Rules Index | GM Screen

Carrying Capacity

Source PRPG Core Rulebook pg. 169
These carrying capacity rules determine how much a character’s equipment slows him down. Encumbrance comes in two parts: encumbrance by armor and encumbrance by total weight.

Encumbrance by Armor: A character’s armor determines his maximum Dexterity bonus to AC, armor check penalty, speed, and running speed (see Table 6–6). 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 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.

Encumbrance by Weight: If you want to determine whether your character’s gear is heavy enough to slow him down more than his armor already does, total the weight of all the character’s items, including armor, weapons, and gear (see appropriate tables in Chapter 6). Compare this total to the character’s Strength on Table 7–4. Depending on 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 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 7–5. 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.

Lifting and Dragging: A character can lift as much as his maximum load over his head. A character’s maximum load is the highest amount of weight listed for a character’s Strength in the heavy load column of Table 7–4.

A character can lift as much as double his 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 maximum load. Favorable conditions can double these numbers, and bad circumstances can reduce them by half or more.

Bigger and Smaller Creatures: The figures on Table 7–4 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.

Quadrupeds can carry heavier loads than bipeds can. Multiply the values corresponding to the creature’s Strength score from Table 7–4 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.

Tremendous Strength: For Strength scores not shown on Table 7–4, find the Strength score between 20 and 29 that has the same number in the “ones” digit as the creature’s Strength score does and multiply the numbers in that row by 4 for every 10 points the creature’s Strength is above the score for that row.

Table 7-4: Carrying Capacity

Strength Score	Light Load	Medium Load	Heavy Load
1	3 lbs. or less	4-6 lbs.	7-10 lbs.
2	6 lbs. or less	7-13 lbs.	14-20 lbs.
3	10 lbs. or less	11-20 lbs.	21-30 lbs.
4	13 lbs. or less	13-26 lbs.	27-40 lbs.
5	16 lbs. or less	17-33 lbs.	34-50 lbs.
6	20 lbs. or less	21-40 lbs.	41-60 lbs.
7	23 lbs. or less	24-46 lbs.	47-70 lbs.
8	26 lbs. or less	27-53 lbs.	54-80 lbs.
9	30 lbs. or less	31-60 lbs.	61-90 lbs.
10	33 lbs. or less	34-66 lbs.	67-100 lbs.
11	38 lbs. or less	39-76 lbs.	77-115 lbs.
12	43 lbs. or less	44-86 lbs.	87-130 lbs.
13	50 lbs. or less	51-100 lbs.	101-150 lbs.
14	58 lbs. or less	59-116 lbs.	117-175 lbs.
15	66 lbs. or less	67-134 lbs.	134-200 lbs.
16	76 lbs. or less	77-153 lbs.	154-230 lbs.
17	86 lbs. or less	87-173 lbs.	174-260 lbs.
18	100 lbs. or less	101-200 lbs.	201-300 lbs.
19	116 lbs. or less	117-233 lbs.	234-350 lbs.
20	133 lbs. or less	134-266 lbs.	267-400 lbs.
21	153 lbs. or less	154-306 lbs.	307-460 lbs.
22	173 lbs. or less	174-346 lbs.	347-520 lbs.
23	200 lbs. or less	201-400 lbs.	401-600 lbs.
24	233 lbs. or less	234-466 lbs.	467-700 lbs.
25	266 lbs. or less	267-533 lbs.	534-800 lbs.
26	306 lbs. or less	307-613 lbs.	614-920 lbs.
27	346 lbs. or less	347-693 lbs.	694-1,040 lbs.
28	400 lbs. or less	401-800 lbs.	801-1,200 lbs.
29	466 lbs. or less	467-933 lbs.	934-1,400 lbs.
+10	×4	×4	×4

Table 7-5: Encumbrance Effects

			Speed
Load	Max Dex	Check Penalty	(30 ft.)	(20 ft.)	Run
Medium	+3	-3	20 ft.	15 ft.	×4
Heavy	+1	-6	20 ft.	15 ft.	×3

Armor and Encumbrance for Other Base Speeds

The table below provides reduced speed figures for all basespeeds from 5 feet to 120 feet (in 5-foot increments).

Base Speed	Reduced Speed
5 ft.	5 ft.
10 ft.-15 ft.	10 ft.
20 ft.	15 ft.
25 ft.-30 ft.ft.	20 ft.
35 ft.	25 ft.
40 ft.-45 ft.	30 ft.
50 ft.	35 ft.
55 ft.-60 ft.	40 ft.
65 ft.	45 ft.
70 ft.-75 ft.	50 ft.
80 ft.	55 ft.
85 ft.-90 ft.	60 ft.
95 ft.	65 ft.
100 ft.-105 ft.	70 ft.
110 ft.	75 ft.
115 ft.-120 ft.	80 ft.

Archives of Nethys

Rules Index | GM Screen

Carrying Capacity

Table 7-4: Carrying Capacity

Table 7-5: Encumbrance Effects

Armor and Encumbrance for Other Base Speeds