Timer systems like arrow counting, rations and encumbrance are good for game flow. Removing them tends to diminish the level of emotional investment and roleplaying in the game.
Personally I’ve never managed to make 20 attacks as an archer in one combat in 5e before, so tracking those just tends to result in a number going from 20 to 12 or whatever and then me saying “by the way I walk around the battlefield picking up my arrows”
it doesn’t really add anything
What you described is barely a timer system, reset on combat end doesn’t really ever matter to a game. I’m addressing longer time frame resource drain benefiting the game by creating risk and promoting choice. There isn’t really a point if arrows aren’t lost and broken.
I mean sure, I’ve dealt with GMs saying arrows broke or were lost or whatever. Now in the next combat that number on my character sheet counts down from 17 to 10. Then next combat it goes from 15 to 9. Then I get to a town and say “ok i go buy some arrows how much does that cost” and the gm says “idk like some silver” and im like “cool” and i remove a gold piece and refill arrows
it still doesn’t really add anything
this isn’t because those aspects of game design are fundamentally flawed, that isn’t what im saying. just that 5e doesn’t really work like that. it’s not a very well designed system at the end of the day
I’d get overwhelmed very quickly trying to keep track of all that personally, but if it works for your table, that’s perfectly fine.
Yeah I’m a Shadowrun player and we even count the bullets in magazines
I find this more fun in systems like Shadowrun where I can be like ‘This mag is alternatively loaded with Exex and APDS ammo and it’s for the big emergencies that sometimes happen’. Like, you might have 6 different mags with different ammo in that game and use them all, depending on what situations come up.
I really like Fabula Ultimas take on this too: Basic consumables like arrows aren’t limited or tracked, but you have inventory points that inform how many potions or other situation-changing items you can produce out of your bag of tricks, before you need to hit a town to restock. And then they have some abilities/classes you can pick give you more of these points, refill these points in combat or during travel, or key off of these points to do other things related to crafting and item use. Really really good.
