one-handed crossbows

[Blame The Rogue]

drow are famous for their one-handed crossbows

is it possible to create some light crossbows that can be wielded in one-hand, allowing shield use?

i thought perhaps it may be achievable, as was done with the "light" flails

is this something staff and playerbase would be interested in?

at the moment, slings are the only ranged weapon that can be equipped with a shield. i thought adding one more shield option ranged weapon would be a good thing. you can never go wrong with more options and more flavor

as heavy crossbows are 1d10, light are 1d8, it seems 1d6 would be the proper damage for them. what would be a fair crit rate for a one-handed crossbow, in comparison to heavies and lights?

[Lockonnow]

change the light crossbow to one hand ?

[Blame The Rogue]

i believe aos has animations from another project that would work

[Endelyon]

What I could find about hand crossbows in source material claims that they cannot be reloaded while holding a shield. Then again it also says that slings cannot be reloaded while holding a shield, so it's not like the existing game mechanics haven't already deviated from this ruling.

According to 3.5 SRD a hand crossbow does 1d4 piercing damage with a crit range of 19-20/x2.

According to 5th edition rules it does 1d6 piercing damage with a crit range of 20/x2.

[Blame The Rogue]

ya. we can make it work

[Calantyr]

ya. we can make it work

But if it does work I will be forced to build a dual-wielding crossbow cowboy.

[Blame The Rogue]

ya. we can make it work

But if it does work I will be forced to build a dual-wielding crossbow cowboy.

i'm okay with that

no shield ac, but good damage

and it will look cool

[chad878262]

Not to start the same argument people habe over dual wielding hand crossbows, but how does one reload with any sense of speed while juggling two crossbows?

[Israe]

Not to start the same argument people habe over dual wielding hand crossbows, but how does one reload with any sense of speed while juggling two crossbows?

Magic.

[Blame The Rogue]

gnomish mechanics

[burbles]

Just like dual colts, one at a time)

[Sun Wukong]

Not to start the same argument people habe over dual wielding hand crossbows, but how does one reload with any sense of speed while juggling two crossbows?

Crossbow, Repeating

The repeating crossbow (whether heavy or light) holds 5 crossbow bolts. As long as it holds bolts, you can reload it by pulling the reloading lever (a free action). Loading a new case of 5 bolts is a full-round action that provokes attacks of opportunity.

You can fire a repeating crossbow with one hand or fire a repeating crossbow in each hand in the same manner as you would a normal crossbow of the same size. However, you must fire the weapon with two hands in order to use the reloading lever, and you must use two hands to load a new case of bolts.

Xaniqos School:

If you have moved at least 10 feet toward your target since the start of your turn, your crossbow attacks deal an extra 1d6 points of damage against that target in this round. This feat's benefit doesn't apply when you are mounted.
In addition, reloading your crossbow does not provoke attacks of opportunity.

Hand Crossbow Focus:

You can reload a hand crossbow as a free action.

You also gain a +1 bonus on attack rolls with a hand crossbow. This bonus does not stack with the bonus from Weapon Focus, but it is the equivalent of Weapon Focus for the purpose of qualifying for feats, prestige classes, and anything else that requires the feat.

Instant Reload:

You may fire the selected type of crossbow at your full normal attack rate. Effectively, you can reload your crossbow as fast as an archer can reload a bow. Reloading your crossbow does not provoke attacks of opportunity.

Rapid Reload:

The time required for you to reload your chosen type of crossbow is reduced to a free action (for a hand or light crossbow) or a move action (for a heavy crossbow). Reloading a crossbow still provokes an attack of opportunity. If you have selected this feat for hand crossbow or light crossbow, you may fire that weapon as many times in a full attack action as you could attack if you were using a bow.

Quick Draw

You can draw a weapon as a free action instead of as a move action. You can draw a hidden weapon (see the Sleight of Hand skill, page 81) as a move action. A character who has selected this feat may throw weapons at his full normal rate of attacks (much like a character with a bow).

Drop an Item

Dropping an item in your space or into an adjacent square is a free action

So...

Two Hand Crossbows: you need some feat investment... but in theory...

You could basically just juggle firing and reloading two hand crossbows by dropping them into your space, picking them back up, and reloading them because all these three actions are free actions for your character.

And if the DM says it is stupid and you cannot do it, then you just reroll your character into a human ranger. You get the Brutal Throw and Quick Draw feats at level 1, you pick two-weapon fighting style at level 2, and now you are doing far more damage with Throwing Axes and Light Hammers than what you could ever do with the above hand crossbow juggling.