Quote Originally Posted by Khedrac View Post
It's also worth mentioning that whilst the maximum enhancement bonus (pre-epic) is +5, when making a bow one can add additional effects that are priced as "+x enchantments" up to a total of +10.

For example (and by no means optimal) one can have a bow that is:
+1, flaming, shock, frost, thundering, holy, speed
This is priced as a +10 weapon while only having an enhancement bonus of +1
It also does +1d6 file, +1d6 cold, +1d6 electricity, +2d6 untyped (vs evil creatures only), +3d8 sonic (on a critical) and gets an extra attack when making a full attack...

The other thing to note is that if you can find a friendly person to cast greater magic weapon on your bow you really don't need more than the basic +1 enhancement bonus.

Things you appear to be getting right, but are often confusing to new players and so worth repeating for confirmation and clarity:
A weapon must be masterwork (+1 to hit) before it can be enchanted.
A magic weapon must be at least +1 before any other abilities are added (no +0 flaming bows).
The +1 to hit from masterwork and the +1 to hit and damage from magic +1 do not stack.

Edit: Something I forgot that may become confusing...

What is a mighty composite bow?

Well, it's a carried over term from 3.0 that is actually very useful.
As you know a composite bow can have a number of points of strength to damage that are required to use the bow properly. The question is how to represent that number.
Consider a composite longbow: "longbow, composite +2" - is that magic or strength? Yes most people would write either "+2 composite longbow" or "+2 longbow, composite" for the magic version, but WotC don't.
In 3.0 "mighty" was the term used to specify the bow's strength rating, and a lot of people still use it in 3.5 for clarity.
E.g. longbow, composite, mighty +2, +1 flaming - a "+1 flaming" magic composite longbow with a +2 strength requirement.
Without the "mighty" I would probably write something like: "composite +2 longbow +1 flaming" - but it isn't very nice or clear.
Thank you, this is helpful :D