  The optical and optical/near-infrared pseudo-bolometric light curves of 85
stripped-envelope supernovae (SNe) are constructed using a consistent method
and a standard cosmology. The light curves are analysed to derive temporal
characteristics and peak luminosity $L_{\mathrm{p}}$, enabling the construction
of a luminosity function. Subsequently, the mass of $^{56}$Ni synthesised in
the explosion, along with the ratio of ejecta mass to ejecta kinetic energy,
are found. Analysis shows that host-galaxy extinction is an important factor in
accurately determining luminosity values as it is significantly greater than
Galactic extinction in most cases. It is found that broad-lined SNe~Ic
(SNe~Ic-BL) and gamma-ray burst SNe are the most luminous subtypes with a
combined median $L_{\mathrm{p}}$, in erg s$^{-1}$, of
log($L_{\mathrm{p}})=43.00$ compared to $42.51$ for SNe Ic, $42.50$ for SNe~Ib,
and $42.36$ for SNe~IIb. It is also found that SNe~Ic-BL synthesise
approximately twice the amount of $^{56}$Ni compared with SNe~Ic, Ib, and IIb,
with median $M_{\mathrm{Ni}} = 0.34$, 0.16, 0.14, and 0.11 M$_{\odot}$,
respectively. SNe~Ic-BL, and to a lesser extent SNe~Ic, typically rise from
$L_{\mathrm{p}}/2$ to $L_{\mathrm{p}}$ more quickly than SNe~Ib/IIb;
consequently, their light curves are not as broad.
