Encumbrance

Encumbrance describes the weight that characters and working animals can carry or pull, which in turn affects their movement and daily travel capabilities. The total weight borne determines a character's available action points (AP), which are derived from their strength, weight, and any exceptional capacity. The greater the burden—whether carried personally, loaded onto a cart or wagon, or even drawn along a canal by a barge—the fewer AP remain for use.

While tracking encumbrance may seem like an onerous task, it is no more demanding than the real-life management of possessions. If characters were truly required to stow, count, protect, clean, and retrieve their belongings, it would be far more troublesome than merely recording weight values. Carefully tracking these details encourages players to remain aware of their inventory and facilitates strategic planning, such as reducing burdens before combat or hiring porters to carry excess gear while keeping it within reach. Though players may dislike the inconvenience of managing "stuff," the DM must remain steadfast. Arithmetic is not an insurmountable obstacle, and players are expected to organize their inventories in a logical, easily referenced manner.

Maintaining separate lists for “person,” “backpack,” “mule,” “hireling,” or “home” simplifies the process considerably. Abandoning outdated reliance on pencil and paper in favour of widely available digital tools is an approach worth considering. Should a player object to the necessity of record-keeping, it is their own difficulty to overcome. DMs are not responsible for indulging those who grumble at the unavoidable tedium that comes with carrying worldly possessions.

Determining Encumbrance

The determination is made using a straightforward Excel calculator, which can be accessed HERE (and then opened with Google Sheets). Separate tabs allow for calculations specific to "humanoid" and "cartage," with the latter detailing how much an animal or team of animals can pull or carry. Below are the cell formulas for the humanoid Excel sheet, making it easy to replicate.

Penalty per range of weight carried in lbs.
None	-1 AP	-2 AP	-3 AP	-4 AP
up to 10	11-21	22-32	33-43	44-54

For example, a halfling weighing 60 lbs., with a strength of 13, inserts those numbers into the boxes for "insert weight" and "insert strength." The result yields the figures shown in the table.

As a humanoid, the character naturally possesses 5 AP. The results show that as long as the halfling only carries up to 10 lbs., no penalty to its movement is felt. However, the next column over, "11-21" (count any fraction above ten as "11") indicates that carrying up to 21 lbs. would reduce the halfling's -1 AP, or "4." The table also shows that the maximum weight the halfling can carry is 54 lbs.

See Also,
Player Characters
Submersion in Water
The Adventure