canucksaram
First Post
Some ideas to spice up bows and crossbows:
Weapon classification: long bows and hand crossbows are martial weapons. Light and heavy crossbows are simple weapons, as are short bows.
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.
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. 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.
Damage: 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. Similarly, have short bows and hand crossbows attack with disadvantage against heavy armor. 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).
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. On a critical hit damage is doubled as usual and, at the GM's discretion, treated as a massive damage attack.
Weapon classification: long bows and hand crossbows are martial weapons. Light and heavy crossbows are simple weapons, as are short bows.
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.
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. 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.
Damage: 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. Similarly, have short bows and hand crossbows attack with disadvantage against heavy armor. 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).
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. On a critical hit damage is doubled as usual and, at the GM's discretion, treated as a massive damage attack.
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