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My players are coming up on the end of the Blades module and I was wondering what effect water has on things like Astral Spear, Ephemeral Bolt and other such spells well as arrows from an Archer. Any good rules of thumb out there?

thanx

Most spells wouldn't be affected, they're seeking their target out.
For physical attacks, maybe some spells where it makes sense (Fireball), you could just require +1 Result Level, or a Called Shot.

(Interesting this hasn't come up before.)

Bullets lose momentum really fast in water. I imagine that arrows, being slower and having more drag, would be even more hindered. Plus, aiming is hard because of refraction.

I'd say unless the target is within a yard of the surface, arrows are probably useless, and even then they'd do less damage.

Wow. I'm surprised it has never come up before. I would think that some spells like Ice Mace and Chain just would not work because the magician is actually throwing something. The water would basically be like a lot of physical armor. But I would agree that many spells like Astral Spear and Spirit Dart would work just fine.

I was thinking that any spell that affected physical armor could be stopped by the water. Basically the water would provide physical armor based on its depth. Perhaps something like 15 points of armor per yard.

I looked in to some basic info on bow fishing for the arrow part of this question. From what I gathered I'd have a -1 penalty for every foot below the surface the target is.

Now the articles I looked over generally use equipment made for the task but they also tend to be much less powerful than ye-oldy bows and cross bows for battle were. Because bows and bolts don't squash then they hit water and are much heavier than bullets they do much better at travelling through/into it.

I don't think I'd add any armor but I would also require the shots to always be made at short range or they auto miss. I know there is more specific info out there but that is my take on arrows in to water from what I could find.

I'd model it on the Cover rules. +2/+4 to Phys and Spell Defense depending on depth (as this ups the required Armor Defeat numbers).

Not sure about arrows/bolts, but for bullets, this is from episode 34 of Mythbusters:

Hiding underwater can stop bullets from hitting you.
partly confirmed All supersonic bullets (up to .50-caliber) disintegrated in less than 3 feet (90 cm) of water, but slower velocity bullets, like pistol rounds, need up to 8 feet (2.4 metres) of water to slow to non-lethal speeds. Shotgun slugs require even more depth (the exact depth couldn’t be determined because their one test broke the rig). However, as most water-bound shots are fired from an angle, less actual depth is needed to create the necessary separation.

There was an experiment done using a bag of sand to protect a balloon and a gun was fired at the bag, compared to an arrow shot at it. The bullet didn't make it through the sand bag, but the arrow did (and popped the balloon). Bullets release a lot of energy on impact, so tend to shatter/flatten/whatever; lower velocity missiles lose less energy, so in some conditions can perform better.

I'm not much of a physics person, so this is not a claim to accuracy or fact.

I've seen that episode,too. ^^

However, I can tell you from personal experience, that arrows are not nearly slowed as fast as a bullet. This is due to the general shape of the arrow and its tip. The Water slows around it alot better than around a bullet. Especially old, primitive bullets which were only a metal bead.
One thing I should add though: Arrows go deeper than bolts.