Badonkamonk's page

Just now found out about the staff of impossible visions.
It also utilises the normal visual senses but then in parentheses it adds (including any benefits of spells that affect your vision, like see Invisibility).

Both the spells clairvoyance and Prying Eye utilize the term 'normal visual senses'. It was unclear to me and my group whether that means the pure ancestry/heritage + ancestry feats levels of vision or whether or not it also includes items and the darkvision spell and the 'normal part' is meant to exclude effects such as truesight. (The Darkvision spell and Goggles of night being the main sources of darkvision for the caster).

I'm an idiot, that much is clear, for some reason I mentally put it in the advanced weapon group, the same as the backpack catapult (which is an advanced weapon, I doublechecked)
So yes, the feat cost wouldn't be there, the issue still stands as to whether it's a crossbow or not.
I'm also leaning towards yes.

The Backpack ballista doesn't mention the word crossbow anywhere in its description, yet a ballista is very much a lot like a bigger crossbow.
My gunslinger/artillerist dedication wants to utilize this as a once a combat tool mostly for a flavor standpoint, even taking the advanced shooter feat for crossbows with it.
The taw launcher had to be erratad into saying it was functionally a crossbow, so my question is simply this. Does the backpack ballista count as a crossbow?