Everything carried or equipped is shared by all in the party. For items on a character, that character carries most of the load but not all. For the general inventory, everyone shares the load in proportion to strength.
Also, as Teddy pointed out, number of items isn't as important as how much they weigh. If you carry a lot of ammo, that can add up fast to a lot of encumbrance. Same for armor. Check the weights of individual equipped items and see if you can come up with the reason. And if you do have that silver nugget, stash it somewhere because it weighs a lot.
Nightowl2
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