Does anybody know what (5) means?

[Andor]

The listing for shiruken in the equipment section says: Shiruken(5)

What the heck does that mean? I can't find an explanation for it? My GM thought that meant I could throw 5 at a times, which would be better than my dailys.... I thought it might mean they come in batches of 5?

Gah. Bad editing WOTC!

 

[JPL]

The listing for shiruken in the equipment section says: Shiruken(5)

What the heck does that mean? I can't find an explanation for it? My GM thought that meant I could throw 5 at a times, which would be better than my dailys.... I thought it might mean they come in batches of 5?

Gah. Bad editing WOTC!

You buy five at a time.

 

[Yaezakura]

Shuriken (5) means that the listed cost (1 gp) pays for 5 shurikens.

Early on, if Shurikens are your primary method of ranged attack, you'll need several. They don't get used up like arrows/bolt/sling stones, but you'd have to move to where they fell and pick them up again to use them. So, they come in bundles.

 

[Nifft]

Early on, if Shurikens are your primary method of ranged attack, you'll need several. They don't get used up like arrows/bolt/sling stones, but you'd have to move to where they fell and pick them up again to use them. So, they come in bundles.

Arrows get used up?

, -- N

 

[Yaezakura]

Arrows get used up?

, -- N

I'm... honestly not sure if you're being serious or not. ^_^ But just in case, to quote page 221 of the PHB:

Ammunition: Arrows come in a quiver that holds thirty, crossbow bolts come in a case that holds twenty, and sling bullets come in a pouch that holds twenty. Ammunition is used up when you fire it from a projectile weapon.

 

[Nifft]

I'm... honestly not sure if you're being serious or not. ^_^ But just in case, to quote page 221 of the PHB:

Ah ha! Thank you.

I'd looked for ammo prices, but only under "Ranged Weapons" (where it used to be in 3e), and not finding any arrow prices there, went on to assume that 4e just didn't track such piddly little things.

Thanks, -- N

 

[Nail]

I'd looked for ammo prices, but only under "Ranged Weapons" (where it used to be in 3e), and not finding any arrow prices there, went on to assume that 4e just didn't track such piddly little things.

Me too. Hrrrmmmmm......

 

[Kingskin]

Must be pretty flimsy arrows if you can't retrieve them while you're cutting off fingers to get at wedding rings and prising gold teeth from their jaws (I mean 'searching the corpses').

Fletchers must be raking it in under 4th Ed. I expect the other unions will start petitioning the rules board soon. Don't be suprised if the next dungeon you visit is only half-built because the labourers are on work to rule.

 

[Yaezakura]

Must be pretty flimsy arrows if you can't retrieve them while you're cutting off fingers to get at wedding rings and prising gold teeth from their jaws (I mean 'searching the corpses').

Arrows are thin shafts of wood, after all. In olden times, they didn't have aluminum alloy arrows with composite steel heads.

If you miss, an arrow's probably gonna hit a wall or the floor and shatter on impact. If you hit, the enemy will likely snap the arrow to keep the shaft from interfering with the rest of the fight (pulling arrows out is very difficult because of their flared heads). Even if the arrow kills, there's a chance it's head was chipped by hitting bone, or the shaft or fletching was damaged by the falling enemy.

If the DM wants to rule arrow recovery is possible, that's fine. But it's extra bookkeeping, over items that are individually pretty worthless. It's much easier to just track how many you fired and buy more when you next visit town.

 

[Staffan]

Fletchers must be raking it in under 4th Ed. I expect the other unions will start petitioning the rules board soon. Don't be suprised if the next dungeon you visit is only half-built because the labourers are on work to rule.

That was pretty much true in 3e as well, though the rule there was that a miss had a 50% chance of destroying the ammo, and a hit automatically did. And that's just bothersome to keep track of.

And your last point reminds me of a dungeon adventure in a Swedish RPG magazine, where the Big Treasure at the end was a chest with like 100 gp and a note saying "Sorry, I spent all my money building this dungeon, so there wasn't anything left."