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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dausuul" data-source="post: 9177310" data-attributes="member: 58197">It is absolutely not "universally held" in the fandom that the black arrow was magical. Maybe in your bit of the fandom, but not in general."Never missed" does not mean "cannot miss." It only means that, in the limited number of shots he had taken with it over his life, Bard personally had never missed; and that suggests merely that it was the best-crafted arrow that he owned. When taking a shot that tests the skills of a master archer, even small flaws in the bow or the arrow can turn a perfect shot into a near miss.Furthermore, since Bard valued this arrow, he would not use it when there was risk of losing it -- he even held it back against Smaug until it was the only arrow he had left. That would also tend to increase his accuracy, since he wouldn't be taking wild or hasty shots.Tolkien's work is full of ancient weapons of superlative craft, which are far superior to others of their kind but display no overt magical properties. If you have an arrow which grants +1 to hit and damage, is it magic or is it just a masterwork arrow? D&D draws a sharp distinction between the magic and the mundane; Tolkien does not, and these weapons lie in that fuzzy borderland.Which, as it happens, is also where high-level fighters ought to reside IMO.</blockquote>