Weights - Do they matter?

[JimmyPlenty]

An encumberance thing...

How often do people carry enough that weight has to be figured out to check if they go down 2MA?

I would think that when a player creates a hero, they could figure out what the threshold is before they lose 2MA.

But does it ever really come up? Unless you are carrying couch upstairs?

[hcobb]

A five pound stick ain't heavy for the usual 6 ST wizard.

While the armor weights are reasonable, the weapon weights are absurd. A 15 pound sword is a parade ornament, not a battlefield weapon.

Weapon - ITL - In The Historical Reality
Dagger - 3oz - 8 to 16 oz
Rapier - 1 pound - 3 pounds (A smallsword is a better match to a TFT "Rapier")
Broadsword - 5 pounds - 2 to 4 pounds
Bastard Sword - 7 pounds - 2.4 to 4 pounds
Zweihänder - 15 pounds - 5 pounds

[Shostak]

I've never played in a group that much enjoyed book-keeping, so we've always just gone with the honor system when encumberance has come up.

[TippetsTX]

Encumbrance is one of those game elements that often doesn't matter until someone (usually the GM) decides that it does. I usually won't bother tracking it unless I think a player is abusing the situation.

[JimmyPlenty]

That's what I thought. I think I'll stick to the Death Test version of it, like Tippetts said. If I think that brick of gold knock you down 2MA, calculations not required. Thanks all.

[hcobb]

I'll just have each ST 1 rat pull a hundred pound cart.

[Axly Suregrip]

It matters more for low ST / high DX characters wearing very heavy armor and a big shield. For example, a ST9 fighter wants to hear Plate armor. The armor alone is 55 lbs. This exceeds x6, so he will have an addition DX penalty over the armor's.

Very low ST + very heavy armor is mostly what you need to look for.

[Skarg]

Yeah, it can matter if you use it, especially if you track non-combat equipment and supplies, and/or if characters need/want to move things that are heavy around, especially if they need to be able to fight, or run, or climb, or swim, etc, without dropping what they're carrying. Especially if they can't take a wagon everywhere.

It can lead to some interesting limitations and game situations.

[philreed]

Originally Posted by TippetsTX

Encumbrance is one of those game elements that often doesn't matter until someone (usually the GM) decides that it does. I usually won't bother tracking it unless I think a player is abusing the situation.

Seconded! Encumbrance just isn't fun to deal with. So long as the players are reasonable, it can be ignored.

Unreasonable players can be removed from the game.

[BobP]

When we played, we only worried about three things when it came to encumbrance and equipment.

First was "fighting mode" -- apparel, armor, belt pouches, and primary weapons. Note MA adjustments if necessary, but I know I'd always choose gear to avoid that situation.

Then "exploring mode" -- fighting mode plus whatever fit in the backpack.

And "everything" mode -- what resource have we got among us, including what's in saddlebags, etc.

We didn't think a lot about treasure weight, but then a lot of our adventures weren't that -- many rescue missions, general exploring, etc.