This is a question I asked a lot, but never got a convincing answer for.
Can a familiar with Manual Dexterity reload a crossbow? My gut feeling fears no, but I cannot really see why.
It is for example easy to imagine that my monkey familiar sits on my character's shoulder and reloads the weapon without having to take it out of my character's habd. I am not asking because I want to abuse anything here, it would just be a cool thing to do.
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A familiar can reload a crossbow, but only if the familiar is the one holding the crossbow. Part 3 of this video has your authoritative source for that.
Great. Thanks a lot.
There are valid arguments on both sides.
For allowing it: It really isn't game breaking. Valet lets your familiar reload your throwing weapons. Even if it is allowed, it doesn't lower the weapon to a reload 0 weapon - so it still doesn't qualify for feats that need that (like Hunted Shot).
For preventing it: You should be wielding the weapon if you are reloading it, and the familiar is not wielding the weapon. Same reason that you can't reload your ally's crossbow.
There is also the question of if you can combine it with Independent. If not, then both reloading the crossbow yourself or commanding your familiar to do it both cost an action.
The idea is to use independent in combination.
But it seems there is an official answer already making that idea basically useless.
Bummer, because I agree that it wouldn't be game breaking,it would just be a fun use for the familiar.
I also think it would be realistc to reload a crossbow while somebody else is holding it.
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There are valid arguments on both sides.
For allowing it: It really isn't game breaking. Valet lets your familiar reload your throwing weapons. Even if it is allowed, it doesn't lower the weapon to a reload 0 weapon - so it still doesn't qualify for feats that need that (like Hunted Shot).
For preventing it: You should be wielding the weapon if you are reloading it, and the familiar is not wielding the weapon. Same reason that you can't reload your ally's crossbow.
There is also the question of if you can combine it with Independent. If not, then both reloading the crossbow yourself or commanding your familiar to do it both cost an action.
Independent doesn't work with Valet, it's been clarified in the latest errata batch.
Its always going to take to one action to command the minion. Which is a pity as its really devalued familiars for not much of a reason when they really need to be improved.
AFAIT you can still usefully reload a two action reload with a familiar, or even use the Animate Object ritual to turn a weapon into a minion that will reload itself when commanded.
But that is only useful for things like the Heavy Crossbow and it still costs you one action minimum. The animated object presumably doesn't need to hold itself, or spend another action handing itself over. So it seems to be the most efficient way to go.
Longer reload times can be helped as well. There are a few things with 3 action reloads, and you are allow to split up reload action across turns.
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Its always going to take to one action to command the minion. Which is a pity as its really devalued familiars for not much of a reason when they really need to be improved.
AFAIT you can still usefully reload a two action reload with a familiar, or even use the Animate Object ritual to turn a weapon into a minion that will reload itself when commanded.
But that is only useful for things like the Heavy Crossbow and it still costs you one action minimum. The animated object presumably doesn't need to hold itself, or spend another action handing itself over. So it seems to be the most efficient way to go.
Longer reload times can be helped as well. There are a few things with 3 action reloads, and you are allow to split up reload action across turns.
An interesting interpretation of the ritual, but I'm not sure I'm inclined that this would work with that intention, since it's meant to take an appropriate inanimate object and turn it into a specific type of creature that is either rebellious or functions as a minion, based on your check result.
Even if we can argue that the weapon becomes a creature, alas, there's no such things as "Animated [Weapon]" in the given statblocks. (You'd think there would even be something as simple as an Animated Sword as a Level 0 creature, but there isn't.) Even if there was, there's no way to enchant them with runes (since they are creatures now), and they'd have their own to-hit and damage rolls that don't scale with your own, for example. Incidentally, there's Animated Armor, but I would not be inclined to permit that to work for somebody to find a cheap way to have auto-assembling armor, for example, especially when we already have existing rules and runes which expressly do this for the wearer. I also probably wouldn't let it help move the character while it's worn by spending its own actions to move the PC given that, once again, it is its own creature, which takes up its own space in combat.
Oh yeah. Its totally making stuff up. Its up to the GM or not. But that is pretty much the case with all animated objects. The GM really has to decide if that is what the animated object can do. However it does seem plausible.
What you really need is an animated crossbow to cock itself and animated arrows that load themselves into the crossbow. ;)
Independent doesn't work with Valet, it's been clarified in the latest errata batch.
True. But Valet does work for 'reloading' two thrown weapons and allowing two Strikes per turn for as long as you have daggers available. But yes, you do have to spend one action commanding it to use Valet.
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Independent doesn't work with Valet, it's been clarified in the latest errata batch.True. But Valet does work for 'reloading' two thrown weapons and allowing two Strikes per turn for as long as you have daggers available. But yes, you do have to spend one action commanding it to use Valet.
It is a cheap solution, but it is also an inferior solution compared to the Quick Draw feat.