D&D 5E Nonmagical arrows and magic bows

[RotGrub]

It's rather interesting that magical arrows in 5e become non-magical after they hit. In other editions you had a 50% chance of the arrow still being useful. With that in mind, I think the bonuses should stack. After all, stacking is the norm in 5e.

After reading this thread and the DMG, I'm not convinced that a magical bow with a non-magical arrow will allow you to hit a creature who is immune to non-magical weapons. As a 2e gamer, I'm fine playing it that way too.

 

[RotGrub]

Well I stand corrected, JC says it does work.

http://thesageadvice.wordpress.com/2014/12/09/magic-ranged-weapon/

 

[Joe Liker]

I see a lot of people working very hard to keep their players from having fun ...

 

[txshusker]

I'll not let them stack; I'll use the better of the bow's plus or the arrow's plus, and allow the arrow's specials as well even if the weapon's plusses stack, and yes, I will count normal arrows from a +0 or better magic bow as magic for defeating resistances.

So what will you do when a fighter wearing Gauntlets of Ogre Strength uses a +2 battle axe to attack with? Will you only allow the ogre strength modifier? To stay consistent, you'd have to judge it that way. If a character is wearing +1 armor and puts on a +1 ring of protection, will you only allow a +1 total to AC adjustment, even though the RAW is that the ring adds a +1 to AC without any other qualifiers?

Not trying to rile you up... just curious how you'd handle the other comparable stackables that will come up.

To me, not allowing the stacking doesn't allow for the fun of it all. You can always adjust a monster's stats and add 10 HPs during combat behind the DM screen without the players knowing. But players love getting lots of +s to rolls and we all get tired of debating gray rules; I don't see how this stacking really has an affect on the game; only the gaming experience.

 

[Eric V]

Honestly I think it's ridiculous that we have to debate this after the release of the DMG. Why isn't it properly outlined in the book? Why do we have to resort to an elaborate exegesis just to find out if magic arrows and magic bows / missile weapons stack? The DMG looks awesome and I've already ordered it, but this lack of clarity has become a sort of pet peeve.

Lol, people are going to tell you this is a feature, not a flaw...

 

[aramis erak]

I think I would count non-magical ammo fired by a magical bow as magical, but perhaps as a step lower than the bow: So an arrow shot by a +2 bow, would be considered a +1 arrow for such purposes and a +1 bow would not impart any magical essence to the arrow. As far as I've noticed, 5e doesn't make the distinction of resistance to +1/+2/+3 weapons, just binary magical or not, but I might use such distinctions for myself when running certain powerful opponents.

Bottom line: +1 bows - no, +2-3 bows - yes.

I can't find any +1 or better requirements - only "from non-magical weapons" type wording on immunities and resistances.

So, +0 magic weapons should be sufficient, not that there are examples of this other than the Shillelagh spell that I've found.

 

[Boarstorm]

There are some very complicated solutions in this thread to something I don't perceive to be a problem.

Following the rules as writt--- as I'm interpreting them:

Yes they stack.

Magical arrows are consumed when fired and are found singly, much like potions.

Magical weapons OR magical ammunition are required to bypass Resistances.

So sure, they give an extra boost when it's really needed, but long term balance issues do not exist.

I don't feel making it any more complicated really adds anything to the game, except maybe world-specific flavor.

IMO, of course.

 

[Boarstorm]

So, +0 magic weapons should be sufficient, not that there are examples of this other than the Shillelagh spell that I've found.

There are several in the DMG. The Oathbow springs to mind.

 

[thalmin]

I am glad the rules don't exactly address whether or not the bonuses stack, and likewise say nothing directly about bypassing resistance. Such decisions belong to the individual DMs and their players.

My personal take on magic bows and nonmagic weapon resistance: Either a magic bow of (say) fire does not need arrows but rather magically creates arrows (of fire) to shoot, or else the bow causes the ammunition to become magically empowered. If the latter, I must say the attacks bypass the resistance, even for just a simple +1 bow. If using the arrow-creation model, no arrows are even needed, so moot point.
As far as stacking, magic items will be fairly rare in my campaign. If a character wants to use a +1 (or whatever) arrow in a magic bow, why not let them stack?

I don't know how I want to rule on multiple, even conflicting, special abilities like bow of fire and arrow of ice. Probably use just the abilities of the arrows, but still let the +1's stack.

 

[JoeCrow]

At first glance this seems to give a huge boost to archers, that they can theoretically get their to-hit and damage to +6 while everyone else is limited to +3.

Yeah, on ONE attack. I really don't think it's gonna be that much of an issue, unless you start handing out "very rare" +3 arrows like candy. In other news, I hadn't realized how many of the named magic weapons actually don't have attack or damage bonuses now!

arrow of slaying, dancing sword, flame tongue, frost brand, javelin of lightning, mace of disruption, mace of terror, oathbow, staff of the adder, staff of withering, sword of life stealing, sword of sharpness, sword of wounding, trident of fish command, vicious weapon, weapon of warning​

None of these have attack or damage bonuses listed, but all the other weapons do. That is a really interesting choice, and I really like it.