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Hello, Paizoians.
A question has come up in my game regarding the Crossbow Mastery feat.
There seems to be a disconnect between the descriptive flavor text of the feat and the actual rules.
Here's the text:
Crossbow Mastery (Combat)
You can load crossbows with blinding speed and even fire them in melee with little fear of reprisal.
Prerequisites: Dex 15, Point-Blank Shot, Rapid Reload, Rapid Shot.
Benefit: The time required for you to reload any type of crossbow is reduced to a free action, regardless of the type of crossbow used. You can fire a crossbow as many times in a full attack action as you could attack if you were using a bow. Reloading a crossbow for the type of crossbow you chose when you took Rapid Reload no longer provokes attacks of opportunity.
Special: Starting at 6th level, a ranger with the archery combat style may select Crossbow Mastery as a combat style feat.
The flavor text would imply that if you have the feat, you can fire in melee without provoking an AOO. However, in the crunch section under "Benefit" it states that reloading doesn't provoke an AOO, but it doesn't say anything about firing.
My table ruling for now is to go with RAW-- Firing in melee still provokes an AOO. If you didn't have the feat, firing multiple shots in melee would provoke AOOs for reloading and another for firing, so there is still a benefit in this perspective.
Was I in the right here?
Yea, this will lower the number of potential AoOs you take on, but doesn't overlap with Point Blank Master's schtick. I agree that the text is at odds with the fluff.
The flavor text doesn't always mesh 100% with the fluff.
The crunch is the important part as far as rules are concerned.
On the plus side, a fighter can reach both Crossbow Mastery and Point Blank Master by 5th level, if that's prioritized.
Mind you, your melee won't be golden... but you can keep using your (heavy) crossbow IN melee, so that's OK.
EDIT: Human fighter.