It would take a very self-aware person to say something like that. I think most people would just say "No. Carry your own sword. I've got enough stuff already. Do I have to do everything for you? I'm no your hireling." I really like the idea of encumbrance slots being taken up by mental anguish, exhaustion, and even things like Commitments or Promises made, the mental weight of a curse or guilt or sins or breaking an oath.
I kinda like this idea, especially for a take on a Darkest Dungeon-esque system that focuses heavily on the stress and other mental effects of delving dungeons. I mean, just think of the Lord of the Rings, Frodo definitely did have points where if Sam handed him a backpack to carry, he would be too drained to do so.
Cairn! CAIRN! CAAAAIIIIRRRRN! Seriously Cairn is so cool because the slot based inventory is also the spell slots. If you fill up on armors and weapons you have less spell slots!. This makes the Wizard running nude and blasting spells an actual mechanic!
@@theeyewizard8288 it's actually pretty good in play. Armour still matters, you can still affect DPS with the damage die, but combat is much faster and there are (very few) rounds where nothing happens.
"Players' weapons are already drawn when I roll initiative!" Each character has a free item interaction every turn, as per the rules. Item interactions include drawing a weapon, turning a door knob, handing an ally a potion, and other similar simple actions you wouldn't want to spend a whole turn on lol
@@DucksAndCatnip Go for a hike carrying a sword all day and compare to how far you get in a days' march vs. not carrying anything in your hands. Try walking down the aisles of Walmart with any kind of weapon in your hands. It's totally fine if you're in a dungeon, but you're not always in a dungeon. But the game system adding a free weapon draw reduces the opportunities for interesting things to happen when one side in a combat does not have weapons out and they encounter a group who does. It also ignores the value that should accrue to characters who don't need to draw weapons (Monk, maybe someone who can summon their weapon to their hand magically). EDIT: I was about to let you go on the "graft the sword to my wrist" bullshit and then I remembered. That's the kind of ridiculousness a literal child says. As in, a little kid who is 9 or 11 at the gaming table. I say this with some condescension only because I'm pretty sure you're old enough to think, speak, and act better than that. Now look at a lanyard. That's a legitimate choice. If you drop your weapon, at least it will stay with you instead of leaving it behind when you move. But the downside to that small benefit is, similarly small, it becomes much harder to switch weapons because you have to undo the lanyard, put the other weapon away, and then pull out the new one. Attaching a dagger blade to a gauntlet is going to get in the way of using the hand for anything else, and isn't as maneuverable as wielding a dagger in hand. And there's no way you're attaching a sword. There's a weapon like that from India and it's completely ridiculous and probably wasn't that effective and/or was worn for visual effect. If a gauntlet-mounted weapon is just as effective as a wielded weapon, but you also can't drop it, everyone would have been doing that since antiquity. They haven't, so clearly it's just dumbass weeaboo antics.
@@googiegress bro go outside. anyway, what kinda "interesting situations" arise from spending my action doing nothing but drawing a sword. you could say that picking up an improvised weapon would be an "interesting situation", but with the removal of object actions, that would be an action too. idc anymore im eating cheesecake.
@@googiegress drawing a sword does not take the majority of 6 seconds unless you are bad at it. Put in a rule about proper equipment holsters and only allowing the object interaction to be used on “equipped” items, not “stored” items (like in bags or packs), and not by those lacking the weapon proficiently. And on that note, the polearm and mage staff players just literally have a walking stick at all times so give them advantage on forced marches and they don’t even need to “draw” the weapon 😂
I've never really had inventory problems, mostly just "the McGuffin is large, it must be dropped to fight." I have had the occasion where I have to pause and say, "You mean to tell me you got into and out of a cab, walked through a AAA rated security area and up to a Renraku security desk, all while brandishing automatics, katanas, and a rocket launcher? No, concealed holsters don't cover anything larger than a pistol and, no, you didn't have them down your pants." Good stuff as always.
Choices are my secret sauce in all games. I enjoy putting my players in positions where they have to make a variety of choices, simple and difficult. Social interaction choices, what to carry and what to ditch, combat choices, and moral choices.
My response to the "I take the 20 long swords" problem is to just ask how they want to carry them. My problem with slot based systems is that tiny and light items lose their time to shine. I like having the options to solve problems by improvising with mundane stuff. Furthermore, I do like the old D&D design around consumables. In 5th edition, you have so many daily ressources that it does not matter, but if you can use 2 spells per day, scrolls are a non-regenerating source of power that can make the difference between success and failure, but you have to decide if the use is worth the cost.
A solution for tiny items in slot systems is to simply make them exceptions, or have extra slots that are only usable by said small items. From there we can infer things like packaging to be most of the bulk while individual items like hair pins just don’t take slots for more than a handful. In the case players abuse this to fill their packs with tiny items in random spaces, give them a cluttered debuff that doubles or triples the time to dig for an item in their pack, or use a d100 for a total fail chance.
OSR was doing similar about two decades ago. One issue to overcome is that tracking enc is a limitation on players, players don't like limitations, so they'd rather not do it. But that argument isn't sound, so they act like tracking enc is laborious, and that they're whining about THAT aspect of it. So of course there are times when the DM needs to impose a rule because it's necessary for a worthwhile game. EDIT: Remember too that encumbrance is intended to be a puzzle and challenge for low-level PCs, which slowly eases until it's not really an issue at high level. Like with light, food, shelter, these low-level challenges go away to make way for mid-level challenges like fast overland movement, elevation change, extreme heat and cold, and underwater adventure, which later become trivial and make way for high-level challenges like plane travel. Encumbrance goes away as you get magic armor which weighs less, replace common adventuring gear with magical replacements that weigh almost nothing, eschew heavy treasure like gold in favor of high-grading out just the gems, jewelry, and platinum (and magic), increase the STR of various party members, acquire special mounts and henchmen, and even get extradimensional luggage like Bags of Holding and Portable Holes. Until then, encumbrance is a logistical concern involving porters and donkeys, else you have insufficient capacity and must be selective about gear and treasure. If you just ignore encumbrance, and probably various other difficulties like supplies, ammo, etc. then you probably just don't like low-level gameplay. Start the campaign at level 5 or 6 instead.
I think slot based inventory AND a bag of holding is the big brain GM move. Just imagine separating the party with a surprise wall trap. No damage, just separate the party and ask slowly and quietly, "Who is carrying the bag of holding?"
Mr. Deficient. You've summarized my woes perfectly and the proposed solution has springboarded me to work on implementing the solution to my table. I found out that Post-it notes won't work for long-term games. They're flimsy, glue wares off, they fall off and contents of "pockets" aren't easily transferable between players. As such I took on crafting task to make it better and scale down to more convenient A5 format. Using your template, I've split items to Large and Small. For 1 large item you can fit 4 small items. "Pockets" were reduced to 2 Small slots. I also added Ring/Amulet slots "on corners" and two large slots on bottom that could be available to characters who have Perks/Traits/Skills in hauling, a magic bag or there is an NPC porter hireling dragging their stuff. To make it tangible I procured following things: - ferromagnetic tape (one side with glue) - magnetic tape (one side with glue), - laser cut wooden a5 sheet, - batch of 4,2cm and 2cm laser cut wooden squares (for large and small items). By placing the ferromagnetic tape on the A5 wooden sheet and sticking magnetic tape underneath wooden squares I got a contraption that won't explode into bits when it falls onto ground or when a cat walks over it. The wooden squares are easy to pry off so players can move the items on the sheet or trade with other players. Using a pencil to write the contents on the squares makes them easily reusable, as pencil can be erased. Cheers!
I was worried you were gonna suggest ditching encumbrance. As an old-school gamer, I've learned these logistical questions are a key part of the exploration narrative. It all falls apart if you just ignore these things...
@yester30 The idea is that as you level up, the focus moves towards challenges that are broader in scope. Same thing applies towards illumination with light spells. The mistake is things like bags of holding at low levels, or light as a cantrip, or giving every demi-human darkvision.
@@DM_Curtis Also, the Bag of Holding DOES have weight and volume limits. Light would be unusable if it wasn't a cantrip; at that point it's not an interesting choice, it's a prep and spell slot tax. As for darkvision, not only do most people run it incorrectly, but also if a SINGLE character in your party is playing as a human, or any of the dozens of other very popular races that DON'T have darkvision, guess what you still need to manage anyway?
In a system I wrote, the rules are basically "Maximum of 2 weapons and 1 piece of armor per character, aside from that only a few potentially useful items and GM can halve your speed or forbid you from taking too much" It's a modern times "fantasy appeared yesterday" kinda system, and I don't wanna simulate modern economy and prices
Yeah, in 5e the encumbrance rules are largely there to keep players from doing stupid shit like hauling away the temple's grand mithril doors or whatever; ya know, keep them from actually literally taking everything that isn't bolted down well enough. But, that's also the fun part; you CAN dive deep on how much stuff your characters can carry if it gets your rocks off; there's rules in the DMG (Or maybe even in the PHB itself, if I'm remembering correctly) that are much more restrictive about how much stuff your character can carry.
@@ilovethelegend Fun fact, though, I tried playing the inventory management game RAW once and discovered the packs you can get at character creation don't actually have enough space in them to carry what they come with. You need to bend the rules a bit and strap things to the outside.
@@colbyboucher6391 If you turn your attention to page 153, the Container Capacity table, it explicitly states that you are allowed to strap items to the outside of your backpack. The specific examples it gives are bedrolls and ropes, but like... it's not hard to justify being able to strap something to the outside of a backpack.
I wrote a game in the 90's that used a similar system. But it's based more on how well organized and prepared your character is more than anything. I started with the observation that when I personally went anywhere I could pretty much handle my keys and my wallet, but as I started carrying more items around, the odds of my forgetting to bring the item or accidentally leaving it behind increased exponentially. (This was before cell phones became ubiquitous. I've discovered I can just about handle three). So players would make a list of up to ten items they typically carried, in order of importance. For a fighter, their primary weapon is almost always going to be item one, for example. And then whenever they want to use an item on the list, they have to roll higher than the object's ordinal number on 2d6, or else they just don't have it handy. An item could be a backpack or a sack with stuff in it, but then if you don't have it handy, that means you left the entire backpack or sack somewhere, with everything in it. There were character advantages and disadvantages that modified the dice roll, such as being especially conscientious or absent minded. But I didn't worry about weight at all unless the list got silly, which it never did.
It's not a super major difference from sister systems, but I like Pathfinder 2's adjustments to inventory. Instead of weight, items use bulk, which is a more explicit amount that's easier to track and isn't directly tied to weight. 10 light items = 1 bulk, but you otherwise round down for partial bulks (so 2 bulk + 5 light items = 2 bulk. If you can carry 8 bulk, you can technically carry 8 bulk + 9 light items which is funny). There are sorta non-visual 'slots' present still: carried, worn, and stowed. Carried items take up a hand, and are pretty self explanatory. Usually this will be your weapons shields, or items you're about to use like wands or potions. A worn item can be accessed with a single action. You can wear 2 bulk worth of tools on your person (allowing you to use em single handed, like thieves tools or a medical kit). Beyond tools, the only limit to 'worn' items (pockets, bandoliers, etc) is your carrying capacity. (Since drawing an item is a free action, it doesn't run into the issue of constant immediate access that 5e has.) If you have 4 spears and the capacity for it, you can wear all 4, but accessing each one is 1 action. For stowed items, a backpack can carry up to 4 bulk and alleviates 2 bulk worth of weight (can't stack with other packs though). You can drop it if it's weighing you down and you need to move (no action needed), but to get something out usually requires 2 actions. Since it reduces the weight of items inside, you do wanna put stuff in it even if it makes it harder to access. These total values just can't exceed your carrying capacity. Since ease-of-access is explicitly expressed, you get 3 actions per turn to alleviate action costs, and the bulk amounts are manageable rather than based purely on weight, it actually makes it easy to run. As a player I actually have to think about whether it's worth grabbing an extra backup weapon or tool.
@@petegiantYeah it's pretty efficient how I'm able to describe like 3 different small rule elements and how they combine with just about 2 sentences or a very short paragraph per rule or segment.
@@Zedrinbot How about each player character can carry a number of items equal to their highest ability score. An item that can be carried in one hand = 1, an item requiring both hands = 2, an item requiring help = 3. Small items are bundled as per GM instruction. Simple.
@@Zedrinbot With those rules I think playing Pathfinder would feel like I'm operating a mech. It would work for a game with that as it's focus. I just prefer quick rules and more progress in the games I play.
@@petegiantmy guy you are commenting on a homebrew video for 5e talking about how to make interactive inventory systems. The video is about 2x as complicated as what I mentioned and exists because 5e's rules are so barebones as is and the author wanted something more interesting than just handwaving 5e's lack of interaction with inventory. If you want a tl;dr that isn't me discussing how PF2 compares to what the author proposed: -it is an action to transfer an item from your worn slot to your hand, 2 actions if it's to get it from a backpack (stowed). An item has to be in your hand to use it (weapons, potions, etc.). -10 light items weigh 1 bulk, your total carry capacity is measured in JUST bulk (and you ignore light item weights til they form 1 bulk). Your total capacity is just like, 5 + your strength mod and is anything worn, stowed, or carried. Bulk overall is a simpler, small-integer based system, compared to explicit weight of earlier systems and 5e. (It is way easier when a system is built around players carrying less than 15 "weight" versus 300 "weight.") And then I mentioned rules for tools and backpacks, which are more individual item notes: -A backpack negates 2 bulk of items put in it (effectively increasing your carry by 2). -Tools normally take 2 actions and both hands to use, but you can wear up to 2 bulk worth of tools. Worn tools only take 1 action to use, and only need 1 hand then.
A tetris inventory system could work great. Make a much bigger grid, and make pieces with various shapes and sizes in advance for each item, with velcro on the back. Make some generic shapes for if you want to give an item you didn't prepare for and just write the name of the item before you give those out. A bag of holding would be extra grid space.
This has inspired me to make a version of this for Worlds Without Number that uses the half sized sticky notes! Players have "readied items" = to 1/2 strength and "stowed items" = strength as per the system. Really easy to take a sticky from the front and smack it on the back to move things around versus constant erasing etc.
@@SirWhorshoeMcGee Here's a blog post I wrote on it. Last paragraph is on the use of it in WWN with some pics. sleepingbagworm.blogspot.com/2023/12/3-sticky-note-inventory-management.html
I'd go all the way. Items have no mechanical benefit whatsoever. The conversation: "I try to pry open the door." "Do you have a crowbar in your inventory?" Goes away. Instead it's just, "Roll thievery or athletics depending on your approach." But what about healing potions? That's what 2nd wind is. A feature that lets you flex back HP in combat. Nobody complains.
You made a really good recommendation in another video that I wanted to come back to but I couldn't remember your username. I did, however, remember your attitude so I just searched for "I fixed D&D". Found you straight away.
Wow, thank you so much. I rarely get to play in person with people, but when I do I go all out for handouts and little interactive physical items because that is what makes it special. Begin a kindred spirit on the inventory management though process I love this design. Post notes were always something I loved using and the layout of this is perfect, plus the idea of rolling to retrieve something is just incredible. Will be purchasing this because it's worth it.
My only problem with this is that there are some inherit mechanics tied to races and classes that would need to be adapted as well in order for it to work. On the other hand... I kinda like the idea of a hybrid system. I mean... Having something like a belt, for you to carry down items that you can use immediately on a pinch, like potions, weapons, and stuff like that, and having other things that would require longer for you to grab (at least 1 minute searching into your bag, or in the best case scenario a whole action, against the usual object interaction on the belt). You could just call it Belt and Bag. I mean... Could be easy to homebrew into DND as well. Oh yeah, and if you don't have a belt and/or a bag? You can only carry what you can hold on your hands or arms.
I like your inventory sheet a lot. I love Mausritter's system, but so many little chips everywhere is a pain in the butt. I think this could work well for a game like Shadowdark too.
The bags of holding my party bought/stole have a nice twist to them…..they change into bags of devouring that feeds endlessly on any “meat” it devours. They have portals to a gluttony entity.
While I personally despise any system that makes my character worse at basic tasks(like carrying items) than I am, I'm glad people who love that kind of stuff can brew cool new ways to enjoy the game.
@@LeFlamel I am able to carry more then six items on my person. Six pints (of potions) would fit just in my hands. I get, that six is a nice number on a funi math rokc and that I'm going to need my hands in a dungeon, but I do like more methodical management which this system abandons. I do feel like trying it out, though - a good sign!
@the_multus I mean sure, you can critique the specifics of the implementation, but you can edit the general concept for your own use. Personally I run games with 10 slots. Adjust to taste, like every other mechanic
@@the_multus6 pints…. That’s over half a gallon of glass and pottery , isn’t it? Can you imagine going into a cave with that in your hand? No spells. No shield. No picking locks. No move silently or hiding. The idea is awesome, and the implementation is the key. We had no spreadsheet back in the day. These things were a different burden then. But ignoring the challenge in a dungeon crawler is nuts.
@@Xplora213 You've missed the point: I'm not bragging about my hand size or whatever. The point is that different burdens might have different effects. Of cause I want something loony to hinder my character! And I want a system for that, since adding u-just-can't-m8-s ruins my creativity. HOWEVER. I acknowledge that simpler game design allows for a quicker and more dynamic play. TL;DR: no matter the specifics, I can give the examples of such systems acting weird, but I see the great benefit in the simplicity of the design too.
In the description of it it does have a finite amount of space. Its actually fairly small and can fill up quickly. In my party I'm the one with a bag of holding, so I keep track of the bulk of items in there.
I use Str Score = amount of things they can carry. Since I play my own game, which is an utterly simplified D&D, almost zero edition-like, they can hardly ever carry more than 13 or 14 things with them at once.
This inventory sheet is a good use for my Dragon Shield player companion character sheet pocket that until now I had no use for. Really awesome idea, you've more than earned this sub friend
Hell yeah Have been doing that ever since I saw what a mess the inventory of mine and my players would turn into, but the solution to that was found in a game that I have been passionate about for almost 17 years. Warcraft 3. Warcraft 3 - an RTS - has the 6 slot inventory system for heroes that I have been using ever since. Makes perfect sence* since u can only attune to three items and having a sea of consumables just increases the time spent over thinking what to chug, what to yeet or what to read. * - unless you're an artificer, who understandably gets an improvement in the area. Thanks a lot for this and all other videos. A true breath of fresh air! More importantly, this six-shooter-backpack is actually a very good instrument of lightening players' gold pouches since they'd need to restock more frequently >:3 After all, there aren't that many things to spend the gold on, so might as well make purchases more frequent. P.S. BTW, there's a very easy way to make haggling over a price an easy minigame. As all of you probably know, the prices of the items in 5e have a suspiciously strange price range. Which seems okay, until u realize that there's a hidden mechanic behind the price. Each price range is a dice roll. 50 to 100 gold? My dears, it is (1d6+4) * 10. 101-500 gp? Easy: 5d10*10. Here's a list: 50-100 = (1d6+4)*10 101-500 = (5d10)*10 501-5000 = (5d10)*100 5001-50000 = (5d10)*1000 50001 is just easier to make beyond a price list Whenever it is a consumable - just cut the price in two. Want to avoid "even" and "clean numbers"? Add a roll of d100 to round up the price (234 instead of dry 200, but that's just flavoring). So, the idea is that whenever players want to stockpile on their supplies, refer to Deficient Master's table of reaction. If a merchant is "tightfisted", roll the price with advantage. If he's generous - or made generous - then roll at a disadvantage. Thus it will make huggling: a) viable b) fast c) roll based, thus honestly ruled. I usually base my haggling on either charisma (understandably) or Intelligence (knowing market pricing and so on). Hope it helps whoever finds it! :)
Love your channel. Great humor with substance and I look forward to the vids each week. If I'm being completely honest, I usually dont worry about this kind of stuff in my games. That said, this looks like an easy way to throw in another layer of challenge to the game. THAT said, I'm not sure its neccessary or even needed to challenge the players. I've always run a rules light kinda game. Got a session zero coming up in a couple weeks so I'll have the guys vote on whether to use this in our next campaign or not. Thanks for the idea!
My group does use encumbrance rules but we have apps that make everything easy to calculate and see at a glance. When calculations are easy and seamless, it works out pretty fine
I run mork borg and what I do is a player can carry 2 weapons, a shield and a set of armour maximum + 2 other items, or if they have a backpack then that can carry an additional 7 items (weapons and armour excluded), a sack can carry 10 extra items but needs to be held in your hands making you unable to participate in combat unlese you drop all your stuff. Alternatively a cart or donkey can carry anything you want as long as it's reasonable. Obviously this leads to some DM fiat however it cuts down on complicated rules on volume and weight while forcing the players to make choices on what to take with them and what to leave behind
I absolutely love slot-based inventory systems, and the d6 to grab/drop items is a brilliant idea. I'm definitely going to use this next time I run a game.
Personally I would add Backpack slot or something, to carry your backstory items and instruments. It could give you 3 sloots like +1,+2 and +3 str modifier score slots what can hold up to 2 items each, but backpack itself take a slot and you might need roll d6 to use it, or not lose it! Also it might be hard to fight with you backpack on so you need to unpack it. More tense, MORE SWEAT!
I am thinking the same but add mules and wagons to that list. Your d6 becomes a d8 or d10 or d12 as you expand that list. And you are dedicating a slot to controlling the mule in combat.
1:04. I handwaive all of the really minor items in the game, and I run bolt, so that wizard could carry 11 longswords and 1 spellbook. You can carry a number of items equal to your strength score. Things like clothing food water are all handwaived, you can carry 12 important items with 12 strength. This ruling has changed constantly over the years, this is it's current iteration. But the current iteration means, that's all you've got, 11 longswords no potions or magic items or shit.
I typically start each new adventure with a, "What are you bringing with you on this journey?" I also tend to run games in smaller settings like cities, and I always give the players a homebase. This has worked so far for me, cus it helps ease my players into character every few sessions. I definitely think adding a slot based inventory is a great addition to this!
My system is kinda simple. You get inventory slots equal to 6 + STR score, with the first six being your “on person” slots accessible with a free item interaction, and a number of the slots past that equal to your DEX mod that are turned into “quick access slots” which can be accessed with a bonus action. Each slot holds a singular succinct item. Items can be bundled together if reasonable, though a player must keep track if multiple distinct items are being kept together in a kit or toolbox. If not, I will default to the contents ordinarily kept in the kit. Consumables and ammunition have a 3 pip system, where at certain points you mark “usage”. Using a potion, after a fight where you used your ranged weapon, etc.
This is perfect! I have been trying to get my fellow players to adopt some sort of slot-based encumbrance system. Your video is not only more entertaining than me, but your system easily to understand and flexible enough that it will probably be more appealing to them!
I'm doing a squared pocket system with the RE4 method of item size, where above the pocket is open air for large items to stick out (And fall out/snag on things) and as you go deeper it becomes increasingly difficult to pull out an item in a single turn.
I go the realism route. Want to carry an armour in your inventory? Does it fit into your backpack? No? Then I guess you have to carry it in your hands and drop it when you want to fight.
Hey, you'll laugh. But this is the system I used for my Stars Wars-flavored ttrpg, I took the one from Troika. Which is pretty much as described, you have 12 locations and when you're in a combat situation, you roll 2d6. For my part, I've added the Force/PTSD powers of my young padawans. I think this system is really brilliant and I thank you for talking about it here!
You don’t use encumbrance because you think it’s a boring rule. I don’t use encumbrance because it’s written in pounds and I refuse to use imperial units We are not the same, but at least you’re less petty than me!
I really like how Dragonbane managed to strike a great balance between 5e's "let's just ignore it, it's too much hassle" and the wonders of Slot Based Inventory. Armor, Helmet and Clothing take up no inventory when worn. You get to have 3 items(most often your weapons and maybe a shield) that are "at hand" and ready to be drawn in an instant and do not count towards your slots. You get as many slots as half your STR score rounded up(it can only go to 18 max) and wearing a backpack gives you +2 slots, making 11 the absolute max and something like 6-8 pretty average once you buy a backpack. 90% of the time an item will just take up 1 slot but stuff like a sledgehammer or a 6-person tent takes up 2-4 slots. However any item that would roughly fit in the palm of your hand(like a Flint & Tinder) is considered small enough that it takes up absolutely no inventory slots and some items have multiple uses. For example, a lantern and a flask of lantern oil may take up 2 slots but the oil can be used 10 times before it runs out. The torches you'd need for the same time with light would take up 10 slots but are waaaaaaay cheaper. Rations similarly stack up to 4 and coins are ignored until they reach 200 of each kind, whereupon they take up 1 slot. Easy to play with and reeeeaally makes you think about what to bring. As well as strongly consider getting a horse just for the extra storage lol.
I tend to gloss over a lot of encumbrance rules and just wing it with common sense. Bags of holding are indeed handy. Remember that a lot of those utility items and spells were created by early players to solve practical problems of dungeoneering. Id say check in with your players to see what they like. If a rule makes something less fun, don't do it. I think my hack-n-slash table would panic at the slot based system, but it may work well for your crew. For those that like the crunch of teaching everything from food and water to torches, could someone remind me of the weight of a sword in coins? Love the videos, superb presentation, and yes, I read the wall of text - your efforts are not in vain. BTW, how many slots does a box of 9mm take up?
I like most have been working on my Own RPG system for couple years now and also like the Slot system and agree the less slots will make it more interesting, what will you carry and what will you have to leave. ... your Inventory hand out is cool, Maybe Cut the post it in Half and Make all the Spots for Half size, so you can fit the parts off edges on to the page (and save post its at the same time). OR just laminate it with all on one page so they can dry ease on it. ... I DO like this, First Thumbs up
Have you heard of Five Torches Deep? It does something pretty interesting with inventory. It abstracts weight and size both into a resource called "load", and you also have "supply". You spend supply to REFILL consumables, assuming the DM allows it. 5 supply take 1 load, and you have supply equal to your Int score and load equal to your str score. Instead of listing every item and how heavy it is, the book gives some vague guidelines on how much load an item should be, and how much supply it should take to replenish. Things like a torch are 1 load and 1 supply (which you can conceptualize as you having a bundle of torches instead of just 1, and spending your supply is removing one from the bundle).
The most inventory focused I've gone is Cargo spaces on a spelljammer ship. Forcing players to have to mess with whats in there pockets can be really annoying and I'm sure there are plenty of ways to get around it. You never mentioned how many slots a Tensers Floating disk adds to the group. Or a pack mule for instance. What if two players create a hammock with sticks and a cloth and just start to pile gear on it, then dropping it as soon as a fight starts, sure picking up those 32 helmets that are now rolling around the dungeon floor can take some time to pick back up after a fight.. but it be worth it if the all had a gemstone adorning them.Or mid to higher levels, Leomunds secret chest will get alot more uses. Or how about a Demi-plane closet that the wizard keeps using to store extra loot.
Ever since playing PF2e my preference has really become slot-based encumbrance. I also use the optional rules for that in Old School Essentials when I run it.
A better system for D&D in particular is to have separate "weight" and "encumbrance" values. A sword might weigh 3 lbs but it's weigh more difficult to carry than say 3 lb of lead. So the 'encumbrance' of large items should be significant based on that difficulty. One 50 lb statue might be encumbering enough that it's all one person can carry, and takes up both hands and maybe even blocks sight. Other games might benefit from slots, but D&D is also about hauling treasure back home! Gotta leave room for that.
I use a slot system with the amount of slots being hit die + strength modifier, making a barbarian with +4 str have 16 slots and a wizard with -1 str have only five
I literaly told my players I will not keep track of encumbrance so long, as they don't try to carry anything absurdly heavy. With them also having horses, there wasn't an issue. That is until one player realized that his Heward's Handy Haversack has a weight limit and decided to keep track of his own encumbrance. He then discovered he and his horse were overnecumbered, even with his Haversack being full. I did not actually wan't him to keep track of the haversack's weight limit. Just of what he is putting in there for cases of transdimensional magic interference.
When a ran a game I didnt bother with encumbarance and just noted down all the loot the party as a whole had in discord channel they could glance through.
FWIW, the bag of holding ALSO has a weight limit (It's 500 pounds), can't hold objects too large to fit into the bag's mouth, it's risky to put sharp objects inside it, and only ONE person has really easy access to the contents of the bag. IME, though, yes, it's largely used to simply handwave the encumbrance rules. There's also actually the second dimension (literally) that you didn't touch on, which is what you can carry in D&D is limited by both weight _and volume,_ which is supposed to be why, RAW, you need things like pouches and backpacks and barrels and chests and whatnot, and can't carry 15 longswords on your person despite them only weighing 45 pounds. The problem is, this is ill-defined in game. How much space does a longsword take up? A suit of armor? A sack of flour? AFAIK, the game offers no guidance on this front.
If you don't have access to a bag of holding and are playing a low STR character I'd recommend you to look into the mounts and vehicles section of the PHB. Can be useful until you get your hands on a bag of holding.
I think this is where VTTs really shine when it comes to tracking PCs. I also really like the variant rule where you lose 10 movement at every third. It means that pretty much everyone is only carrying stuff that's actually required and the burden gets shared between the characters. It does however make heavy armour really not worth it.
@DeficientMaster Sorry if the question has already been asked, but how do you deal with exploration and combat movement with your encumbrance slot-based mechanics? How do you determine how many feet the characters can move? Thank you for all of the work you put into your videos.
The problem with slots is that it's more narrative based. If a piece of paper takes up 1 inventory slot and a book takes up 1, and 2 pieces of paper would take up 2? Why? What if the bag is less a bag and more a quick access storage? What if I'm doing 3.5 and have a +7 Strength modifier? How am I going to make that work with a dice roll? Slot is very abstract and really only works best in a narrative sense. Which is the problem here, as d&d is more immersion based than narrative based. So the styles don't really match up. I mean you can make slot work for immersion, but at that point, it's just bulk under a different name.
I like this one. I have spent more hours than I'd have liked to, to explain why you cannot carry 5 empty treasure chests not because of their weight but because of their handlling.
The funny thing about inventory is I am always trying to do dumb shit with what ever I have in my inventory as a player. lol I may usually play some kind of spellcaster, but if I can save the spell slots from some stronger spell and we can't lock pick that door, there's two outcomes: Destroy the door or big brain that shit with some tools from my inventory. Although, admittedly, I haven't busted down a door in a TTRPG in years. XD
Thought: Simple equivalency of strength score to slots (for Medium creatures, halve for Small and double for Large) i.e score of 8 = 8 slots 10 = 10 slots 12 = 12 slots Any item you can reasonably carry or fight with in 1 hand takes up a slot, 2-handed items would take up 2. Half of a creature’s Constitution/equivalent score would be how many hours it can carry a full inventory before needing a short rest.
I disagree with the idea that in high magic campaigns the choices are some how less meaningful, I don't even thing dnd can run low magic, maybe level 1 is low magic but by level 5 all players have so much cool stuff they can do that there's no way they could be low magic
I do something similar to this, but I definitely feel like you need at least 10 inventory slots. I mean, the low-number of inventory slots is great for OSR games, but for heroic fantasy like 5E, I can't think of a character that could even function with so little space, especially if there's hexcrawling. Like maybe a sword and shield battlemaster fighter? But even that's like 3 slots to sword, shield, and armor. Maybe a tool and a potion for some extra uses if you use strength, but utility items like pitons are just out of the question; they're too niche when comparing the opportunity cost of a potion with it and only room for one. Heck, even with 15 slots and bundleable items, my player told me that the starting pack had more items than he could carry. That even included handwaving tents, waterskins, sleepingbags, etc. But I feel like half of that kit is worthless anyway, so it's fine by me. XD Definitely better than "by the book" method of wackidoodle pounds or being able to carry an entire dragon's hoard in your pockets. An interesting thing that Fabula Ultima does is they have "inventory points". You do have slots for main hand and off hand and armor, blahblahblah. But for your consumable items, it just assumes you bought the right one in town and it uses inventory points to get you the desired effect. The more expensive ones that are presumably heavier, cost more IP. Pretty simple. Like curing status conditions, a magic tent to long rest safely, healing potion, mana potion, or even little explosives. That way you keep inventory down and can't just do take anything, but you also don't feel like you need to have foresight to know what to bring with you. The game assumes your characters are smart enough to plan ahead. Also speeds up shopping a ton because you just buy IP in town and move on. Permanent items are usually expensive enough that you save up a few adventures for them, so shopping is really open and close. Some classes focus on IP as well which is fun.
We've been using inventory slots for D&D and it's so much better than weight. Strength + 5 = number of slots. (+5 for strong build trait or similar) Kits and toolsets are 2 slots. All other items take up 1 slot each. Ammo, quest items, gems and flavour items are 0 slots. NOTHING is stackable. I plan on letting them find a Bag of Holding, which counts as 10 extra slots.
“Hey man, can you hold my sword for a sec?”
“Sorry dude, I just have too much emotional baggage”
“…”
Ha! This made me WANT to use emotional baggage as an encumbrance penalty.
I'm still not gonna, but it made me want to for a second.
It would take a very self-aware person to say something like that. I think most people would just say "No. Carry your own sword. I've got enough stuff already. Do I have to do everything for you? I'm no your hireling."
I really like the idea of encumbrance slots being taken up by mental anguish, exhaustion, and even things like Commitments or Promises made, the mental weight of a curse or guilt or sins or breaking an oath.
Sounds like he might take, EMOTIONAL DAMAGE!
Or something like I feel really tired today, sorry
I kinda like this idea, especially for a take on a Darkest Dungeon-esque system that focuses heavily on the stress and other mental effects of delving dungeons. I mean, just think of the Lord of the Rings, Frodo definitely did have points where if Sam handed him a backpack to carry, he would be too drained to do so.
Cairn! CAIRN! CAAAAIIIIRRRRN! Seriously Cairn is so cool because the slot based inventory is also the spell slots. If you fill up on armors and weapons you have less spell slots!. This makes the Wizard running nude and blasting spells an actual mechanic!
I came here to say that (since I'm currently GMing Cairn), and you got there first!
YES CAIRN HYPE
Removing roll to hit? Nope!
@@theeyewizard8288 If you have high enough armor things can do 0 damage.
@@theeyewizard8288 it's actually pretty good in play. Armour still matters, you can still affect DPS with the damage die, but combat is much faster and there are (very few) rounds where nothing happens.
I love how the hill you are willing to fight on is about an hour's drive from my house :)
"Players' weapons are already drawn when I roll initiative!"
Each character has a free item interaction every turn, as per the rules. Item interactions include drawing a weapon, turning a door knob, handing an ally a potion, and other similar simple actions you wouldn't want to spend a whole turn on lol
A weakness of 5e, indisputably.
@@googiegress bruh why
my ass is not going to spend my action on drawing a second, ffs i'll just graft the sword to my wrist
@@DucksAndCatnip Go for a hike carrying a sword all day and compare to how far you get in a days' march vs. not carrying anything in your hands.
Try walking down the aisles of Walmart with any kind of weapon in your hands.
It's totally fine if you're in a dungeon, but you're not always in a dungeon.
But the game system adding a free weapon draw reduces the opportunities for interesting things to happen when one side in a combat does not have weapons out and they encounter a group who does.
It also ignores the value that should accrue to characters who don't need to draw weapons (Monk, maybe someone who can summon their weapon to their hand magically).
EDIT: I was about to let you go on the "graft the sword to my wrist" bullshit and then I remembered. That's the kind of ridiculousness a literal child says. As in, a little kid who is 9 or 11 at the gaming table. I say this with some condescension only because I'm pretty sure you're old enough to think, speak, and act better than that.
Now look at a lanyard. That's a legitimate choice. If you drop your weapon, at least it will stay with you instead of leaving it behind when you move. But the downside to that small benefit is, similarly small, it becomes much harder to switch weapons because you have to undo the lanyard, put the other weapon away, and then pull out the new one.
Attaching a dagger blade to a gauntlet is going to get in the way of using the hand for anything else, and isn't as maneuverable as wielding a dagger in hand. And there's no way you're attaching a sword. There's a weapon like that from India and it's completely ridiculous and probably wasn't that effective and/or was worn for visual effect. If a gauntlet-mounted weapon is just as effective as a wielded weapon, but you also can't drop it, everyone would have been doing that since antiquity. They haven't, so clearly it's just dumbass weeaboo antics.
@@googiegress bro go outside. anyway, what kinda "interesting situations" arise from spending my action doing nothing but drawing a sword. you could say that picking up an improvised weapon would be an "interesting situation", but with the removal of object actions, that would be an action too. idc anymore im eating cheesecake.
@@googiegress drawing a sword does not take the majority of 6 seconds unless you are bad at it. Put in a rule about proper equipment holsters and only allowing the object interaction to be used on “equipped” items, not “stored” items (like in bags or packs), and not by those lacking the weapon proficiently.
And on that note, the polearm and mage staff players just literally have a walking stick at all times so give them advantage on forced marches and they don’t even need to “draw” the weapon 😂
I've never really had inventory problems, mostly just "the McGuffin is large, it must be dropped to fight." I have had the occasion where I have to pause and say, "You mean to tell me you got into and out of a cab, walked through a AAA rated security area and up to a Renraku security desk, all while brandishing automatics, katanas, and a rocket launcher? No, concealed holsters don't cover anything larger than a pistol and, no, you didn't have them down your pants."
Good stuff as always.
Ah Shadowrun
Choices are my secret sauce in all games. I enjoy putting my players in positions where they have to make a variety of choices, simple and difficult. Social interaction choices, what to carry and what to ditch, combat choices, and moral choices.
My response to the "I take the 20 long swords" problem is to just ask how they want to carry them.
My problem with slot based systems is that tiny and light items lose their time to shine. I like having the options to solve problems by improvising with mundane stuff.
Furthermore, I do like the old D&D design around consumables. In 5th edition, you have so many daily ressources that it does not matter, but if you can use 2 spells per day, scrolls are a non-regenerating source of power that can make the difference between success and failure, but you have to decide if the use is worth the cost.
A solution for tiny items in slot systems is to simply make them exceptions, or have extra slots that are only usable by said small items. From there we can infer things like packaging to be most of the bulk while individual items like hair pins just don’t take slots for more than a handful. In the case players abuse this to fill their packs with tiny items in random spaces, give them a cluttered debuff that doubles or triples the time to dig for an item in their pack, or use a d100 for a total fail chance.
OSR was doing similar about two decades ago. One issue to overcome is that tracking enc is a limitation on players, players don't like limitations, so they'd rather not do it. But that argument isn't sound, so they act like tracking enc is laborious, and that they're whining about THAT aspect of it. So of course there are times when the DM needs to impose a rule because it's necessary for a worthwhile game.
EDIT: Remember too that encumbrance is intended to be a puzzle and challenge for low-level PCs, which slowly eases until it's not really an issue at high level. Like with light, food, shelter, these low-level challenges go away to make way for mid-level challenges like fast overland movement, elevation change, extreme heat and cold, and underwater adventure, which later become trivial and make way for high-level challenges like plane travel.
Encumbrance goes away as you get magic armor which weighs less, replace common adventuring gear with magical replacements that weigh almost nothing, eschew heavy treasure like gold in favor of high-grading out just the gems, jewelry, and platinum (and magic), increase the STR of various party members, acquire special mounts and henchmen, and even get extradimensional luggage like Bags of Holding and Portable Holes. Until then, encumbrance is a logistical concern involving porters and donkeys, else you have insufficient capacity and must be selective about gear and treasure.
If you just ignore encumbrance, and probably various other difficulties like supplies, ammo, etc. then you probably just don't like low-level gameplay. Start the campaign at level 5 or 6 instead.
I think slot based inventory AND a bag of holding is the big brain GM move. Just imagine separating the party with a surprise wall trap. No damage, just separate the party and ask slowly and quietly, "Who is carrying the bag of holding?"
I like Shadowdarks mechanic for this "You can carry a number of items equal to your Strength stat or 10,
whichever is higher" simple.
Mr. Deficient. You've summarized my woes perfectly and the proposed solution has springboarded me to work on implementing the solution to my table.
I found out that Post-it notes won't work for long-term games. They're flimsy, glue wares off, they fall off and contents of "pockets" aren't easily transferable between players. As such I took on crafting task to make it better and scale down to more convenient A5 format.
Using your template, I've split items to Large and Small. For 1 large item you can fit 4 small items. "Pockets" were reduced to 2 Small slots. I also added Ring/Amulet slots "on corners" and two large slots on bottom that could be available to characters who have Perks/Traits/Skills in hauling, a magic bag or there is an NPC porter hireling dragging their stuff.
To make it tangible I procured following things:
- ferromagnetic tape (one side with glue)
- magnetic tape (one side with glue),
- laser cut wooden a5 sheet,
- batch of 4,2cm and 2cm laser cut wooden squares (for large and small items).
By placing the ferromagnetic tape on the A5 wooden sheet and sticking magnetic tape underneath wooden squares I got a contraption that won't explode into bits when it falls onto ground or when a cat walks over it. The wooden squares are easy to pry off so players can move the items on the sheet or trade with other players. Using a pencil to write the contents on the squares makes them easily reusable, as pencil can be erased.
Cheers!
*takes out phone*
*snaps pic of "inventory"*
next session: *replaces worn notes from pic*
I was worried you were gonna suggest ditching encumbrance. As an old-school gamer, I've learned these logistical questions are a key part of the exploration narrative. It all falls apart if you just ignore these things...
Yeah, a bag of holding gets some game out of the game, and that's a sin
@yester30 The idea is that as you level up, the focus moves towards challenges that are broader in scope. Same thing applies towards illumination with light spells. The mistake is things like bags of holding at low levels, or light as a cantrip, or giving every demi-human darkvision.
@@DM_Curtis Also, the Bag of Holding DOES have weight and volume limits. Light would be unusable if it wasn't a cantrip; at that point it's not an interesting choice, it's a prep and spell slot tax. As for darkvision, not only do most people run it incorrectly, but also if a SINGLE character in your party is playing as a human, or any of the dozens of other very popular races that DON'T have darkvision, guess what you still need to manage anyway?
It doesn't, you are just stuck in a rut playing with the same people over and over. Get out if your comfort zone.
@@pairot01 Let me guess you don't see the value of keeping track of rations or ammunition either?
DCC yeaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!! I like Shadow Dark's system pretty well, which is like 10 slots plus your strength modifier. This works pretty well too.
In a system I wrote, the rules are basically
"Maximum of 2 weapons and 1 piece of armor per character, aside from that only a few potentially useful items and GM can halve your speed or forbid you from taking too much"
It's a modern times "fantasy appeared yesterday" kinda system, and I don't wanna simulate modern economy and prices
sounds like the halo inventory system
D&D 5e is a game where equipment usually doesn't matter enough for encumbrance to be interesting.
another reason why i try to avoid playing it lmak
Yeah, in 5e the encumbrance rules are largely there to keep players from doing stupid shit like hauling away the temple's grand mithril doors or whatever; ya know, keep them from actually literally taking everything that isn't bolted down well enough.
But, that's also the fun part; you CAN dive deep on how much stuff your characters can carry if it gets your rocks off; there's rules in the DMG (Or maybe even in the PHB itself, if I'm remembering correctly) that are much more restrictive about how much stuff your character can carry.
And they goosed up carrying capacity so high to help PCs carry everything.
@@ilovethelegend Fun fact, though, I tried playing the inventory management game RAW once and discovered the packs you can get at character creation don't actually have enough space in them to carry what they come with. You need to bend the rules a bit and strap things to the outside.
@@colbyboucher6391 If you turn your attention to page 153, the Container Capacity table, it explicitly states that you are allowed to strap items to the outside of your backpack. The specific examples it gives are bedrolls and ropes, but like... it's not hard to justify being able to strap something to the outside of a backpack.
God damn the editing is so FIRE
Truely stunning 😮
I wrote a game in the 90's that used a similar system. But it's based more on how well organized and prepared your character is more than anything. I started with the observation that when I personally went anywhere I could pretty much handle my keys and my wallet, but as I started carrying more items around, the odds of my forgetting to bring the item or accidentally leaving it behind increased exponentially. (This was before cell phones became ubiquitous. I've discovered I can just about handle three). So players would make a list of up to ten items they typically carried, in order of importance. For a fighter, their primary weapon is almost always going to be item one, for example. And then whenever they want to use an item on the list, they have to roll higher than the object's ordinal number on 2d6, or else they just don't have it handy. An item could be a backpack or a sack with stuff in it, but then if you don't have it handy, that means you left the entire backpack or sack somewhere, with everything in it. There were character advantages and disadvantages that modified the dice roll, such as being especially conscientious or absent minded. But I didn't worry about weight at all unless the list got silly, which it never did.
You are my favourite dnd channel.
True hidden gem
It's not a super major difference from sister systems, but I like Pathfinder 2's adjustments to inventory.
Instead of weight, items use bulk, which is a more explicit amount that's easier to track and isn't directly tied to weight. 10 light items = 1 bulk, but you otherwise round down for partial bulks (so 2 bulk + 5 light items = 2 bulk. If you can carry 8 bulk, you can technically carry 8 bulk + 9 light items which is funny).
There are sorta non-visual 'slots' present still: carried, worn, and stowed.
Carried items take up a hand, and are pretty self explanatory. Usually this will be your weapons shields, or items you're about to use like wands or potions.
A worn item can be accessed with a single action. You can wear 2 bulk worth of tools on your person (allowing you to use em single handed, like thieves tools or a medical kit). Beyond tools, the only limit to 'worn' items (pockets, bandoliers, etc) is your carrying capacity. (Since drawing an item is a free action, it doesn't run into the issue of constant immediate access that 5e has.) If you have 4 spears and the capacity for it, you can wear all 4, but accessing each one is 1 action.
For stowed items, a backpack can carry up to 4 bulk and alleviates 2 bulk worth of weight (can't stack with other packs though). You can drop it if it's weighing you down and you need to move (no action needed), but to get something out usually requires 2 actions. Since it reduces the weight of items inside, you do wanna put stuff in it even if it makes it harder to access.
These total values just can't exceed your carrying capacity. Since ease-of-access is explicitly expressed, you get 3 actions per turn to alleviate action costs, and the bulk amounts are manageable rather than based purely on weight, it actually makes it easy to run. As a player I actually have to think about whether it's worth grabbing an extra backup weapon or tool.
The length of that explanation is telling of the system.
@@petegiantYeah it's pretty efficient how I'm able to describe like 3 different small rule elements and how they combine with just about 2 sentences or a very short paragraph per rule or segment.
@@Zedrinbot How about each player character can carry a number of items equal to their highest ability score. An item that can be carried in one hand = 1, an item requiring both hands = 2, an item requiring help = 3. Small items are bundled as per GM instruction. Simple.
@@Zedrinbot With those rules I think playing Pathfinder would feel like I'm operating a mech. It would work for a game with that as it's focus. I just prefer quick rules and more progress in the games I play.
@@petegiantmy guy you are commenting on a homebrew video for 5e talking about how to make interactive inventory systems. The video is about 2x as complicated as what I mentioned and exists because 5e's rules are so barebones as is and the author wanted something more interesting than just handwaving 5e's lack of interaction with inventory.
If you want a tl;dr that isn't me discussing how PF2 compares to what the author proposed:
-it is an action to transfer an item from your worn slot to your hand, 2 actions if it's to get it from a backpack (stowed). An item has to be in your hand to use it (weapons, potions, etc.).
-10 light items weigh 1 bulk, your total carry capacity is measured in JUST bulk (and you ignore light item weights til they form 1 bulk). Your total capacity is just like, 5 + your strength mod and is anything worn, stowed, or carried.
Bulk overall is a simpler, small-integer based system, compared to explicit weight of earlier systems and 5e. (It is way easier when a system is built around players carrying less than 15 "weight" versus 300 "weight.")
And then I mentioned rules for tools and backpacks, which are more individual item notes:
-A backpack negates 2 bulk of items put in it (effectively increasing your carry by 2).
-Tools normally take 2 actions and both hands to use, but you can wear up to 2 bulk worth of tools. Worn tools only take 1 action to use, and only need 1 hand then.
A tetris inventory system could work great.
Make a much bigger grid, and make pieces with various shapes and sizes in advance for each item, with velcro on the back.
Make some generic shapes for if you want to give an item you didn't prepare for and just write the name of the item before you give those out.
A bag of holding would be extra grid space.
Reminds me of Zee Bashew’s system
But if I'm too efficient all my items will shatter and disappear. 😮
This reminds me somewhat of RE4 too
But that makes the bag of holding just a bag, holding some items?
So Diablo...You want us to do Diablo inventory managment.
This has inspired me to make a version of this for Worlds Without Number that uses the half sized sticky notes! Players have "readied items" = to 1/2 strength and "stowed items" = strength as per the system. Really easy to take a sticky from the front and smack it on the back to move things around versus constant erasing etc.
could you share your idea? I'm currently moving from 5e to WWN and I'm mulling over some ideas as well
@@SirWhorshoeMcGee
Here's a blog post I wrote on it. Last paragraph is on the use of it in WWN with some pics. sleepingbagworm.blogspot.com/2023/12/3-sticky-note-inventory-management.html
Nice job! These videos are great. Definitely have created an awesome style. I also really dig the actual tips! Keep up the great job
I've been superficially tinkering with a similar system, but this visualization is great. Really good design. Will probably adopt this in my games
I'd go all the way. Items have no mechanical benefit whatsoever. The conversation: "I try to pry open the door." "Do you have a crowbar in your inventory?" Goes away. Instead it's just, "Roll thievery or athletics depending on your approach." But what about healing potions? That's what 2nd wind is. A feature that lets you flex back HP in combat. Nobody complains.
You made a really good recommendation in another video that I wanted to come back to but I couldn't remember your username. I did, however, remember your attitude so I just searched for "I fixed D&D".
Found you straight away.
Your sheet is awesome, plus I love the idea of giving players sticky notes to fill it in!
Wow, thank you so much. I rarely get to play in person with people, but when I do I go all out for handouts and little interactive physical items because that is what makes it special. Begin a kindred spirit on the inventory management though process I love this design. Post notes were always something I loved using and the layout of this is perfect, plus the idea of rolling to retrieve something is just incredible. Will be purchasing this because it's worth it.
As always you're changing the game for the better DM. If only my DM allowed encumbrance in his games. GREG!
My only problem with this is that there are some inherit mechanics tied to races and classes that would need to be adapted as well in order for it to work.
On the other hand... I kinda like the idea of a hybrid system.
I mean... Having something like a belt, for you to carry down items that you can use immediately on a pinch, like potions, weapons, and stuff like that, and having other things that would require longer for you to grab (at least 1 minute searching into your bag, or in the best case scenario a whole action, against the usual object interaction on the belt).
You could just call it Belt and Bag. I mean... Could be easy to homebrew into DND as well.
Oh yeah, and if you don't have a belt and/or a bag? You can only carry what you can hold on your hands or arms.
I like your inventory sheet a lot. I love Mausritter's system, but so many little chips everywhere is a pain in the butt. I think this could work well for a game like Shadowdark too.
The bags of holding my party bought/stole have a nice twist to them…..they change into bags of devouring that feeds endlessly on any “meat” it devours. They have portals to a gluttony entity.
While I personally despise any system that makes my character worse at basic tasks(like carrying items) than I am, I'm glad people who love that kind of stuff can brew cool new ways to enjoy the game.
What system makes you worse at basic tasks?
@@LeFlamel I am able to carry more then six items on my person. Six pints (of potions) would fit just in my hands. I get, that six is a nice number on a funi math rokc and that I'm going to need my hands in a dungeon, but I do like more methodical management which this system abandons. I do feel like trying it out, though - a good sign!
@the_multus I mean sure, you can critique the specifics of the implementation, but you can edit the general concept for your own use. Personally I run games with 10 slots. Adjust to taste, like every other mechanic
@@the_multus6 pints…. That’s over half a gallon of glass and pottery , isn’t it? Can you imagine going into a cave with that in your hand? No spells. No shield. No picking locks. No move silently or hiding.
The idea is awesome, and the implementation is the key. We had no spreadsheet back in the day. These things were a different burden then. But ignoring the challenge in a dungeon crawler is nuts.
@@Xplora213 You've missed the point: I'm not bragging about my hand size or whatever. The point is that different burdens might have different effects. Of cause I want something loony to hinder my character! And I want a system for that, since adding u-just-can't-m8-s ruins my creativity. HOWEVER. I acknowledge that simpler game design allows for a quicker and more dynamic play.
TL;DR: no matter the specifics, I can give the examples of such systems acting weird, but I see the great benefit in the simplicity of the design too.
By the title thought it's gonna be about jumping. The rule is so long, specific and inconvinient for such a trivial action it makes me wonder. WHY?
Wait! you can even fix the bag of holding in this solution by having it HAVE it's own finite amount of slots and take up a slot
In the description of it it does have a finite amount of space. Its actually fairly small and can fill up quickly.
In my party I'm the one with a bag of holding, so I keep track of the bulk of items in there.
I use Str Score = amount of things they can carry. Since I play my own game, which is an utterly simplified D&D, almost zero edition-like, they can hardly ever carry more than 13 or 14 things with them at once.
This inventory sheet is a good use for my Dragon Shield player companion character sheet pocket that until now I had no use for.
Really awesome idea, you've more than earned this sub friend
I also made a more complex version of the slot based inventory. Works like a charm. But I should limit it a bit more. 6 slots +/- strength is a lot.
You've just described Cairn.
I dig it. Shadowdark does the inventory system in a less complicated fashion. I really like the design of your sheet.
This channel needs more views. Its hurts me you aren't getting them yet!!!!
Hell yeah
Have been doing that ever since I saw what a mess the inventory of mine and my players would turn into, but the solution to that was found in a game that I have been passionate about for almost 17 years.
Warcraft 3. Warcraft 3 - an RTS - has the 6 slot inventory system for heroes that I have been using ever since. Makes perfect sence* since u can only attune to three items and having a sea of consumables just increases the time spent over thinking what to chug, what to yeet or what to read.
* - unless you're an artificer, who understandably gets an improvement in the area.
Thanks a lot for this and all other videos. A true breath of fresh air! More importantly, this six-shooter-backpack is actually a very good instrument of lightening players' gold pouches since they'd need to restock more frequently >:3
After all, there aren't that many things to spend the gold on, so might as well make purchases more frequent.
P.S. BTW, there's a very easy way to make haggling over a price an easy minigame. As all of you probably know, the prices of the items in 5e have a suspiciously strange price range. Which seems okay, until u realize that there's a hidden mechanic behind the price. Each price range is a dice roll. 50 to 100 gold? My dears, it is (1d6+4) * 10. 101-500 gp? Easy: 5d10*10.
Here's a list:
50-100 = (1d6+4)*10
101-500 = (5d10)*10
501-5000 = (5d10)*100
5001-50000 = (5d10)*1000
50001 is just easier to make beyond a price list
Whenever it is a consumable - just cut the price in two. Want to avoid "even" and "clean numbers"? Add a roll of d100 to round up the price (234 instead of dry 200, but that's just flavoring).
So, the idea is that whenever players want to stockpile on their supplies, refer to Deficient Master's table of reaction. If a merchant is "tightfisted", roll the price with advantage. If he's generous - or made generous - then roll at a disadvantage. Thus it will make huggling: a) viable b) fast c) roll based, thus honestly ruled. I usually base my haggling on either charisma (understandably) or Intelligence (knowing market pricing and so on).
Hope it helps whoever finds it! :)
Love your channel. Great humor with substance and I look forward to the vids each week.
If I'm being completely honest, I usually dont worry about this kind of stuff in my games. That said, this looks like an easy way to throw in another layer of challenge to the game. THAT said, I'm not sure its neccessary or even needed to challenge the players. I've always run a rules light kinda game. Got a session zero coming up in a couple weeks so I'll have the guys vote on whether to use this in our next campaign or not. Thanks for the idea!
Man, I about just pissed myself laughing at “seasonal depression.”
My group does use encumbrance rules but we have apps that make everything easy to calculate and see at a glance.
When calculations are easy and seamless, it works out pretty fine
I'm using this idea this summer! This is genius!
The bag of holding always lead to shenanigans. Sometimes fun.
I run mork borg and what I do is a player can carry 2 weapons, a shield and a set of armour maximum + 2 other items, or if they have a backpack then that can carry an additional 7 items (weapons and armour excluded), a sack can carry 10 extra items but needs to be held in your hands making you unable to participate in combat unlese you drop all your stuff. Alternatively a cart or donkey can carry anything you want as long as it's reasonable. Obviously this leads to some DM fiat however it cuts down on complicated rules on volume and weight while forcing the players to make choices on what to take with them and what to leave behind
I absolutely love slot-based inventory systems, and the d6 to grab/drop items is a brilliant idea. I'm definitely going to use this next time I run a game.
Personally I would add Backpack slot or something, to carry your backstory items and instruments. It could give you 3 sloots like +1,+2 and +3 str modifier score slots what can hold up to 2 items each, but backpack itself take a slot and you might need roll d6 to use it, or not lose it! Also it might be hard to fight with you backpack on so you need to unpack it. More tense, MORE SWEAT!
I am thinking the same but add mules and wagons to that list. Your d6 becomes a d8 or d10 or d12 as you expand that list. And you are dedicating a slot to controlling the mule in combat.
1:04. I handwaive all of the really minor items in the game, and I run bolt, so that wizard could carry 11 longswords and 1 spellbook. You can carry a number of items equal to your strength score. Things like clothing food water are all handwaived, you can carry 12 important items with 12 strength. This ruling has changed constantly over the years, this is it's current iteration. But the current iteration means, that's all you've got, 11 longswords no potions or magic items or shit.
Loving your videos man!
I typically start each new adventure with a, "What are you bringing with you on this journey?" I also tend to run games in smaller settings like cities, and I always give the players a homebase. This has worked so far for me, cus it helps ease my players into character every few sessions. I definitely think adding a slot based inventory is a great addition to this!
As a warlock main, I was shot in the heart by that red X
My system is kinda simple. You get inventory slots equal to 6 + STR score, with the first six being your “on person” slots accessible with a free item interaction, and a number of the slots past that equal to your DEX mod that are turned into “quick access slots” which can be accessed with a bonus action.
Each slot holds a singular succinct item. Items can be bundled together if reasonable, though a player must keep track if multiple distinct items are being kept together in a kit or toolbox. If not, I will default to the contents ordinarily kept in the kit. Consumables and ammunition have a 3 pip system, where at certain points you mark “usage”. Using a potion, after a fight where you used your ranged weapon, etc.
The Dex opportunity is a good one.
Awesome solution. This is exactly what I've been looking for. Thanks!
This is perfect! I have been trying to get my fellow players to adopt some sort of slot-based encumbrance system. Your video is not only more entertaining than me, but your system easily to understand and flexible enough that it will probably be more appealing to them!
I like that idea, but so little slots kinda looks like you can't carry anything at all anymore. Like, how are they going to prep with torches etc?
Ah yes sorcerer of the shoreline, sanitar
"Sorcerers or the Shoreline" 🤣
I use zee bashew's Cube inventory system, Works basically like Resident evil 4, even has a way to easily show when you are encumbered
I'm doing a squared pocket system with the RE4 method of item size, where above the pocket is open air for large items to stick out (And fall out/snag on things) and as you go deeper it becomes increasingly difficult to pull out an item in a single turn.
Love the “nope” over warlock 😂
I go the realism route. Want to carry an armour in your inventory? Does it fit into your backpack? No? Then I guess you have to carry it in your hands and drop it when you want to fight.
I like the humor of this video! Nive way of making interesting vids!
I love all deficient master videos
Hey, you'll laugh. But this is the system I used for my Stars Wars-flavored ttrpg, I took the one from Troika. Which is pretty much as described, you have 12 locations and when you're in a combat situation, you roll 2d6. For my part, I've added the Force/PTSD powers of my young padawans. I think this system is really brilliant and I thank you for talking about it here!
You don’t use encumbrance because you think it’s a boring rule.
I don’t use encumbrance because it’s written in pounds and I refuse to use imperial units
We are not the same, but at least you’re less petty than me!
I think this is great for in-person games.
I think online, the regular encumbrance rules work fine since the math can be automatically calculated.
I really like how Dragonbane managed to strike a great balance between 5e's "let's just ignore it, it's too much hassle" and the wonders of Slot Based Inventory.
Armor, Helmet and Clothing take up no inventory when worn.
You get to have 3 items(most often your weapons and maybe a shield) that are "at hand" and ready to be drawn in an instant and do not count towards your slots.
You get as many slots as half your STR score rounded up(it can only go to 18 max) and wearing a backpack gives you +2 slots, making 11 the absolute max and something like 6-8 pretty average once you buy a backpack.
90% of the time an item will just take up 1 slot but stuff like a sledgehammer or a 6-person tent takes up 2-4 slots. However any item that would roughly fit in the palm of your hand(like a Flint & Tinder) is considered small enough that it takes up absolutely no inventory slots and some items have multiple uses. For example, a lantern and a flask of lantern oil may take up 2 slots but the oil can be used 10 times before it runs out. The torches you'd need for the same time with light would take up 10 slots but are waaaaaaay cheaper.
Rations similarly stack up to 4 and coins are ignored until they reach 200 of each kind, whereupon they take up 1 slot.
Easy to play with and reeeeaally makes you think about what to bring. As well as strongly consider getting a horse just for the extra storage lol.
I give my players backpack sheets which solves like 90% of the problem.
might steal that idea for the trpg i'm making
I tend to gloss over a lot of encumbrance rules and just wing it with common sense. Bags of holding are indeed handy. Remember that a lot of those utility items and spells were created by early players to solve practical problems of dungeoneering. Id say check in with your players to see what they like. If a rule makes something less fun, don't do it. I think my hack-n-slash table would panic at the slot based system, but it may work well for your crew. For those that like the crunch of teaching everything from food and water to torches, could someone remind me of the weight of a sword in coins? Love the videos, superb presentation, and yes, I read the wall of text - your efforts are not in vain. BTW, how many slots does a box of 9mm take up?
I like most have been working on my Own RPG system for couple years now and also like the Slot system and agree the less slots will make it more interesting, what will you carry and what will you have to leave. ... your Inventory hand out is cool, Maybe Cut the post it in Half and Make all the Spots for Half size, so you can fit the parts off edges on to the page (and save post its at the same time). OR just laminate it with all on one page so they can dry ease on it. ... I DO like this, First Thumbs up
Have you heard of Five Torches Deep? It does something pretty interesting with inventory. It abstracts weight and size both into a resource called "load", and you also have "supply". You spend supply to REFILL consumables, assuming the DM allows it. 5 supply take 1 load, and you have supply equal to your Int score and load equal to your str score. Instead of listing every item and how heavy it is, the book gives some vague guidelines on how much load an item should be, and how much supply it should take to replenish. Things like a torch are 1 load and 1 supply (which you can conceptualize as you having a bundle of torches instead of just 1, and spending your supply is removing one from the bundle).
"Dungeon Crawl Classics" ... if it don't have the Caves of Chaos, we've got a problem, mister.
Interesting ideas. Personally, I use the Alexandrian's encumbrance by stone
The most inventory focused I've gone is Cargo spaces on a spelljammer ship. Forcing players to have to mess with whats in there pockets can be really annoying and I'm sure there are plenty of ways to get around it. You never mentioned how many slots a Tensers Floating disk adds to the group. Or a pack mule for instance. What if two players create a hammock with sticks and a cloth and just start to pile gear on it, then dropping it as soon as a fight starts, sure picking up those 32 helmets that are now rolling around the dungeon floor can take some time to pick back up after a fight.. but it be worth it if the all had a gemstone adorning them.Or mid to higher levels, Leomunds secret chest will get alot more uses. Or how about a Demi-plane closet that the wizard keeps using to store extra loot.
Ever since playing PF2e my preference has really become slot-based encumbrance. I also use the optional rules for that in Old School Essentials when I run it.
THE ELBOW WAS REVEALED I KNEW I WOULD FIND IT
A better system for D&D in particular is to have separate "weight" and "encumbrance" values. A sword might weigh 3 lbs but it's weigh more difficult to carry than say 3 lb of lead. So the 'encumbrance' of large items should be significant based on that difficulty. One 50 lb statue might be encumbering enough that it's all one person can carry, and takes up both hands and maybe even blocks sight.
Other games might benefit from slots, but D&D is also about hauling treasure back home! Gotta leave room for that.
I use a slot system with the amount of slots being hit die + strength modifier, making a barbarian with +4 str have 16 slots and a wizard with -1 str have only five
I literaly told my players I will not keep track of encumbrance so long, as they don't try to carry anything absurdly heavy.
With them also having horses, there wasn't an issue.
That is until one player realized that his Heward's Handy Haversack has a weight limit and decided to keep track of his own encumbrance. He then discovered he and his horse were overnecumbered, even with his Haversack being full.
I did not actually wan't him to keep track of the haversack's weight limit. Just of what he is putting in there for cases of transdimensional magic interference.
When a ran a game I didnt bother with encumbarance and just noted down all the loot the party as a whole had in discord channel they could glance through.
The Honored one? More like the unmissing one
FWIW, the bag of holding ALSO has a weight limit (It's 500 pounds), can't hold objects too large to fit into the bag's mouth, it's risky to put sharp objects inside it, and only ONE person has really easy access to the contents of the bag. IME, though, yes, it's largely used to simply handwave the encumbrance rules.
There's also actually the second dimension (literally) that you didn't touch on, which is what you can carry in D&D is limited by both weight _and volume,_ which is supposed to be why, RAW, you need things like pouches and backpacks and barrels and chests and whatnot, and can't carry 15 longswords on your person despite them only weighing 45 pounds. The problem is, this is ill-defined in game. How much space does a longsword take up? A suit of armor? A sack of flour? AFAIK, the game offers no guidance on this front.
The Variant: Encumbrance rules in the PHB chapter 7 fixes this.
If you don't have access to a bag of holding and are playing a low STR character I'd recommend you to look into the mounts and vehicles section of the PHB.
Can be useful until you get your hands on a bag of holding.
I think this is where VTTs really shine when it comes to tracking PCs. I also really like the variant rule where you lose 10 movement at every third. It means that pretty much everyone is only carrying stuff that's actually required and the burden gets shared between the characters. It does however make heavy armour really not worth it.
I made one identical to yours but I've simply cut 3x5 notecards in half because sticky notes bug me. I'm testing it out next session.
Once again you’re a genius!!!! Love the ideas ❤
@DeficientMaster
Sorry if the question has already been asked, but how do you deal with exploration and combat movement with your encumbrance slot-based mechanics? How do you determine how many feet the characters can move? Thank you for all of the work you put into your videos.
Slots are king. I like your random rolls associated with it as well very cool. B)
The problem with slots is that it's more narrative based. If a piece of paper takes up 1 inventory slot and a book takes up 1, and 2 pieces of paper would take up 2? Why? What if the bag is less a bag and more a quick access storage? What if I'm doing 3.5 and have a +7 Strength modifier? How am I going to make that work with a dice roll? Slot is very abstract and really only works best in a narrative sense. Which is the problem here, as d&d is more immersion based than narrative based. So the styles don't really match up. I mean you can make slot work for immersion, but at that point, it's just bulk under a different name.
I like this one. I have spent more hours than I'd have liked to, to explain why you cannot carry 5 empty treasure chests not because of their weight but because of their handlling.
Feel bad for the sword
The funny thing about inventory is I am always trying to do dumb shit with what ever I have in my inventory as a player. lol
I may usually play some kind of spellcaster, but if I can save the spell slots from some stronger spell and we can't lock pick that door, there's two outcomes: Destroy the door or big brain that shit with some tools from my inventory.
Although, admittedly, I haven't busted down a door in a TTRPG in years. XD
Thought: Simple equivalency of strength score to slots (for Medium creatures, halve for Small and double for Large)
i.e score of 8 = 8 slots
10 = 10 slots
12 = 12 slots
Any item you can reasonably carry or fight with in 1 hand takes up a slot, 2-handed items would take up 2.
Half of a creature’s Constitution/equivalent score would be how many hours it can carry a full inventory before needing a short rest.
Weight limits can be fun, but they'd be good for a low magic campaign where every choice becomes more meaningful.
I disagree with the idea that in high magic campaigns the choices are some how less meaningful, I don't even thing dnd can run low magic, maybe level 1 is low magic but by level 5 all players have so much cool stuff they can do that there's no way they could be low magic
I do something similar to this, but I definitely feel like you need at least 10 inventory slots. I mean, the low-number of inventory slots is great for OSR games, but for heroic fantasy like 5E, I can't think of a character that could even function with so little space, especially if there's hexcrawling. Like maybe a sword and shield battlemaster fighter? But even that's like 3 slots to sword, shield, and armor. Maybe a tool and a potion for some extra uses if you use strength, but utility items like pitons are just out of the question; they're too niche when comparing the opportunity cost of a potion with it and only room for one. Heck, even with 15 slots and bundleable items, my player told me that the starting pack had more items than he could carry. That even included handwaving tents, waterskins, sleepingbags, etc. But I feel like half of that kit is worthless anyway, so it's fine by me. XD
Definitely better than "by the book" method of wackidoodle pounds or being able to carry an entire dragon's hoard in your pockets.
An interesting thing that Fabula Ultima does is they have "inventory points". You do have slots for main hand and off hand and armor, blahblahblah. But for your consumable items, it just assumes you bought the right one in town and it uses inventory points to get you the desired effect. The more expensive ones that are presumably heavier, cost more IP. Pretty simple. Like curing status conditions, a magic tent to long rest safely, healing potion, mana potion, or even little explosives. That way you keep inventory down and can't just do take anything, but you also don't feel like you need to have foresight to know what to bring with you. The game assumes your characters are smart enough to plan ahead. Also speeds up shopping a ton because you just buy IP in town and move on. Permanent items are usually expensive enough that you save up a few adventures for them, so shopping is really open and close. Some classes focus on IP as well which is fun.
We've been using inventory slots for D&D and it's so much better than weight.
Strength + 5 = number of slots. (+5 for strong build trait or similar)
Kits and toolsets are 2 slots. All other items take up 1 slot each. Ammo, quest items, gems and flavour items are 0 slots. NOTHING is stackable.
I plan on letting them find a Bag of Holding, which counts as 10 extra slots.