Would this work?

[eamon]

A bow which fires any arrows but never misses is perchance broken. Let's say you have a bow which can fire magic missiles, i.e. bolts of force which always hit, are force effects, and allow spell resistance.

I'd tentatively value it at 10k, allowing at most 5 bolts a round. It doesn't sound like a particularly fun item, however.

 

[Dross]

OK, a friend mentioned this to me a little while ago, and I'm wondering if it would work. Per RAW, I can't see why it wouldn't, but I don't claim to know all the rules in the books. He suggested enchanting a bow so that arrows it fires act like Magic Missiles, in that they never miss. Could you actually do that, or would it have a totally different effect or something?

You could always ask the friend how they would do it.

If anyone remembers the "ring of True Strike debate" from a time ago, the cost of said item was +20 bonus * +20 bonus (~300,000gp?), not 1st level spell * 1st level spell (2000gp). How much "+" is never missing?

 

[Mistwell]

You could always ask the friend how they would do it.

If anyone remembers the "ring of True Strike debate" from a time ago, the cost of said item was +20 bonus * +20 bonus (~300,000gp?), not 1st level spell * 1st level spell (2000gp). How much "+" is never missing?

Wasn't the debate resolved with the Magic Item Compendium?

 

[Arkhandus]

The Bow of True Arrows is severely underpriced, but you have to remember that Sword & Fist was one of the very first 3E supplements, and certainly had some broken material in it.

Also, note that as written, the Bow of True Arrows uses a Spell Trigger activation like a Wand, so you need to use the standard action casting time of True Strike before each use. And it also means that you need to have the True Strike spell on your spell list (so you'd need to have at least 1 level of wizard, sorcerer, or similar, in order to use the bow's special ability at all).

You'd only be able to fire the bow once every 2 rounds. Or do an activation one round, followed by a full-attack on the next round, but even then the True Strike effect would only apply to the first shot.

 

[eamon]

The Bow of True Arrows is severely underpriced, but you have to remember that Sword & Fist was one of the very first 3E supplements, and certainly had some broken material in it.

Given the fact that the Bow requires a standard action to activate, and another to fire, I don't think the bow is really very underpriced. Most archers become powerful with a high rate of fire, and this bow doesn't synergize well with that build. At worst, it's a little underpriced.

 

[Slaved]

For the price of the wand of true arrows I could instead get a normal +1 bow, two wands of true strike, and have money left over. I think the guy buying the bow of true strike is getting a bad deal!

For the thread topic I could see making a bow that when a magical arrow is knocked and fired as a standard action ability that it converts the arrow into a magic missile spell effect. If priced properly I could even see giving each of the magic missiles any extra abilities that the ammunition had. I would probably make the number of magic missiles equal to the number of arrows the character could normally shoot as a full round action as well.

I am not sure on a price though. Using the magic item compendium style of pricing maybe a +2 for the normal effect with a synergy ability at +1 that allows the ammunitions extra abilities as well? That does not feel right though, it feels like the effect should just be a flat cost.

 

[Arkhandus]

It does allow extreme-range sniping, though. From over 2,000 feet away with the Far Shot feat.

Also: two Wands of True Strike would get used-up after a while. The Bow of True Arrows never runs out of True Strikes. Also, for a Wand you'd need to hold the wand and activate it each time, then put it away between shots in order to fire the bow. This would at least mean remaining stationary almost the whole time you're firing True Strike'd arrows. Not a big deal, but sometimes the archer needs to move around.

On second thought though, the Bow of True Arrows is probably just somewhat underpriced, by two thousand GP maybe. At least, roughly, considering the DMG didn't seem to have anything quite defined for an unlimited use, spell trigger item. Just for some similar stuff.

 

[Dross]

Wasn't the debate resolved with the Magic Item Compendium?

Passibly, but because we do not use, and don't have the MIC it could easily have went under my radar.