Encumbrance by Armour

[Faelar Braegen]

I have been getting myself completely confused about this. Before reading about this, I always assumed that the weight of the armour you are wearing came out of your total carrying capacity.

However now I have found this I am hoping that somebody will help me understand it. I will use an example.

I have recently made a Halfling with a Strength score of 5; after racial adjustments, which gives her a Light Carrying Load of 12 lb. I was planning on giving her Leather Lamella armour which weighs 12.5 lb for a small character. Does this mean that if she wears this Light Armour she will be in her Medium Carrying Load, or does the Encumbrance by Armour kick in and do something weird I am not grasping?

Any help on this subject would be greatly appreciated. Thank-you for taking the time to read this and sorry if it is something really obvious and I am just unable to see it.

[Axl]

Faelar Braegen wrote:

Does this mean that if she wears this Light Armour she will be in her Medium Carrying Load, or does the Encumbrance by Armour kick in and do something weird I am not grasping?

She will be carrying a medium load.

Wearing medium or heavy armour places restrictions on your speed and maximum Dex bonus to AC and gives an armour check penalty, regardless of the weight of the armour.

Track the weight of your carried stuff separately. This includes the weight of armour, backpack, weapons, etc. If this weight puts you into medium or heavy carrying capacity, you take penalties to speed, max Dex to AC, and skill check penalty.

Apply the worse set of results: either from the armour category, or from the weight carried (encumbrance).

[Faelar Braegen]

Thank-you for getting back to me. Looks like it will be the Studded Leather armour then. Looks like I just continue to play as I have before, thank-you :)

[blackbloodtroll]

Lamellar Cuirass and a Mwk Buckler will equal the same AC bonus.

No armor check penalty.

[Axl]

For what it's worth, I played a halfling rogue in a campaign. My character had Strength 10. I had a problem trying to keep my encumbrance within the light load limit.

Even with a Handy Haversack (which weighs 5 lb in itself), I was constantly fine-tuning my encumbrance. The problem became worse at a higher level when my character got celestial armour.

With the APG, we now have muleback cords available. This item is essential for your character. Eventually you will want to incorporate it with a cloak of resistance, because they occupy the same slot.