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Does a weapon augment crystal grant the augment crystal's effect to a ranged weapon's ammunition? I'm uninterested in augment crystals' effects on thrown weapons. The information under the subheading Augment Crystals (MIC 221) is of no use, using only the term weapons.

For example, the crystal of arcane steel (MIC 64) (500, 2,000, or 6,000 gp; 0 lbs.)

is designed for those who can blend magical and martial arts into a single strike. It functions only when attached to a melee weapon. (64)

This is totally clear. I get that. But the revelation crystal (least) (MIC 66) (400 gp; 0 lbs.), for example, says

When you damage an invisible creature using a weapon with this augment crystal attached, the creature emits a glowing golden aura for 1 round, allowing everyone to know the square or squares it occupies and where it moves during that duration. The aura is as bright as a torch. Despite the glow in the square, creatures that attack the invisible foe still suffer a 50% miss chance; the glow merely allows them to determine the appropriate square to attack. (66)

When the revelation crystal (least) is attached to a bow or crossbow, does an attack with the bow or crossbow impart the revelation crystal's effect to the weapon's ammunition?

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Unlike everything else that can be applied to projectile weapons, augment crystals do not appear to have any rule that specifically transfers its effects to projectiles. By that fact alone, I’m more inclined to think of it as an oversight than an intentional limitation.

However, there are some things to note here.

One, many of the crystals either are melee-only (crystal of arcane steel, witchlight reservoir) or don’t care how the weapon attacks (crystal of adamant weaponry, crystal of illumination, crystal of return, crystal of security).

Two, it seems to me that the usual rule stating that magic on projectile weapons transfers to the projectile isn’t really necessary. After all, the remaining crystals all talk about “attacking,” “hitting,” or “damaging” creatures: how does a projectile weapon do these things? Through a projectile. A bow “attacks” when it shoots an arrow, “hits” when the arrow does, and “deals damage” by hitting you with an arrow.

That’s kind of a stretch by RAW, I know. Only a bit, but it is. The explicit statement everywhere else, but not here, seems to imply an exception. But applying such crystals to a projectile weapon would be useless if it didn’t transfer the effect to the projectile, and if that were what the rules meant, I’d expect the crystals to simply be restricted to melee weapons in the first place, which they aren’t.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ As for your last sentence: thrown weapons also exist. Not melee weapons (at least: not used for melee), not projectile weapons. \$\endgroup\$
    – Zachiel
    May 4, 2014 at 14:51
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Zachiel Most of them are melee weapons, actually, but I suppose there are throwing-only weapons. Still, I feel that they probably would have (and definitely should have) said the crystals did not work on projectile weapons if they didn’t. \$\endgroup\$
    – KRyan
    May 4, 2014 at 15:41
  • \$\begingroup\$ Two is exactly the argument the players made at the table when I initially said No, differentiating between weapons and ammunition. Neat. \$\endgroup\$ May 4, 2014 at 18:42
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    \$\begingroup\$ Or to put it another way I would say that because there are crystals that specifically call out melee weapons (like the first example in OP), the ones that don't do this work with ranged weapons and their ammunition by that simple virtue of non-specification. \$\endgroup\$
    – Jason_c_o
    May 5, 2014 at 7:23
  • \$\begingroup\$ I'm not sure that's a stretch RAW. Projectile weapons are listed as such, and count as such for magical purposes, etc. Note that the crystals don't even say "damage with this weapon"; they say "damage using this weapon", which I think is pretty clear. \$\endgroup\$ Oct 20, 2015 at 8:21

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