Hey all.

I was making a new Tortle Monk character and I was trying to visualize how he would carry his gear around with him.

My main issue is the starting backpack. I'm sure I can flavor it to be appropriately sized to fit around his shell, but I feel like a Tortle wouldn't be able to remove a backpack as quickly as a creature without a shell on their back.

My alternative was doing either a belt or bandolier of pouches, in which he could unbuckle quickly if he needed to. I was looking at the container size for a Pouch and it states that it can hold 1/5 cubic foot of gear, or six pounds of it. 1/5 cubic foot seemed like a weird number to visualize, so I put 1/5 cubic foot into google to change it to Cubic Inches. That gave me 345.6 Cubic Inches. So I said okay, that's the volume it can hold, but I still can't visualize how that would look. So I took the cube root of 345.6 cubic inches and I got 7.01764257171 inches, rounded down to about 7 inches. So that means if you have a (true) cubic pouch, the length, width, and height of that pouch would be 7 inches (7x7x7 = 343, so not too far off.) I feel like a container of that size, especially made of leather, could hold more than 6lbs of gear.

I know that realistically no one is running around with a cube pouch on a belt or anything, but I at least know now that my target cubic inch is 345 and I can play around with my pouch dimensions. I'll have to play around with the pouch size now. I had thought about foregoing a backpack/pouches and instead just getting a narrow net and making a bindle using the net and his quarterstaff. Idk. I'm just thinking that in a battle situation, being encumbered by a pack or his gear would be detrimental. But that's anyone really. Fighting with a pack on can lead to straps being severed, arrows or weapons piercing the contents or slashing it open and spilling the contents. 

Another player says I'm overthinking it but Tortles are supposed to be innately proficient in Survival, so I'm trying to think in terms of practicality

Edit: Of course now I looked at Backpack, which I remembered is 1 cubic foot. 1x1x1 doesn't help me, but if I convert 1 ft to 12 inches, and theeeen take 12/5, I get 2.4in. 2.4 inches comes out to about uhh. 2 and 6/16 inches I think (I'm using a ruler and paper so having the exact 16th helps). Now, a 2.4x2.4x2.4 in pouch visually is a lot smaller, and I can easily see it being only able to hold 6 lbs of gear, and it would be great at holding 20 sling bullets or 50 blowgun needles. However, 2.4 inches X 2.4 inches X 2.4 inches only comes out to 13.824 cubic inches, which is significantly less than 345.6 cubic inches. So I feel like my initial calculations makes the sizing more appropriate. Idk. I enjoy the freedom to mess with the dimensions but I feel like the weight constraint is not entirely accurate for a container of that size. At least not for leather, but I could be wrong.

As you mentioned, stringing a set of pouches togethr alogn a bandolier could work to provide a capacity. 

Generally speaking, the weight that can be carried in containers in D&D is  set very low. In my group we bump up a default backpack to 50 lb instead, and offer a premium version that carries 90lb. This is a bit more in line with what a travelling rucksack would reasonably carry for example. So I would check with DM, but be quite open to nudging capacities up a bit. 

This is a good idea. I wish I could make a custom container item in the character sheet. I know I can do capacity weight overrides for the backpack and pouch, but I can't edit the description to describe how it looks and what it has inside. I can do that with a custom backpack or pouch, but then I lose its ability as a container. I can talk to my DM about overriding the capacity weight of the pouch and backpacks then. We aren't using encumbrance so it probably won't matter to him but I want to have a commission done for my character then and I just want to be able to visualize what his equipment would look like lol

Quote from Diebric >>

This is a good idea. I wish I could make a custom container item in the character sheet. I know I can do capacity weight overrides for the backpack and pouch, but I can't edit the description to describe how it looks and what it has inside. I can do that with a custom backpack or pouch, but then I lose its ability as a container. I can talk to my DM about overriding the capacity weight of the pouch and backpacks then. We aren't using encumbrance so it probably won't matter to him but I want to have a commission done for my character then and I just want to be able to visualize what his equipment would look like lol

 
I just customise and add notes, detailing to ignore description. My Conjuror has customised containers for his Leomund's Secret Chest and his Demiplanes. Works perfectly fine, and retains the function as a container.

The way I treat it is a pouch holds 6 pounds and is whatever size & dimensions it has to be to hold that 6 pounds is what it is. If one pouch is squarish and skinny, and another pouch is roundish and fat, whatever. Out of curiosity, instead of a backpack, why not just sling a sack over your character’s shoulder? It’s the same size as a backpack, and many DMs would let you attach things to the outside like you can with a backpack.