So, Paired shots says you only apply precision damage once if both attacks hit. The gunslinger's new Slinger's Precision feature adds 2 Precision damage to strike swith crossbows and 1d4 Precision damage to strikes with guns. If a pistoleer uses Paired shots with, say, a Dueling Pistol and a repeating Hand Crossbow, which Precision damage do they add?
Edit: Whoops, I forgot a Repeating hand crossbow would turn off singular expertise. The question still works if it's a regular hand crossbow, though.
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One thing I'd like to clarify, my reading of Paired Shots isn't that you are required to wield different, it's simply trying to say you must have a loaded crossbow or loaded firearm in both hands.
Which is to say, there's no good reason to use different weapons in each hand (although you can do so).
As to which precision damage you would add, it's your choice as the player. The average of 1d4 is 2.5 damage, so 0.5 more than the 2 damage with the crossbow.
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Personally, I would use the same logic given in CRB clarifications regarding persistent damage.
Page 621 (Clarification): How can I tell which multiple persistent damage value is higher when it's not obvious?
Multiple Persistent Damage Conditions notes that you keep only the highest amount of persistent damage. How do you choose between 3 persistent fire damage and 1d6 persistent fire damage (which is usually, but not always higher)? In these cases, the GM should quickly use their best guess to decide which applies. Don’t worry about doing all the math of average damage, just follow your heart to which seems most severe.
While the specifics may be different regarding direct damage that you only get to apply one of, and persistent damage that you only get to apply one of, the idea is the same. Choose between 2 and 1d4 in whatever way seems appropriate to you.
One thing I'd like to clarify, my reading of Paired Shots isn't that you are required to wield different, it's simply trying to say you must have a loaded crossbow or loaded firearm in both hands.
Which is to say, there's no good reason to use different weapons in each hand (although you can do so).
As to which precision damage you would add, it's your choice as the player. The average of 1d4 is 2.5 damage, so 0.5 more than the 2 damage with the crossbow.
The original question was inspired by old builds that used a Repeating Hand Crossbow in one hand to ease the action economy of Paired shots, but I realized that wouldn't matter in this case because repeating weapons don't benefit from Slinger's Precision. But I was still curious what people would think if someone used a crossbow and a pistol together, so I edited the original post.
I agree that player's choice is probably the way to go. Thanks for humoring the strange question!
It being the players choice is indeed explicitly stated within Paired Shots.
If both attacks hit, combine their damage and then add any applicable effects from both weapons. You add any precision damage, only once, to the attack of your choice.Though ofcourse this does not really matter as players are going to select the highest expected outcome in almost every case.
Only reason I can think of choosing the +2 is if that attack was a crit.
Well if you know that 2 damage would take down an enemy, but 1 point of damage wouldn't, you might choose the sure thing.
The damage difference is small, even between the best roll (4) and the set damage (2), so it doesn't make a huge difference regardless. I will admit, I think I'd be likely to go for the consistent expected damage.
However if the damage bonus were 1d6 instead of 1d4, I'd probably always choose the 1d6.
Well if you know that 2 damage would take down an enemy, but 1 point of damage wouldn't, you might choose the sure thing.
You have the choice to deal 3d4 damage, 2d6 damage, or 1d12 damage. You need to deal 10 damage or the enemy will wreck your entire team.
Choose wisely.
Well if you know that 2 damage would take down an enemy, but 1 point of damage wouldn't, you might choose the sure thing.You have the choice to deal 3d4 damage, 2d6 damage, or 1d12 damage. You need to deal 10 damage or the enemy will wreck your entire team.
Choose wisely.
Statistically in this scenario, I believe 1d12 has the best chance of success.
1d12 has 3 outcomes that are 10 or better, 25%.
2d6 requires a roll of 5 or better on each dice. To figure out the chance of success it's (2/6)^2 which is ~11%.
3d4 requires a roll of 4 on 1 die, and at least a 3 on the two others. I'm unsure how to do the math on this one. It might be (1/4)*(1/2)*(1/2).
It should be noted that 3d4 has the best average damage though. So generally for attacking I'd rather have 3d4 for more consistent damage over the course of using the weapon.
But if I needed to deal 10 or more damage in a specific attack, the 1d12 weapon has the best chance.