Bulk Tracking for Tiny PCs

[Lutzworld]

In its current stat the bulk tracking for tiny PC sheets does not line up with the rules.

The maximum bulk should be half of small/medium PC sheet. For example a +0 strength tiny PC should have a limit or 5 bulk and become encumber if greater than 2 bulk.

Furthermore there appear to be rules that change the bulk of medium items placed in the inventory. Items of medium size and L bulk are adjusted to be 1 bulk for example. Per table 6-19 in player core, the only such adjustment is that a tiny creature treats 10 items of negligible bulk = 1 bulk (presumably treated as L?).

The result of the current rules set is that tiny PCs can carry fewer medium sized items without becoming encumbered. An example. A tiny PC with +0 strength should be able to a total of 20 medium sized items with L bulk before becoming encumbered (total 2 bulk). However , because they are treated as having 1 bulk each, they tiny PC could only carry 5 items of L bulk before becoming encumbered.

[darksuji]

The behavior specified in Player Core is as follows:

1. The Bulk limits of Tiny creatures are halved.
2. When calculating their encumbrance, Tiny creatures treat negligible-Bulk items as Light (so 10 negligible-Bulk items weight 1 Bulk to a Tiny creature) and treat no items as having negligible Bulk.
3. Tiny versions of items have half the Bulk: 2 or 3 Bulk becomes 1 Bulk, 1 Bulk becomes Light, and Light and negligible Bulks become negligible.

The behavior implemented in Foundry is as follows:

1. The Bulk limits of Tiny creatures are not adjusted.
2. When calculating their encumbrance, Tiny creatures double the Bulk of non-Tiny items in their inventory: A Medium object of 2 Bulk is treated as having 4 Bulk, 1 Bulk as 2, Light as 1, and negligible as Light. They treat the Tiny versions of items as having the same Bulk as their Medium counterparts.
3. Tiny versions of items have half the Bulk, as above.

The idea seems to be that one can simply double the Bulk of everything and get the same result as in the actual rules, but this is not the case. Here are some examples of where Foundry's version of things breaks down:

1. As @Lutzworld noted, a Tiny creature with +0 strength should be able to carry 29 items of Light Bulk without becoming encumbered: They treat them as having Light Bulk, and their Bulk limit is 5 / 2 = 2. Instead, they can only carry 5, because Foundry doubles their Bulk to 1 and their Bulk limit is 5.
2. A Tiny creature with +1 strength should be able to carry 3 Tiny versions of 3-Bulk items: the Bulk is halved to 1 by the change in size, and their Bulk limit is 6 / 2 = 3. However, they can only carry 2, because Foundry uses the Bulk of the Medium version for the Tiny version and their Bulk limit is 6.
3. A Tiny creature with +0 strength should be able to carry 29 Tiny items of negligible Bulk without becoming encumbered. They treat them as Light Bulk, and their Bulk limit is 2. However, they can carry infinitely many, because Foundry thinks they treat them as negligible Bulk.

This list is incomplete, but hopefully makes the point that I think Foundry's approach doesn't really work.

[edited: Corrected example number 2.]

[stwlam]

Duplicate of #13168

[darksuji]

The referenced issue makes reference to "seeing the Bulk from the perspective of the creature carrying the item". However, that does not adequately address this issue, which is that it results in incorrect encumbrance behavior.

[stwlam]

The implementation was done with advice from a former paizo design lead, but that was now almost four years ago. We'll try to get some fresh answers and update if those answers change.