Topic: how much weight can a character lift in HARP?

[studer]

Howdy. Long time gamer, first time poster here and new to HARP, too. I'm wondering how much a character of a given St or Strength mod can lift in HARP? I can't find it in my copy of HARP. Anybody provide a page reference or is it not covered in the rules as written?

[ImaginosMusic]

Encumbrance and weight ranges are detailed on page 64 of the HARP Fantasy book.

[studer]

Thanks, but those are just encumbrance, right? How do you determine if Joe the Stout (St 77/+6) can lift a cart off the leg of the hapless farmer whose pinned by it? Would it be a static maneuver at a penalty of (assuming 200 lbs, based off a wild guess) -120 (two categories over heavy 36/72/108/144/180/216) making it nigh impossible without a miraculous open ended roll?

[ImaginosMusic]

I can't find anything in my PDF about maximums for what a character can lift. The example you give matches the rules. However, a dead lift is not the same as moving around while loaded down so, I think the penalty on a dead lift could be lower than what the rules propose. Perhaps halve the per category above heavy for a dead lift, making the modifier for your example a total of -60. I guess for a dead lift you could use the characters strength as the skill, applying the modifiers to the strength roll as the weight goes up as per the weights table.

[studer]

Thanks again. Good suggestions. Leaving it a straight static maneuver modified only by the St mod would make heroic feats of strength unlikely.

[Peter R]

Make it a static move but use the entire ST stat + race bonus not the ST bonus as the 'skill' . That will give you the scope to use the full range of difficulty modifiers but the characters have a chance of success.

[ImaginosMusic]

The st + racial bonus makes more sense than the straight st as I suggested.
I am thinking of designing some encounters that will encourage my group to want to lift things, just to try this out.

[Radimon]

The racial modifier to the stat modifier is already part of the character's stat modifier. Page 23 of the core rules literally tells you that every time you apply your basic stat mod to something, you are supposed to include the associated racial stat mod, too. It is literally considered part of your character's stat mod. This even applies for situations where a single stat mod is applied multiple times, such as the resistance skills, your defense bonus (doubly so if you're benefiting from the agile defense/swashbuckler talent!), etc.

I agree that simply lifting a heavy object for a brief moment so someone pinned beneath it can get away should be easier than carrying said weight across town. Cutting the penalty in half seems a decent compromise, if the weight lifted is below your carry limit.