Good morning, everyone! Wanted to run some ideas by you regarding our carrying capacity. With the variant encumbrance rules, we have to be very strategic about how we choose to distribute our weight and what belongings we carry. For easy reference, here are the variant encumbrance rules:
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If your load is above your STR x 5, you are encumbered. Your movement speed is lowered by 10.
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If your load is above your STR x 10, you are heavily encumbered. Your movement speed is lowered by 20 and you have disadvantage on all Strength, Dexterity and Constitution based ability checks and saving throws.
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Your STR x 15 is your absolute max load. Any weight above this renders you functionally restrained by your equipment. In addition, you still have disadvantage on all Strength & Constitution based ability checks and saving throws.
Take Tysh, for example: to remain unencumbered, she can carry 60 lbs (12 x 5). With only the necessities (armor, weapon, shield, crossbow, crossbow bolts, and amulet), she's at 73.5 lbs. Her movement speed is lowered to 15 ft/round. She has 72.3 lbs remaining that she needs to carry. If she carries all of it, that puts her at 145.8 lbs, which lowers her movement speed to 5 ft/round and gives her disadvantage on all Strength, Dexterity and Constitution based ability checks and saving throws.
I think we should consider keeping an eye out for at least two mules (8g each) and a cart (15g) or wagon (35g). Here is my reasoning:
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Mules can move up to 5 times their carrying capacity.
- One mule has a carrying capacity of 420 lbs. It could effectively carry 2,100 lbs, including the weight of the vehicle.
- Two mules would take us to 840 lbs. It could effectively carry 4,200 lbs, including the weight of the vehicle.
- Three mules would take us to 1,260 lbs. It could effectively carry 6,300 lbs, including the weight of the vehicle.
- Animal feed per animal costs 5cp per day and weighs 10 lbs.
- A cart weighs 200 lbs. It is a single axle vehicle, so it would tip to one side when not in use. This means we would have to unload it every night and load it again every morning. We could cover it with a tarp to protect the contents.
- A wagon weighs 400 lbs. It is a double axle vehicle, so we could leave it packed. This means we could leave the items in there overnight and possibly even ride within the wagon, as well. We could cover it with a tarp to protect the contents.
Having at least two mules would help us ensure that we're still able to haul our cart/wagon in the event that a mule dies.
If you're all in favor of this, we would need to consider the following in order to determine the number of animals we need and whether a cart or wagon is the better choice:
- How much weight are you going to store on the cart/wagon?
- How much money do we have to spend on this?
- How much animal feed would we bring with us at a time? (This can add up quickly.)
- Since we're going to be on the road, we're going to have to invest in some things like tents, pitons for securing the tents to the ground, rations, torches, etc. that will increase our load.
- How many characters are encumbered by their base equipment (like Tysh)? If they ride in the cart/wagon, then that solves the problem about movement speed when traveling, but we have to consider their additional weight and the space they take up - a wagon would probably be best.
Sorry to drop this on you first thing in the morning. I do foresee this being a challenge, though, so let's get ahead of it! 😉 Looking forward to your thoughts.