Monster carrying capacity

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Revision as of 07:14, 23 February 2021 by Cathartes (talk | contribs) (add air elemental as another example of a zero-weight monster)
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A monster's carrying capacity is calculated based on its weight or size relative to a human. Specifically, it is determined by the following procedure:

\text{maxload} = \frac{{1000 \times \text{cwt}}}{\text{weight of human}},

where cwt is the monster's weight, if cwt is not 0. The weight of a human is 1450 for this calculation. If the monster is strong and weighs less than a human, then the monster's carrying capacity is set to 1000.

For a monster with a cwt of 0, its carrying capacity depends on its physical size:

\text{maxload} = \frac{1000 \times \text{msize}}{\text{size of human}} ,

where msize is 0 for tiny, 1 for small, 2 for medium, 3 for large, 4 for huge, and 7 for gigantic. Humans have medium (2) size.

Finally, if the monster is not strong, then its carrying capacity is divided by 2:

\text{maxload} = \frac{\text{maxload}}{2}.[1]

Note that despite the source code comment mentioning corpseless monsters, the formula based on monster size is only used for monsters with a cwt of 0. Thus, a corpseless lich, with medium (2) size and 1200 weight, has a carrying capacity of 413, not 500. A wraith, with medium size and 0 weight, has a carrying capacity of 500.

In effect, the carrying capacity of a non-zero-weight monster is \frac{\text{cwt}}{2.9} if a monster is not strong, and \frac{\text{max}(\text{cwt}, 1450)}{1.45} if a monster is strong.

Examples

Monster Weight Strong? Size Carrying capacity
kitten 150 No 1 (small) 51
housecat 200 No 1 (small) 68
large cat 250 Yes 1 (small) 1000
little dog 150 No 1 (small) 51
dog 400 No 2 (medium) 137
large dog 800 Yes 2 (medium) 1000
pony 1300 Yes 2 (medium) 1000
horse 1500 Yes 3 (large) 1034
warhorse 1800 Yes 3 (large) 1241
lich 1200 No 2 (medium) 413
wraith 0 No 2 (medium) 500
air elemental 0 Yes 4 (huge) 2000
mind flayer 1450 No 2 (medium) 500
Archon 1450 Yes 3 (large) 1000
dragon 4500 Yes 7 (gigantic) 3103

References