D&D General Do you track ammunition?

[the Jester]

Yes, as a player. And I have my players track ammo as a DM.

Ranged combat, especially post-2e, is basically superior to melee combat- there is almost no drawback to it. Limited ammunition is a very meager downside, IMHO.

 

[pukunui]

Not generally, no. Same with rations and stuff.

 

[kayakingpoodle]

The games I play in unless it's magical which are always tracked, pc's are expected to collect reusable ammo after encounters, and replenish when they have the opportunity, don't and the DM will tell you when you run out almost always at the most inopportune moment possible. It usually goes something like:
PC- "I attack the BBEG with my long bow"
DM- "When was the last time you bought or collected arrows?"
PC- Blankstare and stammering
DM- "You're out of arrows, try something else."

So I'd say regular ammo is loosely tracked, but can be very important to consider replenishing.

 

[cranberry]

No, I let the players track their ammunition, and any other consumables.

If you can't trust your players to do it, there are deeper issues to deal with.

 

[CleverNickName]

Yep, we track ammunition...and spell components, healing kit uses, food (and food for mounts), all that stuff. I learned quickly that if I don't track these things, the characters are swimming in gold by 8th level and the game economics collapse.

Roll20 automatically tracks ammo (we use an API script). It's still pretty funny when a player has been spamming their attack button for several rounds, not paying attention to the number in their "AMMO" box, when suddenly all their rolls come back with big red zeros.

"Hey, something's wrong with my longbow. I keep clicking it and--oh. Oh no...."

 

[MerricB]

No, I let the players track their ammunition, and any other consumables.

If you can't trust your players to do it, there are deeper issues to deal with.

Funny how you read it as the DM tracking ammunition...

It's a legitimate reading, though my intention was asking about you as a player.

(Shows how some of us are very much forever DMs!)

 

[User51]

I do as a player, but I don't require it as a DM. I kind of wish I did, but it seems like a cheap shot to me to remind players only when they reach for the bow that they are out of ammo. It's the kind of thing you'd expect to be top of mind for an archer. So, unless I'm willing to ride the players to track it, I don't feel right telling them they're out just before combat.

 

[jgsugden]

Usually: Food, ammo, water, etc... are tracked, but there are a lot of magics floating around in my setting that make them irrelevant. The net effect of this is that it becomes a concern at low levels only. The primary advantage of this is that it gives the feeling of accomplishment when they don't "need to worry" about these things anymore - giving them a feeling of stepping up in the world around level 3 or 4.

However, with certain groups, I never ask about any of it because the players are going to have a negative reaction to tracking information at this level.

 

[Lanefan]

I track it as a player. As a DM I rarely if ever have to as the opponents don't usually last long enough for it to matter.

 

[MerricB]

I track it as a player. As a DM I rarely if ever have to as the opponents don't usually last long enough for it to matter.

Our poor monsters!