Encumbrance

Encumbrance, a factor of the strength raw stat (NOT THE BONUS) and body weight, represents how weighed down a character is. Characters can be weighed down by carrying too much gear, including silvers. Encumbered characters are penalized in many ways, especially in physical combat and movements such as standing, climbing and swimming. An encumbered state will cause characters to move slower and suffer from decreased resistance to enemy combat maneuvers/standard maneuver rolls and a penalty to dodge DS.

Unencumbered Carrying Capacity

Unencumbered carrying capacity is the amount of weight a character can carry or wear before reaching an encumbered state. (Silver coins weigh approximately 1/160th of a pound.) An exception to this is armor, which does not count toward encumbrance when worn if the armor has standard weight. However, armor accessories do count. Armor that is lighter or heavier than standard weight will modify the carrying capacity (see below: #Armor and Encumbrance).

The amount of weight that a character can carry before becoming encumbered is primarily a function of body weight and the strength stat. That amount is:

(trunc to 0.XX((STR stat - 20) / 200) * body weight) + (body weight / 200)

Temporary enhancive effects to the Strength change the carrying capacity accordingly, using the enhanced STR stat. This includes spells such as Strength (509) (which gives +15 STR bonus, corresponding to +30 STR stat or 15% of body weight in carrying capacity).

Example 1 -	A human, with a body weight of 207 lbs. and a strength stat of 70, has an unencumbered carrying capacity of: (((70 - 20) / 200) * 207)) + (207 / 200) (.25 * 207) + 1.03 = 52.78 lbs.
Example 2 -	A giantman, with a body weight of 360 lbs. and a strength stat of 100, has an unencumbered carrying capacity of: (((100 - 20) / 200) * 360) + (360 / 200) (.40 * 360) + 1.8 = 145.8 lbs.
Example 3 -	A halfling, with body weight 90 and a strength stat of 50, has an unencumbered carrying capacity of: (((50 - 20) / 200) * 90} + {90 / 200} (.15 * 90) + .45 = 13.95 lbs.

Training Off Encumbrance

Training in the Physical Fitness skill reduces your encumbrance by 1 pound for every 10 skill bonus. For example, someone with 10 ranks (50 skill bonus) will see a 5 lbs reduction.

Encumbrance Messaging

Each message represents a range of encumbrance. Encumbrance is measured as a percentage of a character's body weight. These messages should be used as a general guide. Penalties, due to encumbrance, are often in 1% or 5% increments. To see your character's current level of encumbrance type ENCUMBRANCE in game.

Percentage	First
None	You adjust your gear comfortably and feel satisfied that you are not encumbered enough to notice.
>0% to 10%	Your load is a bit heavy, but you feel confident that the weight is not affecting your actions very much.
>10% - 20%	You feel somewhat weighed down, but can still move well, though you realize you are not as quick as you could be.
>20% to 30%	You can't quite get comfortable, and are definitely feeling the effects of the weight you are carrying. Lightening your load could help.
>30% to 40%	Your shoulders are beginning to sag under the weight of your gear, and your reactions are not very fast. Time to unload, perhaps?
>40% to 50%	The weight you are carrying is giving you a backache. Perhaps you should unload some things soon before you actually have to move fast.
>50% to 65%	You are beginning to stoop under the load you are carrying, and your reactions are slow. Hope you don't have to dodge anything.
>65% to 80%	It is difficult to move quickly at all, and your legs are strained with the effort of carrying all that stuff. You can probably manage to trudge around town, but hunting would be treacherous.
>80% to 100%	You find it nearly impossible to make any fast moves, and you ache all over from the load you are trying to haul around. Hope you're in a safe place.
>100%	You are so weighed down with junk you can barely move. You might be able to make it to your locker by summoning all your strength and willpower, but surviving much else would not be a good bet.

Body Weight

The body weight of a character depends on the base weight of their race, plus their Strength and Constitution stats scaled by a race-dependent Weight Factor.

Body weight is an intrinsic characteristic, but will increase with normal STR and CON stat growth, up to a potential maximum weight if STR and CON reach 100. STR and CON enhancives do NOT increase body weight.

Using the WEIGHT verb by itself several times and averaging the results will give a body weight value which is within 1 to 2 lbs of the actual weight. Unless an item is specified (i.e., WEIGHT my shield), the verb ignores any worn or held items including silver, and only measures body weight.

Race Weight Table

Body weight is determined by the formula:

Body Weight = Race Base Weight + ((STR stat + CON stat) * Race Weight Factor)

Note: Use only even number STR and CON stats. If the stat is an odd number, subtract 1 from its value. For example, if the STR stat is 89 use 88 (89 - 1) for the calculations. The formula is accurate when both stat values are 50 or greater. If either stat value is less than 50 the character's actual weight will be slightly higher than the formula's calculated weight.

Maximum weight is 3x the race base weight.

Race	Weight Factor	Base Weight (lbs.)	Maximum Weight (lbs.)
Burghal Gnome	0.40	40	120
Halfling	0.4533	45 1/3	136
Forest Gnome	0.4767	47 2/3	143
Aelotoi	0.6767	67 2/3	203
Elf	0.70	70	210
Erithian	0.7233	72 1/3	217
Sylvankind	0.7233	72 1/3	217
Dark Elf	0.7767	77 2/3	233
Dwarf	0.7767	77 2/3	233
Half-Elf	0.8233	82 1/3	247
Human	0.90	90	270
Half-Krolvin	1.00	100	300
Giantman	1.20	120	360

Armor and Encumbrance

There is a standard weight for each Armor Sub-Group. Any armor that has a standard weight will have that weight removed for the purposes of encumbrance calculations while it is worn. Basically, it has a zero net effect on encumbrance.

For non-standard weight armor there will be either a positive or negative effect on encumbrance. Armor that is lighter than normal will increase unencumbered carrying capacity. Conversely, heavier than normal armor will decrease this capacity.

The amount of unencumbered carrying capacity gained or lost from wearing non-standard weight armor is the product of the weight difference and a race encumbrance factor. Race encumbrance factors are NOT the same as the race body weight factors.

Race Encumbrance Table

Table: Armor Encumbrance Factors

Race	Armor Encumbrance Factor
Burghal Gnome	0.50
Halfling	0.50
Forest Gnome	0.60
Aelotoi	0.75
Elf	0.78
Dwarf	0.80
Sylvankind	0.81
Dark Elf	0.84
Erithian	0.85
Half-Elf	0.92
Human	1.00
Half-Krolvin	1.10
Giantman	1.33

Table: Armor Base Weights

AG	ASG	Name	Base Weight
Cloth	1	Normal Clothing	-
	2	Robes	8
Soft Leather	5	Light Leather	10
	6	Full Leather	13
	7	Reinforced Leather	15
	8	Double Leather	16
Hard Leather	9	Leather Breastplate	16
	10	Cuirbouilli Leather	17
	11	Studded Leather	20
	12	Brigandine Armor	25
Chain	13	Chain Mail	25
	14	Double Chain	25
	15	Augmented Chain	26
	16	Chain Hauberk	27
Plate	17	Metal Breastplate	23
	18	Augmented Plate	25
	19	Half Plate	50
	20	Full Plate	75

Armor Encumbrance Formula

The formula used to determine the amount of carrying capacity gained or lost due to non-standard weight armor is:

Modified carrying capacity = (standard armor weight - actual armor weight) * (Race encumbrance factor)

Example 1

Human (encumbrance factor 1.00) wearing 60 lb full plate (AsG 20). Standard full plate is 75 lbs.

(75 - 60) * 1.00 = +15 lbs carrying capacity

Example 2

Halfling (encumbrance factor .50) wearing 60 lb half plate (AsG 19). Standard half plate is 50 lbs.

(50 - 60) * .50 = -5 lbs carrying capacity

Example 3

Giantman (encumbrance factor 1.33) wearing 22 lb brigandine armor (AsG 12). Normal brigandine is 25 lbs.

(25 - 22) * 1.33 = +4 lbs carrying capacity

Armor Accessories

Unlike standard armor, armor accessories will add encumbrance when worn. However, many of these accessories are modified by the race encumbrance factors. E.g., a 5 lb. accessory when worn by a halfling will only add 2.5 lbs of encumbrance while that same accessory will add 6.65 lbs of encumbrance to a giantman.

Dodge Defensive Strength and Encumbrance

There is a 1% penalty to dodge DS for each 1% encumbered body weight. This penalty is capped at 100% when a character's encumbered weight equals their body weight. Use the WEIGHT (verb) by itself for a quick estimate of body weight. Accuracy with this method will be approximately +/- 3% of actual weight.

DS Penalty Example

A character with a body weight of 200 lbs. and a defensive stance dodge DS of +100 will sustain a penalty of -1 DS for every 2 lbs. of encumbered weight. With 200 lbs. of encumbered weight, dodge DS will be zero. There is no additional penalty (negative dodge DS) when encumbrance is greater than total body weight.

Note: This penalty only applies to the dodge DS portion of total DS. There is no block or parry encumbrance DS penalty.

See Also

• Saved posts
• Lightening
• Armor Support
• Blue feather-shaped charm