Here is the scenario. Another player has the muleback cords built into his CoR. He is under the assumption that the magic from the muleback cords allows him to physically carry 10 suits of armor because they are not more than he has "carrying capacity." I pointed out that carrying 10 sacks that are tied to him would be completely absurd and he would not be able to fight with that much stuff attached to his body. Again, he claims that the magic from the cords overrides the physics of carrying that much stuff. Even though we calculated that a single suit of armor has about a 54 inch diameter and is 34 inches tall. Which means that if he had 10 suits of armor is would take up a volume of 2.83 cubic feet per armor or 28.30 cubic feet of volume. Mind you we do not have portable holes or any dimensional spaces of any kind. What do you guys think about that? I think he's nuts.
Unfortunately, the rules for encumbrance and carrying capacity are concerned only with weight, not volume. So RAW, if it's not more than he has carrying capacity, it won't encumber him or otherwise affect his ability to fight.
As the GM, you're more than welcome to make additional limitations to preserve verisimilitude. The point will become pretty moot once handy haversacks/bags of holding/portable holes entire the picture.
This is the rules forum, he is completely within the rules.
Pathfinder does not have any rules governing the amount of space an item takes up. It only has rules governing the amount of weight you can carry.
For example, take a longspear. In reality, where would you store it when you are not using it? Strapped to your back? It is too big. It is either in your hands or it is on the ground, there are no other alternatives, in reality.
However, in Pathfinder you can not only carry a longspear but you can carry 20 of them if you have enough weight capacity. It is hand-waived for playability.
Now, should you choose to try to obey reality regarding bulk then you should also enforce all the other reality breaking bits that pathfinder has. For example, a person carrying 200 lbs of equipment that does not float is still being able to swim.
Trying to enforce reality on a game which is clearly not based in reality is nuts. :)
Depends on how the GM rules carrying. I usually handwave it, as long as it doesn't get absurd, but 10 suits of armor would fall into that category...
Rules wise, there is nothing against it 'though.
(It's funny how bags of holding and the like have weight and space limitations, but a high str character can RAW carry an elephant on his back...)
If encumbrance were brought into the game, more people would buy and travel around with pack animals. How would you feel if your character had 5 donkeys and a skilled laborer 'animal trainer/leader' - and these 5 donkeys each carried 2 suits of armor?
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Oh, one other thing, all these suits of armor do not take up that much space, simply stack them. When disassembled the parts can be nested inside each other.
Example: the front peice of a breastplate can be nested in another front peice of breastplate (just like two bowls). Stored like that they do not take much space, not even as much as one suit because there is no big empty space in the middle.
If encumbrance were brought into the game, more people would buy and travel around with pack animals. How would you feel if your character had 5 donkeys and a skilled laborer 'animal trainer/leader' - and these 5 donkeys each carried 2 suits of armor?
At low levels, my characters usually have two mules and a cart for various odds and ends. When allowed access to Eberron material, I even paid double the price for mules to have them magebred for more strength and endurance.
Muleback Cords cost 1,000gp.
So does an Elephant.
For the same price, you could buy 125 Donkeys.
Which method of carrying stuff do you want in your game, Harry? As the GM, you can make people choose poorly...in terms of having fun or maintaining verisimilitude. I know which way I'd choose.
Muleback Cords cost 1,000gp.
So does an Elephant.
For the same price, you could buy 125 Donkeys.Which method of carrying stuff do you want in your game, Harry? As the GM, you can make people choose poorly...in terms of having fun or maintaining verisimilitude. I know which way I'd choose.
...I wonder if my GM would let me buy an Elephant...
...I wonder if my GM would let me buy an Elephant...Muleback Cords cost 1,000gp.
So does an Elephant.
For the same price, you could buy 125 Donkeys.Which method of carrying stuff do you want in your game, Harry? As the GM, you can make people choose poorly...in terms of having fun or maintaining verisimilitude. I know which way I'd choose.
My GM, in the last campaign, offered to let us convert our entire 'pile o' gold' from a dragon's hoard into the equivalent value of elephants...but we decided they would be too hard to feed.
Technically stabling for day for "exotic creatures" is only twice the normal amount. Which is 5sp per day...
Feed for a large animal is even cheaper, 5cp per day, so you double that for a Huge animal is 10cp per day. So over all, 1sp per day to care for your Elephant if you got no where to put it, 11sp per day if you want it housed...
Muleback Cords cost 1,000gp.
So does an Elephant.
For the same price, you could buy 125 Donkeys.Which method of carrying stuff do you want in your game, Harry? As the GM, you can make people choose poorly...in terms of having fun or maintaining verisimilitude. I know which way I'd choose.
1500 actually, he put it on his Cloak of Resistance. So add some extra donkeys in addition to the elephant. =)
He is totally a RAW kind of guy. There is something hysterical though imagining a 6ft guy swinging a sword with 5000lbs worth of crap strapped to his body. But a trail of donkeys would be pretty funny too. Especially if there was an errant lighting bolt...
Technically stabling for day for "exotic creatures" is only twice the normal amount. Which is 5sp per day...
Feed for a large animal is even cheaper, 5cp per day, so you double that for a Huge animal is 10cp per day. So over all, 1sp per day to care for your Elephant if you got no where to put it, 11sp per day if you want it housed...
We were in the middle of a dungeon complex, so even if we 'only' converted 100,000gp into elephants we were going to struggle to get enough fodder for them. We did consider turning some 'spare' elephants into elephant-food, but that seemed a bit mean...
Muleback Cords cost 1,000gp.
So does an Elephant.
For the same price, you could buy 125 Donkeys. . . .
For a moment I was going to say or two feats (skill focus-know: nature and eldritch heritage: sylvan)... though I think I'd rather buy one than take the animal companion version. It's not truly elephant-like until twelve character levels that way. And by level 12, if you don't have extra dimensional storage, you're doing it wrong.
If food works kind of like teleport (A Large creature counts as two Medium creatures, a Huge creature counts as four Medium creatures, and so forth), a huge creature takes four goodberries per meal, or 12 per day... until one wants to pick up some version of the clear spindle or a collar of sustenance, if one were so inclined. Otherwise, one could just spend a day stocking up on goodberries and the goodberries would last for a bit.
As to the OP, there seem to be no rules for encumbrance based on how cumbersome something is. If you want to house rule something, it's up to you as long as it's not PFS.
On the other hand, I'm now wondering what the cheapest and most effective pack animal would be.