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For a while, I've thought crossbows needed some love, but I didn't think of a way to do it until now.
This is just the first draft of them, and I'm open to ideas.
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That is short and sweet. Too many (including my own) house rules ideas are just rambly too-long and overcomplicated, but this Strength Rating concept, and the reload times varying based on strength and Rapid Reload, scales very intuitively and takes up very little wordcount.
Indeed, to the shock of no one, I've probably used more words to say 'cool!' than you did to present the idea...
Coming from a GURPS background, I'm used to crossbows being no joke, and this definitely gives them some teeth, but keeps the cost competitive with bows, and bows faster-firing and less feat-intensive, as a martial vs. simple weapon should be.
For a while, I've thought crossbows needed some love, but I didn't think of a way to do it until now.
This is just the first draft of them, and I'm open to ideas.
I like it; my only question is what, then, does the feat Crossbow Mastery do for a character?
Ah, thanks for bringing that up. I would say it certainly prevents the AoO for the reload and... still needs something else.
I think for now, I'll remove Rapid Shot as a prerequisite and make it just prevent the AoOs.
For a while, I've thought crossbows needed some love, but I didn't think of a way to do it until now.
This is just the first draft of them, and I'm open to ideas.
I like it; my only question is what, then, does the feat Crossbow Mastery do for a character?
Ah, thanks for bringing that up. I would say it certainly prevents the AoO for the reload and... still needs something else.
I think for now, I'll remove Rapid Shot as a prerequisite and make it just prevent the AoOs.
You could combine it and point blank mastery into one feat for crossbow users, maybe.
These are probably the best crossbow rules I've seen so far. Thanks for sharing.
I'm actually pretty excited to see something like this, but did have a question.
Lacking the Strength score increases this to a Standard action, and every size beyond that increases the time by one step.
So does that mean if I have a 14 str and am firing a Heavy Crossbow with a rating of 5 it takes 2 more steps above a standard action?Standard -> Full Round -> ?
I'm actually pretty excited to see something like this, but did have a question.
Lacking the Strength score increases this to a Standard action, and every size beyond that increases the time by one step.So does that mean if I have a 14 str and am firing a Heavy Crossbow with a rating of 5 it takes 2 more steps above a standard action?Standard -> Full Round -> ?
No, just the standard, because it's only one step above, from the 2-4 of the Light to the 5-7 of the Heavy. So you'd reload as a standard. I could probably clean up the wording on that.
No, just the standard, because it's only one step above, from the 2-4 of the Light to the 5-7 of the Heavy. So you'd reload as a standard. I could probably clean up the wording on that.I'm actually pretty excited to see something like this, but did have a question.
Lacking the Strength score increases this to a Standard action, and every size beyond that increases the time by one step.So does that mean if I have a 14 str and am firing a Heavy Crossbow with a rating of 5 it takes 2 more steps above a standard action?Standard -> Full Round -> ?
Ah, so reloading in this case would actually be faster then original rules in this case, but if I was firing an arbalest it would a full round action for being two set higher, right?
And also a heavy crossbow will do base damage of 1d10+5, and you can pay 100g twice to increase that to 1d10+7. Are you thinking that will be the limit of that increase before needing to go to a larger crossbow?
I think my only qualm about these is the fact that the crossbow was useable by pretty much anyone no matter what your strength cause as they got stronger and stronger they relyed more on mechanical effects to draw them. Not sure how to address that though.
And also a heavy crossbow will do base damage of 1d10+5, and you can pay 100g twice to increase that to 1d10+7. Are you thinking that will be the limit of that increase before needing to go to a larger crossbow?
I think my only qualm about these is the fact that the crossbow was useable by pretty much anyone no matter what your strength cause as they got stronger and stronger they relyed more on mechanical effects to draw them. Not sure how to address that though.
This allows anybody of any strength to use crossbows, it just requires that they use more and more mechanical assistance to span them. Somebody with the required Strength score can simply pull it back with their hand, so a move action, and with Rapid Reload, I would envision they can hold the bolt in the same hand and fix it in the same motion. Once loaded, no penalty for shooting. So even your 8 Strength wizard can shoot an arbalest (if he can lift it), but his low Strength means he has to spend more time cranking it back.
Maybe Crossbow Mastery should give an untyped +1 to hit, to reflect their ease of use compared to bows. Give them an ever so slight advantage.
Note that this intentionally would stack with Weapon Focus.
Maybe Crossbow Mastery should give an untyped +1 to hit, to reflect their ease of use compared to bows. Give them an ever so slight advantage.
Note that this intentionally would stack with Weapon Focus.
I added that the user can wield the crossbow as a club in melee with Crossbow Mastery, and added a possibly silly feat called Crossbow Supremacy that allows a free Bull Rush once per round when you attack with the crossbow as a melee weapon. Thought it could be interesting, knock the guy away so you can shoot without provoking.
This allows anybody of any strength to use crossbows, it just requires that they use more and more mechanical assistance to span them. Somebody with the required Strength score can simply pull it back with their hand, so a move action, and with Rapid Reload, I would envision they can hold the bolt in the same hand and fix it in the same motion. Once loaded, no penalty for shooting. So even your 8 Strength wizard can shoot an arbalest (if he can lift it), but his low Strength means he has to spend more time cranking it back.
OK, I'm thinking I was getting a little tired at work when I added that last bit to my post. I'm not really sure why I said that since you really had already addressed that in the rules.
I might broaden the ranges a little bit on the strength ratings, cause as it stands that 8 strength wizard takes a fullround action to reload a light crossbow instead of the original move action. However, if you don't mind I think I might use this next time I run a game.
Have you ever read David Weber's Oath of Swords. This brings in mind the main character doing that exact same thing with his arbalest like it was nothing(recocking it I mean).
Have you ever read David Weber's Oath of Swords. This brings in mind the main character doing that exact same thing with his arbalest like it was nothing(recocking it I mean).
Bahzell is exactly who I had in mind when I was writing these.