Flaming arrows vs. a dragon with DR, what do you think?

[WampusCat43]

This situation came up last night, and I had about four options and no idea which one should have held forth. A ranger PC was firing normal arrows from a +1 bow at a dragon with DR 5/magic. The arrows had Flame Arrow cast on them. The question was how much of the damage (on the rare occasion that he hit ) was soaked up by the DR. To me, both the arrow and the fire on it were not magical. The bow firing the arrow was, which added to the attack and damage rolls. A magical spell had been cast on the arrows, giving the extra fire damage, but the result was normal flame.

I actually split the difference and gave him half damage. Otherwise it was a pointless effort.

What do y'all think?

 

[isoChron]

All arrows are magic because fired from a magical bow.
This negates the puny DR dragons have nowadays.

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.

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. Similarly, ammunition fired from a projectile weapon with an alignment gains the alignment of that projectile weapon (in addition to any alignment it may already have).

EDIT: LINK SRD

 

[Caliban]

This situation came up last night, and I had about four options and no idea which one should have held forth. A ranger PC was firing normal arrows from a +1 bow at a dragon with DR 5/magic. The arrows had Flame Arrow cast on them. The question was how much of the damage (on the rare occasion that he hit ) was soaked up by the DR. To me, both the arrow and the fire on it were not magical. The bow firing the arrow was, which added to the attack and damage rolls. A magical spell had been cast on the arrows, giving the extra fire damage, but the result was normal flame.

I actually split the difference and gave him half damage. Otherwise it was a pointless effort.

What do y'all think?

In 3.0 the arrow would not be magical.

In 3.5 the bow makes the arrow magical when it is fired.

In either edition, the fire damage would bypass the DR.

 

[iwatt]

All arrows are magic because fired from a magical bow.
This negates the puny DR dragons have nowadays.

Yup. Dragons should have Barbarian type DR: 5/-, 10/-, 15/-.
Since a first level spell makes DR/magic useless.

 

[Rystil Arden]

Yup. Dragons should have Barbarian type DR: 5/-, 10/-, 15/-.
Since a first level spell makes DR/magic useless.

What I've done is I give all monsters both their 3.0 and 3.5 DRs separately. So you may be able to get past the Balor's 3.0 30/+3 but not the 3.5 15/cold iron + good, so they deal 15 less damage. This tends to strengthen the monsters, but my PCs can certainly handle it.

 

[Stalker0]

I find it funny that against many other types of creatures dragon dr is nice...for a lot of monsters don't have magic weapons.

Yet against PCs its like it wasn't even there.

 

[Christian]

To me, both the arrow and the fire on it were not magical.

Fire is energy damage, not weapon damage. Magical or non-magical, DR does not protect against it. (Object hardness does, though.)