Hello there,

I just went through the equipment catalog and stumbled across various items that aren't weapons with the Cumbersome Quality.

Now my question:
If a character has for example some kind of weapon with Cumbersome 1 and additionally has a Military Pack (with Cumbersome 2) equipped.

As I understand the RAW, Those Cumbersome Qualities would be handled separately, or have I missed something?
Because stacking all Cumbersome Qualities on a Character would make much more sense.

Cheers

You're correct, in that separate Cumbersome qualities don't stack with each other, and are handled separately.

As for "making sense," one thing to bear in mind is that this isn't a simulationist RPG, so there are going to be a number of breaks from reality in terms of how things are handled. Apart from the numerous breaks from reality that already abound within Star Wars. Then again, it seems you're mixing a bit of what Encumbrance represents with what Cumbersome does, the former being how much something weighs you down and gets in your way, and the latter being more akin to how much muscle is needed to use a thing effectively. Admittedly, anything that's Cumbersome 1 might as well not exist, as most PCs are going to have at least a 1 in Brawn.

Now, if you do want to house rule it, my suggestion would be that instead of just adding the raw Cumbersome values together, instead just increase the value of the highest Cumbersome rating by 1 for each additional item that has a Cumbersome rating. So if a PC is toting around a Cumbersome 3 heavy blaster rifle, a couple of Cumbersome 1 heavy grenades, and a Cumbersome 2 military pack, they'd have a final Cumbersome rating of 6 under this house rule. I don't recommend doing so, but it's an option.

If players are carrying stuff that to you seems unrealistic start adding setbacks and upgrades for it. Also you can narratively describe the effect of carrying a lot of crap on you because it makes it harder to balance and that gear has it's own weight and momentum. This whole thing where players are varying their house on their back is something that requires a periodic decision: Cartoon Inventory where it's kind of out of sight and out of mind until used and it's not a big consideration, or simulate the equipment and material possessions of the characters as something that is static and not subject to whim. If you are going for more of a movie feel you can do the whimsical inventory but then the cumbersome quality, the talents that affect it, and Encumbrance are of negligible worth.

Ok thanks for clearing that up.

Just so I understand this correctly: Cumbersome is just a "minimum Brawn X", so a scrawny Brawn 1 Character cant carry around that big Military Backpack or Missile Launcher without having problems, correct?

3 hours ago, Fl1nt said:

Ok thanks for clearing that up.

Just so I understand this correctly: Cumbersome is just a "minimum Brawn X", so a scrawny Brawn 1 Character cant carry around that big Military Backpack or Missile Launcher without having problems, correct?

Correct.