How to track item charges?

[corwynn]

I have an item which has a maximum of 10 charges, and has effects which take 1 or 2 charges, depending on the spell. It regenerates a random number of charges each day.

I am searching for a way to track the charges on the character sheet. At this point I can't figure out any way to do it.

Help?

[damned]

Ammo

[corwynn]

(Bleargh.)

[Szabtom]

You can set the number of ammo slots, and then tick them off with a single mouse click when a charge is expended. I would say it is slightly more elengant than using notes. :)

[corwynn]

(Page ate my expanded reply, and them I ctrl-x, ctrl-v'ed the wrong thing.)

Every time you attack with a ranged weapon, it marks off ammo. The charges are expended on using spells, not physical attacks. The character uses the weapon to make physical attacks.

Ammo is a possibility, but it's no more elegant than tracking in the notes field.


You can set the number of ammo slots, and then tick them off with a single mouse click when a charge is expended. I would say it is slightly more elengant than using notes. :)

Again, ammo is expended every single time you attack. This means having to open the actions page constantly to UNCHECK the ammo every attack, instead of just using a hot slot and marking charges only when they're used.

[damned]

No where have you yet stated what sort of item it is. If it was a helm or a ring or an amulet you wouldnt be "attacking" with it causing the behaviour you describe.
Additionally there already exist items - like a dagger - that when you put in the Inventory it creates two copies - one melee and one thrown.
Based on your commentary Im going to assume (rightly or wrongly) a staff. If this staff is also wielded as a weapon you probably have the staff - melee already in Actions.
Create another staff - charges 10 and try it out...
You could do it with Powers and probably other ways too.
I doubt that Szabtom and I will be the last to suggest Ammo...

[corwynn]

I want to reply for politeness-sake. Forums ate my reply. Thanks. Was hoping someone had elegant solution given charged items are common in RPGs. If not, have notes/ammo as hacks.

[Szabtom]

Of course, I also meant that you do not use the item as a weapon. The "weapon" would just be a placeholder to show the ammo count. You can name the "weapon" whatever you want but the "Ammo" word remains.

[corwynn]

Of course, I also meant that you do not use the item as a weapon. The "weapon" would just be a placeholder to show the ammo count. You can name the "weapon" whatever you want but the "Ammo" word remains.

Was not clear. Is now. Thanks.

[Szabtom]

You are welcome!

[El Condoro]

The way I do it is to set up a power ('Magic items') and then change the uses per day to the number of charges. This is easy to keep track of but it has a major setback - it gets reset to zero on a long rest, which is not necessarily what is needed. I took the easy/lazy approach and said wands recharge fully after a long rest.

[drakonin]

The way I do it is to set up a power ('Magic items') and then change the uses per day to the number of charges. This is easy to keep track of but it has a major setback - it gets reset to zero on a long rest, which is not necessarily what is needed. I took the easy/lazy approach and said wands recharge fully after a long rest.

This is what I do but I have the players set the power to "once" so it doesn't reset after long rest. Biggest hurdle is having them all remember to roll the 1d4 charges recovery after resting, they usually have to do it when they need it.
https://i.imgur.com/13ZMCRz.jpg

[corwynn]

I settled on doing it as such:

1) I added a power group (and named it Staff of Defense Charges) which has 10 uses (set to once)
2) I added a second power group (named Staff of Defense Powers, so it falls immediately below the first)
3) Within the first group I have an entry for charges, so this just sets up ten circles to tick off. (So, similar to ammo, just in a different location.)
4) Within the second group, I have an entry named Charge recovery (1d6+4/d) (this is thus purely informational)
5) Also within the second group I have dragged the spells Mage Armor and Shield over, and renamed them to end in (1 charge) and (2 charges) respectively.

This keeps the actual powers of the magic item together with the charge count and recovery info. It won't reset charges on a rest (which is good, since a long rest doesn't always happen overnight), so the player will need to manually roll for recovered charges every dawn.

I greatly appreciate all the suggestions. Happy gaming, all!

(ETA: Upon further consideration I actually removed the charge recovery entry from the second group and added the recovery info as the power name in the first group.)

[twseifert]

No where have you yet stated what sort of item it is. If it was a helm or a ring or an amulet you wouldnt be "attacking" with it causing the behaviour you describe.
Additionally there already exist items - like a dagger - that when you put in the Inventory it creates two copies - one melee and one thrown.
Based on your commentary Im going to assume (rightly or wrongly) a staff. If this staff is also wielded as a weapon you probably have the staff - melee already in Actions.
Create another staff - charges 10 and try it out...
You could do it with Powers and probably other ways too.
I doubt that Szabtom and I will be the last to suggest Ammo...

You could do it with powers. Create a new power group, and name it "Cool magic item with charges" for example. Then click the magnifying class to open up the properties of the Power Group, and at the bottom you will see uses per day.