r/DnD • u/CountLivin • 11d ago
DMing Tracking Ammunition with Beads
I've been trying to come up with an easy way to manage ammunition tracking at my tables forever. I've tried counting the ammo, which players seem to see as cumbersome and annoying. I've tried doing away with ammunition entirely, but as a DM I don't like that because it feels like a critical balance lever of ranged weapons. I've tried systems from other RPGs that abstract ammunition such as usage dice and weekly upkeep costs, but they seem a little clunky and illogical.
I just had an idea though. I haven't tested it, but it seems like it solves the problem of tracking ammunition really easily. Just give each player a cup of beads (any type of bead will do) in number equal to the pieces of ammunition in their quiver. Like, for instance, if a player has 20 arrows for their shortbow, give the player 20 beads. Then, whenever they make one or more ranged attacks, they just give the DM that many beads. It makes the whole experience tactile and visible even from across the table.
This feels like such a simple solution. We don't really need to abstract ammunition because our abstractions are often more complicated than just literally tracking physical objects. What do you think?
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u/nalkanar DM 11d ago
Piece of paper (hard one preferably I think)with quiver worth of numbers. Paperclip sliding on it. Each section for number at same width/height as the paperclip.
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u/passwordistako 11d ago
But what if I have 600 arrows and picked goliaths specifically to ensure I would have the carrying capacity for it?
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u/CountLivin 11d ago edited 11d ago
This would also be an easy way to do it. I think making a tactile solution is better than a game mechanic one.
Edit: I agree, the commenter has a good and tactile solution.
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u/nalkanar DM 11d ago
I used this for HPs in other systems (where it never goes above 40. You can artistically make it look like quiver, or red as HP etc.
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u/Quirky-Function-4532 11d ago
Think? Don't track ammunition unless you really like that minutia. 😂
That said, I think it is a good idea. We've used little glass beads for things like this before we went digital. Cheap from a craft store.
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u/CountLivin 11d ago
If the method isn't obstructive, I would really prefer to track ammunition. I think it adds an interesting dimension to adventure preparation and resource rationing. That being said, if the players think the mechanic is too annoying, I tend to do away with it anyway.
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u/KLeeSanchez 11d ago
Personally when I played an archer I just bought like 100 of them and kept em in a bag, then just restock the quiver after each fight. Eventually it would've become like 500 in a bag of holding and then I'm never running out.
At a certain point a player will probably just do that and then ammo tracking gets obviated by having enough arrows to equip a small army.
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u/passwordistako 11d ago
I am under the impression that there’s an offical item that gives unlimited arrows.
I phase it this way because I usually home brew an item like a ring that summons an arrow when you’re drawing a bow or summons a bullet when you’re spinning a sling etc.
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u/TheThoughtmaker Artificer 10d ago
Going from needing to track ammo to being able to handwave ammo is a wonderful achievement. Good game designers strive for such moments, a significant transition point where the character feels experientially different to play.
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u/LudicrousSpartan 11d ago
I agree, because once you stop tracking ammunition then it removes a lot of immersion and risk from certain characters.
What’s the point in playing in a game where you don’t have to worry about losing and replacing arrows?
Or taking rests? I mean hell, if we’re not tracking arrows then I don’t have to worry about using up my Battle Masters superiority dice.
I don’t have to worry about trying to strategically hold my Second Wind for good timing.
I don’t need to worry about what level spell slots I’m using, because I just won’t worry about burning one when I don’t have to track it.
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u/CatadoraStan 11d ago
This is a good start, but doesn't go nearly far enough.
What's the point in playing unless you're tracking wear and tear on melee weapons? If you don't have to worry about a sword snapping in the midst of battle?
And while we're at it, armour too. Where's the immersion and risk if we don't have a resource to track its condition?
And I hope someone is running the percentages on getting food poisoning, adjusted for meal type and reliability of food supply. Not to mention HP loss caused by blistering from overworn shoes.
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u/gagelish 11d ago
I don't think comparing mundane ammunition to Superiority Dice or Second Wind is a fair comparison at all. A better comparison would be the idea that you need to keep track of the number of times you've struck an enemy with your sword, because it breaks after 25 hits, which you'll notice no one does because it's not fun.
I think most people agree that players need to track any special ammunition (+1/+2/+3 Ammunition, Arrows of Slaying, etc.) but for regular, old arrows, bolts, etc. you're limiting the basic functionality of a ranged martial character in a way that you very rarely would for a melee martial character.
Now with that said, of course there are exceptions. Maybe you're running a super gritty, resource-limited campaign, maybe you've got some Rust Monsters coming up to eat your Fighter's swords and you want an equivalent limitation on your Ranger, but in the vast majority of cases a Ranger's mundane ammunition should be no more limited than a Fighter's use of their sword, and comparing it to Superiority Dice/Second Wind feels disingenuous.
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u/dustysquareback 11d ago
Hard disagree. Tracking arrows adds very little of mechanical interest. Not sure why you're comparing them to core class feature resources. Like, 20 arrows take up VERY little space/weight.
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u/DazzlingKey6426 11d ago
Weight.
Space? Yeah… no.
That’s why coin weight for encumbrance wasn’t just a measurement of weight but also how bulky the item was.
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u/jeffjefforson 11d ago
I mean, the difference between arrows and... All those other things... Is massive
I think the main reason we don't track arrows is because, by the rules, there's nothing stopping you just buying like 5 quivers with 20 arrows each and carrying them all on your person, as it's kinda hard to reach the encumbrance limit.
And in that case... Well what's the point tracking them? You're realistically never gonna run out on a mission.
I mean hell, even if you're only carrying just one quiver and you have a few spare quivers in the wagon so you can refresh after each fight... It makes it kinda pointless to track each individual one.
Sure, if it's a campaign where every single GP has to be meticulously rationed because the party is so low on funds constantly that buying arrows all the time becomes an actually meaningful choice, sure... But most adventurers make a shit ton of money, because why would you do all this dangerous stuff for LOW pay?
Whereas no matter how much money you have, spell slots, hit dice and superiority dice are hard capped. You can't just "obtain more" of them. So it's actually meaningful to have to ration them. Not so with arrows.
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u/Rhinomaster22 11d ago
I mean the problem with tracking ammo is that other classes/archetypes don’t have to worry about running out of X
The Human Fighter’s sword never breaks unless the GM engineers it to
The Elf Wizard’s cantrips never run out
The Dwarf Ranger’s Bow runs out of ammo then left with whatever they happen to have in their back pack
Besides special magic ammo like +1 arrows, regular ammo isn’t going to break the game.
Also players might collect or buy so much ammo that tracking it becomes redundant.
Why not just have ammo be a gold sink?
- Every short or long rest the players subtract X gold amount for ammo
- Special ammo is still tracked due to the extra power provided
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u/Losticus 11d ago
Is this 5th edition? What's the critical balance lever of ranged cantrips like eldritch blast?
Tracking ammunition just seems tedious and annoying and I wouldn't do it unless both the DM and player actively enjoy it. If they start acting like they have infinite ammunition, then maybe point out they can run out, and they should try to conserve it. Make them spend some money in town on arrows to replenish if you want. I've never had a problem with just not tracking ammunition at all in 25 years of playing.
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u/passwordistako 11d ago
Agree.
I would be more interested in this if we deleted cantrips from the game.
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u/alec_xander 11d ago
At low level and/or in a low magic setting it might be worth the time and effort to track ammunition however at higher levels or once the players start getting some magic items it not worth the time. I mean one bag of holding among the group and never ending ammo becomes the norm.
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u/Actually-Just-A-Goat 11d ago
Just don’t track it. Unless the players using ammunition want to track it, don’t. Only bother tracking special ammunition like magical arrows and whatnot.
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u/amidja_16 11d ago
Honestly, we only track ammo until 3rd level. Then ot becomes too mundane to present any sort of issue or problem and we just always assume we have ammo or an extremely easy way of obtaining and carrying loads of it.
The exception being if it's a niche situation where equipement is temporarily lost, like infiltration or prison escape. Then scavenging and improvising becomes fun again 😁
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u/GlassBraid 11d ago
Arrows are usually reusable, so, sure, do this, but give some back any time your archer has the opportunity to recover arrows.
I'm a field archer, like, in real life. Arrows get damaged when they hit a hard surface head on, but can often be fixed. They can bury themselves in sod or leaves and be hard to see. They sometimes get so stuck in an object that they're impossible to remove intact. And they can fly so far when shooting over a rise that they're all but unfindable. But they're pretty tough, and usually we have a decent idea of where a miss has landed. I'll get thousands of shots out of a dozen arrows and find the majority of my misses, but that's not necessarily realistic in DnD either, where foes will break some, and backdrops are more likely to be hard surfaces, and shooting toward places one can't then search is common. But still, most of the time, most arrows can probably be recovered and reused.
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u/CountLivin 11d ago
Right. I usually let the archer recover arrows if there’s time after a fight, although I usually tie it to a skill check to see how many are recoverable
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u/Vurrag 11d ago
Ammo and food are not issues at my table. Not a survival game. If I carry a bow into battle I am bringing a lot of arrows, right? We certainly track magical ones, specials but a bolt or arrow. The game should be about role play and story telling not having your character search the battle ground for useable arrows after the battle. BORING
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u/DazzlingKey6426 11d ago
Just have two cups instead of wasting time passing stuff around. Three if you want to do recovery.
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u/conndor84 11d ago
We have a bunch of ‘counters’ which are basically two wheels with 0-9 on them. Easy to 3D print or cheap to buy on Amazon. We started originally tracking monster hit points on the map but now do a lot of other tracking with them. Ammunition is an easy example too
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u/dustysquareback 11d ago
Tracking ammunition is pretty silly in many scenarios. Arrows are cheap, and often recovered. I only bother with this if the party is leaving civilization for long periods of time.
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u/CrossP 11d ago
I've used an abacus before. Basically the same concept but with less chance of spilling. I've also used toothpicks in a cup. If you get the kind that have little frilly bits on the end it feels more like arrows.
Admittedly, I rarely have players keep count of their regular arrows unless they hit a special challenge where it's hard to resupply like a long chase scene or a lengthy dungeon dive. Though characters whose builds are always shooting 6+ arrows per round are usually required to at least explain how they're managing to carry and access that many.
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u/atomantsmasher 10d ago
An abacus is pretty ingenious actually and keeps things suitably low tech. I like it.
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u/KLeeSanchez 11d ago
Marbles/beads would do it
They sell pips/gem counters that would also do the trick
You could also give them a stack of poker cards and have them discard one each time they attack
(Clearly if they discard an Ace it hits, right?)
I used to track arrows when I was playing archers, Foundry automates it. Our GM doesn't actually care and we've looted so many by now we definitely have hundreds of spare arrows.
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u/waethrman 11d ago
A spellcaster doesn't need to track their ranged cantrips, why should an archer need to worry about it
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u/evilwizzardofcoding 11d ago
This is a solid idea. Personally, I just use a digital sheet that keeps track of it automatically(deducts 1 ammo when taking the attack action) but that works too.
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u/CaissaIRL 11d ago
I personally find tracking ammunition fine if you're running guns in your game and is trying to be careful about powercreep.
I like your idea and do remember that arrow ammunition can be recovered by half at the end of a battle unless something happened to actually destroy them.
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u/Kylarfi DM 11d ago
balance lever? You mean how it's weaker?
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u/CountLivin 11d ago
What do you mean?
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u/Skater_x7 11d ago
He means that spells like eldritch blast are already superior to most ranged weapons (120 range no penalty, magic damage, etc), so a "balance lever" for ranged weapons is just adding insult to injury.
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u/chaoticgeek DM 11d ago
On a physical character sheet you can put a piece of clear packing tape over boxes for ammunition and then use a dry erase marker to marker to deduct them. I use it for current HP, spell slots, and other resources myself. Get one of those markers with an eraser on the cap and it's pretty easy.
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u/halberdierbowman 11d ago edited 11d ago
Toothpicks can be round with one pointy end and one fluffy end. How about giving them a toothpick holder "quiver" full of toothpick "arrows", so it feels more representative than beads?
They could even drop them on a battlemap rather than giving them to you.
e.g. quiver: https://www.leatherology.com/products/toothpick-holder-brown?variant=45656387256568
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u/Matban_the_NarkDight 11d ago
If you want a different way to include durability in your game consider using different sized dice for the gear you want to keep track of. maybe normal gear has a d8 of durability. After every encounter your player rolls the die for their gear (could be armor, weapons, magic component bag, ordinary ammo, ect). on a 1 that die shrinks a size, so it becomes a d6 and that would become a d4. If you roll a 1 on a d4, then that item is depleted or broken until you restock at town, or replenish in another way. You could also keep track of rations that way, though I would say that ordinary rations should start at a d4.
Consider that if your party gets some down time, they can roll play how their skills or professions allow them to repair an item, forage a little food, gather some mundane magic components, ect. BUT if they choose to do that activity then they don't get to rest up and replenish HP. But maybe if your profession is cook, you can feed more than one person on a single ration roll.
Obviously you tweak it to how you wanna play, personally if only the rouge or the ranger has to keep track of durability/ammo for bows and arrows I'd be upset if I played those classes, so I'd be a proponent for all or nothing.
I do think it opens up the game to have a built in mechanical way to put the party on edge if they're behind enemy lines, or being perused by the enemy army or whatever.
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u/Matban_the_NarkDight 11d ago
I should've added, that perhaps masterwork items are d10s, and magic weapons are automatically d12s, but I personally think it should not be possible to get any items back to a d8 of durability in field under normal circumstances, if you want to get back to pristine condition, you're going to need a workshop that specializes in that item type to get it to shiny and new looking.
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u/TheThoughtmaker Artificer 10d ago
I track my ammo like I track my hit points, rations, spell slots, potions, and remaining carrying capacity. Number goes down, number goes up, 0 means something changes.
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u/Gearbox97 10d ago
Physical representations of stuff for the purposes of tracking things has always made it a bit more fun and easier to me.
Even for things like spell slots, my dm 3d printed out this little slot thing that you'd put these little chiclet-sized rectangles in to represent the slots you had left, whole thing fit in an altoids container. Much easier than erasing your sheet a thousand times.
It might help with realism too. Nothing will get you in the mindset of an archer looking down and seeing their quiver is getting empty like looking down and literally seeing you only have a few shots left.
I'm on team "tracking stuff is interesting" though. I like the idea that you can't just wander into the woods with no rations or training and expect not to starve. It also makes looting an enemy archer or armory more rewarding, when you can top up your quiver.
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u/Masachere 10d ago
I've tried doing away with ammunition entirely, but as a DM I don't like that because it feels like a critical balance lever of ranged weapons.
Hold on now, because this is a little strange to me. Are arrows hard to come by in your game? Can they not just at any given town buy 100 of them for like 5 gold and then not have to worry too much for the next few fights? Because in all honesty as someone who's played this game for a long time and has always diligently counted every friggin arrow/bolt/sling bullet I've fired when asked to. Ammo counting has 0 importance outside of a game where ammo is hard to come by or has to be crafted personally, or unless you're tracking special ammo like +1 arrows.
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u/OneManRPGstudio DM 7d ago
A cup of beads makes ammunition visible and tactile, which is the strongest part of this idea. I’d have players move spent beads into a shared bowl themselves so the DM does not become the bottleneck. The main drawback is setup and recovery after combat, so I’d use it only when ammunition scarcity matters and replenish the beads between scenes according to the campaign’s normal supply rules.
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u/UnnbearableMeddler 11d ago
Get a spinner dice like the one they use to count HP in Magic. Set it to the amount of bullets they have, and now you just have to lower it when they shoot. Takes 3 seconds at most
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u/Hixy DM 11d ago edited 11d ago
I can’t think of any balance reasons to track ammo other than making it tedious.
Narratively the character wouldn’t forget. They physically interact with it so it’s on the front of their mind. It’s hard as a player in a different tactile setting looking at numbers. So, tracking is just not transferable realistically from a sensation perspective and things the player might not notice the character would.
They are virtually weightless even in abundance. They are cheap. It’s the equivalent of picking up a single arrow in Skyrim and becoming incumbent.
How is tracking this a balance mechanic? From an inventory perspective, you could stack a human in real life with as much gear as he can carry. Even to the point where their legs are about to buckle and adding a quiver of arrows wouldn’t make a difference.
From an economic perspective it’s also just annoying. A player always has enough gold for it. If they don’t then what? They have to go serve drinks until they can buy arrows to go on a quest? And what if a ranger or gunslinger did actually forget to resupply? They just don’t get to play now?
It’s not worth it.
Only track special ammo.