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D&D Encumbrance Rules: Carrying Capacity, Variant Limits, Attunement

D&D 5e encumbrance rules explained: the Strength × 15 carrying capacity, the variant limits, 2014 vs 2024 changes, and the three-item attunement rule.

In D&D 5e, your carrying capacity is your Strength score × 15 pounds, and you can push, drag, or lift up to twice that. The optional variant rule adds speed penalties at 5× and 10× your Strength score. The 2024 rules drop that variant. Most tables never track weight until something absurd happens, so the real skill is knowing when to enforce the rules and when to skip them. This guide gives you the numbers, the worked examples, and a way to run encumbrance without slowing your game. It also covers the attunement limit, the other "how much can I carry" rule that comes up at every table.

TL;DR

Standard rule: carrying capacity is Strength score × 15 lb. Pushing, dragging, or lifting tops out at Strength × 30 lb, with speed dropping to 5 feet beyond your carrying capacity.

Variant rule (2014 only): over 5× Strength you are encumbered (speed −10 ft). Over 10× Strength you are heavily encumbered (speed −20 ft, plus disadvantage on Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution checks, attacks, and saves).

The 2024 rules keep the same capacity numbers but do not carry over the encumbered and heavily encumbered penalties.

Attunement is separate from weight: you can be attuned to at most three magic items at a time.

Armor and weapons count toward your carried weight, even if you are trained in them.

Table of Contents

What encumbrance means in 5e

Carrying, pushing, dragging, and lifting

The variant encumbrance rule (2014)

What counts toward carried weight

Spells and effects that change the math

2014 versus 2024

How to run encumbrance without slowing the table

Keeping the numbers out of your head

Attunement rules in 5e

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FAQ

Sources

What encumbrance means in 5e

Encumbrance is how much your gear slows or hinders you. The core rule is simple: your carrying capacity is your Strength score multiplied by 15 pounds, and the SRD notes this is high enough that most characters don't usually need to worry about it.

Note that the rule uses the Strength score, not the modifier. A character with Strength 10 has a capacity of 150 pounds. A character with Strength 8, a modifier of −1, still carries 120 pounds. That is why a common observation from RPGBOT's Strength guide is that most groups ignore the carrying capacity rules except in cases of obvious abuse.

That tells you how to think about the rule. It exists to stop the party from hauling a dragon's entire hoard in a backpack, not to make players tally the weight of every torch. The 2024 Player's Handbook says much the same: you can usually carry your gear and treasure without worrying about weight, and a DM may bring the rules in when you try to haul an unusually heavy object or a massive number of lighter ones, as one 5e and 5.5e rules breakdown puts it.

Carrying, pushing, dragging, and lifting

Under the standard 2014 rule, you can push, drag, or lift up to twice your carrying capacity, which is 30 times your Strength score. While pushing or dragging more than your carrying capacity, your speed drops to 5 feet.

Here is how that plays out for a Medium character:

| Strength score | Carrying capacity (×15) | Push, drag, lift (×30) |

| 8 | 120 lb | 240 lb |

| 10 | 150 lb | 300 lb |

| 12 | 180 lb | 360 lb |

| 15 | 225 lb | 450 lb |

| 18 | 270 lb | 540 lb |

| 20 | 300 lb | 600 lb |

Size changes the math. For each size category above Medium, double these amounts. For Tiny creatures, halve them. The 2024 rules glossary lays this out as a table: Small and Medium creatures carry Strength × 15 and push, drag, or lift Strength × 30. Large creatures use × 30 and × 60. Huge uses × 60 and × 120. Gargantuan uses × 120 and × 240. Tiny creatures carry Strength × 7.5.

The edge cases are fun. A halfling with Strength 10 can lift 300 pounds even though the halfling weighs roughly 30 pounds, a quirk RPGBOT points out. And by the Player's Handbook math, a tarrasque can carry 3,600 pounds and push, lift, or drag 7,200, which is less than a modern forklift manages.

The variant encumbrance rule (2014)

If your table wants weight to matter, the 2014 Player's Handbook offers a variant on page 176. It sets two thresholds below your maximum capacity:

Encumbered: you carry more than 5 × your Strength score. Your speed drops by 10 feet.

Heavily encumbered: you carry more than 10 × your Strength score, up to your maximum capacity. Your speed drops by 20 feet, and you have disadvantage on ability checks, attack rolls, and saving throws that use Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution.

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