How many arrows does your PC carry? And who keeps count?

[Ruined]

In the Black Company game I play in, I keep track of my arrow count. Typically I'm carrying 30 arrows on me. I enjoy keeping track of the little things, since I have so much less to worry with than when I'm running a campaign.

Oddly enough, I handwave it for the ranger in my group. I'll ask him tonight if he would rather we keep better track of it. He just got some arrows with the Exit Wound enchantment out of Complete Adventurer. It'll be interesting to see how those do.

 

[sniffles]

We don't usually keep track, unless we are in a situation where ammunition would be difficult to obtain. Then we assume that 50% of arrows fired are broken and the rest are retrieved - like Claudio says, we assume the PCs remember to get their arrows even if the players forget to mention it.

 

[Harmon]

My single archer carries two Quivers of Ehlonna (house ruled to carry 100 arrows), in his Handy Haver Sack he carries (usually) a hundred more- total about 300. Its his primary weapon and he has gotten to within a dozen of being out completely out of arrows.

Oh, and I keep track, though I think the other Players do not.

 

[Sejs]

In the field I make my players keep track of non-magical ammo. Likewise, I have a note on my DM crib sheet on how many that player has said they normally carry. Whenever the party hits a town or other outpost of civilization I just assume they top off whatever arrows they're down, lumping it into the same kind of maintenance actions that get glossed over such as replacing ripped ring of mail and buying new socks. When they get some downtime I'll do a quick estimate in my head and tell them to mark off so much money for misc. expenses. Slings have enjoyed a small renaissance in my games due to the fact that it's pretty easy to restock ammo for one, and they're perfect for hunting small game. Better to save your arrows for a situation where you might need them and just brain that bunny rabbit with a sling stone.


As a player, my current character in my friend's campaign carries a single quiver of 25 arrows. Archery isn't his main focus, but as a fighter he knows how to use one and, well, better to be prepared that not. Adventuring's dangerous work, after all.

 

[Schayde]

Actually, arrows can become an issue at higher levels. A standard quiver hold 20 arrows. A 16th level archer with Rapid Shot and a Speed Bow is shooting 6 arrows a round. So every 4th round he's either refilling a quiver or pulling another full one from his Bag of Holding.

 

[rowport]

Our group does not keep track of arrows, but we have not had a true archer character yet, either. I think if we added one, it would be more important. I also agree with the idea that in some environments it would be much harder to replace arrows, so keeping track makes sense.

The toothpick idea is really cool- easy, but with a side-benefit of nifty props.

 

[KB9JMQ]

We keep track of specialty arrows/bolts.
Normal ammo we are a little more lax on but do say that 50 % of all used are destroyed.
I always make sure they purchase more when available just so I know the last time the restocked.

 

[Dagger75]

When I play I keep track of Ammo, food and what not. I have a friend who loves to plays archers. He likes keeping track of his ammo cause he hates running out. Which does happen when you play a 15th level Arcane Archer with every god forsaken archer feat.

 

[ARandomGod]

I always keep track of them. It's important to know in case you run out, which can really happen in higher levels when you're shooting three or four arrows a round.

I force my players to keep track of them. If they don't ask about retrieving arrows that didn't hit, I don't remind them.

Of course, what about arrows that do hit and are destroyed? Not all arrows that hit survive the battle.

For arrow recovery I don't even ask the GM. And I don't roll... I just take the average. And at 50% that means that every other one is "recovered".

As for how many I carry. I have 30 normal arrows, 20 silver, 20 cold iron, and 20 adamantine. The normal one's are in a normal quiver, the "special" ones are in my efficient quiver. I do sometimes in long battles run out of normal arrows, and have to dip into my special arrows. The special arrows, obviously, run out faster.

I've additionally taken ranks in "Craft: boyer/fletcher" so that in games where I'm extended away from a source of bought arrows I can make/repair new arrows. For the expensive arrowheads, I've gotten an eternal light spell cast on each one, to sigificantly reduce arrows being lost...

 

[Arnwyn]

I force my players to keep track of them. If they don't ask about retrieving arrows that didn't hit, I don't remind them.

That explains how I do it. Exactly.

Every time they shoot a missile of some sort, they are expected to remove/record it on their character sheet. We go one step further - we know not only how many arrows each character has, but how many are in the quiver (the ones available for battle) and how many are in the backpack (surplus for replenishing the quiver).

We take record-keeping seriously. (Others may not like that - but I don't give two poops about "others" - only me and my players.)