What is the cost for making magical arrows? Is it really 5000gp for 20 +1 arrows? The chart mentions that the base cost for an arrow is 10gp but only in reference to the crafting time. Is the cost meant to be that high?
A bundle of arrows costs 5,000gp to enchant, or 2,500gp with a sample or formula. A wise (or rules-lawyering) mage might make 1 arrow first at a cost of 250gp and then use that as a sample.
The reference to "base cost" is for the time to craft the magical arrows. Time to craft any magical weapon is based on the base cost of the weapon, and is 1 month per 10gp. For instance, swords normally cost 10gp so it takes 1 month to craft a +1 sword.
Thus the rules are stating that it takes 1 month to craft 20 magic arrows, or more or less 1 arrow per working day.
Wow…ok so not much reason to ever craft magic arrows then! Cool thanks for the answer.
The reason to craft magic arrows would be to shoot them at creatures...
I think it begs the question of how you deal with recovering ammunition that has been shot in combat. A magic sword isn’t normally going to be lost by using it in a melee, so the cost of creating it seems acceptable. Magical ammunition on the other hand may be lost once it’s used. If that’s the case, then the cost seems very high indeed.
How do you house rule recovering ammunition? Do magical arrows have an increased chance of surviving the process?
Arrows are now great treasures. My players were very happy to find the six magical arrows in the Caves of Chaos, elevating them to level 2 almost immediately. The ACKS ammo rules does boost the gold/xp value of found magical arrows through the roof.
Grubsnatcher - how did 6 magical arrows raise them to level 2? At most they could have gotten 1,500gp from the arrows if they found a buyer (unlikely if trying to sell at the Class VI market Keep).
Malo - I generally rule that when an arrow is shot, its expended if the shot hits, and recoverable if the shot misses. This ensures that arrows don't get "wasted".
General Value - A scroll of magic missile has a 500gp base cost while one +1 arrow has a 250gp base cost. In both cases you're dealing 1d6+1 magical damage. The scroll requires the user be stationary and declare before the initiative roll, the magic arrow requires a to hit roll. This seems appropriate to me but obviously it's changeable if it doesn't make sense for your setting.
Alex - They had some xp under their belt starting out. They also found the necklace on the Kobold chieftain, which was a great boost. As for the sell, they didn’t stay at the Keep. They went back to the closest large town and waited about three months. Afterwards, they went to the largest city in province, a class II, and since they didn’t want to go the Caves of Chaos in the winter months, they just stayed in town for about 2 more months.
Also, I wrongly calculated cost as 500 gp per arrow, which gave them a huge boost. That’s how it goes.
Ah, ok! Lots of downtime for sales. Makes sense.
Would a magical arrow break? I would think magical items would be far more durable.
That’s something I’ve been meaning to ask: how are you handling item destruction (say for being hit by a lightning bolt or something)?
Why not use the Sunder rules?