D&D 5E Nonmagical arrows and magic bows

[SigmaOne]

Not to mention maybe your player doesn't really want to play an archer anyway if what he's worried about is whether or not he's going to find piles of magic arrows.

 

[ranger69]

If I were the DM I would rule that a magic bow imparted its magic to it's ammunition. At least until the DMG is available. as for the fire and ice I would rule that it does the higher amount of damage from Steam.

 

[Vicar In A Tutu]

Wait, you're the DM? Then what's your problem? If it's important, then do your job and make the decision. You don't need the book to tell you - you're the DM, not a robot following a code laid down by a set of rules someone else wrote!

Thanks for the peptalk! We usually play as close by the rules as we can before we start to implement house rules.

 

[Hereticus]

The official explanation is under silvered it says "some", then in the monster manual some of the monsters say under resistances "from bludgeoning, slashing, and piercing non magical weapons that are not silvered", while other monsters most of them with resistance vs weapons say resistance "from bludgeoning, slashing, and piercing non magical weapons."

So it seems pretty clear to me that the monster will call out if a non magical silvered weapon will bypass it's resistance.

So only lycanthropes?

That seems like a near total waste, especially in a world with very limited magic.

 

[Paraxis]

So only lycanthropes?

That seems like a near total waste, especially in a world with very limited magic.

It seems jacklewares, lycanthropes, all devils, wights, and wraiths are what I find in the MM. So it depends on the campaign, and how prevalent those creatures are at the lower levels before the characters realistically would have magic weapons.

 

[Hereticus]

It seems jacklewares, lycanthropes, all devils, wights, and wraiths are what I find in the MM. So it depends on the campaign, and how prevalent those creatures are at the lower levels before the characters realistically would have magic weapons.

As a player I am going through the Dragon Queen Horde module, and we just finished in the caves. Most of what we are fighting are humanoids and their pets. I plan to start a parallel game soon, and have written my own scenario that will feature more loose adventuring and more mythical creatures. I plan on house-ruling silvered weapons as magical, but plus zero. In fact I plan on eliminating all permanent pluses on magic items, items will only have magical effects. For example; a ring of protection (constitution) +3 will allow for advantage on three constitution saves per day, a sword +2 would allow for advantage on a swing twice per day.

 

[Psikerlord#]

For balance reasons I would say the player has to pick the bonus from teh magic bow, or from teh magic arrows, and would not get both at the same time. Else I forsee problems with a +3 bow and +3 arrow, etc.

 

[BigVanVader]

I don't see a problem. But then, I like to see absurdly powerful powers after a while in a campaign.

Maybe the character has to train for a while to be able to use both. Maybe at a certain level he or she gets a feat that lets it happen.

 

[Grainger]

No one knows whether or not nonmagical arrows fired by a magical bow are counted as being magical or not? That seems bizarre. We even have the first half of the first Adventure Path out (the second half was just released on WPN stores and goes to like 14-15th level). And still no one knows? This is important, one of my players are hesitating to playing an archer if he is dependent on the DM providing fresh amounts of magical arrows.

Why don't you just make a ruling? It's not like the entire game will break, so who cares if you call it one way and then Mearls later states that it's meant to be the other way?

Edit: some DMs are going to allow plentiful magic arrows anyway (as it's up to the DM how easily available magic items are). What's the difference between abundant magic arrows and a magic bow that grants similar benefits? Very little, that I can see, so I don't think this will break the game in any way.

Anyway: this is 5e. DMs are empowered to make judgement calls.

 

[Vicar In A Tutu]

Why don't you just make a ruling? It's not like the entire game will break, so who cares if you call it one way and then Mearls later states that it's meant to be the other way?

Edit: some DMs are going to allow plentiful magic arrows anyway (as it's up to the DM how easily available magic items are). What's the difference between abundant magic arrows and a magic bow that grants similar benefits? Very little, that I can see, so I don't think this will break the game in any way.

Anyway: this is 5e. DMs are empowered to make judgement calls.

Thanks for pointing out how empowered I am, you are the second person in this thread to do so. Like I mentioned in my reply to Mistwell, my group wants to play the game as close by the rules as possible before we decide what (if anything) we want to house rule.