200 pounds × 4 because the cloud giant is
Huge, for a total of 12,800 pounds.