I had a concept in mind to play a kobold crossbow ranger, but it irks me that the crossbow is generally inferior to the bow. I was trying to come up with a solution to the issue, but simply creating a "mighty" version didn't appeal to me. It might be mechanically fine, but the flavor doesn't make much sense, since the power of a crossbow comes from it's mechanics, not human strength.
Now I apologize if this has already been asked elsewhere (I couldn't find anything on it when I searched, but admittedly, I didn't spend that much time searching). I was curious what the general consensus would on creating an enchantment that adds WIS mod to damage (in place of STR). It'd be a +1 enchantment like Agile, but for ranged weapons only (though, I'm not sure I see much problem with it being for melee as well). Let's call it Insightful.
Since the attack and damage stay in two separate stats, I can't see this being overpowered. The few features I saw that let you use WIS instead of DEX or STR all seem to let you switch out both attack and damage, so I don't think there's a danger in a specific build suddenly become overpowered because of this. But I'm just me, and I don't know everything within the game.
The main possible issue I see is that archer builds could benefit from completely dumping STR since WIS is the more desirable attribute anyway. I'm not sure a +1 enchantment cost would be enough of a deterrent to prevent WIS replacing STR for every archer build.
The other possibility I thought was making it into a feat instead. For the already feat-hungry builds this may likely be the bigger deterrent than the enchantment, but I'm not sure if that would really be the case. Nor am I sure that this would be enough of a deterrent either. I can definitely see it being undesirable at low and possibly mid levels, but at high levels, when you have the spare feats, I could see completely supplanting the STR 14 builds that's the mainstay.
I mainly just want a way to allow crossbow builds to be just as viable as archer builds. I'd like to hear your opinions on this. Once again, I apologize if this has been brought up previously, and my search-fu skills were just too weak to find it.
Wisdom to damage with ranged weapon is flavorful and match with a certain conception of the «eagle eyed archer». I think it could be both a feat and a enchantment.
The only real way I can see this kind of ability being open to abuse is on the Zen archer monk. He already hit using his Wisdom, add his wisdom to AC and, now, could use his Wisdom to damage rolls. But even here, this is not really worst than dervish dancing, which allow Dexterity to hit and to damage.
The power of the zen archer isn't so much linked to this Wisdom thing, but much more on the built-in mechanics that allow him to skyrocket his archery skills beyond any other class capacity (flurry with bows, bonus feat, no attack of opportunity in melee, free re-roll, etc.).
Kelazan wrote: Wisdom to damage with ranged weapon is flavorful and match with a certain conception of the «eagle eyed archer». I think it could be both a feat and a enchantment.
The only real way I can see this kind of ability being open to abuse is on the Zen archer monk. He already hit using his Wisdom, add his wisdom to AC and, now, could use his Wisdom to damage rolls. But even here, this is not really worst than dervish dancing, which allow Dexterity to hit and to damage.
The power of the zen archer isn't so much linked to this Wisdom thing, but much more on the built-in mechanics that allow him to skyrocket his archery skills beyond any other class capacity (flurry with bows, bonus feat, no attack of opportunity in melee, free re-roll, etc.).
Ah, for some reason I thought the zen archer already added WIS to damage. Not sure why I thought that. Thinking about it, that combination might be broken good.
Archery builds already put out a lot of DPR due to their ability to pull off more full attacks. The Zen Archer gets more than any other archer build already, I think. That would amount to a ton of additional static damage.
Maybe it should be a feat only, so we can limit it to crossbows only. Since zen archers can't use crossbows with their abilities, that would negate that combination as a possibility.
Not sure how I could fluff that to have it make sense that it only applies to crossbows. Hmmm... I'll have to think on that for a bit.
Instinctive Shot (Combat)
"Crank, load, point, shoot, crank, load, point, shoot. The speed at which you do this is breathtaking. It's become instinct to you. It has to have with a weapon normally that difficult to load. And your instinct is strong. You know just where to point her to make every shot hurt."
Prerequisites: Dex 15, Wis 13, Point-Blank Shot, Rapid Reload, Rapid Shot, Crossbow Mastery.
Benefit: With any crossbow made for a creature of your size category, you may apply your Wisdom modifier to damage rolls.
What you think?
EDIT: I forgot to add the Wis prerequisite initially.
Check out the 3rd party psionics stuff. Soulknife (who doesn't even USE psionic powers unless you take a certain archetype) has a blade skill called Focused Offense. As long as he has psionic focus, he uses Wis for attack *and* damage rolls with his mindblade. Then add in the Soulbolt archetype, which turns the mindblade into a ranged weapon but otherwise works as a mindblade. Two levels of Soulbolt, and you have a ranged attacker getting Wisdom to attack and damage.
Crossbows have inferiority to bows because they function as the primary ranged option for characters that don't have proficiency in martial weapons, which makes sense both mechanically, historically, and realistically. The logical homebrew solution is to make a martial crossbow that has similar properties to a shortbow. It could have a "composite" version that adds Intelligence modifier to damage, which makes more sense than Wisdom in my opinion. This might make crossbows attractive to wizards and Dexterity-based magi, but both these classes are generally not suitable for ranged builds.
By the way, there's already a feat called Focused Shot that lets you add Intelligence to a bow or crossbow attack as a standard action.
StreamOfTheSky wrote: Check out the 3rd party psionics stuff. Soulknife (who doesn't even USE psionic powers unless you take a certain archetype) has a blade skill called Focused Offense. As long as he has psionic focus, he uses Wis for attack *and* damage rolls with his mindblade. Then add in the Soulbolt archetype, which turns the mindblade into a ranged weapon but otherwise works as a mindblade. Two levels of Soulbolt, and you have a ranged attacker getting Wisdom to attack and damage. Having been introduced to D&D through Dark Sun back in 2nd edition, psionics has always been a favorite of mine. I'm already aware of the Focused Offense ability, but it's not what I'm looking for.
The concept I have in mind is a crossbow wielding kobold ranger. I want the ranger flavor, the ranger mechanics, so I want the ranger class, not a soulknife. I just wanted to create some way for the crossbow ranger to be a worthy alternative to the archer ranger, rather than just it's dim-witted cousin. It doesn't make sense that an entire ranger combat style is outright inferior to another. It's not a case of give and take, better at this and worse at that. It's just pretty much straight out inferior.
Cyrad wrote: Crossbows have inferiority to bows because they function as the primary ranged option for characters that don't have proficiency in martial weapons, which makes sense both mechanically, historically, and realistically. The logical homebrew solution is to make a martial crossbow that has similar properties to a shortbow. It could have a "composite" version that adds Intelligence modifier to damage, which makes more sense than Wisdom in my opinion. This might make crossbows attractive to wizards and Dexterity-based magi, but both these classes are generally not suitable for ranged builds.
By the way, there's already a feat called Focused Shot that lets you add Intelligence to a bow or crossbow attack as a standard action.
I don't think creating a martial version of the crossbow that adds INT/WIS is the way to go about this. The whole point of the crossbow over the bow is that it's simple to use and takes little to no training. But while I think it's believable that you could create some version of it that takes a bit more effort (we have exotics after all), I can't think of a reason why a weapon would have a built in way to allow for either your intelligence or wisdom modifier to be added to it's damage. I think that should either come from training or magical assistance, hence the feat and/or enchantment suggestion I initially gave. And because it is a simple weapon, I like the idea that it takes more effort or magical assistance to achieve the same level of effectiveness as you would from the bow.
I'm also aware of Focused Shot, but the fact that it requires a standard action makes it pretty much worthless for anyone who's going to focus on ranged combat, where the damage generally comes from your ability to make full attacks more often. It might be good for the smart character that just needs to take a shot every now and then, but not so much for a character whose build revolves around ranged combat.
I very much like the flavor, and I think that something like this should be the way to improve damage for crossbows, rather than giving them more shots, as the current system is. Feats that cost you a full attack, but lets you make one really powerful shot seems more like what I would expect from a crossbow, but the mechanics just don't support it right now. I don't want to go through the trouble and effort of creating an entire parallel system just for the crossbow.
The mechanics are also why I think WIS makes more sense than INT. Sure if you're taking the time to think it out, to consciously decide where to place your shots, INT is the obvious choice. But like the flavor text of my suggested, the fact that you are shooting so rapidly would suggest you're placing your shots more on instinct than intelligence.
Sorry guys, if it seems like I just have my heart set on this one specific feat, and I don't want to hear any other suggestions. That's not really what I'm trying to do. It's just that I've put a lot of thought into this, and this is the best that I could come up with. It's just what seems to make the most sense to be logically, within bounds of the currently existing game mechanics. If I do hear another suggestion that I think makes more sense, I will be more than happy to incorporate it. Mostly, though, I'm looking for any reasons you can think up of that would make this feat broken (like how the first guy pointed out the zen archer, which made the enchantment a no go).
Thank you guys for the feedback. Even if I don't sound like I'm grateful in how I respond, I'm grateful you took the time to read my posts and to give me advice.
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