Which of these two homebrew adaptations of the Elemental Weapon and Flame Arrows spells to work is more balanced?

Question

Which of these two homebrew adaptations of the Elemental Weapon and Flame Arrows spells to work with ranged weapons is more balanced?

I was thinking of adjusting a couple of existing spells, namely Elemental Weapon (PHB, p. 237) and Flame Arrows (XGtE, p. 156), so that it is more versatile for a druid/ranger player.

Version one:

Simply change Elemental Weapon so it can enchant a bow or crossbow, so Elemental Ranged Weapon (changes bolded for emphasis):

A nonmagical ranged weapon you touch becomes a magic weapon. Choose one of the following damage types: acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder. For the duration, the weapon has a +1 bonus to attack rolls and ammunition used with the ranged weapon deal an extra 1d4 damage of the chosen type when it hits.

Version two:

Replace the damage type in Flame Arrows with an optional damage type, so the spell would be Elemental Arrows instead (changes bolded for emphasis):

You touch a quiver containing arrows or bolts. When a target is hit by a ranged weapon attack using a piece of ammunition drawn from the quiver, the target takes an extra 1d6 elemental damage. Choose one of the following damage types: acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder. The spell’s magic ends on a piece of ammunition when it hits or misses, and the spell ends when twelve pieces of ammunition have been drawn from the quiver.

Which one of these spells would be more balanced, or are both options pretty balanced as a homebrew version of these spells?

I am leaning more towards the Elemental Ranged Weapon, as it potentially is more useful to a druid/ranger player because it would not be limited to 12 arrows/bolts.

Answer 1

You misunderstand that Elemental Weapon already does what you want to do with it.

Elemental Weapon (PHB 237) already affects ranged weapons and by proxy the ammunition property, and you can use it as an improvised weapon already. Specifiying that the ammunition (PHB 146) is what gets the bonus makes this not only less flexible due to the exclusion of melee weapons but also makes using your ranged weapon worse and clunky by calling that you use your weapons ammunition as an improvised melee weapon if you so choose to dabble with that.

A nonmagical weapon you touch becomes a magic weapon. Choose one of the following damage types: acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder. For the duration, the weapon has a +1 bonus to attack rolls and deals an extra 1d4 damage of the chosen type when it hits.

Flame Arrows's worst enemy is fire resistance which is one of the most common resistances (see MM, VgtM, MtoF, etc.), so giving you the option to choose from multiple elemental types makes the spell stronger and more flexible.

I advise against changing either, as the Elemental Weapon already seems to do what you want to achieve except for making Elemental Weapon available to the druid/ranger player's spell list as it isn't naturally available to them. There is no need to change the balance of Flame Arrows which occupy a well-scoped niche.