The Bulk rules in this chapter are for Small and Medium creatures, as most ancestries are these sizes; however, other Uncommon or rare ancestries might be larger or smaller and require items specially made for creatures of those sizes. Large creatures can carry more, and smaller creatures can carry less, as noted on the Bulk Conversions table.

These rules for Bulk limits come up most often when a group tries to load up a mount or Animal Companion. The rules for items of different sizes tend to come into play when the characters defeat a big creature that has gear, since usually the only creatures of other sizes are creatures under the GM’s control.

In most cases, Small or Medium creatures can wield a Large weapon, though it’s unwieldy, giving them the clumsy 1 Condition, and the larger size is canceled by the difficulty of swinging the weapon, so it grants no special benefit. Large armor is simply too large for Small and Medium creatures.

Bulk Conversions for Different Sizes

As shown in the Bulk Conversions table, Large or larger creatures are less encumbered by bulky items than Small or Medium creatures, while Tiny creatures become overburdened more quickly. A Large creature treats 10 items of 1 Bulk as 1 Bulk, a Huge creature treats 10 items of 2 Bulk as 1 Bulk, and so on. A Tiny creature treats 10 items of negligible Bulk as 1 Bulk. Negligible items work in a similar way—a Huge creature treats items of 1 Bulk as negligible, so it can carry any number of items of 1 Bulk. A Tiny creature doesn’t treat any items as having negligible Bulk.

Bulk Conversions

Items of Different Sizes

Creatures of sizes other than Small or Medium need items appropriate to their size. These items have different Bulk and possibly a different Price. The Differently Sized Items table provides the Price and Bulk conversion for such items.

Differently Sized Items

* An item that would have its Bulk reduced below 1 has light Bulk.

For example, a Morningstar sized for a Medium creature has a Price of 1 gp and 1 Bulk, so one made for a Huge creature is 4 gp and 4 Bulk. One made for a Tiny creature still costs 1 gp (due to its intricacy) and has 1/2 Bulk (rounding down to light Bulk). Because the way that a creature treats Bulk and the Bulk of gear sized for it scale the same way, Tiny or Large (or larger) creatures can usually wear and carry about the same amount of gear as a Medium creature.

Higher-level magic items that cost significantly more than 8 times the cost of a mundane item use their listed Price regardless of size. Precious materials, however, have a Price based on the Bulk of the item, so multiply the Bulk value as described on the Differently Sized Items table, then use the formula in the material’s entry to determine the item’s Price. See GM Core for more information on materials.