Bulk and Encumbrance

Every burden has a cost. Some are carried in hand. Others are carried in blood and breath.

Adventurers carry more than steel and rope. They carry trophies, tools, relics, stolen crowns, broken shields, emergency rations, spare boots, and questionable decisions wrapped in oilcloth. But every pack has a limit. Sooner or later, the weight of survival becomes a threat of its own.

Narateer does not track every kilogram, coin, buckle, and button. Instead, it uses Bulk: a simple measure of how difficult an item is to carry, move with, wear, drag, or fight around.

Carry what matters. Leave what slows your legend.

What Is Bulk?

Weight is not only mass. It is awkwardness, strain, and the way a thing pulls against motion.

Bulk is an abstract measure of an item’s weight, size, awkwardness, and carrying difficulty. A compact item may be heavy but easy to pack. A lighter item may be awkward enough to slow you down. Bulk measures the practical burden, not exact weight.

A character’s ability to carry Bulk is based on Strength.

Ask yourself:

• How much can I carry before it slows me down?
• Is this item easy to wear, pack, drag, or fight with?
• Am I carrying useful gear—or dragging the whole dungeon behind me?

Comfortable Carry Load

Your Comfortable Carry Load is the amount of Bulk you can carry without penalty.

Comfortable Carry Load = Strength × 5 Bulk

If your total carried Bulk is equal to or less than your Comfortable Carry Load, you suffer no encumbrance penalty.

If your total carried Bulk exceeds your Comfortable Carry Load, you become Encumbered.

Encumbrance Thresholds

Use the table below as a quick reference.

If a character’s Strength is not listed, use the formula:

• No Penalty: total Bulk is equal to or less than Strength × 5.
• Encumbered: total Bulk is greater than Strength × 5 and no more than Strength × 10.
• Heavily Encumbered: total Bulk is greater than Strength × 10 and no more than Strength × 15.
• Overburdened: total Bulk is greater than Strength × 15.

Encumbrance States

Encumbrance states describe the effect of carried Bulk. They are not Conditions unless another rule says so.

A severe burden may resemble or cause a Condition such as Hindered or Slowed if the Guide rules that the load has become extreme, injurious, magical, or scene-defining. By default, however, Encumbered, Heavily Encumbered, and Overburdened are carrying states, not separate Conditions.

No Penalty

If your total carried Bulk is equal to or less than your Comfortable Carry Load, you move normally.

You can fight, climb, run, sneak, and travel without Bulk interfering unless the fiction says otherwise.

Encumbered

If your total carried Bulk is greater than your Comfortable Carry Load but no more than twice that amount, you are Encumbered.

While Encumbered:

• You have Disadvantage on Acrobatics and Athletics checks.
• Your movement is reduced. In Tactical scenes, reduce movement by roughly one quarter if exact distance matters.
• The Guide may apply Disadvantage to other physical checks where your load clearly interferes.

Heavily Encumbered

If your total carried Bulk is greater than twice your Comfortable Carry Load but no more than three times that amount, you are Heavily Encumbered.

While Heavily Encumbered:

• You have Disadvantage on Acrobatics and Athletics checks.
• Your movement is severely reduced. In Tactical scenes, halve movement if exact distance matters.
• The Guide may call for Athletics checks during forced marches, climbing, swimming, running, or other strenuous movement.
• Failure may cause lost time, dropped gear, fatigue, strain, a worsened position, or another fitting consequence.

Overburdened

If your total carried Bulk is greater than three times your Comfortable Carry Load, you are Overburdened.

While Overburdened:

• You cannot move normally.
• You cannot Sprint.
• You cannot take actions that require free movement unless the load is braced, dragged, supported, or otherwise controlled.
• Dragging, lifting, shifting, or bracing the load may require an Athletics Skill Check.
• You may need assistance, equipment, leverage, or time to move the load safely.

Tip: Overburdened does not always mean helpless. A character might drag a chest, brace a collapsing beam, crawl under a burden, or haul a wounded ally—but they are no longer moving freely.

Worn, Wielded, Packed, and Dragged Gear

Bulk normally counts whether an item is worn, wielded, packed, carried, dragged, or strapped to the body.

However, how an item is carried matters.

A properly fitted suit of armour may be easier to move in than the same armour bundled awkwardly in a sack. A backpack can be dropped quickly. Armour usually cannot. A shield on the arm is combat-ready. A shield tied to a pack is just another carried object until drawn.

Use these principles:

• Worn items count toward Bulk, but may be easier to manage if fitted and secured.
• Wielded items count toward Bulk and may also affect combat rules.
• Packed items count toward Bulk, but may be dropped if the pack can be freely released.
• Dragged items count as practical burden and may require Athletics checks, assistance, or time.
• Loose or awkward items may count as more Bulk than their weight suggests.
• Proper containers, straps, carts, sledges, or mounts may reduce practical difficulty if the fiction supports it.

Guide Tip: Judge Bulk by how hard the item is to carry during play, not by exact weight. Shape, balance, grip, fragility, and how the item is carried all matter.

Bulk Categories

Most items use a simple Bulk category.

Insubstantial items usually count as 0 Bulk unless carried in large quantities.

As a quick rule:

Ten insubstantial items may count as 1 Bulk if the amount becomes awkward, heavy, noisy, fragile, or difficult to manage.

Tiny weapons such as daggers, knives, darts, and similar sidearms may count as 0 Bulk individually. Several carried together may count as 1 Bulk if they become a meaningful load.

The Guide may ignore tiny items when they do not matter, or group them when they become part of the scene.

Assigning Bulk

When assigning Bulk, consider the item’s practical burden.

Ask:

• Is it heavy?
• Is it awkward?
• Is it fragile?
• Is it easy to grip?
• Is it worn, packed, dragged, or carried by hand?
• Does it interfere with climbing, stealth, swimming, fighting, or running?

If unsure, choose the closest Bulk category and keep the story moving.

Bulk should create meaningful choices, not slow accounting.

Bulk, Weapons, and Armour

Weapons and armour use Bulk like other equipment, but they may also interact with combat rules.

Weapon Bulk is not only carrying weight. It also reflects how much mass, leverage, and handling commitment the weapon requires in combat.

Some combat rules use Bulk as a threshold. For example:

• Melee weapons of 1 Bulk or less may usually use Strength or Agility for damage.
• Melee weapons of more than 1 Bulk usually use Strength for damage.
• Heavy carried loads may justify Disadvantage on attacks, responses, Acrobatics, Athletics, or movement-based actions.

Weapon Damage belongs to the weapon. Soak belongs to armour or another mitigation source.

A weapon may define:

• Weapon Damage;
• Bulk;
• attack Skill;
• common attack Vitals;
• common damage Vitals;
• traits.

Armour may define:

• Soak;
• Bulk;
• armour category;
• traits.

Rule Reminder: Soak represents armour and other damage reduction. It does not come from the attacking weapon.

Bulk in Combat

A character can fight while carrying gear, but if the gear interferes with motion, balance, reach, footing, or stamina, the Guide may apply the relevant encumbrance effects.

Bulk may matter in combat when a character:

• fights while carrying a heavy pack;
• tries to Sprint while loaded down;
• climbs, jumps, swims, or crawls under pressure;
• drags an ally out of danger;
• carries treasure during a chase;
• uses a heavy or awkward weapon;
• wears bulky armour;
• attempts a precise physical action while overloaded.

If Bulk does not affect the moment, do not stop play to count it.

Bulk Outside Combat

Bulk often matters most during exploration.

The Guide may check Bulk when characters:

• climb, swim, crawl, leap, or balance;
• flee a collapsing ruin;
• carry treasure under pressure;
• drag an unconscious ally;
• travel through harsh terrain;
• sneak while overloaded;
• carry fragile, noisy, or awkward objects;
• attempt a long forced march.

Bulk should create meaningful choices, not bookkeeping for its own sake.

Guide Tip: Use Bulk when the load changes the scene. Ignore it when it does not.

Example: Mid-Level Fighter

A fighter carries the following gear:

Total Bulk: 10

If the fighter has Strength 5:

Comfortable Carry Load = 5 × 5 = 25 Bulk

The fighter is carrying 10 Bulk, which is below 25. They are not Encumbered.

If the fighter had Strength 1:

Comfortable Carry Load = 1 × 5 = 5 Bulk

At 10 Bulk, they would be Encumbered.

Example: Dragging a Fallen Ally

Nyra has Strength 2, giving her a Comfortable Carry Load of 10 Bulk. Her own gear totals 8 Bulk. During a fight, she tries to drag an armoured ally to safety.

The Guide rules the fallen ally counts as 8 Bulk while dragged.

Nyra’s total effective Bulk becomes 16.

For Strength 2:

• 10 Bulk or less = no penalty.
• 11–20 Bulk = Encumbered.

Nyra can drag the ally, but she is Encumbered while doing so. If she must climb, sprint, or dodge falling debris, the Guide may call for Athletics with Disadvantage.

Example: Too Much Treasure

The party finds a carved stone idol worth a fortune. It is compact but brutally heavy. The Guide assigns it 5 Bulk.

Kaelen already carries 14 Bulk and has Strength 3.

Comfortable Carry Load = 3 × 5 = 15 Bulk

If Kaelen takes the idol, his total becomes 19 Bulk. He becomes Encumbered.

He can carry it, but every chase, climb, jump, and desperate escape now has a price.

Tips

Players

Carry what supports your role. A spare weapon, shield, or tool kit can save a scene, but carrying everything makes every dangerous moment worse. If you expect climbing, stealth, swimming, or long travel, lighten the load before the Guide makes the load matter.

Narateer Guides

Use Bulk to create choices, not punishment. A heavy chest, fallen ally, sacred relic, or stolen siege part should change how the scene feels. Do not stop play to count every cup and candle unless the load is actually part of the tension.

When unsure, assign a simple Bulk value and keep moving.

Summary

• Bulk measures weight, size, awkwardness, and carrying difficulty.
• Narateer uses Bulk instead of exact weight.
• Comfortable Carry Load = Strength × 5 Bulk.
• If total Bulk is equal to or less than Comfortable Carry Load, there is no penalty.
• If total Bulk exceeds Comfortable Carry Load, the character becomes Encumbered.
• Encumbered characters have Disadvantage on Acrobatics and Athletics checks and reduced movement.
• Heavily Encumbered characters have Disadvantage on Acrobatics and Athletics checks, severely reduced movement, and may risk fatigue, strain, dropped gear, lost time, or other consequences during strenuous movement.
• Overburdened characters cannot move normally without dropping gear, dragging the load, bracing it, or receiving help.
• Encumbrance states are not Conditions unless another rule says so.
• Worn, wielded, packed, carried, and dragged items usually count toward Bulk, but how an item is carried may change its practical burden.
• Insubstantial items are usually 0 Bulk unless carried in large quantities.
• Weapon Damage belongs to weapons. Soak belongs to armour or other mitigation.
• Bulk matters most when it changes movement, combat, exploration, stealth, travel, or survival.
• Use Bulk as a fast pressure system, not as slow accounting.