Magical ranged weapons and ammo.

[Rothkeen]

Hello all.
I need to know, If I have a Composite longbow +1(Magical) and mundane ammo. Will the ammo get +1 to hit and +1 dmg or only +1 hit.

I have one in my group who has played a long time saying, it only gives me the +1 to hit not the dmg. But it still count as magical ammo for DR purposes.

[Jeraa]

Rothkeen wrote:

Hello all.

I need to know, If I have a Composite longbow +1(Magical) and mundane ammo. Will the ammo get +1 to hit and +1 dmg or only +1 hit.

I have one in my group who has played a long time saying, it only gives me the +1 to hit not the dmg. But it still count as magical ammo for DR purposes.

Magical bows bestow their enchantments on the arrow fired. You would get the +1 to both attack and damage. Enhancement bonuses from a magical bow and a magical arrow don't stack, though.

Likewise, a +1 flaming arrow shot from a +2 frost bow would be considered a +2 flaming frost arrow.

[Rothkeen]

Thanks Jeraa.
That's what I thought.
But if someone thinks this is the wrong interpretation of the rules, please say so. :)

[Nefreet]

PRD wrote:

Ranged Weapons and Ammunition: The enhancement bonus from a ranged weapon does not stack with the enhancement bonus from ammunition. Only the higher of the two enhancement bonuses applies.

I don't know how else that could be interpreted.

Your player is probably confusing masterwork ammunition with magical ammunition.

The former has no enhancement bonus to damage when fired from a non-magical bow.

[Rothkeen]

Hello Nefreet.
Thanks for your time. It's because I'm pretty new, so the vets can make me believe almost anything and I play only in this group.
And the paragraph you refer to, has no examples to help understand the paragraph.

One of things that gets thrown back to me is. If a +1 bow gives the +1 to hit and dmg, what is the point of +1 ammo?
And I don't know what to answer to that, besides +1 ammo will work on non-magic bows too.

[_Ozy_]

Rothkeen wrote:

One of things that gets thrown back to me is. If a +1 bow gives the +1 to hit and dmg, what is the point of +1 ammo?

And I don't know what to answer to that, besides +1 ammo will work on non-magic bows too.

There's your answer.

Edit: or more completely, your party is fighting a monster that has DR/magic. Would you rather have one magic bow and 20 normal arrows, or 5 normal bows and 20 magic arrows?

[Nefreet]

Rothkeen wrote:

One of things that gets thrown back to me is. If a +1 bow gives the +1 to hit and dmg, what is the point of +1 ammo?

And I don't know what to answer to that, besides +1 ammo will work on non-magic bows too.

This just came up yesterday .

[dragonhunterq]

Tell your players the rules - enhancement bonuses don't stack, a bow transfers it's magic to it's ammunition. Enhancement bonuses on ammunition work normally if the bow is non-magical.

So, simply be careful how you use magical bows and magical ammunition. If all you have is a +1 bow and a +1 arrows, don't bother using the +1 arrows. Sell them or pass them to your back-up archer with a non-magical bow.

[Rothkeen]

Thanks for the info guys. :)
I only have mundane ammo for the bow, so nothing is lost there.

[Wheldrake]

Not only do you get the +1 to hit and +1 to damage, but since it's a *composite* longbow you also add in your strength bonus to damage, assuming you purchased it at your current strength rating.

Back in the day, we ruled that magic bows affected your hit bonus, and magic arrows your damage bonus. But hey, the 70s were crazy times.