A character’s carrying capacity — how much gear he can lug around at one time — depends directly on the character’s Strength score, as shown on the table below.
If the weight of everything you’re wearing or carrying amounts to no more than your light load figure, you can move and perform any actions normally (though your speed might already be slowed by the armor you’re wearing).
| Strength | Light Load | Medium Load | Heavy Load |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | up to 3 lb. | 4–6 lb. | 7–10 lb. |
| 2 | up to 6 lb. | 7–13 lb. | 14–20 lb. |
| 3 | up to 10 lb. | 11–20 lb. | 21–30 lb. |
| 4 | up to 13 lb. | 14–26 lb. | 27–40 lb. |
| 5 | up to 16 lb. | 17–33 lb. | 34–50 lb. |
| 6 | up to 20 lb. | 21–40 lb. | 41–60 lb. |
| 7 | up to 23 lb. | 24–46 lb. | 47–70 lb. |
| 8 | up to 26 lb. | 27–53 lb. | 54–80 lb. |
| 9 | up to 30 lb. | 31–60 lb. | 61–90 lb. |
| 10 | up to 33 lb. | 34–66 lb. | 67–100 lb. |
| 11 | up to 38 lb. | 39–76 lb. | 77–115 lb. |
| 12 | up to 43 lb. | 44–86 lb. | 87–130 lb. |
| 13 | up to 50 lb. | 51–100 lb. | 101–150 lb. |
| 14 | up to 58 lb. | 59–116 lb. | 117–175 lb. |
| 15 | up to 66 lb. | 67–133 lb. | 134–200 lb. |
| 16 | up to 76 lb. | 77–153 lb. | 154–230 lb. |
| 17 | up to 86 lb. | 87–173 lb. | 174–260 lb. |
| 18 | up to 100 lb. | 101–200 lb. | 201–300 lb. |
| 19 | up to 116 lb. | 117–233 lb. | 234–350 lb. |
| 20 | up to 133 lb. | 134–266 lb. | 267–400 lb. |
| 21 | up to 153 lb. | 154–306 lb. | 307–460 lb. |
| 22 | up to 173 lb. | 174–346 lb. | 347–520 lb. |
| 23 | up to 200 lb. | 201–400 lb. | 401–600 lb. |
| 24 | up to 233 lb. | 234–466 lb. | 467–700 lb. |
| 25 | up to 266 lb. | 267–533 lb. | 534–800 lb. |
| 26 | up to 306 lb. | 307–613 lb. | 614–920 lb. |
| 27 | up to 346 lb. | 347–693 lb. | 694–1,040 lb. |
| 28 | up to 400 lb. | 401–800 lb. | 801–1,200 lb. |
| 29 | up to 466 lb. | 467–933 lb. | 934–1,400 lb. |
| +10 | ×4 | ×4 | ×4 |
If the weight of your gear falls in your medium load range, you are considered encumbered. An encumbered character’s speed is reduced to the value given below, if the character is not already slowed to that speed for some other reason.
| Previous Speed | Current Speed |
|---|---|
| 20 ft. | 15 ft. |
| 30 ft. | 20 ft. |
| 40 ft. | 30 ft. |
| 50 ft. | 40 ft. |
| 60 ft. | 50 ft. |
An encumbered character performs as if his Dexterity modifier were no higher than +3 — that is, a character with a Dexterity bonus of +4 or higher does not get to apply his full bonus to Dexterity-related actions (ranged attacks, ability checks, and skill checks). In addition, he takes a –3 encumbrance penalty on attack rolls and checks involving the following skills: Balance, Climb, Escape Artist, Hide, Jump, Move Silently, and Tumble. This encumbrance penalty stacks with any armor penalty that may also apply.
If the weight of your gear falls in your heavy load range, you are considered heavily encumbered. A heavily encumbered character’s speed is reduced to the value given below, if the character is not already slowed to that speed for some other reason.
| Previous Speed | Current Speed |
|---|---|
| 20 ft. | 10 ft. |
| 30 ft. | 15 ft. |
| 40 ft. | 20 ft. |
| 50 ft. | 25 ft. |
| 60 ft. | 30 ft. |
A heavily encumbered character performs as if his Dexterity modifier were no higher than +1 — that is, a character with a Dexterity bonus of +2 or higher does not get to apply his full bonus to Dexterity-related actions (ranged attacks, ability checks, and skill checks). In addition, he takes a –6 encumbrance penalty on attack rolls and checks involving the following skills: Balance, Climb, Escape Artist, Hide, Jump, Move Silently, and Tumble. This encumbrance penalty stacks with any armor penalty that may also apply. Finally, a heavily encumbered character’s maximum running speed is his speed ×3 instead of speed ×4.
The figure at the upper end of your heavy load range is your maximum load. No character can move or perform any other actions while carrying more than his maximum load.
Lifting and Dragging: A character can lift up to his maximum load over his head.
A character can lift up to double his maximum load off the ground, but he can only stagger around with it. While overloaded in this way, the character loses any Dexterity bonus to Defense and can only move 5 feet per round (as a full-round action).
A character can generally push or drag along the ground up to five times his maximum load. Favorable conditions (smooth ground, dragging a slick object) can double these numbers, and bad circumstances (broken ground, pushing an object that snags) can reduce them to one-half or less.
Bigger and Smaller Creatures: The figures on the first table on this page are for Medium-size bipedal creatures. Larger bipedal creatures can carry more weight depending on size category: Large × 2, Huge × 4, Gargantuan × 8, and Colossal × 16. Smaller creatures can carry less weight depending on size category: Small × 3⁄4, Tiny × 1⁄2, Diminutive × 1⁄4, and Fine × 1⁄8.
Quadrupeds, such as horses, can carry heavier loads than characters can. Use these multipliers instead of the ones given above: Fine × 1⁄4, Diminutive × 1⁄2, Tiny × 3⁄4, Small × 1, Medium-size ×1 1⁄2, Large × 3, Huge × 6, Gargantuan × 12, and Colossal × 24.
Tremendous Strength: For Strength scores not listed, find the Strength score between 20 and 29 that has the same ones digit as the creature’s Strength score. Multiply the figures by 4 if the creature’s Strength is in the 30s, 16 if it’s in the 40s, 64 if it’s in the 50s, and so on. For example, a Huge creature with a 35 Strength can carry four times what a creature with a 25 Strength can carry, or 3,200 pounds, multiplied by four because the creature is Huge, for a grand total of 12,800 pounds.