A couple of my players wanted to get living steel magic crossbow bolts, shuriken, etc. Since living steel weapons repair themselves from taking damage, they could regenerate after use. This seems overpowered to me - you could get a few +5 arrows and use them repeatedly. Does anyone allow this in their games?
Yes, but I don't know why you'd want reusable arrow heads. Since living steel does nothing for wood....
If that was the case I would make them pay FULL price per arrow. Normally you buy amunition in batches of 50 I believe. If they really want to pay 2k for a single +1 arrow that they could then reuse I would be fine with that. After all if they miss they could always end up loosing it and not be able to find it. And just think of the money sink it would be for the player just trying to get enough amunition to last 1 combat.
It is much more cost effecient for the player to just buy a magic bow and then have the caster in the party use the mend cantrip over and over again on his used arrows to fix them.
A couple of my players wanted to get living steel magic crossbow bolts, shuriken, etc. Since living steel weapons repair themselves from taking damage, they could regenerate after use.
Magic Weapons - "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."
Destroyed is generally the object equivalent of dead, it can't be fixed by restoring hit points. So if the magic living steel arrow hits the target, it's destroyed, and can't regenerate. (Note: The Mending spell can repair destroyed magic items, however it does not restore the magical properties. So in theory, you could possibly cast mending to get the arrow back to positive HPs, and have it regenerate after that, but the magic would be gone.)
If it misses the target, then it depends on interpretation. If "breaks or is otherwise rendered useless" means, for example, the broken condition and 1 (or more) hit points left, then sure, it'll regenerate (at 1 hp per day until half, then 2 per day after that).
To help with the interpretation, non-magical ammunition that misses has a 50% chance of being destroyed or lost. Since missing with a non-magical living steel arrow means 50% chance that it's destroyed or lost (in either case, no regeneration) it's a pretty safe assumption that the same intent holds true for magical ammunition as well.
Note: Masterwork (but non-magical) ammunition is different. It's damaged (effectively destroyed) when used, no chance of recovery on miss.
I would not allow complete arrows made from living steel.
I would allow arrow tips made from living steel and those would remain intact or repair themselves.
If that was the case I would make them pay FULL price per arrow.
Ultimate Equipment specifies that living steel ammo costs +10gp. For a +5 shuriken that already costs 1000gp, that's nothing. Your version sounds more balanced, but it's definitely not RAW.
I would not allow complete arrows made from living steel.
I would allow arrow tips made from living steel and those would remain intact or repair themselves.
But is the magic in the tip or in the shaft?
So if the magic living steel arrow hits the target, it's destroyed, and can't regenerate.
Yes, that's the interpretation I prefer.
Would you allow Make Whole to repair used magic arrows? I suppose the caster level requirement would stop it being too overpowered...
Would you allow Make Whole to repair used magic arrows?
Arrows are not single-use items since there's a chance to recover them.
On hit: Since magic arrows are specifically "destroyed" when they hit the target, and Make Whole specifies it can fix destroyed magic items, then it can certainly repair a magic arrow that hit the target.
On miss: If you roll poorly on the 50% chance, it "breaks or is otherwise rendered useless" which could either mean broken condition, or effectively destroyed. Either way, "breaks or is otherwise rendered useless" seems to be either not as bad, or equally bad as destroyed, and so it shouldn't be more difficult to magically fix an arrow that missed and hit a rock as it is to fix an arrow that hit someone.
The ammunition breakage rules aren't very clear, so if I was a GM, I would just talk to the player to find some equal ground on how to treat it, since with non-magical ammunition, it says there's a chance of being destroyed or lost. And if it's lost, then it's not a matter of repairing it, but of finding it. But if it's magical, how far could it have gone? Some time searching with detect magic should pick it up fairly quickly, since you know the general direction and maximum range.
Dealing with all of that doesn't seem very fun, so I would probably just hand-wave the majority of it as long as it's not breaking game balance or making things not fun for others at the table.
The rules for durable arrows state that once shot they are not magic anymore. I use that rule for all kinds of ammo.
