I was just wondering if we had anything new about magical ammo, and saw this month-old thread got no traction in July, so I'm reviving it.
After re-reading the CRB about runes and magic weapons, I can find no distinction between melee weapons and missile weapons.
So I have to conclude that arrows shot from a magical bow have all the properties of that bow, and are considered magical for all purposes.
The selection of magical ammunition is severely limited. Gone are the classics like flaming arrows - in their place, you need a bow with a flaming property rune on it, then all the (ordinary) arrows that you fire become magical flaming arrows.
I find it slightly disappointing that I can't hand out magical ammunition as low-level loot, with a few exceptions like Viper arrows (L4), Vine arrows (L3), Storm arrows (L9) or Explosive arrows (L10).
Sure, Explosive arrows are super cool, like fireballs on a stick, but each arrow is a level 10 item costing 130gp, not exactly a low-level treasure item. Plus, it'd be a real bummer if you miss, since the arrow is lost and it only explodes on a hit, as far as I can tell, so pick your target wisely.
The APG gives us some cool options like the Antler arrow (L2) for 7gp, or Freezing arrows (L5) for 25gp, but we still don't have the classics, or even +x arrows as such.
Why couldn't Paizo give us a classic like flaming arrows doing 1d6 damage? Surely they could have assigned an appropriate level and cost.
Spellstrike ammo is seriously underwhelming, since the spell has to be cast on the same round as the arrow is fired. Best as a 2-man operation, I'm thinking, though I guess the archer could use 2 actions to cast a spell and fire the arrow to activate it with their third action.
Spellstrike ammo is seriously underwhelming, since the spell has to be cast on the same round as the arrow is fired. Best as a 2-man operation, I'm thinking, though I guess the archer could use 2 actions to cast a spell and fire the arrow to activate it with their third action.Actually, Spellstrike ammo can't work as a 2-person operation because per CRB p.559, "Once you activate the ammunition, you must shoot it before the end of your turn. Otherwise, it deactivates (but isn't consumed) and you must activate it again before you can use it."
And the activation for Spellstrike ammo is not done by shooting it, it is done by the Cast a Spell activity (CRB p.560). So essentially, the one shooting it has to also be the one casting the spell to activate it.
Strictly speaking, this hings on the active voice phrase that says "You must shoot it", not the passive voice, "it must be shot". Another character could ready an action to shoot the arrow before the end of the Cast A Spell character's turn. The casting and shooting would happen within the same character's turn in that instance.
True, that would work, clunky though it is.Strictly speaking, this hings on the active voice phrase that says "You must shoot it", not the passive voice, "it must be shot". Another character could ready an action to shoot the arrow before the end of the Cast A Spell character's turn. The casting and shooting would happen within the same character's turn in that instance.Spellstrike ammo is seriously underwhelming, since the spell has to be cast on the same round as the arrow is fired. Best as a 2-man operation, I'm thinking, though I guess the archer could use 2 actions to cast a spell and fire the arrow to activate it with their third action.Actually, Spellstrike ammo can't work as a 2-person operation because per CRB p.559, "Once you activate the ammunition, you must shoot it before the end of your turn. Otherwise, it deactivates (but isn't consumed) and you must activate it again before you can use it."
And the activation for Spellstrike ammo is not done by shooting it, it is done by the Cast a Spell activity (CRB p.560). So essentially, the one shooting it has to also be the one casting the spell to activate it.
Spellstrike ammo is decent for martial classes with a spellcasting dedication.
It's essentially the same thing as Eldritch Shot from the Eldritch Archer but doesn't require the spell be an attack spell, although it uses your spell dc so still better off using an attack spell for most things.