If I can do more damage by throwing a 30 pound barrel than a spell, spells are stupid. ?
Barrelmancy is one of those things that I keep waiting for them to address in some way because its so obviously a broken thing that doesn't fit into any system.
And the solution to me is so simple it's quite silly. An empty barrel, by the way, doesn't weigh 30 pounds - it weighs 100 pounds.
A barrel full of oil - weighs 300 POUNDS!! The mechanics are already in the game to fix this, it could be done easily. You need a minimum 10 Strength to move a 300 Pound object, and if these items are that heavy you are not going to be able to carry them around in a backpack.
I don't want to stop people from being able to move objects around the room, but there needs to be a hard limit on stuff you can just throw in your pack.
This is the same exact thing I said about the "barrelmancy problem" since the EA started, for the record. Give these barrels proper weight and you already solved half of the problem. Make the ability to move them around more realistically tied to a character strength and you solved the other half. And unless we are talking about inhuman levels of strength (more than 20, etc) no one should be able to THROW barrels around. At best akwardly lift them from the ground while slowly moving to a different position, as it happens in games like Shadow Tactics when you use the "big samurai". Also, no barrels in your backpack, period.
I have never used barrelmancy in 2 DOS games. I always thought it was a ridiculous way to handle encounters. In multiplayer I am not shy about letting people know that using barrelmancy is not ok as it cheapens every encounter. You only insult yourself when you use it. You are basically telling everyone how bad you are.
And yeah, the other half of the solution is you shouldn't be able to put large objects into a backpack. No crates, no barrels, no chairs - and I have zero doubt that they could end barrelmancy in 10 minutes by changing the conditions on all barrels, crates etc to DOES NOT FIT IN PACK and making the weights accurate. If you give them ownership as well and any attempt to move them is seen as theft and Barrelmancy is done.
And if not that, at least I would like to hear why they think its a valid system. What does this add to the game to have a player be able to carry 3-4 oil barrels in a backpack and throw them around and explode them? What is the justification?
