How Heavy Can You Carry in D&D? A Comprehensive Guide to Encumbrance
The short answer to “How heavy can you carry in D&D?” is: it depends. It’s not a static number; rather, it’s a calculation based primarily on your character’s Strength score, modified by size, special abilities, and even spells. While the default rules allow most characters to carry a reasonable amount without penalty, exploring the limits of encumbrance can be a crucial aspect of strategy, resource management, and even roleplaying. This article will delve into the intricacies of carrying capacity in Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, offering a comprehensive understanding and answering frequently asked questions.
Calculating Your Base Carrying Capacity
Your base carrying capacity is determined by a simple formula: Strength score multiplied by 15. This result, measured in pounds, represents the weight you can carry without any penalties. For example, a character with a Strength score of 14 can carry 210 pounds without encumbrance. This is generally sufficient for typical adventuring gear, but it’s essential to track your inventory, especially when looting dungeons or collecting rare items.
Pushing, Dragging, and Lifting
Beyond your carrying capacity, you can also push, drag, or lift heavier objects. The limit for these actions is twice your carrying capacity, which translates to 30 times your Strength score. However, attempting to move this much weight comes at a cost. While pushing, dragging, or lifting weight up to this doubled limit, your speed is reduced to a mere 5 feet. This significant reduction makes it highly impractical to carry such a burden while traveling or in combat, typically reserved for moving exceptionally heavy objects like boulders or treasure chests.
Size Matters: Adjusting for Larger Creatures
A character’s size significantly impacts their carrying capacity. The base rule of Strength score x 15 applies to medium-sized creatures (like humans and elves). However, for creatures larger than medium, carrying capacity doubles for each size category above medium. This means:
- Large creatures have a carrying capacity of Strength score x 30.
- Huge creatures have a carrying capacity of Strength score x 60.
- Gargantuan creatures have a carrying capacity of Strength score x 120.
This reflects the incredible physical power of these larger creatures, allowing them to move much larger objects without difficulty. For example, an adult red dragon, a Huge creature, with a Strength score of 27, would have a carrying capacity of (27 x 15) x 4 = 1620 pounds.
Encumbrance: When Carrying Too Much Becomes a Problem
While you can technically carry a significant amount of weight, exceeding certain limits can result in encumbrance, significantly hindering your performance. The standard rule for encumbrance is triggered when you carry an amount of weight that exceeds five times your Strength score. At this point, you are considered encumbered, though the effects are not explicitly defined in the core rules.
The Encumbrance Variant Rule
For a more challenging and realistic experience, the optional Encumbrance Variant rule is often used. This rule introduces two thresholds:
- Encumbered: When your carried weight exceeds 5 times your Strength score, your speed is reduced by 10 feet.
- Heavily Encumbered: When your carried weight exceeds 10 times your Strength score, your speed is reduced by 20 feet, and you suffer disadvantage on ability checks, attack rolls, and saving throws that use Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution.
Using these variant rules creates a powerful incentive to manage weight effectively and introduces meaningful consequences for carrying too much gear.
Maximizing Your Carry Weight
For players who want to be the pack mules of their adventuring party, several factors can dramatically increase carrying capacity, including race, class, feats, and spells. These can stack together to achieve remarkable results:
- Powerful Build: Racial traits like Goliath’s Powerful Build count your character as one size larger for the purpose of lifting and carrying. This effectively doubles your base lifting and carrying max capacity.
- Barbarian (Path of the Totem Warrior – Bear): The 6th level Aspect of the Bear feature of the Barbarian doubles your carrying capacity, further boosting your weight limit.
- Brawny Feat: The Brawny Feat (from Unearthed Arcana) also doubles your carrying capacity.
- Enlarge Spell: Casting the spell Enlarge on a character also doubles their carrying capacity as well as treating them as if they were one size larger for this purpose, combining well with the Powerful Build trait.
Combining these can result in characters that can carry thousands of pounds. A character with a Strength of 29 and all these features active will have a carrying capacity of 3,480 pounds, which can be further increased using the Enlarge spell!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. How is weight calculated in D&D?
Weight is assigned to items based on common sense and practicality. The Player’s Handbook and Dungeon Master’s Guide provide lists for common items. Some DMs may use the optional rule that bases height, then weight on a table using rolls, often from Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica.
2. How much does gold weigh in 5e?
According to the Player’s Handbook, fifty coins weigh one pound. Therefore, a single gold coin weighs 0.02 pounds or approximately 9.1 grams.
3. What is a backpack’s carrying capacity?
A standard backpack can hold up to one cubic foot or 30 pounds of gear. Items like bedrolls or rope can be strapped to the exterior.
4. What is the “heavy” property for weapons?
The “heavy” property indicates that a weapon is too bulky for smaller creatures. Small creatures have disadvantage on attack rolls with heavy weapons.
5. What is the powerful build trait in D&D?
Powerful Build allows a Medium character to count as Large for the purpose of determining lifting and carrying capacity. This effectively doubles their base carrying capacity.
6. How much weight can a cart carry in D&D?
A standard cart weighs 200 lbs and is designed to be pulled by a single animal. A mule with a Strength score of 14 has a carrying capacity of 420lbs and a pulling capacity of 5 times that or 2100 pounds. Subtracting the weight of the cart that leaves 1900 lbs for cargo.
7. What is the take 20 rule?
The “Take 20” rule, is an unofficial and optional house rule that usually only applies outside of combat or tense situations that assumes you fail many times before succeeding. Taking 20 takes 20 times as long as making a single check.
8. What is the 27-point buy rule?
The 27-point buy rule is a method of determining starting character stats by spending 27 points. The maximum stat is 15 before racial bonuses.
9. What is Rule 0 in D&D?
Rule 0 states that the DM is the final arbiter of the rules. They are the final authority on the game and their word is law within their game world.
10. What is the 1/20 rule?
In standard 5e, a natural 20 on a d20 is only an automatic success for attack rolls. The rules for skill checks and saving throws don’t have the same effect for 20’s. A natural 1 is an automatic miss on an attack roll, and failure on a death saving throw.
11. How much does a dragon weigh?
An adult dragon’s weight varies depending on the species. However, an adult red dragon typically weighs around 2,700 pounds according to the stats provided in the Monster Manual.
12. What happens if you carry too much using the encumbrance variant?
If using the Encumbrance Variant rules, carrying more than 5 times your Strength score will reduce your speed by 10 feet. Carrying more than 10 times your Strength score will reduce your speed by 20 feet and give you disadvantage on Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution checks, saving throws and attacks.
13. What are the best ways to increase carrying capacity in D&D?
The most effective ways include: taking the Powerful Build racial trait, using the Aspect of the Bear barbarian feature, taking the Brawny Feat, and casting the Enlarge spell.
14. What is the mounting rule in D&D?
You can mount a creature that is within 5 feet of you. The mount needs to be within 5 feet regardless of your size or reach, and you can dismount using the same rules. This usually costs part of your movement.
15. What are some things not to do as a D&D player?
Avoid arguing with the DM, trying to reverse time, or hogging the fun by overshadowing other players’ moments or actions.
Conclusion
Understanding carrying capacity and encumbrance in D&D is crucial for effective gameplay. Knowing how to calculate these limits, and which factors might modify them, will allow you to make tactical decisions about what to carry, and what to leave behind, and help avoid any unintended consequences of a badly managed inventory. Whether you’re a pack rat with a powerful build or a minimalist rogue, mastering the rules of weight in D&D adds a layer of realism and strategy to your adventures.