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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Spatzimaus" data-source="post: 1334764" data-attributes="member: 3051">There's a few separate debates here, that all got rolled into the "Arcane Archers got teh shaft!" topic which has come up a few times since 3.5E came out.1> In 3E, archery was overpowered.Personally, I agreed with this statement.  It's not that the style itself was too powerful (well, except Manyshot), it was just simply the mechanics of the stacking rules that favored them too heavily.  A melee person couldn't enchant his sword twice, after all.My personal house rule was to cut the cost of bows and arrows in half (1000 x N^2, like armors), but have bow Enhancements only add to bow hardness/HP and attack rolls (which precluded enchantments like Flaming, since that didn't affect the attack roll), while arrow Enhancements only added to damage and DR penetration.  The 3.5E version is just fine, though, and is probably less of a headache in the long run.2A> In 3E, creating permanent magical arrows was too expensive.2B> In 3E, it was dirt cheap to cast Greater Magic Weapon on a bunch of arrows each day, gaining plenty of +5 arrows with no XP and a cost of only one midlevel slot.Like everyone else in existence, I ended up house ruling GMW to something more reasonable.  So, most of the arrows my archers fired were mundane, since they couldn't afford the good stuff.  Coincidentally, this would have helped to solve problem #1 too.3> The AA now doesn't get the benefit of a bow with a big Enhancement bonus.As Cordo already pointed out, the AA is now free to use a +1 Flaming Wounding Holy bow instead, without feeling obligated to go Enhancement at all costs.  Or, look at it as, the AA is no longer obligated to use anything other than mundane bows, which should save a bit on expense and/or spell slots.  Pick up a random, poorly-made bow, string a mundane arrow, and you still get the same Enhancement bonus someone with a really expensive bow would have.Alternatively, replace the AA with Nifft's version (see the House Rules forum), which is just so nicely balanced that he should be slapped silly on general principle for not being Munchkin enough.  Besides actually giving some spellcasting progression, the AA can pick things other than Enhancement bonus to bestow on his arrows.4> The AA is still just so BORING!See above.</blockquote>

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