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From calculations and play, I believe crossbows are fine if you play a Ranger. They start to lose vs bows when weapon specialization and property runes kick in but get a big boost with Penetrating Shot at level 10.
Crossbow Rangers will, on average, deal less whiteroom DPR than Bow ones but moving is part of their main attack routine (Running Reload) which can be useful. Their damage is also loaded on one big hit, which helps with some circumstancial single-strike bonuses like Flat-footed from Hidden or True Strike.
Any other class will be severely disadvantaged tho. Crossbow Ace and Running Reload (and precision edge, to some extent) are necessary for a crossbow to be competitive.
An idea is to give easier access to those features. An archetype or something similar. You could also bake Crossbow Ace directly into crossbows by default.
Crossbows are usually worse because they are taken in the light of "being an easier to use weapon" then a bow.
Historically it is somewhat correct, as the bow required much more time of training to be really efficient with it, but the basics of crossbow could be easily taught.
Because of the idea that Longbows were superior to the crossbow unities, we ended with this cultural concept that longbows are the weapon of heroes, and crossbow the weapons of guards, or sidearms for wizards.
I could study crossbows (mechanically in the system) and create some balanced content for it.
Probably a couple of general feats that can bring it to be on pair with bows, without making the crossbow ranger more powerful, and an archetype to allow crossbow to be an efficient weapon, but still trying to keep it different from the bow.
If enough people show interest I may do it in an article.
Just for rangers but...
I make the Xbow Ace damage bonus equal the TEML bonus instead of just being +2. I also let my ranger player take rapid reload at level 2 instead of 4.
IRL, it was easier to "ready actions" with a crossbow than with a bow. With a longbow you have to continually hold the bowstring back which can tire your arm, but with a crossbow you can patiently wait as long as you'd like.
Crossbows could also pierce armor, even plate mail. The fact that crossbows could harm even armored foes (usually rich nobles) lead Pope Innocent II to ban their use against Christians in 1139 CE.
So to translate this into house rules for PF2, you could change longbows and shortbows to be unable to ready an action to shoot but keep it as an option for crossbows (maybe with a +1 or +2 to the attack roll?). Crossbows could also have a trait to show the armor-piercing potential it has, maybe if you're proficient with Martial weapons lets you ignore armor bonus to AC? I'd give it the Deadly trait as well because crossbow bolts hit HARD.
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Brian Darnell,
Which of the following do you want the Crossbow Hotfix to perform as a houserule:
1) Hit harder
2) Shoot faster
3) Provide alternate tactic
4) ??
Once we know how you want X-bows to perform differently, we can create a houserule for you (or you can steal one from above).
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IRL, it was easier to "ready actions" with a crossbow than with a bow. With a longbow you have to continually hold the bowstring back which can tire your arm, but with a crossbow you can patiently wait as long as you'd like.
Crossbows could also pierce armor, even plate mail. The fact that crossbows could harm even armored foes (usually rich nobles) lead Pope Innocent II to ban their use against Christians in 1139 CE.
So to translate this into house rules for PF2, you could change longbows and shortbows to be unable to ready an action to shoot but keep it as an option for crossbows (maybe with a +1 or +2 to the attack roll?). Crossbows could also have a trait to show the armor-piercing potential it has, maybe if you're proficient with Martial weapons lets you ignore armor bonus to AC? I'd give it the Deadly trait as well because crossbow bolts hit HARD.
This might be interesting, especially since max armour bonus is now six for plate. I might restrict this to one range increment, tho even then that's a good distance. Shields I think would still give their bonus (what with being farther from you so possibly deflecting the bolt's path to your heart).
I'm toying with the idea of a ranger sniper build. Someone basically wanting to go 'one shot one kill' (despite how that generally doesn't work in most RPG systems). Crossbow ace is a must, and cover will help with sniping. I also like the idea of Rapid Reload coming back, even if it's restricted to one weapon of non-zero Reload.
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Monsters don't have an "armor bonus" to AC (FWIW neither do players but that's semantics) so you probably need something else to represent armor piercing. Maybe reduced effectiveness of resistance against its attacks?
Just let all martial classes take crossbow ace. Simple-weapon-only users can still burn actions to crank.
Surprisingly, there is little difference between crossbows and longbows in practice. I used to think so until I saw a documentary a couple of years ago which compared actual users of the two weapons competing against each other in a variety of contests. The results were rather interesting:
Speed: traditionally, the bow is considered the clear winner here, with the need for a crossbow to be drawn. In practice, the difference was minimal. Something like 25 to 23 shots in a fixed time.
Accuracy: with the fletching on an arrow spinning it to give it stability in flight, it has always been considered the winner, however the crossbow is surprisingly accurate with no real discernible difference between the 2 weapons in practice.
Penetration: with its famed ability to penetrate armour, the crossbow was always my favourite here, but in practice the longbow proved just as capable.
Ease of use: with longbowmen famously having to start practicing as children, while crossbows could be picked up in a matter of minutes by anyone, the crossbow should be the winner here. In practice, however, the longbow could be picked up by an inexperienced person and used immediately (albeit less effectively than an experienced bowman).
All in all, the longbow was the winner, but the difference was minimal. How you would reflect that in the rules is difficult to say.
On the other hand, this is fantasy, not reality. I see no reason not to have our Legolases and William Tells, and it is fun to have a meaningful difference between them.
Simple answer is to add new martial crossbows -
Name Category Price Damage Range Reload Bulk Hands Group Weapon Traits
Dwarven Tunnelbow Martial 10 gp 1d8 P 80 ft. 1 1 2 Bow Dwarf, Fatal 1D10
Dwarven Heavy Tunnelbow Martial 15 gp 1d10 P 120 ft. 2 2 2 Bow Dwarf, Fatal 1D12
This one is just for fun...
Dwarven Boltgunn Martial 25 gp 1d8 P 60 ft. 0 1 2 Bow Dwarf, Fatal 1D10, Punishing, Revolver
The Dwarven boltgunn is a rapid firing sprung weapon that propels crossbow bolts at deadly speeds.
New Traits:
Punishing: You add half your Dexterity modifier (if positive) to damage rolls with a punishing ranged weapon. If you have a negative Dexterity modifier, you add your full Dexterity modifier instead.
Revolver: Ranged weapons with the revolver trait carry 5 rounds of ammunition. It tales 3 actions to reload the revolver.
The only issue is it might give Rangers an unexpected power boost?
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I just had a thought, Crossbow Ace, instead of upping the damage dice (but keeping the other features), instead it reduces the reload by 1 on any crossbow.
This would make the Heavy Crossbow have the same effect as it currently has (because under my interpretation "simple crossbow" means the D8 version only, maybe I am wrong here)
But it's effects on the other two options would be more interesting:
The normal crossbow would become a comp longbow that treats the user as having 18 str (Gnomes and Halflings rejoice)
And even more interesting would be the hand crossbow as a 1 handed str 18 shortbow, allowing a shield.
How about changing the Reload for a Heavy Crossbow to 1 with a minimum strength requirement (say 18)?
What about a new feat that would give the use of a Crossbow the Deadly Weapon trait provided by bows? (Hand=Deadly d8, Reg=Deadly d10, Heavy=Deadly d12)
You could add the Agile Weapon trait to Hand Crossbows.
You could create a new Crossbow weapon group to give them a different Critical Specialization effect. The details of this new Crossbow weapon group could be something specific for your house rules play - something your players have hinted at and/or you think they might show some interest in.