Encumbrance (WAS: Re: [DL] Blacksmiths)

["Sam de Smith" <sam.desmith@ntlworld.com>]

First off: thanks to everyone who's given me info on smithing: it's been
IMMENSELY useful. But it's got me thinking along rather different lines.

The PC in question has a Str of 4d12. This means he is encumbered with 36lbs
of weight, or 2.57 stone, roughly the equivalent of a small toddler. Now I
can see that I, not an especially strong person, might be slightly
inconvenienced, but I can't believe that this would slow down someone
stronger than a horse (Str 3d12). In general, the encumbrance system does
seem slightly out of whack to me. A normal human is at 3/4 pace whilst
carrying a 18lbs in weight, just over a stone - am I missing something
(admittedly, my maths sucjs), or does this seems wrong somehow? Perhaps Dice
type plus number of dice as the base would make more sense. This means an
average human would be a 3/4 pace carrying 24lbs, or just under 2 stone, and
our brawny friend would be encumbered carrrying 48 lbs, and Heavy
encumberance would be 160lbs (so, an average male). Thoughts?

Sam de Smith