So you're telling me you're carrying thirty two thousand caps on you? Right now?

Face it. This isn't all going in your backpack.

This guide is a companion to the original Traveler's Backpack, meant to help craft a more immersive and realistic gaming experience by addressing one of the most unrealistic aspects of Bethesda RPG's: the inventory. Who, short of a supermutant, could possibly carry everything the game allows you to carry!? So here we'll outline some ideas for a more reasonable inventory, and some gameplay surrounding it. *The most immersive use of these suggestions will be in playing Harcore Mode.*

 Armor Rules:

• Carry only one set of armor and one set of clothing at a time.
• If you don't use armor, carry up to four sets of clothes.

 Weapon Rules:

• Always carry a knife or other concealable melee weapon (unless RP dictates otherwise). Ideally, carry a sidearm as well.
• Never carry more than 3 types of ammunition (including variations of the same ammo, like hollow point or armor piercing!), and no more than 50-60 rounds of each.
• If using a grenade launcher, carry no more than 15 grenades at a time. If using a missle launcher, restict it to 7-10 missles.
• You can reasonably carry up to two rifle sized weapons or one heavy weapon (anything that would fall under Big Guns in Fallout 3). Melee characters should also be able to carry two weapons.
• An Explosives oriented character can carry 5-6 mines together with 10-15 grenades, or any combination of the two.

 Chem Rules:

• Even if you're loaded with caps, hold onto at least one antidote/stimpak.
• Avoid carrying more than 12 chems/stimpaks, but these can be in any combination. Addicts might try to carry more, but try to make it a sacrifice by leaving other things behind.

 Food Rules:

• Always carry three non-perishable food items (canned or boxed ones) in case you have difficulty finding food for a meal.
• Always carry three "drinks".
• You can carry up to three fresh food items that you find along the way, but they should be consumed within a day.

 Misc. Rules:

• Don't carry more than 20 lockpicks.
• If carrying books, don't carry more than two without cutting back on another item.
• Don't carry more than 10 or 15 additional units in loot.
• Hold followers to the same realistic standard. A supermutant companion can certainly carry more than a human, while a small, non-human companion like ED-E clearly doesn't have the space to carry a lot.

Of course these aren't hard and fast rules, and finding ways to subsititute some items to get more of others is part of the fun, too!

Do you have more rules? Post them here, please, and we'll add them in!

I definitely need to get the tag system figured out. I'll post a notice when I have it! 

Thanks for the great addition. One of the more immersive practices, but also one that I almost always struggle with. It can be so hard to limit and therefore endanger yourself. Probably wont abide by this on my first run of FO4 (First run will probably be pretty low on RP in general) but I'll try and incorporate it in other runs.

(Great to see you in the group, Borom! I always enjoy your posts!)

This is the sort of thing I'd need a mod for to keep track of. Otherwise, I'd just go around picking stuff up as I usually do and wind up with a bunch of junk.

Well, the dynamic is bound to change in FO4 now that junk is no longer just junk. But at least in FO3/NV, if you're adhering to a system like this, you can keep track of it mostly by monitoring your encumbrance; you won't have too much stuff on you.

If I was going to do something like this, as far as weapons go, I'd say to myself "OK, where am I carrying this?" If I can come up with a reasonable answer, I'll grab it. 

For example:

Rifle, slung on shoulder.
Pistols, up to two, maybe three if one is concealed. One on each thigh, probably. 

A knife can be strapped on to a belt no problem, or on a boot.
Ammo is probably in pouches on your person. Not a lot of room for it. You're not gonna have more than maybe 2-4 clips for each weapon.

Everything else I figure goes in the pack, but most of that space is going to be taken up by survival supplies, camping equipment, and packed along food, water and chems, I'd reckon.

So you won't be toting around 15 boxes of Abraxo Cleaner just because. 

The one exception I would have to tack on to any of these rules is if I am using the item on the spot i.e. using a weapon I found when I was desperate for ammo. It's in my hands while all my permanent gear is stowed. I should usually drop the improvised weapon when switching back to something else.

Of course, I'd still probably need a mod to force me to do this, or I'd probably find some sweet item I normally wouldn't be able to carry, and then take it with me anyway. 

Also, caps. I mean seriously. I know that they're weightless in-game, but if we're going to be realistic, you wouldn't be able to carry all that many of them around. Let's say they're like the same size as a quarter, and about a third the weight (a quarter is 5.67 grams according to Google). So they're about 1.9 grams a piece. That means that 2000 of them would weigh 3800 grams, like 8 pounds. Extrapolate that to what I saw Gopher carrying around in one of his Let's Play episodes I recently watched, we're talking over 400 pounds in caps alone.

It's a bit silly when you think of it like that. But let's say you've got a 3 pound coffee can (three pounds of coffee) full of them in your pack. This admittedly extremely loose estimate says you can fit about 1700 quarters (caps) in one. And even then, that's 7 pounds of caps. 

Your Courier isn't going to be able to pick up much. 

Nice breakdown! It'd be nice if FO4 finally included something like duffel bags/backpacks, things that would actually be really valuable for scavenging with. Then you can realistically carry a decent amount of gear, and have space to carry some junk.

I suppose your character would bring along more sacks if he was going on a dedicated junk run, rather than when he's going out to fight Deathclaws. I mean, really, leave the damn radios at home for that particular encounter, unless you're planning on throwing it at them.

Also, I suppose if you don't mind munching on Geckos you don't even really need to carry food if you absolutely must have that rocket launcher.

Are there any binoculars in eithher FO3 or FO:NV ? I find using a scope a poor excuse for surveying the landscape

There are usable binoculars in New Vegas. I don't recall any in FO3, though.

OK great, thanks again Borommakot