It’s been a long time since I posted anything to this website, but if you follow me on social I’ve been tied up with two things (gaming related, anyway): creating a customized version of the FASERIP system by way of the OGL, used in the MCU-inspired actual play podcast Let’s Start Over, Shall We?, and gearing up for a megadungeon crawling 5th edition D&D campaign with some old friends to introduce (at least one of) their children to roleplaying games!

It’s that second one that influences today’s post. I’ll be providing a fully detailed — but not yet playtested — inventory slot management system for adventurers. It also takes into account porters/quartermasters, draft animals, and towed storage like wagons and carts. It’s based on 5th Edition for some numbers (like a draft horse’s Strength score, for example), but can be pretty easily ported to any D&D-adjacent or OSR game.

The equipment section of a character sheet should include 24 lines for characters to write down their carried gear. Here’s how it works.

Inventory Slots

Characters have a number of inventory slots shown on their inventory sheet. Each slot represents a single item or bundle (defined shortly), and having each slot be a line on your inventory sheet gives you plenty of room to note the item’s vital stats (such as weapon attack bonuses, damage ratings, and other traits), and track consumables by making tick marks (such as by using ☑ check boxes or | hash marks) next to them as they are used up.

Single Items

Many (most?) items take up a single inventory slot (i.e. a single line). This includes Versatile weapons, though you still need two hands free in order to have it in-hand and use it!

Two-Handed Items. Any time a two-handed item is listed (such as a 10-foot pole, two-handed sword, longbow, etc.), it takes up two slots (i.e. two lines). List it on one line, and then put quotation marks “ on the next line to denote that the previous line item is two-handed. NOTE: This pertains to two-handed items that aren’t technically “in-hand” as well: they still take up two slots.

Bundle Items

Smaller items can be bundled. Also, there are some items that are purposely packed in such a way as to be bundled together, such as travel gear that is all stuffed into and/or strapped onto a backpack.

Packs. Each of the equipment packs (PHB Ch 5) such as explorer’s pack, scholar’s pack, etc. are designed to be carried altogether. List these on a single line, with the exception of any consumables, which go on their own line.

For example, if you get an Explorer’s Pack, you would list:

Consumables & Ammo. As mentioned, consumables get their own line, allowing you to easily track them as they are used (such as by using ☑ check boxes or | hash marks). They are bundled either as listed in the Equipment chapter (PHB Ch 5) — such as a quiver of 20 arrows, a pouch of 50 blowgun needles, 10 iron spikes — or based on their relative bulk: either small (10 items in a bundle) or large (5 items in a bundle).

• Small bundle items: daggers, darts, torches, candles, sheets of paper
• Large bundle items: rations (day’s worth), flasks of oil, javelins

Rations. Rations come in bundles of 5 days, and include both food and water. Whenever you have a pack (see above) that lists a waterskin and/or some number of rations, simply list that as its own line of rations for 5 days. (If you get less than 5 day’s worth in a pack, just take 5, and if you get more than 5, simply divide them into line items of 5 days each.)

Options: Realistic Rations & Water

If you don’t like this house rule, simply put each gallon of water on a line, and each day of (food) rations on their own line. This better mirrors the core rules.

You could place them in smaller bundles, such as food + water for a single day on each line. This does make food and water “lighter” overall, but is still pretty realistic and takes into account things like “iron rations” or fantasy foods that may be more hearty without taking up too much space.

Larger Objects & Loot. Some objects a character (or party) wants to carry are big objects like containers (treasure chests, barrels), art objects (statuettes, framed paintings), and others worth the burden, but bigger than a single or even double slot. Such items are covered by the text “items that don’t fit on this sheet” (found on a character’s inventory sheet). The DM will provide details on how to track them on a separate sheet of paper, usually noting the container on one line, and the contents on separate lines. Generally each line is made up of like contents: all gold on one line, silver on another, gems on another, a quiver of arrows on another, etc. Any character hauling this loot is automatically overburdened until they unload it onto a wagon or have to drop it and flee! It’s unlikely any single character could carry more than one such item, and having a helper share the burden doesn’t make it much less exhausting (see Encumbrance, below).

Tracking Burdensome Objects

An easy way to track larger items — especially containers filled with many items — is for the DM to note this information on an index card, or dictate the contents to a player who does so.

Encumbrance

To determine if you are encumbered, you simply circle or otherwise mark off the limits of your Strength score using the instructions on the sheet (reprinted below).

Circle the number equal to your Strength score +4 along the left (maximum 24): any items past that and you’re encumbered (Speed -10 ft).

Any items that don’t fit on this sheet cause you to become overburdened (Speed -20 ft, disadv. on ability checks, attack rolls, and STR, DEX, and CON saves).

What the above means is that you can always carry  up to 24 lines of items, per the inventory slot rules noted above. Once you are on a line past your Strength score +4, you are encumbered, and once you start having to use a separate inventory sheet, you are overburdened.

Gritty Exhaustion

Characters that are encumbered or overburdened risk getting more tired, more quickly. Any time they suffer a level of exhaustion from not getting enough rest (one turn every hour of dungeon exploration, ending a 24-hour period without having taken a long rest, or moving at a forced march), you must make a successful DC 10 Constitution saving throw or else you gain another level of exhaustion immediately!

Pack Animals & Porters

Having pack animals or hirelings gives you access to an inventory sheet that is considered totally separate from your inventory, so you aren’t overburdened if you store stuff on a wagon or in a horse’s saddlebags.

How much stuff or how many slots can a pack animal or hireling carry? Hirelings and porters of humanoid type operate exactly as adventurers: they have 24 slots, are encumbered over their [Strength+4] slots, and are overburdened above 24 slots. In lieu of typical arms and armor, it’s possible for such a character to instead carry one especially large object, such as a treasure chest (see Larger Objects & Loot, above). Use your judgement and reason, as always, to determine what they can carry.

Pack animals work a little differently. They have a total number of slots equal to their Strength score x2, are encumbered past their Strength score +10, and are overburdened past their last slot. They treat two-handed items as only taking up a single slot.

When pulling a carriage, cart, chariot, sled, or wagon, they multiply their Strength score by x2 and then make the above calculations: 2x Strength +10 = encumbered, and 4x Strength score before they are overburdened. If multiple animals pull such a device, they add their Strength scores together and then make the calculations above. Large objects (see Large Objects & Loot) usually take up 5 slots when being conveyed on such a device, but again, the DM may use their judgment in determining what fits.

Example Pack Animal Inventory Slots

A draft horse has a Strength of 18, so it has 36 inventory slots. It is encumbered at 28 slots filled, and overburdened past 36 slots, but notably it treats two-handed items as a single slot.

When pulling a cart, it has 72 slots. It’s encumbered at 46 slots filled, and overburdened past 72 slots. If two draft horses pull a wagon, that’s 144 slots! They are encumbered at 82 slots, and overburdened past 144 slots, and can probably lug around a few barrels of ale and some treasure chests filled with loot.

The Inventory Sheet

Line 1 is your Coin & Gem Purse, and includes a place to write down your copper pieces (cp), silver pieces (sp), gold pieces (gp), and platinum pieces (pp). It also has a place for you to list the number of gems you have and their total value; treat gems as having an averaged value based on this when traded in or utilized for other purposes.

Line 2 is your Clothing & Armor. When you have armor, list its Armor Class formula (i.e. 12 + Dex modifier) and any special notes it might have (i.e. disadvantage on Stealth checks).

Line 3 is your Primary Hand. List the weapon, arcane focus, or other implement or tool you most often have in-hand.

Line 4 is your Off Hand. (Often this is where you list your shield, if you carry one.) List the item, same info as in your primary hand. If you wield a two-handed item, simply put quotations here to denote that the item in your primary hand slot is two-handed.

Line 5 on is everything else.

Note that you don’t have to erase and rewrite what’s in your hands every time you switch out items, or switch your clothing and armor out based on which you are wearing at the time. These are meant to illustrate your “typical” loadout, and it is assumed you track temporary changes mentally during the course of a single game session. As your loadout changes normally over time — new weapons become your primary, you don a new suit of armor and place your old one in the wagon your draft horse tows along, etc. — you will update your inventory sheet(s) at those times.

Final Thoughts

What I failed to achieve. I wanted to get down to a system where I could use 9-card baseball card holders and have any character’s inventory fit into one or two pages of those. This system easily averages over 9 slots for most characters, so it’s not quite there yet. I envision one where there’s a slot for body (armor/clothing/coins), primary and off hand, and then a pack is a single card, and…I get lost after that, not knowing how best to handle consumable items alongside things that can get bundled on bandoliers, pouches, quivers, etc. But the idea really sings to me because those first three slots (body, right hand, left hand) is also the minimum Strength score (3) that most characters have, and two pages of the cards (18 slots total) is also the max Strength for most characters. There’s something elegant in there. I just haven’t found it. (Games like Knave and Mausritter have systems that achieve something close to this, I believe, but I haven’t played them yet.)

Why I haven’t used it. D&D Beyond. Seriously, that’s it. That’s the whole reason. Creating a character and flicking a switch in your campaign for whether or not you worry about encumbrance at all, and whether or not coins count toward it, is just supremely easy. I do have some complaints about the user interface for managing inventory, but it’s still a whole lot easier than figuring out which gear gets bundled, what fills two slots, and so on. I prefer hand written character sheets, but I use them less and less as I grow lazier and also more fond of not printing stuff out and adding to the environmental damage. You know, because I’m sure my computer and D&D Beyond’s servers aren’t harming the environment, right? ::sad face:: Anyway, point is that any system like this is honestly worth hacking away at, but it’s almost certainly best handled by creating some OSR or OGL derivative and otherwise leaving anyone that uses D&D Beyond and similar resources alone, so they don’t have to work against the tools that make playing the game faster and smoother.

Fun permutations. Are you a Dungeon Crawl Classics player, or just a weirdo like me that loves funny-shaped dice and picked up 1d24, 1d30, and all those weird things? Well, here’s a great use for them: when the players face a hazard or area of effect attack that might destroy gear, roll that die to determine what inventory slot is targeted/lost. If you get an empty one (i.e. the player only has slots 1 through 14 filled and you roll a 17), then their stuff is fine, but if you roll one with an item — or bundle of items! — then that gear is affected. Have a thief pickpocketing a PC? Ask what the player’s last slot filled happens to be and roll a die of that size or smaller to ensure you get something. These ideas are great because they become universal across adventurers, their porters, and their draft animals/storage conveyance of choice. And because the money purse is always #1 it ensures that any die is going to be able to target that. Of course, it might get weird if you have someone pick pocket their armor, but you could always rule that some obvious items or slots are off limits and count as a miss or failed pickpocket roll or whatever the case may be.