Zephyr's gift and archery underwater

[Wonderstell]

Ranged Attacks Underwater:

Thrown weapons are ineffective underwater, even when launched from land. Attacks with other ranged weapons take a –2 penalty on attack rolls for every 5 feet of water they pass through, in addition to the normal penalties for range.

Zephyr's Gift:

At 1st level, you can touch any one ranged weapon and enhance it with the quality of air. For 1 minute, any attacks made with the weapon take no penalties due to range. In addition, making a ranged attack with this weapon doesn't provoke an attack of opportunity.

Would one be able to shoot underwater completely without penalty to attack rolls if they use a weapon enhanced with Zephyr's Gift?

I base this on the reasoning that Zephyr's Gift doesn't actually call out the Ranged Increment penalty specifically, so it should have other uses. And the underwater ranged penalty is infact dependant on range, so it should fall into the category of "penalties due to range".

[Imbicatus]

No. The underwater penalty is caused by the projectile travelling though water, not range. It even says so in the text you quoted: "in addition to the normal penalties for range."

[Wonderstell]

Ah, yes.

But the enhancement is negating all penalties due to range, and the penalty for shooting underwater is measured in ranged increments of 5ft, making it (in extension) a range penalty.

[Dave Justus]

Not all penalties that increase with range are necessarily range penalties.

This would be a 'water penalty' not a range penalty.

[Wonderstell]

That's true. Even so, Zephyr's Gift calls out "penalties due to range", which firing underwater partially is. It may be a "water penalty", but the penalty is only in effect "due to range".

I guess my question really is "Does Zephyr's Gift cancel out all "penalties due to range", or just Ranged Increments penalties?"

If they meant ranged increments, the following sentence;

"For 1 minute, any attacks made with the weapon take no penalties due to range."

should have been written as:

"For 1 minute, any attacks made with the weapon take no penalties due to its range."

[Imbicatus]

the penalty is due to being underwater, not due to range. Look at the Underwater Crossbow

Quote:

Underwater Crossbow: An underwater crossbow functions like its normal counterpart above water, and can be used underwater. When fired underwater, the crossbow has a range increment of 20 feet. Anyone proficient with a normal crossbow can use an underwater crossbow.

The crossbow just states it can be fired underwater and has an alternate range increment for underwater. The penalty for firing projectile weapons underwater is not a range penalty, even though it increases in 5' increments.

[Wonderstell]

I am now convinced that the underwater projectile penalty isn't a Ranged Increment penalty.

But that leads us to the wording of Zephyr's Gift.

(Note that there is a difference to Ranged Increment penalty and penalties due to range)

I know you probably wrote your comment while i edited mine, so I'll just refer to my previous comment.