Author Topic: Is there any kind of mathmatical formula to determine carrying capacity?  (Read 2409 times)

Offline Nanashi

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Is the carrying capacity chart for the d20 system based on anything at all, or is it just completely arbitrary numbers?

Also apparently it was the 20th aniversary of 3E on the 10th. Guess we missed that.

Offline Keldar

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20 Years...

Offline snakeman830

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Is the carrying capacity chart for the d20 system based on anything at all, or is it just completely arbitrary numbers?

Also apparently it was the 20th aniversary of 3E on the 10th. Guess we missed that.

It seems fairly arbitrary.  Below 10 Str, it's fairly linear (~3.33 lbs/point is your light load), but the intervals start rising rapidly after that.

There might be a formula that can explain linear into logarithmic growth, but I don't know math well enough to come up with it.

So, sadly, you have to go by the chart.  Upside is, the chart is on d20srd.org, so it's not behind a paywall.
"When life gives you lemons, fire them back at high velocity."

Offline ketaro

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From what I'm reading on old reddits, its most likely an exponential curve that has been manually adjusted to look nicer or cleaner? These are 5 year old threads though. Everything else just points me to calculators that just pull from the chart or is 5e.

Offline Keldar

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WotC always favored feels and looks over math.  So its probably arbitrary.

Offline Ithamar

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The sheets over at Myth-Weavers automatically calculate it for your based on STR and Size.  I've always trusted their numbers, but maybe they just came up with an approximation?

Offline Garryl

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Max weight for a heavy load is Str * 10 lb. at 10 Str and lower. From 11 through 15, it's an exponential curve, doubling every +5 Str, rounded to the nearest 5 lb (100 * 2 ^ ((Str - 10) / 5)). Str of 16 and higher continues that curve, although for simplicity the rounding part of the equation is dropped in favor of just being 2x what the carrying capacity of -5 Str was. Light load and medium load limits are 1/3 and 2/3 of the heavy load limit, respectively, rounded to the nearest lb.

Offline Keldar

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The sheets over at Myth-Weavers automatically calculate it for your based on STR and Size.  I've always trusted their numbers, but maybe they just came up with an approximation?
The chart ends at 29, then it tells you to quadruple the load for every 10 points up.  Easy enough for a look-up-table and simple math.
Max weight for a heavy load is Str * 10 lb. at 10 Str and lower. From 11 through 15, it's an exponential curve, doubling every +5 Str, rounded to the nearest 5 lb (100 * 2 ^ ((Str - 10) / 5)). Str of 16 and higher continues that curve, although for simplicity the rounding part of the equation is dropped in favor of just being 2x what the carrying capacity of -5 Str was. Light load and medium load limits are 1/3 and 2/3 of the heavy load limit, respectively, rounded to the nearest lb.
I bow to your superior giving a shit and math skills, good sir.

Offline Nanashi

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Thanks.