Advice: Making a crossbow build work

Rechan, I see your points now (I didn't realize you dumped Int) but let me add a note from my own experience:

I've played an archer ranger with Sneak of Shadows (using a houserule "rogue" bow). Most of the time, she gets CA (and thus sneak attack damage) from flanking -herself- and firing at point blank range. Since it's only a 1/enc thing anyway, this works out better than I would have thought, and no extra feats are necessary (though Defensive Mobility is handy sometimes). It seems like this might work for your bard, too, since it sounds like you'll have decent Con and you're probably going to want to be close enough to the front line to use your buffing powers anyway.

For your build, yeah, it looks like Cunning Ambusher is right out... but I think Two-Fisted Shooter might still be nice for a W+I build even without the extra attack. Crits don't happen that often anyway unless you're highly optimized, so it's not like you'd be missing out much with a low Dex.

Rechan said:

I'll go the simplest route:

Superior Crossbow, suck up the minor action loading, and hope I get a swiftshot weapon.

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That's what I would do. Superior CB is not a shabby weapon by any stretch. If the minor-action-to-reload becomes annoying you can pick up the Speed Loader feat. (This may actually be relevant since an important bard class feature is a minor action).

-- 77IM

bganon said:

Rechan, I see your points now (I didn't realize you dumped Int) but let me add a note from my own experience:

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Hmm. You make a good point.

Although given feats, that option likely won't be open to me until 2nd or 4th level. It's a shame we aren't starting higher - wielding a melee weapon in one hand and a crossbow in the other could be fairly cool - it would let one pick up Guiding Strike, which I fancy.

But, you still have to deal with the d6 instead of d8 or d10.

The reason Crossbow's damage expression is somewhat lower is that you can (as far as I am aware) use it with a Light Shield (Crossbow being one handed, and a Light Shield allows you to use the hand for other tasks like reloading).

A very fun crossbow build for Paragon is Hospitaler Paladin multiclass Bard. It has a very strange feel (ranged Mark for healing on artillery bosses, trivializing Beholders, etc), but it does have not so fantastic damage. Your mileage may vary, but my players have had fun with it for Delve Nights and such.

Dreadite said:

The reason Crossbow's damage expression is somewhat lower is that you can (as far as I am aware) use it with a Light Shield (Crossbow being one handed, and a Light Shield allows you to use the hand for other tasks like reloading).

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Really? I didn't know that! That's... intriguing.

Rechan said:

Really? I didn't know that! That's... intriguing.

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Only Hand Crossbows are one-handed. Other crossbows, whether Repeating, Superior, or just plain regular, are all Two-Handed weapons.

There is one nice combo with a bard and a Hand Crossbow.
Take Weapon Proficiency (Spiked Shield), and get one with one of the Songblade enchantents. Counts as a melee weapon for your melee powers, and an implement for your implement powers, while still (IIRC) giving you a free (enough) hand to reload your crossbow.

(It works even better with a Drow Bard of course, having access to Ruthless Hunter (to increase damage to d8's) and Drow Fighting Style (giving the ability to make crossbow attacks without OAs when wielding a crossbow and a light blade.)