Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 petehat Aug 13, 2009 0:28:40	Been looking through all the threads on the forum's regarding a mount's carrying capacity, and I gotta agree with everyone that they're basically rubbish. Especially at the high end. So I think Im going to be introducing the following house rules in my game, and thought I'd see what people PEACHed. (And yes, I understand the argument about ignoring encumbrance entirely, but that's a taste thing). So, what I am suggesting is... 1. Drop the Quadrupeds can carry 25% more rule - just don't seem right - so the normal load is 10xSTR. 2. Make the Heavy load dependent on size. It's equal to the Medium load value x2 (Up to Large), x3 (Huge) or x4 (Gargantuan). Gargantuan could be even more, e.g. a creature which takes 6x6 squares could have a 6x multiplier. 3. Make the movement penalty -4 for a Heavy Load, and -8 for a maximum drag, subject to a minimum speed of 2. So for people, carrying a heavy load is the same as slowed in the rules, but a 'slowed' horse is still faster than a slowed person. 4. Make the maximum drag 2.5x the Heavy Load. 5. When dragging something, allow a +1 to the speed for every pair of wheels, so a buggy would get +1, but a wagon would get +2. 6. Allow some creatures Encumbered Speed (as per Dwarves) as a racial feature, just like dwarves. I'm thinking things that are bred/built to carry, so a warhorse/draft horse/ox, but not a riding horse or a dragon. Creatures (including Dwarves) with Encumbered Speed suffer no speed penalty for a heavy load, and -4 for a maximum drag (2 minimum still). 7. Allow some creatures a Beast of Burden racial feature which halves the speed penalties. Here I'm really thinking about animals really built for the heavy work, like the ox and the elephant. So, let's see some examples. In each case I'll quote carrying capacities as Medium Load [Speed] / Heavy Load [Speed], Maximum drag [Speed]. Riding Horse (Str 19, Spd 10). No special bonuses anywhere, so it's comes out as 190 [10] / 380 [6] / 950 [2]. Can easily carry a normal person in non-heavy armor, or a Dragonborn in light armor, although the Dragonborn could walk just as fast. It could always walk half the time and ride the other half to split the burden with the horse. War Horse (Str 20, Spd 8, Encumbered Speed). It's loads are 200 [8] / 400 [8] / 1000 [4]. So our fighter in plate is ok, maybe even with a damsel in distress (provided she's not a fat damsel), as is our Dragonborn in light armor. Dragonborn in plate is still most likely on foot, but that's not unreasonable. Ox (Str 20, Spd 6, Encumbered Speed, Beast of Burden). The Ox's loads are 200 [6] / 400 [6] / 1000 [4]. Not as good as riding a warhorse, but put a wagon behind him and he's dragging half a ton at full speed (such as it is). Elephant (Str 25, Spd 8, Beast of Burden). The elephant comes in at 250 [8] / 750 [6] / 1750 [4]. So you could get 4-6 regular people in that howdah and only take a small hit on speed. Ancient Red Dragon (Str 34, Spd 12). The ancient drag posts some nice numbers; 340 [12] / 1360 [8] / 3400 [4] (but who's going to hitch a wagon to a dragon). So Smaug here can carry a lightly armored Dragonborn with no problem, or by reducing his speed by 1/3 he could carry an assault force of 4 heavily armored Dragonborn. Also, I had a quick look at the Wardrakes in Remains of the Empire (Dungeon 165) which is what sparked all this off in my head, and if you just give them Encumbered Speed, they can carry those Dragonborn in chain mail at full speed instead of plumetting out of the sky under their weight. So, any comments?
#2 slobo777a Aug 13, 2009 9:35:00	The math works much nicer, and has realistic results. Good work! The + per pair of wheels is a little arbitrary, and not long before some Gond-worshipper makes a 10-wheel wagon! I'd go for it being a property of the device being pulled, and have cheaper items grant +1, expensive grant +2. Think "war chariot" . . . though D&D rules might have some trouble with movement rules in combat for pulled chariots in any case.
#3 petehat Aug 13, 2009 11:33:28	The + per pair of wheels is a little arbitrary Not entirely. It is certainly more work for a horse to pull a two wheeled buggy than a four wheeled wagon (assuming the buggy and the wagon weigh the same). More points of contact with the ground mean less downward force on each and therefore less friction to overcome. not long before some Gond-worshipper makes a 10-wheel wagon Or an 18 wheeled Mack truck. But a 10 wheel wagon wouldn't help that much. The very best you could do is get the speed up to the mount's normal move value, and the more wheels, the bigger the vehicle and the heavier the load being pulled. Probably easier to bolt a second horse on the front instead - oh wait, that's what people do do. OTOH, making it a property of the vehicle would do the trick too. Then you could have magic frictionless wheels (no brakes!!!)