Personal Encumbrance
The deleterious effects of carrying about great masses of weapons, armor and equipment
are obvious to anyone who has ever done any backpacking or even serious hiking. The extra
weight and cumbersome additions to the body to support that weight make dexterous and
strenuous activities (such as Combat) considerably more difficult. Accounting for this
requires that each character total the weight of all equipment being carried on the
person. This includes, but is not limited to, arms and armor, backpacks full of equipment
and provisions, etc. It may be more convenient to keep a couple of such totals on your
character reference sheet. One for "combat ready" and another for
"travelling" for instance.
The maximum total weight that a character may lift is expressed by the Carrying
Capacity Attribute. Lifting such weight would require the entire attention of the
character, and leave him quite fatigued afterwards - depending on the duration of such
activity. It is possible to exceed this maximum for very short periods of time, though at
some risk of injury.
Calculate the Encumbrance level by dividing the total amount of weight carried by the
Carrying Capacity and multiply by 100 for a percentile value. The following table
summarizes the effects of various encumbrance levels on physical skills tests, combat
percentages and Fatigue/Stamina.
| Encumbrance |
Tests By Character |
Tests Against Character |
Attack % By Character |
Attack % Against Character |
Combat Fatigue* |
Travel |
| 0-10% |
- |
- |
+5% |
- |
0.5 / turn |
1 / hr. |
| 11-40% |
- |
- |
- |
- |
1 / turn |
2 / hr. |
| 41-75% |
-1 (attrib) |
-1D |
-5% |
+10% |
2 / turn |
3 / hr. |
| 76-90% |
+1D |
-2D |
-15% |
+25% |
3 / turn |
4 / hr. |
| 90+% |
+2D |
-2D |
-25% |
+50% |
5 / turn |
1 / min. |
- Tests By Character
- When a skill test is required by the encumbered character
against the character's Combat, Stealth, Dexterity or Strength
modify the test as indicated for the encumbrance percentage.
- Tests Against Character
- When a skill test is required by an opponent where difficulty is predicated by the
encumbered character's Combat, Stealth, Dexterity or Strength
modify the test as indicated for the encumbrance percentage.
- Attack % By Character
- All "Attack" combat tactics attempted by the
encumbered character have their percentages modified as indicated for encumbrance.
- Attack % Against Character
- All "Attack" combat tactics attempted against the
encumbered character have their percentages modified as indicated for encumbrance.
- Travel
- This is the rate at which Fatigue/Stamina points are lost while hiking at a regular,
strong pace. Casual walking would consume approximately 1/2 this. Running increases the
value by 5x. Wearing an armoured hauberk, surcoat or mail hose would also double the
Fatigue/Stamina loss.
- Combat Fatigue
- Characters may participate in continuous combat without fatigue penalty for
Constitution/3 turns. This table indicates the required Fatigue/Stamina expenditure for
each additional turn.
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