Meanwhile my fighter has 18 strength and is encumbered by the items he got from character creation... I don't think 5e did a very good job with encumbrance. There is a reason most people ignore it.
Yup. When I used to run 5e I made my own homebrew encumbrance system that worked way better then read PF2 rules and got annoyed because this character concept is viable in PF2 and it has an encumbrance system that actually works.
There's held items, stored items, and worn items. Held and worn can be easily accessed but count against your bulk limit. Stored items (in your backpack) count against your bulk less so you can carry more but take longer to access in battle. So if you're strong enough you can literally wear your entire weapon arsenal just like this meme since there's no limit to worn items as long as it's not above your max bulk lol
(Bulk is an abstracted form of weight that makes encumbrance easier to track)
Alright, PF2 rant done. Seeing your frustrations with 5e bulk reminded me of my own when I still ran that system lol
Sounds similar to the system they use in WFRP 4e. Also a system that is very elegant and far better than the system used in DnD 5e. Similarly to PF2e (as far as I gather with a brief search) items are assigned a value between 1-3 and players usually have a carry value of around 6 to begin. Any item that is worn gets -1 and items in backpacks/containers do not count towards the limit (but they have weight/bulk/encumbrance points themselves).
Bulk/weight/encumbrance in other systems is handled well and makes it so equipment choices matter more and the players choices have more impact on the game, while not being terribly designed so it feels like a chore (aka 5e)