Encumbrance (Oblivion)

Encumbrance is the term given to the amount of weight the player is carrying. The total amount of weight the player can carry and is governed by the strength attribute.

How it Works
The characters encumbrance limit is equal to five times their strength attribute. You are free to carry anything up to that weight limit without penalty, but any amount beyond that limit results in being "Over encumbered," at which point you are instantly rooted to the spot until that is no longer the case.

Raising Your Encumbrance Limit
The easiest immediate solution to being over encumbered is to simply drop something heavy. Another, more agreeable permanent solution is to raise the character's strength score when leveling up. Unlike health, ones encumbrance limit does not automatically increase with level.

As a temporary fix, using a spell or potion of feather, or any method of raising your charaters strength, will increase your encumbrance limit. As feather spells frequently last a very long time, it is entirely possible to recast it every time it wears out, or to give some item a permanent feather enchantment.

Lowering Encumbrance
There are some monsters (such as Zombies) with attacks that can either directly or indirectly lower a character's strength score, thus artificially lowering the encumbrance limit of their victim. This is usually a minor concern for pure melee characters but a dire threat to almost every other character archetype. It is advisable for a player to plan ahead for such a possibility, either by preparing spells and items to counter the problem or by scouting for such foes cautiously and insuring that one has 'spare' carrying capacity available in an emergency.

The burden spell is the opposite of feather- it directly affects encumbrance limit in a negative direction. Dispell as necessary.