Yet another 4e question

[Goonthegoof]

I was using ammunition and I'm a little confused by the rules. If I have say a +5 bow and I shoot +3 arrows, does that mean it's effectively a +3 bow?

[Tengu_temp]

Magical ammunition doesn't exist in 4e. The enhancement comes from the bow alone.

[Goonthegoof]

Adventurer's Vault 2 would like to disagree with you on that point.

[Nameless Ghost]

Magical ammunition has been released and can be found in the Adventurer's Vault 2.

Page 26 of the AV2 says this: "If the projectile weapon is magical, use the ammunition's enhancement bonus in place of the weapon's enhancement bonus."
So in your example, yes, you'd be effectively using a +3 bow when firing +3 ammunition.

[Goonthegoof]

Which leads to this question: How does firing a magically empowered arrow make it less accurate than a normal bow?

[Kurald Galain]

Which leads to this question: How does firing a magically empowered arrow make it less accurate than a normal bow?

Because of balance.

There is a major issue with item pricing in 4E: once you're level 12 or so, you can afford any item of level 5 or below from spare change. Therefore the development team is taking steps to ensure that items of a much lower level than yourself simply aren't useful for you. These steps aren't perfect or all-inclusive, the biggest offender being the Potion of Clarity.

[Goonthegoof]

Hmm, I guess so. A level 30 character would basically have an unlimited supply of +3d6 arrows, way strong.