Arrow

An arrow is a bow-fired projectile made from a long, thin wooden stick. The tip is covered with an arrowhead made of some hard material (usually metal) while the tail end has attached fletching (usually made of feathers) to provide accuracy and stability in flight.

The quality of the arrows and the quality of the bow both determine the damage potential on impact. Upon shooting a creature with arrows, there is a high chance the arrows will go into the creature's inventory, where it can be retrieved from the corpse of the slain creature (or possibly pickpocket from a still living creature, though this has not yet been tested).

The same applies to the player character--when shot with an arrow, the projectile goes directly into one's inventory, while the arrow itself is pictured sticking out of the character's body in both third-person perspective and in the menu. This can be a source of some confusion for players who were extremely close to their burden limit and fight an archer- the added weight of the arrows can push the total inventory weight over the Encumbrance, and cause the character to be overburdened. Most players may experience this early on as an inconvenience. Later in the game, however, it can be extremely dangerous for those who neglect their inventory, as ranged foes are capable of both greater damage and appearing in larger numbers.

Types of Arrows
Roughly in order of potency

Iron Steel Silver Dwarven Elven Glass