DCC Encumbrance Simplified

This is a house rule for Dungeon Crawl Classics, but could easily be adapted over to D&D.  It’s a much simplified version of a few encumbrance systems suggested on various blogs.


Encumbrance Points

Every character can carry a number of encumbrance points equal to either their Strength or Stamina, whichever is higher, without penalty.

What is an encumbrance point?  Well, it could be considered one stone (which in modern times is about 14 pounds, but historically varied anywhere from 4 to 32 pounds).  It could also be considered that 1 Encumbrance Point = one handful/armful.

Below is a short list of encumbrance point values – it is not meant to be exhaustive, it’s a guideline.  Many things just don’t count at all.

Item	Encumbrance Points
Rations, per day	½ ENC
500 coins or equivalent	1 ENC
Food, per day	1 ENC
Handheld weapon or equivalent	1 ENC
Light armor	2 ENC
Shield or equivalent	2 ENC
Two handed weapon or equivalent	2 ENC
50 ft of rope	2 ENC
Halfling adult	2 ENC
Medium marmor	4 ENC
Heavy armor	6 ENC
Human adult	8 ENC

 

If any character exceeds their allotment of Encumbrance Points, each additional point creates a -1 check penalty and -5 ft of movement.


Carrying Capacities

The next thing is the ability to carry your allotted encumbrance points, beyond just the physical ability to lift it – you only have at most two hands, and need to be able to stow gear on your person or your steed.  When explaining what you are storing where, here’s a rough guideline for storage capacity of various containers.

Item	Encumbrance Points
Leather belt pouch	1 ENC
Small sack	2 ENC
Backpack	3 ENC
Pushcart	3 ENC
Large Sack	4 ENC
Saddlebags	4 ENC
Chest	4 ENC
Pack saddle	6 ENC
4 man cart	32 ENC