D&D 5E 5e question: dual hand crossbows

[Syntallah]

People should realize that with the crossbow expert feat, the Duel Wielder feat is pretty much pointless. The only benefit it would bring you is being able to draw both weapons for free. You wouldn't get the +1 to AC, as that only applies when you wield two melee weapons, and being able to use weapons that aren't light is not helpful in this case.

"RAW, I'd like for you to meet a couple of guys, RAI, and D. M. Fiat. Man, you're gonna love 'em. When they get to the party, it's a whole of fun, I'm telling ya."

 

[TDarien]

"RAW, I'd like for you to meet a couple of guys, RAI, and D. M. Fiat. Man, you're gonna love 'em. When they get to the party, it's a whole of fun, I'm telling ya."

*shrugs* if you want to spend a feat to draw two weapons for free and +1 AC, have at it. Seems like a waste to me if you're not going to be using non-light weapons, especially since you don't need to have two crossbows to benefit from Crossbow expert.

 

[Johnny Angel]

Yeah, I thought it was weird how they felt the need to specify that Two Weapon Fighting was for melee weapons and then suddenly throw in the deal with thrown weapons. It made me think that excluding hand crossbows was what they had in mind in particular. Or, pistols. I seem to recall reading that there would be firearms rules in the DMG, and I wondered if there would be something for the person who wanted to be two-fisted gunslinger -- a somewhat more classic trope than dual crossbows.

As a GM, I would say that yes you can apply the Two Weapon Fighting rule to hand crossbows or any other ranged weapon that's light and one-handed, but they don't offer an AC bonus with the Dual Wielder feat, and they can't be reloaded if you don't have a free hand even if you have the Crossbow Expert feat. So, you'd have to use them the way people used to use flintlock pistols -- fire them before closing in with the enemy and just drop them, to be picked up after the fight.

 

[Herobizkit]

Also of note - weapons in the off-hand don't get +mod to damage unless you also have the Dual Wielder feat.

 

[Obryn]

Also of note - weapons in the off-hand don't get +mod to damage unless you also have the Dual Wielder feat.

Except hand crossbows, which do, with crossbow expert.

 

[TDarien]

Also of note - weapons in the off-hand don't get +mod to damage unless you also have the Dual Wielder feat.

That is a feature of the Two-Weapon Fighting style (class feature of the Fighter and Ranger), and NOT the Dual Wielder feat.

Also. The attack granted by Crossbow Expert, does add ability modifier to damage.

 

[Joe Liker]

"RAW, I'd like for you to meet a couple of guys, RAI, and D. M. Fiat. Man, you're gonna love 'em. When they get to the party, it's a whole of fun, I'm telling ya."

Thanks for telling everyone about your house rules, I guess. Too bad they're not relevant to anyone's game but yours.

 

[Dausuul]

Which is why you need to take the Crossbow Expert feat, which grants you a bonus action to make a hand crossbow attack with when you use the Attack action with a one handed weapon (ANY weapon, melee or ranged). So it accommodates sword-and-crossbow style & dual-hand-crossbow style.

Sure. But Crossbow Expert is not considered "engaging in two-weapon fighting," so you don't get to use the Two-Weapon Fighting Style with it. (You do, however, get to use Archery.)

 

[Riley37]

So, if D&D had rules for muzzle-loading flintlocks, and there was a feat allowing you to fire flintlock A in your right hand (main action), and flintlock B in your left hand (bonus action), *every round*, would you have characters do that? You don't care that reloading a flintlock IRL takes a free hand and several steps (pour powder, load wadding, load bullet, ram tight, prime pan, reset striker)?

Is this any different from one-handed crossbows which draw their own bowstring taut enough to hurl a bolt, AND place a new bolt in the groove, instantly, without the use of a free hand?

If D&D had a feat for PCs wielding a halberd in one hand and a longbow in the other, attacking with both in the same round, while simultaneously equipping a shield for +2 AC, while also sliding down a staircase on that shield, would you have characters do that? In the end, sir, do you have no sense of shame?

If you wanna go Chow Yun Fat, then give your PCs clip-fed semi-automatic handguns. Heck, go open-bolt and give them Uzis. That requires less suspension of disbelief. I mean, I know what dual handgun looks like. I know what a clip-fed crossbow looks like, too. The part where the string pulls itself back each time just baffles me; I don't know how to visualize it. "Where did they get Uzis, how do they manage the recoil, and how many rounds are left in the clip?" are minor questions by comparison.

 

[Tanaka Chris]

I'd say go for a Rock Gnome PC, and make use of his tinker ability, his background can be in smithing or working with mechanical gears and tension related contraptions.

That way you build in the ability to dual wield self reloading hand held crossbows which are tailored to your PC.
I'd also add in a caveat that if the PC ever rolls a 1 on an attack roll, there's a percentage that the mechanism jams/breaks and the weapon is unsable till you have the downtime to repair it. That should appease your DM right?

Then take Crossbow Expert feat at level 4 to finish the build