Arrows Usable Once Only?

[Danceofmasks]

If you played 3.5e, it wasn't (really) a houserule.
Arrows were destroyed on a hit, and 50% of being destroyed on a miss.
Being able to recover half is just cutting corners rather than rolling for each one.

 

[Tuft]

I suspect that in a more self-sufficient society than in our "just-buy-some-new" one, you would simply carry lot of spare arrow shafts and some waxed thread, and then re-use the arrowhead and the fletching of any broken, bent, or so-stuck-you-have-to-break-it arrows.


And, the fact that you need a gazillion arrows is purely an artifact of the hit point system. The fact that you need lots of hits instead of merely a single real good one to kill something means that any ammo-counting gets seriously out of whack. So, if you can accept HP because it makes a better game, then you can simply handwave ammo...

 

[n'haaz-aua]

In 3e, you could simply craft arrows every time you rested, effectively repairing or creating new ones from supplies. It resulted in a standard operating procedure and no more counting mundane (or at high level, even MW) arrows.

In 4e, all knowledge of crafting is lost so I refer to the 4e mantra, "When deciding whether to follow the spirit or the letter of the rules, pick the one that's going to result in the most fun. Consistency is important, but not nearly as important as fun. "

 

[Larrin]

Keeping track of ammo is tiresome. Period. Consdier a ranger with alot of his multi-firing of arrows, etc. Thrown weapons (knives, hammer, hatchets) sure, you've got 6, you can throw 6 per encounter, but it should be assumed that you'll pick them up afterwards. if you have 30 arrows, you won't run out in one encounter (usually) but you certainly in one dungeon (!) so you'll forever be saying things like "I look for arrows from the enemy" "I look for arrows in the barrel" "can we go back and get some arrows?" "I try to make more arrows out of the goblins spear handle". WHEEEEEEEE! its like running out of spells all over again. Make them buy 60 arrows, and auto assume that they will a)loot all availible arrows b) repair/make some during downtime c) only has 30 arrows during any given encounter (perhaps more at higher levels) and quite frankly you can suspend disbelief enough to not force bookkeeping on the poor archer.

 

[Incenjucar]

I see two options.

1) Everfull Quiver/Bolt Case/Etc

2) Ammo-Producing Ritual

I would just go with the Quiver because honestly ammo is incredibly boring 99.99999% of the time.

 

[renau1g]

As almost all the posters have said, I assume that players spend some gold on it in town between adventures. It super-sucks to tick off ammo, so all our characters have everfull quivers (& they just pay a gp or 2 after every treasure haul).

Except magic ammo of-course.

 

[Foxman]

If you played 3.5e, it wasn't (really) a houserule.
Arrows were destroyed on a hit, and 50% of being destroyed on a miss.
Being able to recover half is just cutting corners rather than rolling for each one.

In my 3.5 game we simplified the rule. Rather than track if they hit or missed and rolling if they missed, you could recover arrows for 25% of the time (hit or miss).

So keep track of how many arrows you fire and you get back 1 out of every 4 (round down). My players had an option of takeing that or rolling for each arrow. At levels 1-3 they rolled, after that they just took the 1 in 4.

We use that rule still in 4.0.

Oh and once a magic arrow was fired it was no longer magical.

 

[Fkewl]

as DM, i allow

Perception checks to recover missed arrows (if terrain allows) and Nature checks to pluck them out of bodies
(20+ on the checks lets you gets about 50% of the arrows)

Bigger or metal thrown weapons are recovered from bodies automatically

Depending on terrain, perception checks to recover heavy or metal weaps that missed and have good range like spears
(same thing, 20+ gets you some)

 

[Lackhand]

In 3e, you could simply craft arrows every time you rested, effectively repairing or creating new ones from supplies. It resulted in a standard operating procedure and no more counting mundane (or at high level, even MW) arrows.

In 4e, all knowledge of crafting is lost so I refer to the 4e mantra, "When deciding whether to follow the spirit or the letter of the rules, pick the one that's going to result in the most fun. Consistency is important, but not nearly as important as fun. "

That's actually a pretty good idea. Anyone with proficiency in X has the barebones knowledge to keep X operating. To whit: armor proficiency conveys enough knowledge to knock dents out, scavenge replacement buckles, and rivet. Weapon proficiency teaches you how to hone the edge, balance, and care for a sword.
Bow proficiency tells you how to fletch arrows.

 

[Starfox]

Keep track of arrows? No way! Bookkeeping is a bore!

Also, it helps me with suspension of disbelief not to track arrows. A ranger running around with 2000 arrows is silly. A ranger running around with a singe quiver of arrows, which never runs out because you simply don't track it, is not silly.

Of course, your take can vary from this.