Even without Bowstaff, it can be an improvised weapon.
Magical improvised weapons. Yay! :)
WHAT IS ANYTHING!
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The black raven,
Brilliant Energy: A brilliant energy weapon has its significant portion transformed into light, although this does not modify the item’s weight. It always gives off light as a torch (20-foot radius). A brilliant energy weapon ignores nonliving matter. Armor and shield bonuses to AC (including any enhancement bonuses to that armor) do not count against it because the weapon passes through armor. (Dexterity, deflection, dodge, natural armor, and other such bonuses still apply.) A brilliant energy weapon cannot harm undead, constructs, and objects. This property can only be applied to melee weapons, thrown weapons, and ammunition.The bolded sentence is not "fluff", it is part of the rules just as the sentances that follows it is.
Ignoring Cover is simply the logical conclusion, if it ignores nonliving matter (such as a wall) then you can attack THROUGH that wall.How does it make sense that only the head of an arrow is brilliant?
If only the head of an arrow was brilliant and the shaft was not then the arrow would be unable to penetrate deeply into flesh. The head is only an inch or so long and since it failed to put a hole in armor the shaft would smack into the armor and stop thus stopping the head (which is still attached).
In any case, there is nothing in the rules that state only the head is brilliant. "significant portion" is not defined.
It also says at the end:
"A brilliant energy weapon cannot harm undead, constructs, or objects."
The 'objects' part of that include what? So I checked on 'objects' for examples seem to include a lot:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/equipment---final/damaging-objects
Walls, stone, doors, glass, rope, wood, leather, ice, and lots more.
I think there's sufficient evidence that a brilliant energy arrow would not ignore cover made of anything on that list as defined as an object at least.
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The reason it cannot harm undead, constructs, and objects is because it passes directly through them. If it stopped upon hitting them, that would be harming them, eh?
Except it doesn't actually SAY that in the rules though does it? What it does say is that it 'ignores' nonliving matter. that doesn't automatically mean it 'phases' or 'passes through' it.
By the wording it only passes through 'armor' that's it.
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@ Winterwalker
??
Those two statements are not disconnected like that. The bolded sentence is the reason for the sentence you quoted.
FrodoOf9Fingers: I suppose that thought could be better explained.
Just because it says 'ignores nonliving matter' and passes through 'armor' does not mean it passes through all objects.
simply:
1. it does 'ignore' nonliving matter (for all that's worth.)
2. it passes through armor.
3. cant hurt undead, constructs, or objects.
I'm on the side of not allowing this arrow to go through a door, or any other object, as it doesn't say it can to begin with by RAW.
In this rules forum you gotta go with what's written over what isn't. Even if you think it should make sense.
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The reason it cannot harm undead, constructs, and objects is because it passes directly through them. If it stopped upon hitting them, that would be harming them, eh?Except it doesn't actually SAY that in the rules though does it? What it does say is that it 'ignores' nonliving matter. that doesn't automatically mean it 'phases' or 'passes through' it.
By the wording it only passes through 'armor' that's it.
So, what in your mind does the word 'ignores' mean? What happens if someone shoots at a stone wall? What if someone is hiding behind and using a suit of armor as cover?
Any interaction of a brilliant energy weapon with non-living matter beyond 'passing/phasing through' doesn't seem like 'ignoring' to me.
It means don't calculate damage for one. Or simply, it had no effect.
If your not wearing armor it's an unattended object right? (possibly) ignore. no damage. no pass through. By RAW anyway. I'm arguing RAW, not common sense.
ninja: I will admit I'm not sure about armor not worn if that counts as armor still. I will meditate on this. How are they seeing around the armor to target him though?
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If I launch an arrow that ignores non-living matter through a rock, and it changes it's path, then it's not ignoring the rock. In fact, it's acting differently because of the rock. Therefore, it is not ignoring the rock.
You cannot ignore an object in your path without acting like it wasn't there. That is literally the definition of ignore.
Your intrepeteting it as the door ignores the arrow. That is not what the text states, The arrow ignores the door. This is not soviet Russia where hamburgers eat you!
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A brilliant energy weapon has its significant portion transformed into light, although this does not modify the item's weight. It always gives off light as a torch (20-foot radius). A brilliant energy weapon ignores nonliving matter. Armor and shield bonuses to AC (including any enhancement bonuses to that armor) do not count against it because the weapon passes through armor. (Dexterity, deflection, dodge, natural armor, and other such bonuses still apply.) A brilliant energy weapon cannot harm undead, constructs, or objects.
I just dont understand how people can read a paragraph then only quote parts of it to make their arguement.....
The paragraph has to be taken as a whole to fully understand what the author was trying to get across.
"A brilliant energy weapon ignores nonliving matter."
This sentence tells me that non-living matter is ignored...pretty easy but not clear on what ignore means.
"Armor and shield bonuses to AC (including any enhancement bonuses to that armor) do not count against it because the weapon passes through armor."
This sentence clairifies that armor is considered non-living matters and that brilliant energy items pass through non-living matter.
This is how I read it so its RAW to me.
Edit: Forgot the last part.
"A brilliant energy weapon cannot harm undead, constructs, or objects."
This sentence further clairifies that undead, constructs, and objects are considered non-living matter and are thus ignored/passed through so they cant be harmed by brilliant energy items.
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People found a remotely creative use for equipment? Time to be needlessly selective, ignore context, and turn over every word in search of vagueness to try and eliminate it.
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Seems simple. The attack ignores armor and shield. A shield is a bit like a door you wear on your arm. It seems intended that the ammunition would go through the door.
If that's too loosey-goosey: Imagine a guy standing behind a suit of armor that he's not wearing. The weapon ammunition clearly* goes through that. Imagine he's standing behind a suit of wooden armor that he's not wearing. The ammunition clearly goes through that. Imagine he's standing behind a door made of the same amount of a material - it clearly goes through that.
The silly thing is that a brilliant energy projectile would never stop until it hit living matter. I suppose we're lucky that range increments aren't up for discussion.
tl/dr: in case of brilliant energy weapons, install a thin sheet of meat on all your doors. Right behind the thin sheet of lead you're using for that other stuff.
(* "clearly" used in the non-pejorative sense of "this connection is plain", rather than "everyone who disagrees with this level of plainness is an idiot", cause, you know, feel free to disagree).
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Put me in the "goes through (read 'ignores') things like walls" camp. If you can ignore the concealment then have at it.
This makes me want to pick up the Arcana which gives Brilliant Energy for my Magus (and then somehow give him Blindsight/Blindsense).
Not even blind sight would work in this case. You have to have line of effect for those to operate.
X-ray vision seems to be the only way to bypass the concealment issues if you want sneak attack. The seeking enchantment would work well, if you had a way to actually see what square they were in. Which invloves, you know, scouting (beware!). Crystal ball would work, as would tremor sense.
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You would carry them the same way hou would have to carry most brilliant energy blades: In extra dimensional spaces. Heward's or the quiver's for ease.
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That's not true unless bags of holding and handy haversacks are considered living material. If they are not living, then brilliant energy weapons have no effect.
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Simple solution to the storage problem, just magi-genetically engineer a quiver shaped creature to carry the arrows in. If you can't fix a problem by creating abominations then it's probably not fixable.
While it's unclear what portion of an arrow is "significant" by the brilliant energy description, the handle/grip/pommel/shaft/non-business-end of most weapons is not transformed, so most would not fall out or through.
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Also a bow/crossbow etc confers(imbues) the magic to the arrow upon being fired but the bow itself does not benefit from the magic. A flaming bow isnt on fire it confers9Imbues) the flaming ability to the arrow.
of course there are some special bows that might benefit but thats special not standard.
I think by Rule 0, if someone wants to go through the cost and trouble of getting the right arrow, and the right scrying/x-ray vision tools - it should work. 1,000gp EXPENDED per shot is a significant cost to avoid opening a door.
Of course, this gets more interesting when cost is out the window:
Staff of Blazing Rainbow
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Ok then, let's take "ignores non-living matter" to its logical conclusion:
You can't use it as ammunition unless your bow/sling/ranged weapon of choice is alive, because otherwise, the ammunition ignores it and can't be fired.
You can't sheath it unless your sheath is alive, because it would just fall through it.
You can never, ever let go of it unless you place it on a living surface, because the moment you drop it, it will fall through the floor and, after falling a long, long way maybe hit some poor drow in the head. If that kills him, it will start falling through his corpse again and start a war with the aboleths.
Tell me, do you also rule that flaming arrows set the users quiver on fire? Or does the arrow only ignite when used?
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I never thought that my feeble attempt at rationalizing the RAW would stir up such a storm :-/
Lesson learned : when in the Rules forum, stick to the RAW rather than try to make some sense of it.
So, I reiterate the RAW since we are still in the Rules forum :
Brilliant energy ignores only Armor and Shield bonuses to AC. It does not mention ignoring Cover, so by RAW it does not ignore it.
RAW: it says it ignores non-living matter. This category INCLUDES non-living cover such as doors.
BTW, _Ozy_, since when did we start agreeing on anything? :P
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If you read RAW 'to the letter' then how do you deal with dead people? There are no statements where dead people cannot act.
There is no such thing as 'RAW to the letter' in this game. It simply isn't possible.
What about definitions? How do you define negative and positive energy? Because according to a 'strict RAW' reading of the quote below you can cast a Positive Energy spell and change it to Fire.
Bloodline Arcana: Whenever you cast a spell that deals energy damage, you can change the type of damage to match the type of your bloodline. This also changes the spell’s type to match the type of your bloodline.
There are many many assumptions in the rules that are simply not stated and any statement of 'I use strict RAW' is either false or delusional. It simply isn't possible to use 'strict RAW'.
The Devs have even stated that they did not write the rules to be read via 'RAW'. They expected people to apply common sense.
BTW, what 'armor and shield bonuses' are provided by living beings?
And what about greenwood armor? What does 'RAW' say happens when someone attacks a Greenwood Armor wearing person with a Brilliant Energy weapon?