Valdir Casksplitter - dwarf inquisitor of Caiden Caylen, has a dilemma. (he's level 6, sanctified slayer archetype)
Valdir is an archer and uses a heavy repeating crossbow as it fits with his dwarven heritage (and his inspiration being Varric from Dragon Age).
His problem is that as he has risen in level, rapid shot, prevalence of haste and soon iterative attacks mean he’s taking 3-4 shots per round on a full attack & the 5 bolt clip doesn’t last very long at all any more.
With a +1 str modifier, a composite longbow would do just as much damage and no reloading issues, so would be the obvious alternative. Trouble is it doesn’t feel very dwarven.
Are there any feats, spells, magic item properties I can use to keep the rate of fire comparable to changing to a bow without the loss of flavour (& without being prohibitively expensive)?
PS - should have mentioned this is a PFS character
You could pick up crossbow mastery from the APG to reload as a free action
You could pick up crossbow mastery from the APG to reload as a free action
But that applies to reloading (which he already does as a free action), not loading a new cartridge of bolts.
Really, the best option is to take Crossbow Mastery at 7, and switch to a regular heavy crossbow.
There's the Rapid Reload and Crossbow Mastery feats, tho' 2 feats is a high price to pay for just equalling a bow. Reloading Hands is a spell which could help but it's not on your list. The Shadowshooting magic weapon property risks doing minimum damage but negates the need to reload entirely.
No good answers I'm afraid.
Edit: well, it's expensive, but endless ammunition from Philo's post above does the job best IMO.
Thanks guys - well I suppose at least it confirms I'm not missing an easy answer.
Edit: well, it's expensive, but endless ammunition from Philo's post above does the job best IMO.
If the wielder attempts to load the weapon with other ammunition, the created arrow or bolt immediately vanishes and the wielder can load the weapon as normal. This ability does not reduce the amount of time required to load or fire the weapon. The created arrow or bolt vanishes if removed from the weapon; it persists only if fired. Unlike normal bow and crossbow ammunition, these arrows and bolts are always destroyed when fired.
Crossbow Mastery is still needed to negate reloading time...
You could pick up crossbow mastery from the APG to reload as a free actionBut that applies to reloading (which he already does as a free action), not loading a new cartridge of bolts.
Really, the best option is to take Crossbow Mastery at 7, and switch to a regular heavy crossbow.
I would allow Crossbow mastery to work at my table, since it is still a loading action, but since this is for pathfinder society and not everyone will agree you may want to go with a regular heavy crossbow with these feats.
There is always the cheese that comes up fairly regularly that you can try to slip by. Since a repeating crossbow "magazine" is an ammo container just cast abundant ammunition on it to keep replenishing itself. This will probably be shot down more often than free action loading of a repeating crossbow "magazine"
Remember the great Pathfinder rule:
Only bows are allowed to be good ranged weapons without the need of devoting your whole class to it.
Use a bow. Describe it as a crossbow.