Ammo bonuses should stack with bows

[Fnordian]

Ammo bonuses (the basic +1 through +5 bonus) should stack with bow bonuses to make the majority of basic magic arrows and bolts at least mildly useful instead of useless. Ammo that also does extra damage is already useful, of course, even if its base bonus isn't, but "vanilla" magic arrows and bolts rarely are.

Given that +1 bows are exceeding easy for even low level characters to get hold of, all the +1 arrows in the game may as well be normal arrows. And the same holds true for +2 and +3 in most cases. Even +4 and +5 are rarely of use. By the time you have access to the higher bonuses, you'll almost certainly have a better bow. And even if you sacrificed a couple of pluses for some other effect, the measly +1 or +2 addition you get from +4 and +5 arrows barely seems worth it.

Considering that most people seem to feel ranged combat is, if anything, a little underpowered, allowing totals up to +10 (+5 ammo, +5 bow) is hardly likely to upset the balance.

[Blank_Zero]

The only +10 weapon that I can think of is the Epic Sword of Shadow.
Making Ammo stack with Bows would OP, and I think I would have to play an AA all the time.

/not signed

[MrCow]

Secondary issues have to be considered if you allow weaponry enhancement bonuses to stack with one another, such as the ability to add a +7 Weapon Enhancement augmentation on epic weaponry. It may also pose interesting issues if spells came out such as Magic Weapon, which bestow a Weapon Enhancement's bonus.

[Blank_Zero]

MrCow speaks truth again.

Hadn't even thought of the implications on that bit really =P

It's 4am though... I shouldn't expect much of myself now =D

[Lencrennis]

If anything, I feel that ranged is nicely buffed over the pencil and paper realities. Recall that in the content from which our addiction is derived, the weapon's enhancement is a to-hit modifier, while the ammunition is a damage modifier. Keywords on the bow affected the arrows and the arrows could themselves have keywords. This is why a high dex build with a +1 psychokinetic frost shock flaming composite longbow firing +5 arrows was awesome.

[Rasczak]

Sorry but I cannot agree with the OP. The implications of allowing things to stack will send everything to hell. There's a reason you only take the highest bonus. Next people will be asking for armour bonuses to stack. The arrow bonus is there in case you have a bow with only a +1. The fact that bows already stack abilities makes it useful.

[Ganolyn]

Secondary issues have to be considered if you allow weaponry enhancement bonuses to stack with one another, such as the ability to add a +7 Weapon Enhancement augmentation on epic weaponry. It may also pose interesting issues if spells came out such as Magic Weapon, which bestow a Weapon Enhancement's bonus.

Not to mention the Greater Bane bows that could reach +14.

[Scraap]

One thing I think folks might be overlooking to a degree at least, is stat effectiveness.

THF is backed up by (1.5 STR mod + (1.5*0.5 glancing) ) so 2.25% Str determining damage.
TWF takes a hit in Str for the 17 Dex requirement for to-hit and damage for double the effects alongside 1.5 Str (50% offhand iirc, at least) damage.

Any of the ranged weapons requiring ammunition take Dex to hit the broad side of a barn, and either Str or Int to deal damage.

Folks have argued for a long, long time now that twf needs to be a hairsbreath better dps wise than THF due to the feat, stat, and item investment. Ranged takes more feats (quite a few of which are granted automatically to rangers, admittedly), casting (If AA) or purchasing (if anything else) half the pair of items constantly, and double the stat investment, while still doing half the rate of attack.

I'd hardly call an extra 5 damage game-breakingly OP.

[Ravoc-DDO]

Just make power attack work for ranged as long as the toon has bow strength as well.