Idea for a new crafting item container

[Dark Dreams]

The "Herb Bags" and "Alchemy Bags" inspired an idea for a much-needed container, albeit a bit different in size and function:

Item: "Mining Wheelbarrow"

Sold at: Smithing crafting merchant

Cost: possibly around 25gp or more

Size: Misc. Large

Weight: 15 lbs

Function: Like other crafting containers, can hold one type of material (in this case, an ore).

Capacity: 60 units of one type of ore (one full inventory tab)

Extra: weight reduction / weight elimination of ore. The idea of the wheelbarrow is that characters would not have 600 lbs of ore in their backpack, but would use the tools and equipment reasonably available in mines.

[DrXavierTColtrane]

A simpler-to-implement variant of this:

Wheel barrow (standard container, *not* crafting)

Occupies 2x4 inventory slot

Weight: 15 lbs

Reduces weight by 90 percent of anything put in it.

1) I don't think anyone would want more than one of these in their inventory at a time because of the weight and space it takes up. But if someone did use multiple barrows, then that character is assumed to be using a larger (30-lb or even 45-lb) wheelbarrow.

2) If feasible in terms of programming, a character should suffer around a 20 percent reduction in movement speed while having a barrow in their inventory. Or alternatively, the character cannot run with a wheelbarrow in inventory.

The price of the item should be very cheap to allow storing it at the warehouse for next-to-nothing. Its primary purpose would be for crafters who don't want to hassle with oxen. It could also be taken along on expeditions that are expected to result in 1 or more dead bodies.

The numbers can always be tweaked for game balance.

[McNastea]

you could really carry some corpses if you had that 90% weight reduction for only 15 pounds

Or haul around a bunch of powder kegs, which would be a lot of fun to be able to do....

Basically, anything that has a large weight meant to prohibit the amount you can carry with you would cease to matter if you could get a 90% weight reduction container. It would have to weigh a lot more than 15 pounds to balance it out in my opinion-I think an "ore bag" made only for ore use would be better. However I also think that just putting your ore in magic bags and giving it to your ox works fine as it is, at least in terms of weight reduction. Of course, ox won't go with you in to the Dvergheim mines which is just really really dumb and sort of necesitates this kind of item for people who want to mine iron and aren't crazy strong themselves.

I think that the reason for needing an ore bag has less to do with needing the weight reduction aspect (magic bags and oxen already exist) and more to allow you the ability to sort, store and put ore on a smelter with the same ease as you can herbs in herb pouches and reagents in alchemy flasks.

A 2x4 bag/pouch looking thing that only stores 1 type of ore and offers no weight reduction is my advice, essentially exactly the same thing as an herbalist bag or alchemy flask but wit ha 2x4 icon instead. You can put these ore bags in your magic bags, put them in storage to hang on to some ore (or ingots-it should also hold ingots) until a later date, or use their unique power to empty them on a smelter/anvil.

[DrXavierTColtrane]

you could really carry some corpses if you had that 90% weight reduction for only 15 pounds

Boost it to whatever (20 lbs?) and make the reduction be 80 percent. But wheel barrows do exist (China had them in BC, and if I'm not mistaken the dwarves in the mine push them around). It simply doesn't make sense that observant Barovians would not adopt them...because it might make life easier!

(BTW, ox give you 100 percent reduction for 0 added pounds. Have they made weight cease to matter?)

The biggest question to me is whether developers are able to program the "can't run with wheel barrow in inventory" because that's all that's necessary to make them equivalent to something that plainly exists in the real world and does not require magic or even much technology.

ETA: Severe minuses to Hide and MS would be other realistic ways of maintaining balance.

[McNastea]

Oxen can't enter dungeons, however that was only a part of my point-the main part being there's not a real need for a container to reduce weight, only one to act as an alchemy flask or herb pouch for ore. It's an interesting idea, what you've come up with, I just don't find it necessary to be honest.

That being said, if having it in your inventory reduced you to a walk, that would I think be a good way to balance it out

[Jikur]

(BTW, ox give you 100 percent reduction for 0 added pounds. Have they made weight cease to matter?)

It could be argued that oxes are a different case because they exist as entities in the world, able to be killed and looted. They're vulnerable, and thus pose a risk to the user other than simply making them move more slowly (although, realistically, they do that as well).

I do think this whole idea is interesting, but perhaps there's a concern that a wheelbarrow acts much like a poor-man's magic bag. Maybe if the wheelbarrow were dropped on death, exposing the contents of it to similiar risk as a dead ox?

[Kendric98]

Cant an ox enter a dungeon if it is charmed/dominated? If it could be fixed so they could enter the mines only that would be ideal and you wouldn't need a new item.

[McNastea]

Look, I really don't understand the need for 1) an item that reduces weight, there are already magic bags, and 2) one that reduces weight enough to warrant a penalty to movement-oxen effectively fill this role.

A crafting container for ore would be welcome, but as a smith I'd much prefer something to decrease the amount of time I spend moving ore/ingots on to and off of the smelter/anvil, decrease the amount of space it takes up in my pack and make it easier to store than putting one ingot/ore on to the storage counter one at a time, then taking them off one at a time again. Just like herbalists and alchemists have already.

As neat an idea as a wheelbarrow is, it's redundant given the items and features already in place. One of the guidelines MAB recently outlined on the item request thread was that it not be redundant. So maybe talking more about a bag similar to pouches and flasks would be more productive