Easy Way to Manage Arrows in Dnd Beyond

• #1

In every edition of D&D I have run or played in at the end of basically every battle the missile weapons users look to the DM and say, I look around and retrieve any arrows I can to replenish my quiver (replace arrows with sling bullets, darts, etc as applicable - but let's stick with the most common, arrows/bolts, for the example).

How do you handle this?

Note: If your answer is "to not keep track of ammo" keep it to yourself, that is not what I am interested in.

For my part I have spent 35ish years of running D&D just kinda fudging this.

Sometimes the results are easy, if arrows were being shot off a boat or at a target at the edge of a cliff, then they're probably all lost.

But in a dungeon room or forest clearing, I might respond with my own question: How many did you fire? And then decide what makes sense ad hoc. So if I PC fired 12 arrows in some large shadowy dungeon chamber I might say they get back half + 1d6-1 (so you are always gonna lose at least one, but never more than half). If something in the environment makes it seem more likely arrows would be lost or broken I'd tweak the numbers down (maybe 1/4 + 1d8-1 in the example above) or tweak them up if for some reason I think the opposite. Sometime I just say half.

But as you can maybe tell, these are made up numbers meant to let them get something back and move on. So I am not necessarily looking for a "right way" to do to this (though I will eagerly read other people's approach to see if there is one I like better) but am interested in hearing how people cover what to me is a very common D&D experience that I have never come across (that I can remember) rules for handling.

So what do you do?

• #2

I think the game says that you can recover half of your expended arrows so I just do that. There would be exceptions like your example of shooting off a boat in which case none get recovered.

Last edited: Mar 22, 2021

• #3

If the party has access to Mending (and most seem to) then I let them recover all arrows or bolts as long as they weren't shot somewhere inaccessible.

• #4

I think the game says that you can recover half of your expenses arrows so I just do that. There would be exceptions like your example of shooting off a boat in which case none get recovered.

5E states this. I don't remember the rest.

• #6

I think the game says that you can recover half of your expenses arrows so I just do that. There would be exceptions like your example of shooting off a boat in which case none get recovered.

50% is what we do as well. Subject to circumstances (Aerial battle for example).

Last edited: Mar 22, 2021

• #8

IIRC, the 50% round down rule of 5E is a streamlined version of a 3E rule. I think in that one each fired arrow or quarrel had a 50% chance to be recoverable, unless circumstances specified otherwise (like a battle high in the air, or over a lava field or something).

• #11

Anyone got a page number for where the 50% rule is (any edition)? Thanks

• #16

I have seen those kinds of dice systems before for ammo but not sure why remembering which die you're on (or marking it down, especially when it may not change for several sessions if you're lucky) is any easier than a tick mark next to "Arrows (24)" on your sheet or whatever.

crothersnuied1997.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.enworld.org/threads/retrieving-arrows-after-a-combat.679025/

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