Reloading light crossbow 5e12/30/2023 If you're looking to set up an ambush, having that single shot ready to go can be very worthwhile. Maybe you want to back up your buddy in the standoff in the bar? Lugging out your big 'bow is slow and gives everyone time to react, but you can relatively realistically quick-draw with your hand crossbow (assuming you thought to have it strung and a bolt ready, for whatever reason). Maybe you need assassinate the Evil Count at the Grand Ball? That big, Heavy Crossbow's not gonna pass the guards' ocular pat-down, but the Hand Crossbow in your big, fancy coat might get by easily. Even without that, holding one in each hand means you aren't held down to the one-attack-per-round drawback the Heavy and Light crossbows suffer due to the Loading property. The Crossbow Expert feat grants that sweet Bonus Action shot with an already-loaded hand crossbow. Of course, you might want to apply this feature to melee weapons designed to penetrate armor, like picks.There are a variety of reasons to use hand crossbows!Ĭombat practicality. Longbows and light crossbows are AP 1, Heavy crossbows AP 2. Or, like other systems, certain weapons ignore X points of armor (an Armor Piercing, or AP rating). Perhaps simply halving the bonus armor provides the wearer against a crossbow would be better. Perhaps it'd be simpler to use a different mechanic to simulate armor piercing. That makes it appear crossbows are more accurate, not better at penetrating armor. Bleh.Īlso consider you've essentially given a +5 to the weapon, particularly against unarmored targets. And it adds a layer of complexity- beyond what you already adding on the surface - which requires the DM to now have to consider the type, or source, of advantage a character has. It's a "common sense" fix to to a house rule you've proposed, that would need to be applied in such a consistent manner that it's really another house rule. On a critical hit damage is doubled as usual and, at the GM's discretion, treated as a massive damage attack.īut it's not a corner-case, rule-on-the-fly fix you're suggesting. Sniping: a combatant with a ranged weapon who is not under the threat of a melee or ranged attack can hold their attack during a round and carry that readied attack into the next round to (a) automatically gain initiative and (b) have advantage on the attack roll. Heavy crossbow damage is increased to 2d6 (if the heavy crossbow is of the cranked type, add 1 round to the minimum reload time and increase damage to 2d8). Similarly, have short bows and hand crossbows attack with disadvantage against heavy armor. The time required to reload a hand crossbow is (1-STR mod) rounds, while a light crossbow requires (2-STR mod) rounds and a heavy crossbows requires (4-STR mod) rounds if the reload time is 0 or better, the weapon can be loaded and fired in the same round.ĭamage: to represent the armor penetration and stopping power of bolts fired from a two-handed crossbow, grant advantage to attacks made within the first range band. Rate of fire: a bow can be fired once a round (more if the attacker has multiple attacks), while a crossbow can be fired just once per round and then requires reloading. Initiative: using a ranged weapon attack against a foe that is not an immediate melee threat to you (i.e., the foe cannot reach you with a melee attack without first using movement) should typically grant you advantage on your initiative roll. Light and heavy crossbows are simple weapons, as are short bows. Weapon classification: long bows and hand crossbows are martial weapons. Some ideas to spice up bows and crossbows:
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