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Magic Arrow Builder

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Magic arrows in Pathfinder 1e are priced per 50 units at the same cost as a single magic weapon — a fact that surprises most players the first time they try to gear up a dedicated archer. A +1 arrow costs 2,000 gp for the whole quiver; adding Bane brings that to 8,000 gp, but suddenly every shot against the right target hits like a +3 weapon with an extra 2d6 on top. This builder walks through the pricing math, flags the +1 minimum requirement for special properties, and shows exactly how your bow's enhancement interacts with the arrow's. Configure your quiver below, then check the rule explainers for the most common table arguments around arrow stacking and Bane subtypes.

Configure Your Ammunition
arrows
Result

To Hit

DR Bypass

Qualifies vs

Damage Components

Total
How It Works

Special properties (Bane, Flaming, Holy, etc.) are tied to a specific magic item. An arrow is its own item — the bow's enhancement doesn't transfer. A plain arrow is a mundane object, and mundane objects can't carry special properties. The +1 minimum on the arrow means the arrow itself is a magic weapon, which is the prerequisite for enchanting it further. Think of the bow as providing its enhancement bonus in addition to whatever the arrow brings, not as a replacement.

Bane costs +1 equivalent (same price tier as Flaming or Frost) but delivers +2 to attack rolls, +2d6 damage, and raises the arrow's effective enhancement by +2 for overcoming damage reduction — all against one creature type. A +1 Goblinoid Bane arrow costs 8,000 gp per 50 and hits goblinoids as a +3 weapon dealing 1d8+3+2d6 per shot. No other +1-equivalent property matches that total swing. The catch: it's useless against everything else. Archers typically carry two or three Bane quivers tuned to the campaign's most common enemies.

Enhancement bonuses do not stack — you use the higher of the bow's or arrow's bonus. Special properties do stack freely. So a +2 Flaming bow firing +1 Frost Bane (Undead) arrows gives you: +2 enhancement (bow wins), Flaming (bow), Frost (arrow), and Bane (arrow) — all active simultaneously. This is why archers enchant their bows for the enhancement bonus and their arrows for the properties.

Burst properties (Flaming Burst, Icy Burst, etc.) add extra dice only on a confirmed critical. On a normal hit, they behave identically to their non-burst counterparts (+1d6). On a crit, the multiplier (×2 for most bows, ×3 for longbows) applies to the base weapon damage and enhancement bonus — but not to energy dice from special properties. Those extra dice are added after multiplication. For a ×3 longbow with Flaming Burst arrows hitting a crit: (1d8 + enhancement) × 3, then add 1d6 fire (normal hit portion) + 1d10 fire (burst crit bonus). Bane's 2d6 is also not multiplied on a crit.
Recommended Loadouts

Click any loadout to pre-fill the builder above.

+1 Undead Bane

8,000 gp / 50 arrows

Dungeon delving staple

+1 Evil Outsider Bane

8,000 gp / 50 arrows

Demons, devils & daemons

+1 Goblinoid Bane

8,000 gp / 50 arrows

Early campaign staple

+1 Flaming

8,000 gp / 50 arrows

Troll hunting

+1 Ghost Touch

8,000 gp / 50 arrows

Haunted locations

+1 Dragon Bane

8,000 gp / 50 arrows

Low frequency, high payoff

+1 Holy

18,000 gp / 50 arrows

+1 arrow + Holy (+2 equiv) = +3 total

OGL 1.0a Notice. Pathfinder-derived Open Game Content on this page is used under the Open Game License v1.0a and Section 15 notice.