This is a problem that has been plaguing me since i started the game. I'm not free to choose the companions i want to add to the party because apparently i can't carry the weight of my own inventory (even if it's basically empty!). Only certain characters combinations are allowed, otherwise the game won't let me even exit the map i'm currently in. So far i "solved" this ANNOYING problem by always bringing Ekundayo with me, because his wolf companion Okubo is considered a member of the party and has very high strenght and no inventory, and that allows my party to carry a lot of weight and overcome the weight problem (or at least i think that's the reason).

HOWEVER i've now received the "Return of the King" quest from Nok-Nok, which asks me to go to the goblin's camp with only me and Nok-Nok in the party. Problem is... I CAN'T DO IT. Why? Because "you can't travel because of excessive weight". I tried to empty my inventory and even remove all equipment from both me and Nok-Nok but to no avail. The game won't allow me to travel with just me and Nok-Nok, but if i bring the whole party i can't do the quest because the goblins won't show up unless it's just me and Nok-Nok.

So... what do i do? Is there any trick i can use to complete the quest, or i have no choice but to let it fail? And in general, is there any way to free myself from this dumb weight mechanic? Because it's very, VERY annoying.

Some ways to deal with weight:

1. Get bags of holding. Bags of holding have *negative* weight, allowing you to carry ore other items than if you didn't have that bag of holding.

2. Increase your strength. Equipment that boosts strength is useful, and I think casting a spell to boost strength temporarily might also help. Carrying capacity, I believe, increases exponentially with strength, so the strength boosts are best given to the higher strength character if you have to make a choice.

3. Give your main character an animal companion. Since you've already started, you may need to enable character retrain of playing on a difficulty that doesn't allow it (this will change the difficulty to "custom"), then there's an NPC you can talk to to do this. As for what class I recommend here:
* Druid is great if you don't want to step on the toes of any of your companions. I have soloed much of Beneath the Stolen Lands with one. As for archetype, if not soloing I'd go with Defender of the True World, particularly since that archetype is good in this game but not Wrath of the Righteous. (If soloing, the choice is Feyspeaker because you will need Greater Heroism later on.)
* Ranger is a good option if you want a martial focused main character; just remember to take the Boon Companion feat when it's available so that your animal companion scales with your full level rather than level - 3. (You also need to be at least 4th level to get the animal companion.)
* If you'd rather be an arcane caster, there's the Sylvan Sorcerer. The game has been soloed with this class, I believe even on high difficulty.
* There's also the option of playing a cleric with the Animal domain (again, take Boon Companion).
* For the animal companion, I happen to really like the Smilodon, which is the best choice for raw damage.

If you're comfortable with mods (and if not, there are plenty of guides), download and install the most recent "Bag of Tricks" and you can adjust weight carrying by whatever multiplier your heart desires...along with a multitude of other quality of life tweaks that made this game playable for me

I've already gotten the 25.000 gold pieces bag of holding you can buy from a merchant in the capital, plus two minor ones that i've found while exploring the world (don't remember exactly when or how i got them though). I also equipped +Strenght items to buff my characters inventory carrying capacity. And this works fine when i have the full party, the problem is that the game apparently expects me to carry the full weight of six people even when only two are present for some reason. As i said, even when i put ALL my stuff (like scrolls, books, potions, coocking materials, quest items, ecc.) and ALL my equipment (so me and Nok-Nok are basically "naked" only wearing our pants and shirts) in my personal chest , the game still says that i'm carrying some 900+ libs and thus doesn't allow me to move. Since my inventory is empty, the only explanation i can think of is that it's counting Valerie's and the other characters equipped items as well to determine the total weight even if they are not in the party. I haven't tried to remove ALL equipment from ALL characters yet because it seemed dumb (and also i would have trouble remembering what belonged to whom) but i might have to try. The only other thing i haven't tried yet is to use potions/spells to temporarily increase my strenght and try to "trick" the game into letting me go, so i'm gonna try that first.
I'll keep the retraining option in mind, but it seems very dumb that you are not allowed to play the game effectively unless you pick specific character options, expecially because the game never warns you of that. It would be extremely bad design if that's the case, IMO.

Anyway, i'll try some more and let you know how it went. Oh? That sound interesting. I'll try to look into it if i don't find other solutions (i prefer not to use mods unless i have to). Thanks for the tip.

UPDATE

Ok, i found the solution. Quite the simple one, actually. The source of the problem was the one thing i didn't think of removing from the inventory... THE RATIONS. Turns out they weighted a ton, so once i put those away the 900 extra libs disappeared and i could move out of the map and complete the quest. Now i feel stupid, didn't think food could weight that much. Anyway, problem solved. Thanks for the suggestions anyway, i appreciated it. ^^