Players rarely use crossbows in games I've taken part in. They aren't really all that good. Most characters use a bow, and only ever carry a crossbow for "fluff."
From a real-world perspective, crossbows didn't require all that much experience to use (hence it is a simple weapon, in-game), yet they were fully capable of piercing armor and delivering killing blows from quite a distance. Their damage as represented within the game is lackluster, in my opinion. They pale in comparison to bows.
In an effort to spice 'em up a bit, I've designed the following rule for use with crossbows. The idea is to give 'em a bit more "oomph," promoting their usage both amongst players and DM alike. I'm actually quite excited to implement this rule, supplying each and every city guard with a light crossbow (making 'em a real threat to low level characters).
I thought about it, but that sort of defeats the purpose. Bows require lots of muscle control and benefit from a high Strength score. Crossbows on the other hand are supposed to be viable for anyone. That's why they were preferred to the longbow, historically. Longbowmen trained for years to develop the skill and power required to properly wield their weapons (which makes sense when you consider it is a martial weapon).
Well, basically all this turns into is "my first attack on the next combat will be at +3 or +5" because spending a full-round action in combat to deal +1 extra damage is usually going to be a waste of time. Even winding as a move action only means that you get an extra +1. Since a heavy crossbow still takes a move action to load, you can basically choose to fire your weapon (dealing 1d10 damage) or you can choose to add +1 damage that round to next round's damage. Not a worthwhile trade, especially when crossbows are already really slow to deal damage.
This is a neat idea, but it doesn't do enough to make crossbows appealing beyond a backup weapon for a wizard to use at low levels (before he can afford a wand of magic missile) and has run out of useful spells.
A better option might simply be something like this as a feat:
Reloading a crossbow is still time consuming, as would be "overcranking" the mechanism. Characters aren't going to be using this option in-combat.
So, bows are still going to be more appealing. This is the reality of the game that we play. A dedicated ranged combatant is going to favor the bow.
The benefit of this rule is that before combat a character (weak or strong) can spend the time required to wind the cord back further, granting his first attack more damage. Thus, a crossbow is a deadly opener, regardless of the martial inclination of the character (especially useful during war-time when the military hasn't the time to train conscripts, who are usually peasants with little-to-no combat experience).
Perhaps I (like many designers before me) have taken too much of a simulationist approach to this weapon.
Crossbows seem to get the shaft, don't they? Heh.
If I were to try and make the weapon as viable an option for dedicated ranged characters, I'd have to first upgrade it to martial--but, that sort of defeats the point of the weapon (as detailed above, in my other posts).
My thoughts were to use a similar rule to what you stipulated above, except that the crossbow would essentially need to be paid for along the lines of a +Str bow.
So your Heavy Crossbow could be a beast of a compound style crossbow, but that +5 worth of pulleys and reinforcement adds 75gp per point to a Light, or 100gp per point to a Heavy.
It makes them an excellent 'alpha strike' weapon all of a sudden.
That could make an excellent addition, Shifty. Certainly feels right (and parallels what already exists in the rules; the crossbow emulates a Strength rating, similar that of a bow), but is it too much? It's already time consuming to get the bonus damage, should it also be costly in terms of wealth?
I happen to agree with you, but we end up on that martial/simple paradigm.
Perhaps reduce an 'extra wind' to a move action.
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Standard Load Times:
Hand X-Bow - move action
Light X-Bow - move action
Heavy X-Bow - full round action
w/ Rapid Reload:
Hand X-Bow - swift action (instead of free action)
Light X-Bow - swift action (instead of free action)
Heavy X-Bow - move action
Winding:
Upon any masterwork non-repeating crossbow, Winding takes the time of two loading actions, and grants a ST bonus to damage with a maximum of +1 for Hand, +3 for Light, and +5 for Heavy.
(requiring =/> a 12/16/20 ST to wind. for each ST bonus a character is deficient, it requires an additional load action to wind up completely. thus a weaker character only requires more time to get the full effect, which accounts for mass appeal.)
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Since historically they could pierce armor, I'd give hand/light/heavy xbows the ability to bypass up to 2/4/6 points of armor bonus (not counting enhancements) and/or bypass up to 1/2/3 points of damage reduction.
So a warrior with an adamantine full plate would have an AC 6 points lower and/or would not benefit from its damage reduction against a heavy crossbow user.
I'd upgrade the damage for all crossbows one step.
As for myself, my melee character has an crossbow for underwater combat. Caster characters usually have one too for backup and creatures with SR.
I really like this. I have been trying to make a character work with a crossbow. It's a headache. You can do MUCH better with a firearm or crossbow.
With this change it makes Vital Strike a real possibility with crossbows.
Firearm: same damage, higher multiplier, can reload as move (with feat/thing) no matter the type if 2 hander.
Bows: We've all seen the threads.
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Crossbows aren't as good as bows generally, but you can do some things with crossbows that you can't with bows. Crossbows don't gain Str bonuses to damage, but aren't penalized for low Str either, nor do they need to be specifically made for a specific Str bonus (making them less expensive overall). Also, crossbows of the same size as the character can be fired with one hand, so you can fire a crossbow one size larger with two hands; a Large heavy crossbow does 2d8 damage (3d8 with gravity bow). It's a GM call as to whether the penalty is -2 or -6 (-2 for being inappropriately sized and -4 for shooting it "with one hand"). Alternately, the double crossbow can provide about the same benefit by firing two bolts at once (at -4); note that gravity bow on a double crossbow increases damage of each bolt to 2d6 (2d6 + 2d6 when firing two bolts). A crossbow can be stored knocked and loaded in a glove of storing.
The biggest benefit bows have over crossbows (other than adding Str damage) is fire rate, but Rapid Reload (plus Crossbow Mastery for a heavy crossbow) can allow crossbow wielders to almost match the archers by spending one (or two) extra feats. You can't use Manyshot with a crossbow, but that's all you lose.
Firearms are "shiny," but early firearms are extremely range limited (especially the range at which they attack touch AC) compared to bows and crossbows; also, the misfire chance can be a real pain. To get the most benefit out of them requires just about as many feats as becoming an effective crossbow wielder, plus levels in specific gunslinger archetypes. Not to mention that firearms are much more expensive than either bows or crossbows.
Also, note that firearms (like slings and thrown weapons) gain no benefit from gravity bow and aspect of the falcon only modifies the critical statistics of bows and crossbows.