I have a player who, in an effort to save money in the short term, has opted to buy several slings with potency crystals, rather than a +1 striking sling.
The idea is to have several such slings at the ready, preloaded with sling bullets. It takes no more time for him to drop an expended sling and draw a new one than it would take for him to load one already in hand.
This brings to question the concept of "preloading" a ranged weapon. Can you do it? Should you be able to do it? Could it be considered a rules abuse?
I suppose it would depend on the weapon. I have a hard time believing you could carry a sling with a bullet in it without risking the bullet falling out as you adventure. I suppose it could be tied or secured, but then you'd have to untie it prior to use. Being able to do so as part of the Strike seems like something that should require a feat or other investment (on the other hand, the gains are so small, that seems a bit much).
Other weapons, like crossbows, make more sense to me, but I've heard people say that the quarrels can fall out pretty easily as well (they literally just sit in a slotted groove, so tilting the crossbow to one side is all it takes). I've also heard other people say that keeping a crossbow perpetually loaded (such as during exploration or downtime) would cause the tension to stretch out the bowstring, rendering it effectively useless.
Still other weapons, like firearms, can undoubtedly be pre-loaded, and that is the expectation.
What are your thoughts on the matter of preloading? Do you allow it or disallow it? Why? And under what circumstances?
Not allowing Crossbows or Firearms to be preloaded never even crossed my mind, honestly. Balance-wise it's really no different from the fighter walking through the dungeon with his Greatsword drawn.
For Slings, it does seem a bit weird. Having the one in your hand preloaded is easy. But having half a dozen dangling from your belt and and somehow not having the stones drop out seems like it might take some suspension of disbelieve. Then again, you might just as well have a bunch of javelins with Potency Crystals on your back for pretty much the same effect (mechanically, at least).
I think I'd still allow it, especially in the example you've given. Potency Crystal's aren't that cheap after all, and it's unlikely your player can keep this up for more than 2-3 combats before the crystals start to put more of a strain on their wealth than a simple +1 potency rune would.
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I would not allow it for slings that were on a belt for the reasons Blave mentioned.
If any reload weapon was being carried, I would allow it. You are giving up a free hand, or two, to do that, and it also seems prudent to me to have your weapon ready to go if you are expecting danger. So, room to room in a dungeon would be fine in my game to pre-load, if the weapon was in your hands.
If a crossbow was slung, I would not. Gravity, IMO, would pull the bolt out, though if a player could show me that it would not, somehow, I'd reverse the ruling.
For a firearm, I would allow it when slung with a caveat - if you rolled a crit fail on an Athletics check or Acrobatics check it would go off. It might not hit you, but it would fire.
There are reasons, after all, that armies did not have crossbows/early firearms loaded on the march.
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On the rules front, there's nothing saying what can or can't happen between the reload actions and actually attacking with the weapon, where you'd expect any restrictions to be mentioned. But that's just omission, so for some explicit points: the Gunner's Bandolier has an activation that leaves you with a loaded firearm or crossbow stowed in the bandolier, and the Drow Shootist archetype gives you a quick draw-style action that lets you draw and shoot a hand crossbow in the same action.
More vaguely, you also have that the Gunslinger has Quick Draw as a class feat while being built for the use of firearms and crossbows. If that doesn't work with their main weapons, that's an exceptionally cruel trick on Paizo's part. Similar goes for all the Initial Deeds letting you draw your weapon when rolling initiative—if that weapon is expected to be unloaded, it would have been worth a clarifying note at the very least.
So on the rules/mechanical front, keeping your worn weapons loaded looks to be allowed. Or at least it is for the major groups of crossbow + firearm, but there's nothing to suggest we should discriminate between other types of reloading weapon.
In terms of flavour: since a sling is pretty much just a leather pouch with two bits of rope attached, I think it would be pretty easy to keep it pre-loaded. Just tuck the folded pouch into a belt or pocket with the ropes coiled up next to it, and you can grab everything easily then let the pouch fall to a resting position, ready to go.
I agree with people who say shoving a loaded crossbow into your pocket is a very bad idea for everyone involved, but given that it's got explicit mechanical support I would be happy to hand-wave that you've e.g. got the bolt tucked under the string and you pull back the string as part of your draw action. You can't do that with a real crossbow, but then you can't reload a real crossbow in 2 seconds either.
Can't go too deep into realism or else we get swapping bowstrings in humid weather or leaving them off during travel. Verisimilitude on the other hand makes carrying a loaded sling or crossbow a viable option. Tuck bullet into folded pocket of the sling, wrap with the string, unfurl as needed. Done.
Using consumables as substitutes for a permanent item (IF they ever plan on getting said item) takes its toll on one's gold so it's not like they're getting away with something. Except part of me wonders if there's another reason for this pseudo-shenanigan because loading takes two hands while pulling out a new sling and wielding it does not.
Insofar as I'm aware, the player just ran out of starting funds for their character, but still wanted a "magical" sling. They saw that slings didn't cost anything, and so got a few of them.
Except part of me wonders if there's another reason for this pseudo-shenanigan because loading takes two hands while pulling out a new sling and wielding it does not.
I hadn't even considered that aspect!
If they were trying to pull a fast one on me though, I doubt they would have brought it to my attention in the first place. Players like that often just assume that the GM and the table is on the same page until it comes up in play. Easier to ask forgiveness than permission as some say.
My experience has consistently been that ranged weapons are preloaded at all times, only needing to be reloaded after their first strike.
It’s a strange consensus.
Perhaps if they had called it “load”…
That's funny because yeah, preloaded is a loaded term, and people would usually say "loaded" which sounds like SOP.
If I wanted to carry loaded slings I'd tuck each into a bandoleer pouch with the the knots and finger loops sticking out.
Irl,historical repeating crossbows stayed loaded, but generally require two hands to fire.
Repeating crossbows from the mind of Jörg Sprave are another thing entirely...
I can easily imagine a single shot crossbow that would retain a loaded bolt, but it would also be slower to load/reload.
As for firearms,carrying multiple loaded pistols is as old as the idea of pistols and continued in actual practical use up through at least 1942, accord to Fairbairn and Sykes.
B7
Yeah- if the slings are stored in little pouches, such that you just pull the sling out with the stone already in it, I think that makes enough sense to avoid unnecessarily nerfing slings.