Ranged Enchantment

[dragonfire9000]

I have noticed that, while it is easily possible to enchant a melee weapon such as a longsword or greataxe, once cannot enchant quivers of arrows. This does not seem realistic to me, as a mage could, with very little extra effort, cast the same spell on a cluster of projectile or the orifice on his crossbow where they are fired from.

Is this possible to implement, script-wise?

Do you think that it would be something we ought to see?

Am I right in my realism basis?

[lovethesuit]

Orifice.

No, I agree entirely. Enchanting a bow should be fine. Except...well, I dunno if it can be done with scripting.

[erglion]

This was discussed a number of times in the UD, and was deemed undesirable; ranged weapons are already powerful enough.

I doubt this will change now.

[JackOfSwords]

I don't agree with the "ranged weapons are already powerful enough".  At least, not at lower levels.  I frequently play archers, and the most frustrating part of playing them is they're near useless against DR foes, and as such they're often turned away when groups form for quests.  While all the melee folk get magicked up with a 1st-level Magic Weapon spell and get to pound on the enemy, the archer can only shoot at the enemy with futility as the arrows bounce harmlessly off.  Not that I expect this will change, and I already adjust my game to try to be useful in other ways (my archers always have good healing skill and a way to use magic healing devices) but it really bothers me whenever I see someone say that ranged weapons are powerful enough when you can't even damage 1/3 of the encounters that everyone else can.

[Kiaring]

The counterpoint is that the melee character gets to be pelted by 21312841 goblins while he races through them to kill each and every one, while the archer can easily pick them off with Rapid Shot, from a distance that makes it impossible for most of the goblins to spot him, and move ahead as he desires.

The power of ranged weapons does not come from their damage potential. It comes from their range.

[bob7el]

I'd rather not see this changed.  Ranged weapons are strong enough, imo.  And there's nothing restricting you from pulling out a club or sword and melee'ing the undead.

[Letsplayforfun]

The power of ranged weapons does not come from their damage potential. It comes from their range.

[Cruzel]

while the archer can easily pick them off with Rapid Shot, from a distance that makes it impossible for most of the goblins to spot him, and move ahead as he desires.

This is not really correct! Unless you set the perception range to small (Where the PC has to get pretty close to be seen) NPCS can actually notice and shoot you before you can shoot them!

As for script wise, it is entirely possible to  script  them.

I would be in favor for this.

[Thomas_Not_very_wise]

Seems silly to me.

[Cruzel]

My only response is ;

They buffed up monk gloves which when buffed monks are total machines. They get more attacks and can do more damage than bows, yet they still added this.

It is not unbalanced to add bows to be affected by this, and would be more of a balancing factor, tbh.

Go for it.

[Garem]

I think this would be nice for one reason- damage resistance makes archery totally useless in PvP. It's there that the biggest difference will be made.

Remember, enchanting arrows means they do +1 damage, but the AB is still the same! They're already half as effective than if it was for a melee weapon.

[PanamaLane]

As Erglion mentioned, this has been brought up before and shot down, no pun intended.

Keep in mind there are always loose arrows about with minor enchantments. Use them wisely.

[Ommadawn]

Even so, those drops are rare as hen's teeth. If bows or arrows cannot be enchanted in some way (which I would personally like to see but won't be holding my breath), could we perhaps see more drops of arrows that make archers more useful?

Edit - The range thing isn't that great a bonus either.. how often do you ping a creature with an arrow  and it turns and charges you? More times than I can count, anyway.  ;)

[Gullible Righteousness]

The current factor, is that it just makes those + 1 AB bows and crossbows all the more to strive for!

[Joe Desu]

Does that - +1 AB bows - or mighty bows can breach the DR of undead?  Or is it just to get you a higher attack score?
konfyuzd