CapnZapp
Legend
It would also help if the Sharpshooter and Crossbow Expert feats were just taken out back and shot.Doing slightly less damage should be the price of archery's increased tactical versatility, so IMO it's not a problem if the hand crossbow ranger has a slightly harder time shifting his Hunter's Mark than the TWF ranger does. Ranged combat shouldn't dominate utterly.
Sharpshooter contains three parts:
* no long range. This is perhaps not as balance breaking as immersiveness breaking. I see no point in having this effect. The only redeeming factor is that disadvantage can already be gamed, since by simply granting yourself advantage from a single source, you negate all sources of disadvantage. Abusing such an artificial effect of the otherwise laudably simple ad/disad rules is not really a good argument for keeping this, however.
* ignore cover. This lays a heavy hand over tactical movement. The only redeeming factor is that cover is already a non-issue (because the way you can move, attack and then move again enables the peekaboo shooting style). Abusing such an artificial effect of the otherwise laudably simple movement rules is not really a good argument for keeping this, however.
* the -5+10 mechanism is the most broken part of any feat, and giving it to the already supercharged ranged combat style is a mistake on so many layers I don't know where to begin.
Crossbow Expert also contains three parts:
* ignoring crossbow loading (aka making crossbows into bows) is a mere trifle from the game balance point of view, but it essentially ignores what a crossbow really is.
* being in melee does not shut down your ranged attacks (i.e. the "Legolas effect"). This is very bad for game balance, since being able to inconvenience archers by waving pointy sticks in their face has always been one of the biggest checks on ranged supremacy. I argue this unprecedented change is an extremely ill-advised step for D&D to take.
* getting the two-weapon bonus action WITH full Dex damage bonus is just the cherry on top. If the feat said "attack with a onehanded melee weapon" this would have made the feat into a cool atmospheric niche option, but nooo... it says "attack with a weapon" - which obviously means that you'll use the same hand crossbow for all attacks.
I have written about this situation before.
My advice is the same:
The easiest and simplest fix is to simply remove both feats in their entirety.
(That does not mean I'm opposed to having feats named "Sharpshooter" or "Crossbow Expert", only that we'll need to find other content to fill them with)