D&D (2024) Poll) Will the DMG2024 have Infinite Quivers?

[abirdcall]

Wait, does the sun weigh nothing?

How much does a person weigh in space? For us weight is a measurement of the Earth's force of gravity pulling on us towards the Earth.

Fun fact: Your weight will change depending both on how close you are to the equator and how high above sea level you are.

 

[aco175]

We play that all quivers are endless, only requiring 2gp every time the PCs enter a town.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

Yeah, I don't think this is really a necessary item. A lot of people don't bother tracking arrows in the first place, so the item would be pointless. And for games where number of arrows matter, sidestepping that part of the gameplay with a magic item doesn't seem like a good idea. And of course if one disagrees, it's is super easy magic item to implement regardless.

Personally I like some resource management, but arrows I just can't be bothered with. It is pretty trivial to bring enough and visit towns often enough that in practice you'll never run out, so it is just a waste of time.

 

[KYRON45]

Be careful! It's only a matter of time before the resource management crowd comes in and proclaim that counting and keeping track of arrows is vital to the feeling of D&D!

I barely track HP.

 

[Charlaquin]

Wait, does the sun weigh nothing?

Kind of? I mean, the sun has mass - about 1.989 x10^30 kilograms, or 333000 times the mass of Earth. How much all that mass “weighs” depends on the force of gravity acting on it. Weight as we’re used to thinking of it is only really a meaningful concept while on the surface of a solid body like a planet or moon.

 

[CleverNickName]

Weight vs. Mass is a classic physics problem in high school.

"How many pounds are in a kilogram?" is a trick question, and my brain still tingles every time I see it.

 

[Nikosandros]

Weight vs. Mass is a classic physics problem in high school.

"How many pounds are in a kilogram?" is a trick question, and my brain still tingles every time I see it.

Why is it a trick question? The pound is a unit of mass, like the kilogram. You can then use pound-force and kilogram-force as a unit of weight on Earth and, of course, in common usage, weight and mass (being directly proportional) are mixed and sometimes people mean weight (will I be able to stand on the chair?) and sometimes mass (how much meat am I buying?).

 

[CleverNickName]

Why is it a trick question?

It's a trick question because you first need to determine if you've been given pounds as force, or pounds as mass. It's not always as simple as plug-and-chug through the conversion equation. It's not difficult, it just tries to trick you.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

It's a trick question because you first need to determine if you've been given pounds as force, or pounds as mass.

I'd rather have them as cash.

 

[Li Shenron]

Arrow tracking matters if your D&D game is about dungeon survival or emergent gameplay.

Arrow tracking doesn't matter if your D&D game is about monster fighting or storytelling, though.
...


Patching one kind of game into another kind of game via magic items is not a great idea. Better just to discuss resource management in general in the DMG and let groups decide for themselves for a particular adventure if they care about it or not.

Absolutely true... and I really don't get it why it is so difficult to understand by the gamebase majority as well as the designers... D&D after 50 years and countless editions has grown into a multitude of games, it is played very differently at different tables, and each table has its own style, at that means a series of topics independently.

So why is it so difficult for designers to present the game (PHB+DMG) more clearly as a toolkit where a lot of things are optional, instead of trying to set a default?

The game is full of stuff that the group has to decide, do we want to track this? Ammunitions, food/water, light sources, minor mundane tools, weight and encumbrance, spells components... it is even possible to decide not to keep track of gp!

But then they put spells or magic items that work as an "off-switch" for the whole thing. I am not sure these kinds of items are actually useful for almost anyone: those who aren't tracking ammunition don't need a magic item that provides endless ammunition, and to those who are tracking ammunition because they think it's fun, the item will take the fun away.