So I am playing (woot!) in a new Carrion Crown Campain. At level 3 we had an encounter go poorly and My character and another's died after we where cut off from the rest of the group. We died (Or where captured) and the rest of the party ran away.
So my Warmage and my friends Witch are gone and we have had to roll new characters. The DM has stated that if we wish our characters are simply caught and being tortured and that if we want we can bring a character in the help the party rescue them. My friend the witch said no thanks and rolled a new character so he died. I chose to keep my original character and have to roll a character for basicly one or two game sessions until my original character is rescued.
My friend rolled a Rage Alchemist/Druken Brute Barbarian going a Dr. Jykle/Mr Hyde type of character. Very flavorful for the setting. So I decided to try making a Van Helsing type character.
So that lead me to Inquisitor and my issue. I want to use a repeating Crossbow like Van Helsing did. It honestly was the coolest thing in that movie and I like the idea. However I have read that crossbows are horribly underpowered compared to bows and even though I wont be playing this character for long I always have the option to sticking to this character if I like it. So here is my question.
Can you optimize an Inq with a crossbow that deals comparable damage to a bow Inq? Here is a little more information.
1. I will get to use my stat array from my original character. We roll stats and I got 18,17,14,14,12,10. We are allowed to take 2 add 1 so I will probably use the following stats: 18,18,14,12,12,10.
2. 3.5 Material and feats are allowed in our games with DM approval.
3. I will be 3rd level and wish to be an archer that uses a Repeating Crossbow.
Any help or advice would be great. Thanks.
The cross bow will not compare to a bow. I don't even know if the crossbow can compete with sword and board for damage.
The cross bow will not compare to a bow. I don't even know if the crossbow can compete with sword and board for damage.
This is what I had read. But I also remember seeing several Crossbow builds back in 3.5 and we allow 3.5 material. I was hoping that would help. I dont mind if its less optimal then a bow as long as its not too so bad as to make me useless.
If not I can always use a regular bow but I would hate loosing the flavor of his very cool crossbow.
If you are using 3.5 then I would take the feat that lets you add half of your dex to the damage. I don't know what you would call "useless" though.
I would expect to do less than most other classes before buffs come into play. My guess without any math to back it up is that you will be doing the same as a rogue that is not sneak attacking.
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Since 3.5 material is available, this guide is useful for optimizing any archery build:
Bear in mind you may have to multi-class with fighter early on to gain the necessary feats.
If all else fails, mechanically use a composite longbow while aesthetically you have a repeating crossbow. Heck you'll be raining enough arrows of death it might as well be repeating.
Make sure to pick the Spellbreaker or Preacher archetypes as these do away with solo tactics, an ability much more beneficial for melee combatants.
Your best bet, is to take two levels Inquisitor, one level fighter. For what you want to do, you need to be feat hungry, so your also going to have to choose Human as the race.
First establish your proficient with the repeating crossbow. Go ahead and buy a heavy crossbow too, will give more damage... Though I'm not sure actually if you'd be considered proficient with it, if it's heavy. If not, then forget the heavy aspect of it.
Next go ahead and spend your now 4 feats; 1 for human, 1 for lv 1 fighter, and 2 for your level. Make sure you have at least a 15 dex too. Get Point Blank Shot, Rapid Reload, Rapid Shot, and finally Crossbow Mastery
Cool, now you can shoot cross bolts to your hearts content and no attacks of opportunity, even when reloading.
I think that's what you wanted, best of luck with the rescue