How far can you move in a round dragging an object or unresisting person?

[Dark Arioch]

So we have a character that is down and another dragging them to safety. Normally unencumbered human (speed 30') with a strength of 12 dragging 250 pounds. How far can they get in a round if they are trying to get as far as possible?

[Lincoln Hills]

There are two sets of rules that might, with equal validity, be applied.

Dragging Heavy Objects (CRB): If the unconscious character (plus gear, minus any dropped weapons/items) would put the dragger into medium or heavy encumbrance, the maximum distance would be the dragging character's "encumbered speed" in a double move. This is fairly straightforward and more forgiving than the alternative I'm about to suggest.

Drag Maneuver (APG): If you want dragging somebody to safety in the midst of battle to be harrowing and complicated, the dragger must start a Drag combat maneuver against the unconscious ally: a paralyzed/unconscious character is at Dex 0, which significantly reduces their CMD. (A generous GM such as myself would probably set a low fixed DC, since it doesn't make much sense for BAB or Strength modifiers to apply here either.) Failure doesn't mean that your character was too weak to pull the character out of harm's way - just that it wasn't possible to get a good grip while avoiding the nearby combat.

As a third option, you might allow the first method when dragging an unconscious friend while you are not in a threatened square, but apply the second when an enemy is in a position to stop you.

[Xaratherus]

STR of 12 has a maximum carrying capacity of 130 pounds; drag weight is roughly five times' that amount, or 650 pounds. Regardless, he is at a heavy load at that point. Movement speed of 30 reduces to 20; movement of 20 reduces to 15. The person dragging also has a maximum DEX bonus of +1 and a check penalty of -6.

Covered under the Carrying Capacity section of the rules.

[Dark Arioch]

Xaratherus wrote:

STR of 12 has a maximum carrying capacity of 130 pounds; drag weight is roughly five times' that amount, or 650 pounds. Regardless, he is at a heavy load at that point. Movement speed of 30 reduces to 20; movement of 20 reduces to 15. The person dragging also has a maximum DEX bonus of +1 and a check penalty of -6.

Covered under the Carrying Capacity section of the rules.

Normally I would agree with this but some curveballs have been thrown in. Such as can you run? Is it just your maximum that is multiplied by 5 or each category individually, thus giving you a dragging equivalent of the light, medium, and heavy loads? The table 8-2 on pg. 183 of the CRB says "move a heavy object" is a move action, does this effect it? The new rule for the combat maneuver check to drag has been mentioned but I think it only applies to dragging active enemies around. So what do you think of the above questions?

[Xaratherus]

Well, according to the Encumbrance Effects chart you can still run; heavy load 'Run' is x3 base speed, so up to 60 feet per move action.

The specific text regarding dragging says, "A character can generally push or drag along the ground as much as five times his maximum load," so I don't believe it would break down by category; if something were in your medium load range, you could just pick it up and carry it without having to stagger along anyway.

And yes, the "move a heavy object" rule would apply.

As to the drag maneuver, I believe it has rules in there for dragging an unconscious creature; as Lincoln Hills pointed out, the drag maneuver rules indicate that they have a DEX 0 in regards to their CMD.

[Dark Arioch]

Xaratherus wrote:

Well, according to the Encumbrance Effects chart you can still run; heavy load 'Run' is x3 base speed, so up to 60 feet per move action.

The specific text regarding dragging says, "A character can generally push or drag along the ground as much as five times his maximum load," so I don't believe it would break down by category; if something were in your medium load range, you could just pick it up and carry it without having to stagger along anyway.

And yes, the "move a heavy object" rule would apply.

As to the drag maneuver, I believe it has rules in there for dragging an unconscious creature; as Lincoln Hills pointed out, the drag maneuver rules indicate that they have a DEX 0 in regards to their CMD.

If the "move a heavy object" rule is used wouldn't that indicate that a run was impossible and you could only take 2 move actions? Since running is a full round action normally.

Do you know what page I could find the "dragging an unconscious creature" rules in the APG? I read the ones on page 321 but they don't seem to refer to any inert objects or creatures.