Overencumbered

Every item has weight. Carry too much and the world starts to push back.

Vanilla lets a player pocket an entire quarry in one inventory - the only real limit is slot count. By the time a player owns a few shulker boxes they are a walking storage unit, and mounts, carts and storage bases stop mattering.

Overencumbered gives every item a weight, sums what a player is actually carrying in real time, and applies consequences as they cross thresholds.

No database, no dependencies - all state lives in config.yml.

How it works

Each cycle (twice a second by default) the plugin:

1. Sums the weight of the inventory, armour, offhand and (optionally) ender chest - including the contents of shulker boxes at a configurable fraction.
2. Divides the total by the player's capacity.
3. Picks a tier and applies its effects.

Tier	Threshold (default)	Effects (default)
Light	under 50%	none - normal movement
Overburdened	50% - 80%	Slowness I, extra hunger drain
Crushed	80% +	Slowness II, heavier hunger drain, cannot sprint, cannot jump, periodic damage

Weight table

Anything unlisted uses default-weight (0.5). Exact material entries are checked first, then tags, then the default - so a few lines cover every log, plank or sword in the game:

default-weight: 0.5

weights:
  minecraft:netherite_block: 64.0
  minecraft:iron_block: 36.0
  minecraft:stone: 1.0
  minecraft:feather: 0.05
  minecraft:shulker_box: 4.0

tags:
  minecraft:logs: 1.5
  minecraft:planks: 1.0
  minecraft:swords: 6.0

Invalid tag names are ignored safely - a typo can never break the plugin.

Shulker boxes weigh what is inside them

A shulker box is not a magic weight-free bag. Its contents count at shulker-contents-factor (default 0.5, i.e. half rate), so a box of netherite drags on the carrier without being as punishing as hauling it loose.

weigh:
  inventory: true
  armor: true
  offhand: true
  ender-chest: false
  shulker-contents: true
  shulker-contents-factor: 0.5   # 0.0 = box is free, 1.0 = full weight
  shulker-nesting: 1

Capacity

One number tunes the whole system, with optional per-permission grants (highest match wins):

capacity: 1000.0
capacity-overrides:
  overencumbered.capacity.vip: 1500.0

HUD

An optional colour-coded action bar shows the live load - green, yellow then red:

Weight 742/1000kg (74%)

Commands

Command	Description	Permission
/overencumbered	Show your own weight, capacity and tier	overencumbered.use
/overencumbered check [player]	Show another player's weight	overencumbered.admin
/overencumbered top	Heaviest players online	overencumbered.use
/overencumbered reload	Reload configuration	overencumbered.admin

Aliases: /weight, /encumbrance, /oe. overencumbered.bypass lets staff ignore all weight effects.

Why it changes gameplay

• PvP and exploration - no hauling a shulker-fed quarry into a fight; you choose what to drop before you engage.
• Mounts and carts - mules, llamas and chest boats become the answer to bulk hauling.
• Storage bases - a place to deposit loot has real value again.
• Economy - pair it with a trade plugin and moving goods becomes a logistics decision.

Honest limits

• Defaults are deliberately playable, not punishing: a full inventory of average items sits around the overburdened line. Builders moving thousands of blocks will want a higher capacity or a capacity-overrides permission for their builder rank.
• Effects use vanilla potion effects plus Paper's jump/sprint events, so a plugin that also manages those can conflict - use overencumbered.bypass for those players.
• Crushed damage goes through vanilla damage(), so armour reduces it. A fully armoured player resists the crush for longer. That is intentional.