Ammunition fired from a +1 Ranged Weapon

[Olaf the Stout]

I know that ammunition fired from a magical +1 ranged weapon is considered magical for the purposes of beating damage reduction but does the ammunition give a +1 bonus to damage as well?

i.e. An arrow is shot from a +1 magical longbow (not mighty). Does it do 1d8 damage or 1d8+1 damage?

Olaf the Stout

 

[Fieari]

Ammunition takes on the properties of the bow. 1d8+1.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

So someone with a +1 bow has almost no incentive of purchasing or making +1 arrows then. Correct?

Olaf the Stout

 

[Hypersmurf]

I know that ammunition fired from a magical +1 ranged weapon is considered magical for the purposes of beating damage reduction but does the ammunition give a +1 bonus to damage as well?

i.e. An arrow is shot from a +1 magical longbow (not mighty). Does it do 1d8 damage or 1d8+1 damage?

"Ranged Weapons and Ammunition: The enhancement bonus from a ranged weapon does not stack with the enhancement bonus from ammunition. Only the higher of the two enhancement bonuses applies."

Note that this doesn't make it a +1 arrow, but you apply +1 to your attack and damage rolls, and the arrow also defeats DR X/Magic.

"Ammunition fired from a projectile weapon with an enhancement bonus of +1 or higher is treated as a magic weapon for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction."

-Hyp.

 

[Dross]

So someone with a +1 bow has almost no incentive of purchasing or making +1 arrows then. Correct?

Just +1? Not much.

However the real payoff is with other properties, like bane where you can stock up on appropriately labelled arrows for what you know or expect to face (or to cover yourself somewhat from the unexpected) .

 

[Olaf the Stout]

"Ranged Weapons and Ammunition: The enhancement bonus from a ranged weapon does not stack with the enhancement bonus from ammunition. Only the higher of the two enhancement bonuses applies."

Note that this doesn't make it a +1 arrow, but you apply +1 to your attack and damage rolls, and the arrow also defeats DR X/Magic.

"Ammunition fired from a projectile weapon with an enhancement bonus of +1 or higher is treated as a magic weapon for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction."

-Hyp.

From reading that it seems to me that a mundane arrow has all of the mechanical benefits of a +1 arrow without actually being magical. Is there any actual difference apart from this?

Olaf the Stout

 

[Hypersmurf]

From reading that it seems to me that a mundane arrow has all of the mechanical benefits of a +1 arrow without actually being magical. Is there any actual difference apart from this?

It becomes important when looking at Bane interactions

A +1 Bane arrow shot from a +3 bow results in a different enhancement bonus than a +3 Bane arrow shot from a +1 bow, for example.

-Hyp.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

It becomes important when looking at Bane interactions

A +1 Bane arrow shot from a +3 bow results in a different enhancement bonus than a +3 Bane arrow shot from a +1 bow, for example.

-Hyp.

So in your example a +1 Bane (orcs) arrow shot from a +3 bow would give a +3 to hit and damage (+2d6) against orcs.

A +3 Bane (orcs) arrow shot from a +1 bow would give +5 to hit and damage (+2d6) against orcs.

Correct?

However if we ignore bane effects is there any other differences?

Olaf the Stout

 

[Hypersmurf]

So in your example a +1 Bane (orcs) arrow shot from a +3 bow would give a +3 to hit and damage (+2d6) against orcs.

A +3 Bane (orcs) arrow shot from a +1 bow would give +5 to hit and damage (+2d6) against orcs.

Correct?

Right.

However if we ignore bane effects is there any other differences?

Ignoring Bane or similar... not that I can think of right now.

-Hyp.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

That seems to me like it makes the Enhance Arrow special ability of the Arcane Archer a whole lot less useful then. I imagine that most Arcane Archers would have a +1 bow by the time they took the first level of the prestige class and a +2 bow by the time they took the third level of the prestige class.

This makes the Enhance Arrow special ability useless until the character has taken 5 levels in Arcane Archer (and possibly more).

Olaf the Stout