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The Explorer's pack comes with a backpack and a bunch of stuff that (I assume) goes inside.

A Backpack can fit 30lbs in it. But the stuff - a bedroll (7), a mess kit (1), a tinderbox (1), 10 torches (10), 10 days of rations (20), and a waterskin (5) - totals 44lbs.

My party holds the weight of stuff a bit loosely, rather than playing RAW. But if you did play RAW, you wouldn't be able to carry all the stuff you're given. Why would the game designers do that?

Rykara
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jonnybolton16
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    As asked, this seems like a designer reasoning question, which we consider off-topic for rpg.se (see this meta). I'd suggest rephrasing to "how am I supposed to carry everything in the explorer's pack?" – Carcer May 26 '20 at 14:24
  • My goodness, food is heavy! – SeriousBri May 26 '20 at 14:26
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    Heavily related: Where do adventurers keep all their stuff? – David Coffron May 26 '20 at 14:26
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    The explorer's pack isn't the only pack with this problem. The burglar's pack has at least 31.5 lb. of stuff to fit in the backpack, the dungeoneer's pack has 46.5 lb., and the entertainer's pack has 33 lb. – jwodder May 26 '20 at 16:25
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    @SeriousBri 2lbs of food a day is actually pretty light for someone who is being as physically active as an explorer is. I'm on a diet where I have to track what I eat precisely. I've had 3.3 lbs of food today (not including drinks) and it's only a little past noon – Kevin May 26 '20 at 17:26
  • @jwodder I assumed it would be the case for the others but didn't bother looking at it – jonnybolton16 May 26 '20 at 17:39
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    My presumption has been that rations are compact, high energy food, heavy on protein and fat -- hard cheese, dried meat, and sea biscuit, for instance, or pemmican and jerky. One can easy fit 3000 calories into a couple pounds if your choice is more about that than "healthy eating". – Zeiss Ikon May 26 '20 at 17:53
  • Waterskin only weighs that much full. There goes 5#. – Harper - Reinstate Monica May 27 '20 at 01:01
  • @Harper-ReinstateMonica well, not really, you're gonna need that full at some point... – jonnybolton16 May 27 '20 at 11:23

1 Answers1

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As noted in comments, the "explorer's pack" is a "pack" of goods, that is, a list of items sold together, not necessarily a "backpack and contents." The waterskin would normally be carried external to the backpack, and the bedroll would be tied to the outside. Carry the mess kit and tinderbox in a belt pouch, and the backpack is just exactly full. But remember, all too soon that heavy pack will seem much too light...

Zeiss Ikon
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  • May also help to separate out "explorers pack" of goods with "backpack". You've mostly done that, but could be good to be explicit. – NotArch May 26 '20 at 14:53
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    I'd love to see this answer clearly state "pack in this context means 'set', not 'backpack'". Reusing the word "pack" while explaining it seems to have the same problem; "the explorer's pack (backpack?) is a pack (backpack?) of goods" – user-781943 May 27 '20 at 02:52
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    Yup. Waterskins inside one's pack is a recent thing. I don't think one could construct something akin to a hydration bladder with D&D level tech. – Loren Pechtel May 27 '20 at 04:14
  • p151 of PHB: "The pack also has 50 feet of hempen rope strapped to the side of it." So, that's 10lb of gear not inside the pack. – Erics May 27 '20 at 13:05
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    Frustratingly, the PHB here is definitely using the word "pack" to mean "backpack" in these descriptions at least some of the time, so there is no clear distinction in the terminology. It is not unreasonable to interpret that all the listed items are meant to be inside the [back]pack when the text states at the end that the [back]pack also has a bunch of rope "strapped to the side of it". – Carcer May 27 '20 at 13:50
  • @Erics I know the rope is strapped to the side (which is why I didn't inclue it in the post); I didn't think the other things could/would be – jonnybolton16 May 28 '20 at 09:12