Is there anything I can do about swords breaking? It's really a pain. I'm about 3 or 4 game days into BG, and already I've had 2 swords break - one in Candlekeep 'fighting' in Obe's room.
I know the plot is about 'bad iron' but I am starting to consider carrying spare swords with me, lol.

An unrelated observation - why can I stack only 20 arrows per inventory slot - in IWD & BG2 I could carry 40 each. Game design?

Swords will break. You can't do anything about it, unless you find a magical one. They will not break, ever.

And the arrows are indeed due to game design.

Does it happen to normal swords only, or to all weapons made of metal, like war hammers, morning stars, etc?
What about metal armour (chainmail, plate mail, etc)?

<font color="cyan">I've only ever had swords break!</font>

Even nonmagical quarterstaves and spears, which are made (almost) entirely of wood, break occasionally. Although it does seem to happen more often with swords and other metal weapons. And I do seem to remember a suit of armor crumbling away off my torso once, although that was a long time ago, so I wouldn't want to swear on that.

And yes, Hayashi, carrying spare weapons until you get hold of a magical one is a good idea.

Worst thing is with 2H swords (for my favorite insane ranger) - it's so damn difficult to get a magical one (stupid half-ogre IIRC) he usually has to load up with non-magical ones.

As to the other point, on my most recent play through it annoyed me enough to create new item files for all types of ammo with a stackable value of 50 - much more pleasant to use

The swords are breaking because of all that crappy iron coming from the mines. Make sure you carry a spare until you get a decent magical weapon.

I think somewhere close to the Temple east of Beregost there is a half-ogre with a twohanded +1.

I've broken Kivan's spear and my Spiked Mace (forgot what they were called).

Twohanded sword broke when foubt the south mercenary in Candlekeep. I just think it's a good thing. Perhaps you parried the blow and it broke the sword?

I think all weapons can break, but it might depend on your strength. You'll come across many magical, though.

Some special arrows (+1 I've seen) can have more than 30. I once had 37 +1 arrows, and I did not install an editor to make it happen.
Although you CAN use GateKeeper and collect your arrows into one. That wouldn't be cheating, just stocking your arrows as long as you don't add any more arrows.

<font color="snow">J'aran...that armour crumbling away happened to me also once.

Wait until you get to Nashkel mines, outside them you find a person who you can get a magic sword off, 1d10+2(+1cold) if I recall correctly. Should serve for the whole game. </font>

That bounty hunter guy, correct? Or is there another one?