Encumbrance

The more a character carries, the more difficult it becomes for him to move quickly and effortlessly. In game terms, this lowers his Agility, and his Endurance for the purposes of travelling efficiency.

All encumbrance is expressed in weight: size or cumbersomeness is no concern. A character's ability to carry items is determined by his Strength; a character can carry up to 30 + (2 × Strength) in lbs. before being encumbered. Beyond that, encumbrance is judged by a scale which increments by 5 + Strength. For each notch, starting at 30 + (2 × Strength), Agility and travelling Endurance are lowered by 1 (so long, of course, as the encumbrance remains the same).

For example, let's say a character with 6 Strength wants to lug around 100 lbs. worth of items. He could carry up to 30 + (2 × Strength[6]), or 42, lbs. before being encumbered. Passing this mark gives an Encumbrance of 1; for every 5 + Strength [6], or 11, above that, Encumbrance is increased by 1. This makes the formula for determining Encumbrance:

So in this example, that would be:

1. Enc. = (100 - (30 + (2 × 6))) ÷ (5 + 6), rounded up
2. Enc. = 58 ÷ 11, rounded up
3. Enc. = 6

An Encumbrance of 6 makes the character lose 6 from Agility, including in Combat, as well as 6 from Endurance for the purposes of determining how fatigued he becomes in travel. Obviously, this is quite detrimental, so efficieny in organizing equipment is extremely important. There are many ways to optimize your character's packaging system, including:

• Items which are said to be "worn" rather than "carried", clothes, armour, weapons, accessories, etc., count for only half of their listed weights, as the weight is distributed more evenly across the body. However, items of this type must be equipped to provide this benefit.
• To carry things more efficiently, you can make use of either a sack or a knapsack. The sack can carry up to 120 lbs. It provides no benefit to Encumbrance, but can be dropped during combat to let the character fight free of any excess weight (save that which isn't carried in the sack). In combat, the sack can be dropped (no movement cost), which endangers breakables inside, or placed (1 movement point). The knapsack is similar, but can only hold 65 lbs. However, because its shoulder straps provide, again, a more even distribution of weight, centred on the part of the body which can support the most, all items in the knapsack count for only 2/3 of their listed weights. The knapsack is more difficult to remove in combat, requiring 2 movement points for a drop, or a whole 5 to place.
• Magic. Why the hell not? Magic can do anything.

N.B., none of the above which change an item's weight for the purpose of determining Encumbrance change the weight of that item for any other purpose, such as lifting or telekinesis.

Some information on how additional party members will affect how much you can carry will be put here, as soon as I figure it out.

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