How much weight can a character lift with one arm?

[ImperatorK]

How could I figure out how much weight can a character lift with just one arm? Would you say it's his light load? Or maybe half of max load? More? Less?

[Maat Mons]

A character can lift up to double his max load off the ground.  I'd be inclined to say someone can lift half as much when only using one hand. 

[SolEiji]

A character can lift up to double his max load off the ground.  I'd be inclined to say someone can lift half as much when only using one hand.

+1

Which brings up a curious thought.  If you have multiple arms I suppose subtracting hands would divine by that amount as well.

[ImperatorK]

What about raising the weight in front of you with one hand?
I know for a fact that my own RL Strength isn't more than 10. I can lift up more-or-less my light load in front of me, maybe even a little less, with one hand. Off the ground? It might be half. I don't have anything by me that weights so much, so I can't check.

[Jackinthegreen]

I'd probably go with half as far as lifting stuff is concerned because that's the easiest way to go about it.  Thus a 10 strength character could lift up to 50 pounds overhead with one arm, which is square in the middle of medium load.

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/carryingCapacity.htm is something I should really have bookmarked...

[RobbyPants]

Given that Str scores are already an abstraction, the encumbrance tables are an abstraction of that, and the x2-off-the-ground and x5-push-or-drag rule is an abstraction of that, you're already dealing with an abstraction of an abstraction of an abstraction. Once we're that far removed from reality, the DM in me who just wants to keep the game moving would be inclined to say "it's half what you normally could lift".

I'm sure you could cite all sorts of real-life reasons why this isn't accurate, but again, neither are Str scores, encumbrance tables, or the whole x2/x5 estimate.


(I feel like comparing this to Inception now. You can only lift thing with one hand if you've been sedated. Otherwise, it's too unstable )

[sirpercival]

It's definitely less than half.  When you pick things up with both hands, you have much better leverage and are able to use your legs/abs in ways that you can't do when picking up with one hand.

[InnaBinder]

It's definitely less than half.  When you pick things up with both hands, you have much better leverage and are able to use your legs/abs in ways that you can't do when picking up with one hand.

This.  40% might be a more accurate abstraction of an abstraction of an abstraction.   

[Noliar]

OTOH, if the load is tall enough to lock it against your torso/ shoulder with one arm and lift with your legs then the lift off the ground will be barely less than you can lift with two arms.