Carry Weight

Carry Weight, or carrying capacity, is the total weight of items that a player character can carry. All characters begin the game with a Carry Weight of 300, regardless of race or gender. Increasing Stamina increases the maximum Carry Weight by five for each level point. It is possible to carry more items that the Carry Weight statistic, but then a message stating that your are overencumbered and cannot run will be posted. Players will likely notice at that point that walking is very slow. Fast Travel is also impossible if the player character is overloaded, unless they happen to be riding a horse.

Increasing carrying capacity

 * Increase your Stamina statistic – Each level point in stamina adds +5 to your carrying capacity
 * Get the Extra Pockets perk in Pickpocketing – Adds +100 to your carrying capacity
 * Get the blessing from The Steed Stone – Adds +100 to your carrying capacity and any armor worn no longer counts towards the total weight being carried
 * The "Unhindered" Light Armor Perk reduces the weight of worn Light Armor to zero.
 * The "Conditioning" Heavy Armor Perk reduces the weight of worn Heavy Armor to zero.
 * Obtaining unique armor:
 * Thieves Guild Armor adds 20 (or 35 if upgraded after completing "Scoundrel's Folly").
 * The mask belonging to Dragon Priest Volsung adds 20.
 * Guild Master's Armor and Blackguard's Armor each adds 50.
 * The Locket of Saint Jiub DG adds 50.
 * Deathbrand Boots DR add 10 to carry capacity for each piece of Deathbrand Armor DR worn, for a maximum of 40


 * Taking a Fortify Carry Weight potion temporarily increases carrying capacity by an amount proportional to the strength of the potion. The Slow Time shout can be used together with the potions to increase the duration of the effect.


 * The Werewolf Beast Form power temporarily adds a static 1,900 carry weight limit.
 * Followers and Spouses can be used to carry extra items, although they too have their own limit that cannot be exceeded. (Total carrying capacity is approximately 290 units of weight)
 * However, it is possible to use the glitch in Multiple Followers to gain 3 to 4 followers, thus effectively multiplying the player's total capacity to 1,000 units of weight. This can be performed using Cicero and Dark Brotherhood Initiates, along with a fourth companion.
 * Followers can also benefit from the Fortify Carry Weight enchantment, although this is bugged. Should their original (unfortified) limit be exceeded, only one item or stack of items can be added, then the menu must be closed and reopened to add more, up to the absolute maximum capacity.
 * Fortify Carry Weight enchantments may be applied to Rings, Amulets, Boots and Gauntlets, increasing carrying capacity relative to enchanting skill (having the Insightful Enchanter perk and all 5 Enchanter perks make the enchantments most effective).
 * The maximum possible enchantment acquired from Fortify Carry Weight with the above perks active and a Grand Soul Gem or Black Soul Gem is an increase to encumbrance by 34 points. This can be further increased to 38 points with the Seeker of Sorcery reward from "Black Book: The Sallow Regent." The maximum benefit is gained if a Fortify Enchanting potion is used together with Ahzidal's Genius allowing a player to increase this even more.
 * Using the console commands:
 * – (Toggle God Mode) will enable running, sprinting, and fast-traveling while encumbered, but will not remove limitations on the use of carriages.
 * – will permanently increase your carrying capacity by "#" points.

Circumventing encumbrance

 * Drawing a bow will add a small amount of speed when encumbered. This is enhanced by the "Ranger" Archery Perk, which allows faster movement with a drawn bow.
 * Walking forward and using a melee power attack while encumbered helps the Dragonborn gain additional ground, making for faster travel while encumbered. If the weapon is sheathed before the actual swing of the weapon takes place, the Dragonborn still moves forward, but no stamina is lost. If the Dragonborn has the Dual Flurry perk from One-handed, using the third person camera and wielding two weapons, using power attack and sheathing, will cause a short sprint almost as fast as a full-blooded run.
 * The Whirlwind Sprint shout can be used while encumbered to briefly speed up travel. The more words are used, the longer and faster one can travel.
 * Manually moving an item can be used to carry a heavy item if the Dragonborn would be encumbered by carrying it normally. Dropping the item(s) (in a stack if need be) and holding "Activate" on them allows them to be dragged. Held objects do not add to encumbrance weight, so sprinting is possible without losing anything. This is particularly useful when hauling Dragon Bones or firewood.
 * Depositing items in a small dead body, such as a skeever, can be particularly useful, for it can hold any number of items.
 * Another way to overcome encumbrance is to place excessive items on a dead body before raising it as a Dead Thrall. This will allow it to be used as a "pack mule" to temporarily carry extra items.
 * Theoretically, a Dead Thrall can also benefit from the Fortify Carry Weight enchantment, but this only works if the armor they were wearing was enchanted. In other words, it is possible to remove the corpse's armor to enchant it, then replace it on the dead body. It will not be possible to enchant armor which the character did not wear in life and have them wear it. Corpses which were equipped with more clothing slots when they were alive will fully maximize the value of this enchantment, because the more armor they wore in life, the higher the carry weight they can benefit from.
 * Alternatively, the player can purchase a house and store items in any container without fear of said items disappearing. The items will stay in the chest until taken back out.
 * There are certain free houses such as Anise's and Drelas' homes, both of which contain safe storage containers, if the player elects not to purchase properties.
 * If all else fails, the Abandoned House in Markarth is free to use, being a place with permanently safe containers, regardless of whether the Dragonborn is Thane or not.
 * The Dremora ButlerDR ability acquired as a reward for completing "Black Book: Untold Legends" will allow the player to transfer a total of 248 base carrying weight to a temporary servant for 15 seconds.
 * As with the werewolf, transforming into a Vampire LordDG will allow movement at the vampire lord's regular pace, making travel faster than in reverted form, even if the player has exceeded normal carrying limit.
 * Horses can be used when carrying too much to travel faster. If suddenly encumbered and no visible horse is within the player's reach, use of the Summon ArvakDG spell will summon a horse anytime outdoors. However, while Arvak appears on Solstheim and in Blackreach, the horse does not show up in the Forgotten Vale.
 * Werewolves travel at normal speed, despite any apparent encumbrance.
 * If one has a follower, one can drop an item on the floor, and command a them to pick it up. This seems to negate a their weight limit, allowing them to carry an apparently infinite amount of items. Keep in mind that this method will mean one is unable to actually give an item to said follower, however.