Magical Ammunition, building a quiver o' tricks (on a budget)

[nittanytbone]

I second the Bane arrow suggestion. They are so cheap you can rapidly accumulate a good supply of them, allowing you to open up every tough fight with a real whammy. I think they are a real bargain.

Pick up extras for common foes (goblinoids, humans, whatever your DM has a fetish for) and for those which your party has a tough time dealing with (flying monsters perhaps, or maybe stuff that can't be sneak attacked like undead).

Having a few Bane Seeking arrows -- while much more expensive -- is great for dealing with hiding or invisible foes. Use a Seeker arrow with a Light spell cast on it for your first shot of the round, then the rest of the party can pepper that square with attacks once the target has been "tagged."

 

[avr]

If you've got the ranger spell which makes one shot an automatic crit threat (hunters mercy?) a couple of thundering arrows might be a worthwhile investment.

 

[Darmanicus]

Ask your wizard really really nicely to cast both Flame Arrow and Keen Edge on 50 of your arrows when you know roughly an encounter might be happening. Both spells have a considerable duration and I'd be surprised if you couldn't get Flame Arrow twinked to become Lightning Arrow etc.

 

[mvincent]

Brilliant is just such an awful enhancement.

Yeah, pretty much. However, many consider a +4 worth it if it gives you +8 to hit. At moderate levels, this can often give +12 (or more) to hit (assuming you save them for the right targets).

Also, some DM's (not me) might let you get away with the ring of X-ray vision, brilliant energy arrow combo

But you are correct, these should not have been on my 'cheap' list (removed now).

You're far better off with four elemental enhancements.

Yup. However, at higher levels many opponents will likely have some energy immunities.

 

[mvincent]

Ask your wizard really really nicely to cast both Flame Arrow and Keen Edge on 50 of your arrows when you know roughly an encounter might be happening. Both spells have a considerable duration

Agreed. Since they can last for several hours, casting them at the beginning of a dungeon crawl usually allows them to last for the day's adventuring.

I'd be surprised if you couldn't get Flame Arrow twinked to become Lightning Arrow etc.

An Archmage with the Mastery of Elements ability could do one of each flavor (sonic arrows anyone?). I personally don't think multiple versions of the same spell can stack by RAW, but the original designers allowed multiple versions of the energy resistance (and protection from energy) spell to affect the same target... so I guess it's allowable.

 

[Ambrus]

IIRC there's a harmless healing arrow in Magic of Faerûn which delivers a cure light wound spell effect on impact rather damage; I think it was just over a hundred gp in cost. It can be a lifesaving addition to any quiver.

Also, the Arms & Equipment Guide has a handful of non-magical alchemical arrows (fire, acid, holy water, etc.) available for purchase. I'm often surprised how many people overlook this book when equiping their characters.

 

[Pyrex]

Yeah, pretty much. However, many consider a +4 worth it if it gives you +8 to hit. At moderate levels, this can often give +12 (or more) to hit (assuming you save them for the right targets).

Brilliant is only efficient when the target has at least a +8 armor/shield bonus. It isn't *really* worthwhile unless the target has at least +12 armor/shield bonus.

That leaves us with a +4 property which is only useful against opponents in heavy armor.

That's a *really* narrow slice of your potential opponents. And generally archers will want to leave those opponents to their melee buddies anyway so they can focus on softer / more mobile targets.