Dragon Carrying Capacity

arrying capacity – up to 10% body weight without loss of speed. Beyond that, each 1% of additional of their body weight costs 5% loss of speed. A dragon cannot fly while carrying beyond 20% of their body weight. For instance, a 5 hit point dragon weighs about 100 pounds, so could carry 10 pounds without affecting flight, would slow for each 1 pound after that, and could not fly carrying more than 20 pounds.

Dragons can walk carrying weight up to 30% of body weight, then loses 5% movement up to 40% for each additional 1%, cannot move beyond that (except for very short distances, basically a feat of strength that is exhausting).

This chart shows the weight of typical dragon, based on hit points. A fully grown dragon can be assumed to be about 4.2 feet long per hit die; younger dragons would be proportionately smaller.

While there is a rule about how flying creatures must land if damaged for more than 50% of their hit points, and will crash if they are damaged beyond 75% of their hit points, I have decided not to reduce carrying capacity based on damage taken; mostly because there is no equivalent system or rule for ground based creatures, and it would add more complication to an already complicated subject.