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

[Charlaquin]

No option for "Yes, but they will have infinite weight as well, so they will create black holes that destroy the planets they are on, and threaten the multi-verse itself?"

Assuming you meant infinite mass, interestingly you'd have a sort of reverse black hole. A normal black hole has finite mass in and infinitessimal space, therefore infinite density. A quiver of infinite arrows would have infinite mass in a finite space, so still infinite density, but coming at it from the opposite direction. That would be a bigger problem than a black hole though, because a black hole's finite mass means finite gravity, and therefore a limited area of gravitational influence. With the quiver's infinite mass, it would have infinite gravity, so everything would be attracted to it with infinite force. So, the whole universe would begin collapsing on that point at the speed of light.

 

[abirdcall]

Yes, but I think it's pretty clear they meant infinite mass.

I also thought it was pretty clear they were being cheeky so I responded in kind.

 

[Charlaquin]

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!

In my opinion, managing limited resources is vital (for me; anyone else is free to do what they like in their own games), but tracking individual arrows is not.

My preference is abstract resource dice. So, for example, a quiver could have a die representing the number of arrows in it, say a d10. Whenever you shoot a bow using an arrow from the quiver, roll the die. On a 1, reduce the die by one size category. When you roll a 1 on a d4, you run out of arrows. This represents the number of arrows in the quiver slowly dwindling over time, and gives you a sense of roughly how many are remaining, without the minutia of tracking each individual arrow. The fact that you might run out quickly with a string of 1s, or get lucky and have the quiver last an unexpectedly long time, represents the recovering of some number of arrows after combat, without having to determine exactly how many got lost or broken.

You could do this for basically any consumable. Instead of tracking rations and water, you could have a "supply die" that ticks down in the same way. Light sources could have a fuel die that you roll to tick down every 10 minutes or whatever. The possibilities are endless.

 

[Charlaquin]

I also thought it was pretty clear they were being cheeky so I responded in kind.

I was meaning for my response to be in the same spirit, but I guess I didn't express that clearly.

 

[Kurotowa]

No, because we're getting Hank's Energy Bow, and that's the "forget about tracking arrows" item.

 

[CleverNickName]

This is pretty low on my list of things to worry about, but my two coppers:

1) the DMG probably has such an item, because of course it would
2) even so, I probably won't use it

 

[Micah Sweet]

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!

Well it's important to me, but admittedly plenty of folks feel otherwise.

Given that other opinions apparent vehemence, and WotC's desire to go with the wind of apparent popularity, I would not be surprised at all to see an infinite quiver in the DMG.

 

[Quickleaf]

But are the arrows magical or aren't they?

If I turn the quiver upside down can I pincushion besieging hobgoblins on a ladder? Or provision my entire militia of seventy-seven longbowmen?

If I trick a thief into sticking their hand in the quiver do they prick their finger on one arrow or on an infinite number of arrows?

What happens if I put a magic arrow in the quiver? What about a quiche lorraine?

One does not merely place an infinite quiver in Mordor...

 

[Micah Sweet]

But are the arrows magical or aren't they?

If I turn the quiver upside down can I pincushion besieging hobgoblins on a ladder? Or provision my entire militia of seventy-seven longbowmen?

If I trick a thief into sticking their hand in the quiver do they prick their finger on one arrow or on an infinite number of arrows?

What happens if I put a magic arrow in the quiver? What about a quiche lorraine?

One does not merely place an infinite quiver in Mordor...

On a related note, I miss the classic Decanter of Endless Water (or would if I let WotC's current game make all my fantasy gaming decisions). You can't leave it turned on anymore!

 

[I'm A Banana]

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.

An infinite quiver as a magic item makes a lot of sense, but it'd only really be valuable to the first group (and it'd be worth an Uncommon ranking so that it wasn't commonly available, and maybe have a chance of not working to add some tension to it). The second group is just going to waive the need to track arrows entirely from the get-go, making an infinite quiver a fairly redundant item that provides no real benefit.

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.

That said, even tough D&D24 leans into monster fighting and storytelling a bit more than dungeon survival and emergent gameplay (light is a cantrip, after all), I wouldn't be surprised to find an infinite quiver in there. And it will be useless in campaigns that don't track arrows. And campaigns that DO track arrows might just not hand it out. So I don't imagine it will see much use in practice, if it's in there.