I had always understood that if you recover ammunition (arrows, bolts, etc.), following the 50% chance that a missed shots is recoverable rule, that said recovered ammo lost any magical and/or alchemical properties it may have had, and just become normal arrows or bolts. Is that incorrect and can anyone please point me to the relevant rule? It came up in a game I was running the other night and when I looked it up I couldn't find any reason why, for example, a scent arrow, or a +1 bane arrow, couldn't be used again (if you missed the first time and successfully recovered the arrow).
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There is this:
Magic Ammunition and Breakage: When a magic arrow, crossbow bolt, or sling bullet misses its target, there is a 50% chance it breaks or is otherwise rendered useless. A magic arrow, bolt, or bullet that successfully hits a target is automatically destroyed after it delivers its damage.
Which seems to indicate that it stays. However there is the durable arrow which says this:
Drawback: If crafted with magic (such as bane), the magic only lasts for one use of the arrow, but the nonmagical arrow can still be reused or imbued with magic again.
Durable Arrow: These arrows are tightly wrapped in strands of some kind of alchemical glue. Durable arrows don’t break due to normal use, whether or not they hit their target; unless the arrow goes missing, an archer can retrieve and reuse a durable arrow again and again.Durable arrows can be broken in other ways (such as deliberate snapping, hitting a fire elemental, and so on).
If crafted with magic (such as bane), the magic only lasts for one use of the arrow, but the non-magical arrow can still be reused or imbued with magic again.
Huh, well that seems to suggest that if the arrows are NOT durable, then you have a 50% chance of recovering on a miss, and in that case they keep any magical or alchemical properties. Odd if they are better than durable arrows in that respect.