In the perilous wilds, an adventurer’s equipment makes the difference between life and death. A rope can prevent falling into a deathly chasm, a burning torch can fend off wild beasts, and a humble fishing rod can provide a meal to fill hungry bellies. Characters must carefully consider the equipment they take with them when adventuring, as each person is only able to carry so much. Each item carried is at once a burden and a potential lifesaver in times of peril.

Two approaches to determine how much characters can carry are presented here: one based on tracking the total weight of items carried, the other based on tracking the number of items carried. The Referee should decide which to use, and it should be applied to all characters.

This encumbrance system is based on tracking the individual weights of items carried, giving a detailed and fairly realistic overview of each character’s load.

The total weight of the character’s gear is tracked. As coins are the most common form of treasure found by adventurers, all weights are measured in coins. Ten coins equal one pound.

Equipment: The equipment lists note the weight of all weapons, armour, and items of adventuring gear. Groups wishing to simplify tracking may treat a character’s miscellaneous gear (e.g. backpacks, ropes, torches, etc.)—excluding weapons and armour—as a total of 100 coins of weight.

Treasure: The weight of treasure carried by a character is tracked. See Weight of Common Treasures.

Maximum load: The maximum load any character can carry is 1,600 coins of weight. Characters carrying more than this cannot move.

A character’s Speed is determined by the total weight they carry. See the Weight Encumbrance table.

The carrying capacity of mounts and vehicles is listed in coins under Horses and Vehicles.

The encumbrance of common items of treasure is listed below. The Referee should decide the weight of other forms of treasure.

This option may be used by groups who prefer a simpler encumbrance system based on weight carried.

Equipment: The weight of armour, weapons, and adventuring gear is not tracked and does not count towards a character’s maximum load.

Treasure: The weight of treasure carried is tracked to make sure that the character’s maximum load is not exceeded. See Weight of Common Treasures.

Maximum load: The maximum load of treasure any character can carry is 1,600 coins of weight. Characters carrying more than this cannot move.

A character’s Speed is determined by the type of armour they are wearing and whether they are carrying a significant amount of treasure (as judged by the Referee). See the Basic Encumbrance table.

This encumbrance system is based on gear slots, giving a simple and abstract overview of each character’s load. Each item carried occupies 0–3 gear slots—see Items in Gear Slots. Characters become slower and more burdened depending on the number of gear slots occupied.

Characters have 10 slots for equipped items, that is anything the character is wearing, holding, actively using, or has ready to use at short notice: armour worn, shields or weapons held, sheathed weapons, items in a belt pouch.

Maximum load: A character cannot carry more than 10 slots of equipped items.

Sacks and backpacks each have 10 slots for stowed items, that is items packed away in the container.

Maximum load: A character cannot carry more than a total of 16 slots of stowed items.

Maximum containers: A character can wear one backpack and can carry up to two sacks, each occupying one hand. When carrying a sack, the character cannot carry a weapon, shield, lantern, or other object in that hand.

Retrieving: In combat, retrieving a stowed item takes 1 Round.

A character’s Speed is determined by the number of occupied gear slots, shown in the Slot Encumbrance table. Track the number of equipped and stowed items separately, look up both in the table, and use the slowest Speed listed.

Example: A fighter wearing plate mail (3 equipped slots) and carrying a shield and longsword (2 equipped slots) has Speed 30 (5 equipped slots total). They are also carrying a backpack containing a tinder box, 3 flasks of oil, a lantern, a rope, and a waterskin (7 stowed items). The 7 stowed items do not alter their Speed. If, later in an adventure, they fill a sack with 600gp (6 stowed items, for a total of 13 stowed items), their Speed would be reduced to 20.

The number of items that mounts and vehicles can carry is calculated by dividing their coin capacity by 100 (see Horses and Vehicles). The distinction between equipped and stowed items does not apply to horses and vehicles.

The Item Gear Slots table lists the number of gear slots occupied by different kinds of items.

General items: Unless noted otherwise, each object a character carries occupies 1 gear slot.

Tiny items: Some very small items only occupy a gear slot if carried in large numbers (as judged by the Referee).

Bundled items: Some items are purchased and carried in bundles. A bundle occupies 1 gear slot.

Containers: Containers (e.g. backpacks, sacks) only count as an item when not in use.

Bulky items: Large or heavy objects that require two hands to carry occupy 2 gear slots and cannot be stowed. Very heavy or bulky objects may occupy 3 or more gear slots, as judged by the Referee.

Clothing and armour: Clothing does not occupy a gear slot. Light armour occupies 1 slot, Medium armour 2, and Heavy armour 3. A shield occupies 1 slot.

When characters discover large treasure hoards, they may have to drop items, abandoning adventuring gear in order to stuff their sacks with gold.

In desperate circumstances, such as when fleeing enemies, characters may choose to drop items to lighten their load. Weapons, shields, and even stuffed sacks or backpacks may be dropped to increase a character’s Speed.