1 or 2e.. # of arrows (or javelins) per quiver?

[garhkal]

Some sources over the years i've been playing, quivers have been listed as holding a dozen arrows. Others' have said From a dozen to two dozen. Some others still, say 20 for 'battle arrows (sheaf)' or 24 for flight (hunting)..
So how many do YOU have it as?
What of Javelins? 3? 7? Somewhere between??

[TigerStripedDog]

10-12 would be the max per quiver I would allow.

I used to think 20-30 was fine, but no longer.

Tiger

[Halaster-Blackcloak]

English longbow men carried 24 in a quiver and sometimes carried multiple quivers (48 with 2 quivers). Mongol archers carried 50 arrows or more. The Huns carried about 30.

I like a simple number like 24 per quiver, since the ROF is 2/rd. That way you get a full number of rounds per quiver (12 rds.).

With javelins being so large (3-4' min), I go with 6.

[Cole]

Some sources over the years i've been playing, quivers have been listed as holding a dozen arrows. Others' have said From a dozen to two dozen. Some others still, say 20 for 'battle arrows (sheaf)' or 24 for flight (hunting)..
So how many do YOU have it as?
What of Javelins? 3? 7? Somewhere between??

I'm a 20 / 24 guy

[RPG Dinosaur]

I used to think 20-30 was fine, but no longer.

Tiger

Tiger, just out of curiosity what made you change your mind?

[Billy_Buttcheese]

Player's Handbook has quivers listed for either a dozen or a score. I suppose one could commission the creation of a larger quiver but I make my players keep a very good inventory of their missile weapons-no endless supply a la Legolas.

[garhkal]

How do you track the # of arrows they use/regain after battles?

[Halaster-Blackcloak]

To make things easier, we've started assuming that arrows shot in combat are lost.

[TigerStripedDog]

Tiger, just out of curiosity what made you change your mind?

For me it was actually handling a bow and arrows. Getting a feel for what wooden arrows, with fragile fletchings and their requisite packing would require in terms of space, as well as what that would do to a pack, etc. Once I saw that, I realized that 12 was more realistic for an adventurer. Sure for a stationary archer at a post - or who can set up in battle, and isn't traveling with a pack maybe a larger "battle quiver" is fine. But for an adventurer scaling rock walls, jumping over pits, and adventuring through caverns 12 is much more realistic.


Tiger

[garhkal]

Tht sounds logical...

[TigerStripedDog]

Was that sarcastic? I couldn't tell. Your "..." made it seem like you were being sarcastic.

Tiger

[garhkal]

I wasn't being sarcastic, if that was directed my way.

[TigerStripedDog]

It was and thank you for the clarification

Tiger

[RPG Dinosaur]

For me it was actually handling a bow and arrows. Getting a feel for what wooden arrows, with fragile fletchings and their requisite packing would require in terms of space, as well as what that would do to a pack, etc. Once I saw that, I realized that 12 was more realistic for an adventurer. Sure for a stationary archer at a post - or who can set up in battle, and isn't traveling with a pack maybe a larger "battle quiver" is fine. But for an adventurer scaling rock walls, jumping over pits, and adventuring through caverns 12 is much more realistic.

Appreciate you responding with your interesting, and informed from actually handling the equipment, point of view Tiger. The players in your campaign have some difficult decisions to make regarding arrows. What I mean exactly is that say for example when your players party sets off on an adventure where there won't be an arrow purchasing source around, unless you let them recover arrows from corpses (I personally wouldn't) they are probably going to run out of arrows before the adventure is completed.
Say only one character has a bow, with twelve arrows. Let's just say he/she goes through an average of two arrows per combat. Let's also say that the adventure is going to be a standard dungeon crawl, but there is four days travel getting there. Using the hypothetical average the party will only have arrows available for six combats (unless of course they are able to scavenge an unused supply off of fallen opponents). Imagine that you roll two Wandering Monster encounters before they even get to the dungeon. If they choose to use arrows in those situations, they arrive at the dungeon with only enough arrows for roughly four combats.
The party in your campaign has a different set of circumstances to deal with if they have multiple archers, say three, with one quiver full each. Yeah, now they have thirty six between them, but if each archer chooses to fire in each combat they blow through the supply at the same rate. The only way to draw the supply out further is to decide that only one or two archers will use their bows in a particular combat, but the flip side to that of course is that the arrow damage potential is lessened. Do you see what I mean about your party having to make difficult decisions of prudence regarding arrows? (or maybe it isn't difficult for them and they just decide to recklessly fire 'em while they got 'em)?
T., don't think for one minute that this is a criticism of your decision to have a quiver in most circumstances (I remember what you said about a stationed archers quiver capacity) hold twelve arrows. You laid out your reasoning, it's the way you do it and it is good reasoning IMO. Not to mention there are instances, as Garhkal and Billy have pointed out, from the sources themselves (like the PH) that list certain quivers as holding twelve arrows.

[TigerStripedDog]

@RPGDinosaur - Its true that I can be a little hard on them about that. Of course they will occasionally find arrows too. And any character that wants to can try to become proficient with the fletching skill. This might allow them to recover some arrows - salvage them and repair them basically. Occasionally I allow them to recover arrows from misses (if they land on soft ground). Higher quality arrows with steel heads are more likely to survive. Magical arrows ALWAYS lose their enchantment after being fired, but are also more likely to be recovered whole (as normal arrows). Another options is to have permanently magical arrows - which can be recovered after a fight. These too will also slowly dwindle though (unrecoverable misses, fleeing villains, etc).

Keep in mind as well if they want to hunt while traveling that takes up arrows.

So I hope they have a backup in mind (some sort of melee weapon). Also, I used to be a lot less strict with this. I've grown stricter with age!

Tiger