#Weight and Size of Equipment

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

tribal blaze
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Currently Equipment is measured is pounds. Is there any desire to implement a system that aims to also factor in the size of objects, like pf2e's Bulk?
A spear is much harder to carry around than an axe, even if the axe may be a bit heavier

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Pf2e does this by not mentioning weight at all, so just Bulk, which is effective as an abstraction for ease of tracking at an actual table.

this does make it harder to really know how heavy stuff is, as everything is fully abstracted into Bulk.

I think Crucible could afford to go even farther though by giving items both a weight, and Bulk. With the Bulk acting as a modifier to weight, which then gives an "effective weight" for the purpose of encumbrance and just lifting objects.

For example, a 4 pound spear could be given the "Bulk 3" attribute, modifying it's effective carry weight to 12

lilac pebble
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worth considering, yeah.

safe widget
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PF2e already has bulk and light, just one single measure of bulk is all that's needed

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Anything more and I find people just hate the mechanic and want to ignore it

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I have never had a player say anything other than "yay I'm overencumbered what a fun mechanic this is NOT"

tribal blaze
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that is not the same thing, in pf2e Light is just a 10th of a bulk.
And this is a VTTRPG, it does the calculating for you
and if you simply want your players to be able to carry infinite things, a setting or module can turn off carry weight calculation

safe widget
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Neither I nor they want to be able to carry infinite things, we all recognise the idea that a character can't carry infinite things

lilac pebble
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I do not know what the eventual rules or implementation will be, but I will say clearly that I am in favor of there being a limit on how much stuff you can carry

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what exactly that looks like, very much TBD.

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I agree with the rational argument that "how much you can carry depends both on the size of items as well as their weight"

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whether the game system needs to or should care about that is another matter.

safe widget
tribal blaze
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what?

lilac pebble
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yes, what the eventual UI of the inventory tab on the character sheet will be also affects this

tribal blaze
safe widget
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So under that idea, easy-to-carry items have a weight, and a low bulk value (representing the ease of carrying). Harder-to-carry items have a weight and a higher bulk value?

tribal blaze
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having a robust weight and bulk system also opens the door to talents interacting with that system, similar to pf2e's giant instinct barbarian, which gets bonus damage while wielding a comically oversized weapon

tribal blaze
safe widget
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I don't think I or my players have had enough positive experiences with a capacity/weight system to want more depth in that system

tribal blaze
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I'd argue that the bad reputation of such system comes with the insanity of tracking it at a table or less feature rich VTT implementation.
Crucible would do all the work for you, and you still have the choice to ignore it if you really want

safe widget
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I can see the argument that a VTT-designed system can help sure. PF2e's bulk system is fairly automated and it's only ever a chore though, it's not a perfect solution. Players picking up boss loot only to end up encumbered is not fun

tribal blaze
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people treating a TTRPG like a video game and picking everything they killed clean to sell the weapons and armor, that is what I personally don't like, and what in my experience ignoring weight limits leads to

safe widget
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But that is realistic

tribal blaze
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???

safe widget
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Looting after battles has existed for thousands of years

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Selling your enemies gear has too

tribal blaze
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for an army, not a group of 4 adventurers looting 28 goblin armors and spears

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i think I am done arguing this

safe widget
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Yeah, differences of opinion I think, that's fine. We can look forward to Crucible's design at least

lilac pebble
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I'm not sure what I think, hopefully I'll be able to come up with a compromise solution that will satisfy you both 🙂

tribal blaze
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two people is also not really a good sample size ^^
I could just be in the absolute minority here

unreal kelp
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I've long dreamed of a VTT system that leverages automation to handle the more complex aspects of inventory management in the hope that it would make it less of a chore for my players, I have both types at my table, players who want to track individual arrows and rations, and players who just want to buy a wagon and 1000 days worth of food so they can hope to never have to worry about it ever again

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and while I fall on the side that wants to track arrows and rations because I enjoy hexploration mechanics at the lower levels of play that make the difficulty of the adventure rewarding before parties can just teleport or air walk across the map, I can't honestly ask my players to play Logistics & Ledgers when its staring at spreadsheets for dozens of minute calculations

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all that said, I've always had an appreciation for the way the Ryuutama RPG dealt with size and capacity, it defines size of an object by how many hands it takes to manipulate it (holding, pushing, lifting, etc.) and then gives people and containers a carrying capacity that you add up to based on the size of the objects

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it gets away from calculating the individual weights of the items so is less simulationist, but still represents weight and bulk in terms that are easier for a player to wrap their head around

stable siren
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why not have both? Bulk/Encumbrance and Weight but selectable by the GM on campaign.world level. Each item would have their weight in KG (pound sand pounders) while having a Bulk/Enc stat. Those that want graduality will have with with specific weight, while those that do not want to worry about will have Bulk/Enc.

torn dragon
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I propose the best inventory system, an attaché case when you place all your items like a puzzle

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😬