Subtract the arrow for the attack, not the hit
A missed shot still spends ammunition. Under the 2024 D&D Basic Rules, an attack with a weapon that has the Ammunition property expends one piece. That cost is not limited to attacks that deal damage.
If you track arrows with a DnD Dynamic Sheet counter, record the expenditure as you resolve each shot. The app supports custom counters; this guide proposes manual tracking, not automatic attack detection.
Three shots, two misses and nine arrows
Suppose a fictional character carries twelve ordinary arrows, fires three times during a fight and hits only once. With no special rule changing ammunition expenditure:
- Start with 12 arrows.
- After the first shot, 11 remain.
- After the second, 10 remain.
- After the third, 9 remain, even though two attacks missed.
Do not leave the counter at 11 by counting only the hit. Damage and ammunition answer separate questions: what effect the attack had, and what resource you used to make it.
Bring the count into your sheet
The public product facts document + → Counter → Add, with a name, current value and maximum. You can prepare a counter called “Ordinary arrows” and adjust its value when you spend ammunition. Choose a maximum for your tracking; that number does not establish quiver capacity or your character’s carrying limit.
Also note how many arrows you carried when the fight began. This separates your remaining total from the ammunition used in this particular fight. The method does not claim the app automatically links your bow, attack roll and inventory.
Recovery afterward is a separate calculation
The official 2024 Ammunition property lets you spend a minute after a fight to recover half the ammunition used, rounded down. For the three shots in this example, that means one arrow: 9 + 1 = 10. It does not automatically restore twelve.
This is the rule for that edition and ordinary ammunition without an applicable exception. Check your table’s rules and circumstances with the GM. Do not treat a counter’s rest setting as the rule for recovering arrows: the expenditure and search described here require their own count.
Before playing, review how you will adjust the counter in your version and keep a note if a setting does not represent the resource. Review the Windows beta, recordings and purchase details: the license covers one device, initial activation requires internet, and the sheet and local data can then be used offline. It is not a shared virtual tabletop.