TomeNET

(3.2a) The encumberment bar                                                     
---------------------------
Between AU and the mini lag-o-meter is a line indicating if you are encumbered
in any way. This line is blank by default, but may start to show little
coloured icons if your character becomes overburdened in some way.

If you are new to the game, you can skip the rest of this chapter for now,
as long as your encumberment bar doesn't show any icons in it, and continue
reading at (3.3) down below.

This line consists of the following icons that may show up:
(Order: From left to right; program code 'nicknames' added in parentheses)
    Brown (        Your armour is too heavy (tohit/sneakiness penalty).
                   (cumber_armor)
    Red /          Your weapon is way too heavy for you.
                   (heavy_wield)
    Red \          Your tool is way too heavy for you.
                   (heavy_tool)
                   You will receive extreme penalties on melee combat.
    Orange \       Your weapon isn't fit for your character (e.g. priest
                   using edged non-blessed weapons such as swords, vampires
                   or hell knights using blessed weapons in turn).
                   You'll receive a big penalty on hit chance and damage
                   and an increase to spell casting failure rate.
                   An orange warning message will display:
                   "You do not feel comfortable with your weapon."
                   (icky_wield)
    Yellow /       You are using a 1,5-h weapon together with a shield.
                   This is possible, but you will receive a penalty on
                   hit chance and damage.
                   (awkward_wield)
    Green |        You are using a 1h weapon two-handed and get a small
                   bonus from that (works only for some of the weapons).
                   (easy_wield)
    Red [          Your shield is way too heavy for you.
                   You will receive extreme penalties on block chance.
                   (heavy_shield)
    Red }          Your ranged weapon is way too heavy for you.
                   You will receive extreme penalties on ranged combat.
                   (heavy_shoot)
    Yellow }       You are using a shield on your arm, reducing your
                   accuracy with your ranged weapon.
                   (awkward_shoot)
    Light-red 'F'  You are Martial Arts user and your backpack is too
                   heavy, so that you don't receive Free Action from MA!
                   See (5.3a) for more detailed information.
                   (cumber_weight)
    Yellow (       You are Martial Arts user and your armour is too heavy.
                   You might receive various penalties (see (5.3a)).
                   NOTE: Up to client version 4.4.2 this can stand for both,
                   the meaning described above and the meaning of 'Blue ('
                   described below. Starting with 4.4.2a, these two were
                   separated into yellow and blue '(' icon.
                   (monk_heavyarmor)
    Blue (         You're a rogue or using primarily rogueish skills such
                   as dodging or Dual-wield which depend on especially
                   flexible armour (meaning: Your total armour weight must not
                   be too high), but your armour is exceeding that limit!
                   You will lose some of the benefits, see (5.5)!
                   (rogue_heavyarmor)
    Violet (       Your armour is so heavy that it reduces your MP.
                   This only affects classes that have a mana pool.
                   (awkward_armor)
    Violet ]    a) Your gloves are not made for spellcasting or too heavy,
                   reducing your MP.
                   (cumber_glove)
                b) Your headgear is too heavy, impacting your ability to cast
                   mindcrafter school spells, reducing your MP. Only affects
                   characters who have trained in one or more of the
                   mindcrafter schools.
                   (cumber_helm)

Also see (5.3a) and especially (5.5) for more information about encumberment,
and for specific details about penalties that are applied.