I had the idea to make a character with an absolutely ridiculous carrying capacity, along with lift, push, drag. By having 20 strength, powerful build from being a Goliath, bear aspect from totem barbarian, peerless athlete from glory paladin, and casting bull strength enhance ability, I can lift a max of 9,600 lbs without any magic items or size changes. Could add rune knight fighter for giants might and have someone cast enlarge person to be huge, and have a belt of storm giants strength, I could lift 27,840 lbs.
What I really want to know is what can I do with this? I could lift and move heavy objects, block doors, and make bridges out of the surroundings. But it doesn't affect grappling, damage, or throwing, so is there any significant advantage that makes it worth giving up the higher level abilities of the used classes?
Maybe your DM would throw you a bone and include a Boulder that needs to be moved or a whale carcass that needs to be dragged somewhere or something. But generally I can’t think of anything, mechanically where it would make much difference. Unless you’re in a campaign where you actually keep track of the weight of everyone’s gear and loot, and then you can become the party pack mule.
If you plan on travelling long distances, you could get further every day by sitting in a carriage pulled by horses, then once the horses get tired, carry them and the carriage!
If you do not mind homebrewing a bit, since you can lift 9,600 lbs, I do not think it is unreasonable to throw a 1 to 5 lb object that flies through the air at 10 miles per hour up to 90 feet away to simulate a catapult spell. 90 ft * 10 rounds = 900 fpm 900 fpm * 60 min =54,000 fph 54,000 fph ~ 10.227 mph You will probably destroy any javelin, rock, or tree branch you throw on impact, but I do not think recovering ammunition is a big deal when you can pick up anything off the ground to be used as ammunition.
For something that feels less homebrewy, having a high carry capacity should allow you to more easily change the terrain on the battlefield. If opponents are on a floor made of a flat solid material (enemies are on drawbridge or something), you can maybe also try flipping the floor over and attempt to make the enemies lost their footing. You can also push boulders and other large obstacles around to give your allies cover, or move the obstacles the enemies are hiding behind.
If you become huge, you will have a better view over the battlefield. So while enemies may receive the benefits of full cover from ranged attacks coming from the ground, they might only receive half cover or no cover from attacks coming from above if your allies are standing on your shoulders and shooting spells and arrows at them.
i don't want to be a downer, but was the omission in the spell detail for enhance ability, deliberately omitting lift, pull, push ?
if so, and for some reason it's ONLY carry, then you might not be able to use it without a DM that overrides the pedantics of the spell listing.
personally i read it to mean all the weight-RELATED aspects of a normal strength level, just without the damage for combat, so i wouldn't disallow your calc grand total there, but some might ?
I actually ask since i'm wanting to know if i could combine a Gem Dragonborn's gem flight ability, with the Bull's strength choice when casting it, to be able to pick up an enemy, simply fly up, and drop em from some height to break their spine or something. all it might take is a momentary charm, and hey! let's go for a ride! wheeee! and then oops! sorry charmed-necromage with low wiz , i accidentally dropped you! ssssplllaat!! :D
Bird-men, Aarokora or whatever they're called could probably do it too, if-so ?
i don't want to be a downer, but was the omission in the spell detail for enhance ability, deliberately omitting lift, pull, push ?
if so, and for some reason it's ONLY carry, then you might not be able to use it without a DM that overrides the pedantics of the spell listing.
personally i read it to mean all the weight-RELATED aspects of a normal strength level, just without the damage for combat, so i wouldn't disallow your calc grand total there, but some might ?
Bull's Strength. The target has advantage on Strength checks, and his or her carrying capacity doubles.
The rules for carrying capacity are:
Carrying Capacity. Your carrying capacity is your Strength score multiplied by 15. This is the weight (in pounds) that you can carry, which is high enough that most characters don't usually have to worry about it.
Push, Drag, or Lift. You can push, drag, or lift a weight in pounds up to twice your carrying capacity (or 30 times your Strength score). While pushing or dragging weight in excess of your carrying capacity, your speed drops to 5 feet.
Beyond carrying, lifting, and dragging what comes to mind is throwing objects. I would leave thrown weapons as they are as your strength score does a sufficient job representing your increased ability to impart kinetic energy into the projectile.
For homebrewing I would consider allowing throwing boulders like a giant as an improvised weapon. The damage would probably need to be adjusted for balance and realism though. You might be able to carry as much as a giant, and thus exert the same force as a giant. But you are only doing it for 1/2 to 1/4 the distance depending on size of the giant. So your boulder would have 1/2 to 1/4 the kinetic energy.
Holding a door closed is a good one to. Realistically you would probably be limited by the traction you have with the floor or the doors ability to bear shearing loads. But the image of single handedly holding a giant adamantium door closed against a balor or a dragon is cool though.
Honestly, unless your DM deliberately starts putting big boulders everywhere or fills every dungeon with heavy, vertically-rising doors... you're not going to get too much out of that level of truly insane carry capacity without putting in a lot of homebrewing.
Like... despite your massive carrying capacity, you still aren't really able to wield, say... a Frost Giant's dropped sword. But a generous DM might allow you to do it, since you invested so aggressively in increasing your carry capacity.
I know in 3.5 being a quadpedal vs. bipedal gave you a different set of multipliers for carrying capacity and lifting/pushing. Not sure if that still applies to 5e, but if it does you could get your total even higher.
I know in 3.5 being a quadpedal vs. bipedal gave you a different set of multipliers for carrying capacity and lifting/pushing. Not sure if that still applies to 5e, but if it does you could get your total even higher.
In 5e, they do not have that rule per se. Instead they double all the lifting/dragging/pushing/carrying capacity if you are Large, halve it if you are tiny. Huge gets doubled again (x2x2=x4) and Gargnatuan doubles once again (x2x2x2 = x8). Certain creatures count as 'large', despite being Medium - as the choosen Goliath species is an example of. Called Powerful Build.
Finally note that there is no RAW upper limit for dragging or pushing, as long as you are moving at 5ft. Technically RAW lets you push or drag a 100 ton sailing ship. RAI the rules were written assuming you have a vehicle of some kind, i.e. pushing or dragging a cart, sled, sledge, etc. I personally would house rule to limit it by strength to to 100 x strength in lbs (10 tons) with a vehicle (about as much as a stereotypical 18 wheeler) , and no more than 20x strength without a vehicle.
Finally note that there is no RAW upper limit for dragging or pushing, as long as you are moving at 5ft. Technically RAW lets you push or drag a 100 ton sailing ship.
I'll just chime in here and note that this is an odd comment. There is actually an explicit rule in the book for this:
Push, Drag, or Lift. You can push, drag, or lift a weight in pounds up to twice your carrying capacity (or 30 times your Strength score). While pushing or dragging weight in excess of your carrying capacity, your speed drops to 5 feet.
So, in fact, the RAW upper limit while moving at a speed of 5 feet is "twice your carrying capacity".
EDIT:
Since vehicles were also mentioned, there is also this rule:
An animal pulling a carriage, cart, chariot, sled, or wagon can move weight up to five times its base carrying capacity, including the weight of the vehicle. If multiple animals pull the same vehicle, they can add their carrying capacity together.
I mean, I had a player do this with a Belt of Giant's Strength who got even more carrying capacity as a result and asked, based on the math, if he'd be allowed to throw a small (10x20) cottage. Maybe your DM will go for it?
I did damage as a Dex save for half, DC 20, 18d10 bludgeoning, and it left difficult terrain where it landed. The DC and damage came from the Traps section of the DMG for the level they were, so there's a place in the rules that I pulled from.
I also kind of feel like once you hit a certain point, carrying/lifting becomes less relevant for the most part. That is to say that the benefits of extremely high carrying capacity versus very high carrying capacity really only come into play in very specific situations. So maybe characters with extremely high carrying capacity should lean into those situations, and likewise, DMs have an opportunity to highlight that character feature in storytelling.
There's no where in the rules that says you can't just drop a 5,000 steel beam on someone's face. Hold it up right, and just let it fall forwards and let fall damage be your attack. If your normal carry capacity is 20k lbs, then you can easily just pick it back up with no problem and let it fall on someone else. You're not making attacks after all, just dropping an object in your hands, which is free.
Also, it's important to note that the rules on pushing and dragging an object states that your speed reduces to 5 feet ONLY when you're pushing in excess of your carry weight. If your carry weight is 20k lbs, then you can push or drag up to 20k lbs at your movement speed. Which is fricken terrifying.
There's no where in the rules that says you can't just drop a 5,000 steel beam on someone's face. Hold it up right, and just let it fall forwards and let fall damage be your attack. If your normal carry capacity is 20k lbs, then you can easily just pick it back up with no problem and let it fall on someone else. You're not making attacks after all, just dropping an object in your hands, which is free.
Also, it's important to note that the rules on pushing and dragging an object states that your speed reduces to 5 feet ONLY when you're pushing in excess of your carry weight. If your carry weight is 20k lbs, then you can push or drag up to 20k lbs at your movement speed. Which is fricken terrifying.
This is stupidity on an entire level.
It is the equivalent of saying "I am not making an attack, I am just pushing my sword forward directly into my opponent's brain. He can't stop me, because I am not making an attack."
If you are not making an attack, then your opponent has the right to merely step aside. If you want to actually hit something, that is an attack. PERIOD. To make an attack you use the rules which are clear. You can only use offficial weapons, weight does NOT matter, and proficiency is only allowed if you are proficient with the weapon.
There's no where in the rules that says you can't just drop a 5,000 steel beam on someone's face. Hold it up right, and just let it fall forwards and let fall damage be your attack. If your normal carry capacity is 20k lbs, then you can easily just pick it back up with no problem and let it fall on someone else. You're not making attacks after all, just dropping an object in your hands, which is free.
Also, it's important to note that the rules on pushing and dragging an object states that your speed reduces to 5 feet ONLY when you're pushing in excess of your carry weight. If your carry weight is 20k lbs, then you can push or drag up to 20k lbs at your movement speed. Which is fricken terrifying.
This is stupidity on an entire level.
It is the equivalent of saying "I am not making an attack, I am just pushing my sword forward directly into my opponent's brain. He can't stop me, because I am not making an attack."
If you are not making an attack, then your opponent has the right to merely step aside. If you want to actually hit something, that is an attack. PERIOD. To make an attack you use the rules which are clear. You can only use offficial weapons, weight does NOT matter, and proficiency is only allowed if you are proficient with the weapon.
Then a 5,000 pound steel beam would be an improvised weapon. If I were the DM, it would deal damage proportionate to its weight, while factoring in drag and gravity; probably about 50d6 (assuming a mace weighs 10 pounds).
However, there would be a 50% chance for it to fall out of their hands on a hit, increasing to 75% on a miss or a critical hit and 100% on a Nat 1. In addition, it would have disadvantage on attack rolls.
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Kasrik Argentum Stellaris Fiddlesticks the Wizard, Lord of Stars, Master Trickster, and Creator of both the Mosh of Stardust Hornets and Mimiczilla.
I had the idea to make a character with an absolutely ridiculous carrying capacity, along with lift, push, drag. By having 20 strength, powerful build from being a Goliath, bear aspect from totem barbarian, peerless athlete from glory paladin, and casting bull strength enhance ability, I can lift a max of 9,600 lbs without any magic items or size changes. Could add rune knight fighter for giants might and have someone cast enlarge person to be huge, and have a belt of storm giants strength, I could lift 27,840 lbs.
What I really want to know is what can I do with this? I could lift and move heavy objects, block doors, and make bridges out of the surroundings. But it doesn't affect grappling, damage, or throwing, so is there any significant advantage that makes it worth giving up the higher level abilities of the used classes?
Maybe your DM would throw you a bone and include a Boulder that needs to be moved or a whale carcass that needs to be dragged somewhere or something. But generally I can’t think of anything, mechanically where it would make much difference. Unless you’re in a campaign where you actually keep track of the weight of everyone’s gear and loot, and then you can become the party pack mule.
If you plan on travelling long distances, you could get further every day by sitting in a carriage pulled by horses, then once the horses get tired, carry them and the carriage!
If you do not mind homebrewing a bit, since you can lift 9,600 lbs, I do not think it is unreasonable to throw a 1 to 5 lb object that flies through the air at 10 miles per hour up to 90 feet away to simulate a catapult spell.
90 ft * 10 rounds = 900 fpm
900 fpm * 60 min =54,000 fph
54,000 fph ~ 10.227 mph
You will probably destroy any javelin, rock, or tree branch you throw on impact, but I do not think recovering ammunition is a big deal when you can pick up anything off the ground to be used as ammunition.
For something that feels less homebrewy, having a high carry capacity should allow you to more easily change the terrain on the battlefield. If opponents are on a floor made of a flat solid material (enemies are on drawbridge or something), you can maybe also try flipping the floor over and attempt to make the enemies lost their footing. You can also push boulders and other large obstacles around to give your allies cover, or move the obstacles the enemies are hiding behind.
If you become huge, you will have a better view over the battlefield. So while enemies may receive the benefits of full cover from ranged attacks coming from the ground, they might only receive half cover or no cover from attacks coming from above if your allies are standing on your shoulders and shooting spells and arrows at them.
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Get a flying item (one without a weight limitation) and fly your whole party over obstacles in one go.
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i don't want to be a downer, but was the omission in the spell detail for enhance ability, deliberately omitting lift, pull, push ?
if so, and for some reason it's ONLY carry, then you might not be able to use it without a DM that overrides the pedantics of the spell listing.
personally i read it to mean all the weight-RELATED aspects of a normal strength level, just without the damage for combat, so i wouldn't disallow your calc grand total there, but some might ?
I actually ask since i'm wanting to know if i could combine a Gem Dragonborn's gem flight ability, with the Bull's strength choice when casting it, to be able to pick up an enemy, simply fly up, and drop em from some height to break their spine or something. all it might take is a momentary charm, and hey! let's go for a ride! wheeee! and then oops! sorry charmed-necromage with low wiz , i accidentally dropped you! ssssplllaat!! :D
Bird-men, Aarokora or whatever they're called could probably do it too, if-so ?
if-so ... Beware the turtle ! :)
Enhance Ability changes your carrying capacity.
The rules for carrying capacity are:
Beyond carrying, lifting, and dragging what comes to mind is throwing objects. I would leave thrown weapons as they are as your strength score does a sufficient job representing your increased ability to impart kinetic energy into the projectile.
For homebrewing I would consider allowing throwing boulders like a giant as an improvised weapon. The damage would probably need to be adjusted for balance and realism though. You might be able to carry as much as a giant, and thus exert the same force as a giant. But you are only doing it for 1/2 to 1/4 the distance depending on size of the giant. So your boulder would have 1/2 to 1/4 the kinetic energy.
Holding a door closed is a good one to. Realistically you would probably be limited by the traction you have with the floor or the doors ability to bear shearing loads. But the image of single handedly holding a giant adamantium door closed against a balor or a dragon is cool though.
Honestly, unless your DM deliberately starts putting big boulders everywhere or fills every dungeon with heavy, vertically-rising doors... you're not going to get too much out of that level of truly insane carry capacity without putting in a lot of homebrewing.
Like... despite your massive carrying capacity, you still aren't really able to wield, say... a Frost Giant's dropped sword. But a generous DM might allow you to do it, since you invested so aggressively in increasing your carry capacity.
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I know in 3.5 being a quadpedal vs. bipedal gave you a different set of multipliers for carrying capacity and lifting/pushing. Not sure if that still applies to 5e, but if it does you could get your total even higher.
In 5e, they do not have that rule per se. Instead they double all the lifting/dragging/pushing/carrying capacity if you are Large, halve it if you are tiny. Huge gets doubled again (x2x2=x4) and Gargnatuan doubles once again (x2x2x2 = x8). Certain creatures count as 'large', despite being Medium - as the choosen Goliath species is an example of. Called Powerful Build.
Finally note that there is no RAW upper limit for dragging or pushing, as long as you are moving at 5ft. Technically RAW lets you push or drag a 100 ton sailing ship. RAI the rules were written assuming you have a vehicle of some kind, i.e. pushing or dragging a cart, sled, sledge, etc. I personally would house rule to limit it by strength to to 100 x strength in lbs (10 tons) with a vehicle (about as much as a stereotypical 18 wheeler) , and no more than 20x strength without a vehicle.
Carry the whole party on your back. No need for wagons anymore.
Kasrik Argentum Stellaris Fiddlesticks the Wizard, Lord of Stars, Master Trickster, and Creator of both the Mosh of Stardust Hornets and Mimiczilla.
"You're never fully dressed without a smile!" >:3
"Honk."
I'll just chime in here and note that this is an odd comment. There is actually an explicit rule in the book for this:
So, in fact, the RAW upper limit while moving at a speed of 5 feet is "twice your carrying capacity".
EDIT:
Since vehicles were also mentioned, there is also this rule:
I mean, I had a player do this with a Belt of Giant's Strength who got even more carrying capacity as a result and asked, based on the math, if he'd be allowed to throw a small (10x20) cottage. Maybe your DM will go for it?
I did damage as a Dex save for half, DC 20, 18d10 bludgeoning, and it left difficult terrain where it landed. The DC and damage came from the Traps section of the DMG for the level they were, so there's a place in the rules that I pulled from.
I also kind of feel like once you hit a certain point, carrying/lifting becomes less relevant for the most part. That is to say that the benefits of extremely high carrying capacity versus very high carrying capacity really only come into play in very specific situations. So maybe characters with extremely high carrying capacity should lean into those situations, and likewise, DMs have an opportunity to highlight that character feature in storytelling.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
You can use Manual of Gainful Exercise to increase your strength to 30 for 28,800 lbs carrying capacity.
If you fill your inventory with bags of holding and fill the bags of holding with bombs.
Bags of holding: 1920
Bombs per bag: 500
Bombs in total: 960,000
Bombs cost: 144,000,000gp.
Bags of holding cost(101-500gp): 193,920-960,000gp.
Damage: 2,880,000d6 fire.
If you use a vehicle:
Bags of holding: 9600
Bombs in total: 4,800,000
Bombs cost: 720,000,000gp.
Bags of holding cost: 969,600-4,800,000gp.
Damage: 14,400,000d6 fire.
(Tell me if my maths is wrong)
Look at what you've done. You spoiled it. You have nobody to blame but yourself. Go sit and think about your actions.
Me
There's no where in the rules that says you can't just drop a 5,000 steel beam on someone's face. Hold it up right, and just let it fall forwards and let fall damage be your attack. If your normal carry capacity is 20k lbs, then you can easily just pick it back up with no problem and let it fall on someone else. You're not making attacks after all, just dropping an object in your hands, which is free.
Also, it's important to note that the rules on pushing and dragging an object states that your speed reduces to 5 feet ONLY when you're pushing in excess of your carry weight. If your carry weight is 20k lbs, then you can push or drag up to 20k lbs at your movement speed. Which is fricken terrifying.
This is stupidity on an entire level.
It is the equivalent of saying "I am not making an attack, I am just pushing my sword forward directly into my opponent's brain. He can't stop me, because I am not making an attack."
If you are not making an attack, then your opponent has the right to merely step aside. If you want to actually hit something, that is an attack. PERIOD. To make an attack you use the rules which are clear. You can only use offficial weapons, weight does NOT matter, and proficiency is only allowed if you are proficient with the weapon.
Then a 5,000 pound steel beam would be an improvised weapon. If I were the DM, it would deal damage proportionate to its weight, while factoring in drag and gravity; probably about 50d6 (assuming a mace weighs 10 pounds).
However, there would be a 50% chance for it to fall out of their hands on a hit, increasing to 75% on a miss or a critical hit and 100% on a Nat 1. In addition, it would have disadvantage on attack rolls.
Kasrik Argentum Stellaris Fiddlesticks the Wizard, Lord of Stars, Master Trickster, and Creator of both the Mosh of Stardust Hornets and Mimiczilla.
"You're never fully dressed without a smile!" >:3
"Honk."
In general, rules don't specify what you cannot do. There are a few exceptions, but the lack of a rule preventing something doesn't mean much.
"Not all those who wander are lost"