picking up items, enemies, npcs

[razorwolf]

are there any current rulings for picking up enemies while in combat if not has anyone created any house rules about picking up enemies? we have some ideas but wanted some outside ideas or advice about this

[breithauptclan]

For conscious enemies that are fighting back - there is grapple, shove, and Whirling Throw.

For unconscious characters (ally or enemy), I don't think there is anything official. Other than perhaps listing out that a medium character is 8 bulk or something like that. I forget if that is an actual rule or if that is just an extrapolation that someone calculated. Or even if 8 bulk is the right number.

[razorwolf]

breithauptclan wrote:

For conscious enemies that are fighting back - there is grapple, shove, and Whirling Throw.

For unconscious characters (ally or enemy), I don't think there is anything official. Other than perhaps listing out that a medium character is 8 bulk or something like that. I forget if that is an actual rule or if that is just an extrapolation that someone calculated. Or even if 8 bulk is the right number.

Medium creatures are 6 bulk adding in any items normally 8 bulk is probably about the common bulk for a given npc mor or less. I was curious if a character can grab a npc and then jump into the air

[breithauptclan]

Assuming it is ruled that you can pick them up at all - 6-8 extra Bulk will probably cause you to be Encumbered. But Encumbered doesn't prevent you from using Leap or Long Jump, though it very likely will reduce the distance you can go.

[xcmt]

If they're willing (or unable to resist), I'd allow a PC to grab another PC or NPC and try to jump, subject to encumbrance and weight limit rules. You cannot carry anything that would bring your bulk above 10+str-mod. If your PCs are like mine they're usually hauling around 6 or more bulk of gear, so you're looking at 9-12 bulk of added capacity, which is generally going to prevent most similarly laden PCs from picking up a second body and performing heroic athletic feats. A high strength PC with some empty bulk capacity can maybe pull it off.

If they're not willing, no, everything is subject to the standard rules of grabbing and forced movement and the actions and activities that employ them.

[Castilliano]

The Bulk of PCs was calculated from the weight of a petrified creature, CRB: "typically 12 for a petrified Medium creature or 6 for a petrified Small creature". But not only does that say "typically", it also doesn't address carried weight which might be assumed to be absorbed into the calculation or maybe not since so many warriors carry 4+ Bulk and it's doubtful their bodies would be 2 Bulk. Then there's also how Bulk (seemingly) drops when items are bundled up or stored, and having a still, singular statue does tidy up carrying.

Which is to say that Bulk's an iffy concept. Bulk's more a rule-of-thumb than a rigorous rule so as to avoid a lot of accounting & a few shenanigans.

IMO it only works when dealing with one creature's encumbrance and goes haywire beyond that, like when lifting other creatures with their own items or doing other mundane lifting one would expect in an adventure story (not to mention the high fantasy, somewhat superheroic top levels).

This means you're going to get different answers at different tables, even when dealing with "typical" creatures much less oversized ones.
Seems a 20th level Barbarian should be able to lift a fully-armored Fire Giant's corpse, yet if using Bulk it's unlikely while the Monk with Whirling Throw would easily toss that giant across the room...until they died and became inert. Oy.