[Archone]

I did have a player in a previous game whose character was a mage with a bow and custom spells. She had a very low rate of fire (Even with her Increase Reflexes spell), but it still worked pretty well. One initiative pass spent casting a spell to enchant the arrow. One initiative pass to fire the enchanted arrow. Cue the AOE stun effect, at low drain cost when compared to a stunball. Really, a bow is a method for propelling a stick-like object a considerable distance, silently and without relying on chemical propellants. There's all kinds of ways to be creative with that.

Wow, really bending the rules there aren't ya :p

Missile weapons can't be 'enchanted'

It wasn't enchanting a bullet, it was temporarily augmenting an arrow to "detonate" the spell when it hit the target. Since the setup required her to spend BP on Magic, Agility, Spellcasting, AND Archery, I figured it was allowable. It's not like the player who wanted to have special rules governing the spirits her mage summoned that applied just to her. THAT time I ruled, "your spirits can look like whatever you want... but they follow the same rules as every other spirit in 4th edition."

[Sichr]

...and even in those limits you are still free to flavour the Powers the way you want them. I wont mind doing such thing? Apparently, there are such things comming in 5ed, so no harm done...also IMO Anchoring + building arrow as an Anchoring focus would solve this even within rules of 4th ed...

[Reaver]

I did have a player in a previous game whose character was a mage with a bow and custom spells. She had a very low rate of fire (Even with her Increase Reflexes spell), but it still worked pretty well. One initiative pass spent casting a spell to enchant the arrow. One initiative pass to fire the enchanted arrow. Cue the AOE stun effect, at low drain cost when compared to a stunball. Really, a bow is a method for propelling a stick-like object a considerable distance, silently and without relying on chemical propellants. There's all kinds of ways to be creative with that.

Wow, really bending the rules there aren't ya :p

Missile weapons can't be 'enchanted'

It wasn't enchanting a bullet, it was temporarily augmenting an arrow to "detonate" the spell when it hit the target. Since the setup required her to spend BP on Magic, Agility, Spellcasting, AND Archery, I figured it was allowable. It's not like the player who wanted to have special rules governing the spirits her mage summoned that applied just to her. THAT time I ruled, "your spirits can look like whatever you want... but they follow the same rules as every other spirit in 4th edition."

Hey, it's your game! If you want to allow it, that's cool. Just note that's it's really no different then enchanting bullets :p (replace archery with long arms, and you got the same investment of skills, but now with a sniper rifle!)

Just pointing out that under 4e rules, this wasn't possible as a foci became inactive once it left the aura of the Mage.
As Sichr points out, there MAY be something similar coming down the pipes of 5e too....

[Sichr]

well in fact Anchoring focus can leave the presence of the magician...

[Critias]

My personal angle on the spellcasting archer (partially inspired by that fantastic cover art a few editions ago) was that it was that particular mage's fetish items and/or Centering techniques.  She could shoot her bow for a mundane combat twang-twang effect, or she could "shoot" a spell using the bow as a fetish item and Archery as a Centering skill, to help handle the drain (by relying heavily on the items for the spellcasting).

[Mithlas]

I wonder why I haven't heard that before - I've even heard of games and a folklore (i think from south Asia) about a hunter who carried no quiver and fired arrows made of his pure will. This is along the same lines.

[Reaver]

well in fact Anchoring focus can leave the presence of the magician...

yep, you're right, they can leave the aura of the mage....


however, it's still an expensive trick to pull off! The mage has to be initiated, has to have the anchoring metamagic technique, then has to resist drain for the spell TWICE, THEN has to expend Karma for each spell they anchor equal to the force of the spell!!!

Not something I would do that often on my mage, especially considering how valuable Karma is to mages.....

[Sichr]

+the price of the foci. So, such arrow really can be usefull. I just didn`t find out what for