Weight, slots, and Bulk

Encumbrance that does the math, not your table.

Encumbrance is the most dropped rule in tabletop, because tracking weight by hand is tedious and easy to ignore. ScryRPG does the arithmetic for you, keeps the numbers shared across the whole party, and lets you relax or switch it off when your table does not want it.

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Weight + slots: tracked together
Automatic: no hand math
Optional: turn it off any time

ScryRPG party inventory showing each character's gear, shared containers, gold, and green-to-red encumbrance bars tracking weight and slots side by side — The Lantern Company: every carrier and container totaled automatically, with capacity bars the whole table reads at a glance.

Most tables drop it. Here is why, and what changes.

The reason encumbrance gets cut is almost never that tables dislike the idea. It is that the bookkeeping is annoying, the numbers drift out of date, and one person ends up doing imaginary taxes for the whole group. So the rule falls away, and an entire dimension of meaningful choices goes with it.

ScryRPG keeps the choices and removes the chore. The arithmetic is automatic, the totals are shared, and the rule is honest about whether it is on.

How it works

You add gear. ScryRPG keeps the running total.

No tally column to maintain, no calculator at the table. Items carry their own weight, slots, or Bulk, and every carrier and container stays current on its own.

Add an item

Loot a chest, buy a breastplate, claim a relic. The weight, slot count, or Bulk is already on the item, so nothing needs looking up.

ScryRPG totals it

Every container and every carrier adds up on its own. Capacity is figured from Strength or your party setting, and the bar moves the moment the item lands.

The whole table sees the same number

No private spreadsheet drifts out of sync. When gear changes hands or gold gets split, the capacity bars update for everyone, on web and in Discord.

Pick the rules you play

One model for weight, slots, and Pathfinder 2e Bulk.

Set the tracking style per party. Drag the threshold to decide when a character counts as encumbered, then choose whether to warn players as they approach the line or enforce a hard cap.

Weight

D&D 5e RAW

Equipped 24 / 35 lb

Backpack 42 / 55 lb

Party wagon 186 / 400 lb

Each container totals separately, character capacity included

Slots

Item-count limits

17 / 20 slots

Each slot is one carried item, containers included

Bulk

Pathfinder 2e native

Chain mail 2 Bulk

Longsword 1 Bulk

Steel shield 1 Bulk

Healer's toolkit L

Waterskin L

+ 2L

4 Bulk + 2 Light / 7 Bulk max

Each item adds its Bulk value. Ten Light items count as 1 Bulk. Negligible items never add Bulk.

Configurable thresholds

Drag the threshold to set when a character counts as encumbered. Warn players as they approach the line, or enforce hard caps if your table wants the math to matter.

Encumbered at 75%

Normal 75% encumbered Over limit

Weight, slots, or Bulk per party Custom encumbered threshold Warn players or enforce hard caps Weight + slots combined Tracking only, no limits

Weight

D&D 5e RAW. Items have a weight, characters carry up to Strength times fifteen, and ScryRPG calculates the limit for you.

Slots

Item-count limits for OSR and slot-based play. Each carried stack is one slot, containers included, with a clean cap to budget against.

Both

Weight and slots at the same time, the ScryRPG default for D&D 5e. A strong fighter runs out of slots, a light rogue runs out of weight, and the choices actually matter.

Bulk

Native Pathfinder 2e Bulk. Ten Light items make one Bulk, a thousand coins add another, and containers can have a Bulk limit, Bulk negation, or extradimensional rules.

None

No limits and no warnings. Perfect for narrative-first tables and for systems like Draw Steel that abstract carrying capacity by design.

Tracking only

See the running weight and item counts for organization, but nothing is ever blocked. The information without the bookkeeping pressure.

Honest by default

If your table never wanted it, set it off and forget it.

We are not going to pretend every group wants carrying limits. Plenty of tables run story-first and never weigh a backpack, and some systems abstract it away on purpose. Set the party style to none and the limits and warnings vanish. You still get a clean, shared inventory the whole table can read, just without the math.

Prefer a middle ground? Tracking only shows the running weight and item counts for organization without ever blocking anyone, so you keep the information and skip the pressure.

Party encumbrance style

Weight and slots Default

Bulk Pathfinder 2e

Tracking only No limits

None Off completely

Party settings apply to every member. Solo characters keep their own preference.

Part of the same campaign

Encumbrance is wired into the rest of your table.

It is not a calculator off to the side. Loot, shops, and inventory all feed the same capacity numbers, so the load your party carries is always the real one.

Inventory

It lives inside your shared party inventory.

Encumbrance is not a separate tab. It rides on the same party and character inventory your whole table reads, so every capacity bar reflects the gear that is really there.

See how inventory works

Loot

Big hauls land with their weight attached.

When your party claims a treasure pile, each item brings its own weight, slots, or Bulk. The capacity bars react to the new haul instead of waiting on someone to retotal a column.

See loot

Shops

What players buy counts against the limit too.

Purchases land on the buying character with their weight already set. The armor your fighter just bought shows up in the load they are carrying, not just on a receipt.

See shops

Per-system behavior

Sensible defaults for the system you run.

Each system starts where its rules expect, and you can change the style any time. Pick a system to see how inventory and encumbrance work there.

D&D 5e

Weight and slots together by default, with capacity from Strength figured for you.

Pathfinder 2e

Native Bulk, Light item bundling, and container Bulk rules built in.

Daggerheart

Slot or tracking-only inventory that fits a story-forward table.

Draw Steel

Draw Steel abstracts carrying capacity in its rules, so weight-based inventory is on by default for tables that want to manage gear and you can switch it off to match the system.

See full system support and inventory options

Why these rules get dropped, and how to make them work.

From the blog

Encumbrance Punishes the Players Who Use It

The most dropped rule in tabletop fails because it penalizes the players who engage with it. The fix is giving them a reason to care.

From the blog

Your Players Have Too Much Gold

An economy built on one person's effort breaks down. Tradeoffs fix it, and carrying limits are one of the cleanest tradeoffs you have.

Encumbrance FAQ

Quick answers.

What if my table hates tracking encumbrance?

Then turn it off. Set the party encumbrance style to none and there are no limits and no warnings. You still get a tidy, shared inventory, just without the carrying math. Many tables drop encumbrance entirely, and supporting that is the point: the rule should be there when it adds something and gone when it does not.

Does it do the weight math for me?

Yes. Items carry their own weight, slots, or Bulk, and ScryRPG totals every container and carrier automatically. Carrying capacity is calculated from Strength or your party setting, so nobody is adding pounds by hand or rebuilding a column each session.

How does it handle Pathfinder 2e Bulk?

It uses the native Bulk system. Truly negligible items never add Bulk, a thousand coins add one Bulk, ten Light items combine into one Bulk, and standard items add their Bulk value. Containers can carry a Bulk limit, reduce the Bulk of what they hold, or follow extradimensional rules.

Why track both weight and slots at once?

Weight alone cannot tell one plate armor from a hundred tools, and slots alone cannot tell a hundred feathers from a hundred anvils. Tracking both means a strong fighter hits the slot limit while a light rogue hits the weight limit, which turns packing into a real decision. It is the default for D&D 5e, but you can use weight only or slots only if you prefer.

Can I warn players instead of blocking them?

Yes. You set the encumbered threshold (75 percent by default) and decide whether going over the cap just shows a warning or actually blocks the action. Green, yellow, and red capacity bars show the status at a glance, so players see the line coming either way.

Does it work the same in Discord?

Web and Discord read one party inventory, so the capacity figures match wherever your table looks. A change made in the channel shows up on the web, and the encumbrance bars stay consistent for everyone.

Want the full breakdown? Read the encumbrance guide or the general FAQ.

Let the rule earn its place again.

Track weight and slots without the bookkeeping, or run it off entirely. Either way, start free.

Start free See how inventory works