Technically, by the RAW, I believe you can.
Keep in mind that shooting hand crossbows with both hands counts as wielding two weapons, so unless you also have Two-Weapon Fighting, you're taking some pretty hefty penalties to attack. Even with TWF, you are penalized.
As a DM, I would make some kind of argument that reloading a hand crossbow takes two hands to do -- one to hold the crossbow, and one to load the bolt -- so you couldn't reload both without setting each one down at some point. With that, you're getting awfully close to move actions, regardless of the Rapid Reload talent.
But then...I devised a "self-loading" clip that could be worn on each hip, allowing the player to reload each crossbow simultaneously as a swift action. The gnomes in my campaign were very crafty that way. :)
If I shoot a Hand Crossbow with each hand and I have the Rapid Reload talent, can I reload both Hand Crossbows at the same time?
Nope. Normally you can reload a hand crossbow with two hands as a move action. Rapid Reload reduces that to a free action, but it still requires two hands. You could, depending on GM approval, attach them to your wrists with Weapon Cords and then shoot both bows (full attack), drop one (free), reload the second (free), recover the unloaded first one (swift), drop the second (free), reload the first (free), and recover the loaded second next round as a swift. It's ridiculous, and assumes your GM allows a loaded crossbow to be dangling around on a cord without the bolt falling out, but I don't think it would break the game.
Crossbow, Hand: You can draw a hand crossbow back by hand. Loading a hand crossbow is a move action that provokes attacks of opportunity.
You can shoot, but not load, a hand crossbow with one hand at no penalty. You can shoot a hand crossbow with each hand, but you take a penalty on attack rolls as if attacking with two light weapons.
Rapid Reload: The time required for you to reload your chosen type of crossbow is reduced to a free action (for a hand or light crossbow)
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
What about a Hand Crossbow mounted on a bracer? Been toying with the idea, just don't know how game breaking that would be.