D&D 5E Bards, Violins and Crossbows

[rgoodbb]

Now that I look around, I found this:

View attachment 81104

If that were a violin, then it would kill me! Good picture though.

 

[rgoodbb]

You need a mouth instrument. Maybe a jaw harp, or a kazoo

Go on then I'll Bite....Whats a jaw harp?

 

[tuxgeo]

Jessabelle Diddle. She's a Tabaxi actually. Cat and the Fiddle kind of stuff

Additional Magical secrets at 6th will provide other options as you say but by then I will hopefully have plenty to keep me going.

I am leaning towards ditching the crossbow, and just using VM with my concentration Bane spell during combat and chucking out the occasional verbal Inspiration/healing word. That kind of sits right with me at 1st level. I have saved my 2 other spells known for non-combat. Disguise self and Charm Person. I think I can get away with that.

Cheers for clearing that up folks

Jessabelle's "Bane" only has a range of 30' but her "Vicious Mockery" is good out to 60'. If she is going to use both in combination, then that means to me that she doesn't need the greater range of a crossbow. The humble Javelin has a range of 30' and only costs 1/2 gold piece each, so she can carry several -- and a javelin can be drawn and thrown one-handed, and does almost the same damage as a light crossbow. (Call it a "Jaguar-claw" for flavor?) However, it requires Strength to use well, and I don't know if your Tabaxi has that emphasized.

 

[rgoodbb]

Jessabelle's "Bane" only has a range of 30' but her "Vicious Mockery" is good out to 60'. If she is going to use both in combination, then that means to me that she doesn't need the greater range of a crossbow. The humble Javelin has a range of 30' and only costs 1/2 gold piece each, so she can carry several -- and a javelin can be drawn and thrown one-handed, and does almost the same damage as a light crossbow. (Call it a "Jaguar-claw" for flavor?) However, it requires Strength to use well, and I don't know if your Tabaxi has that emphasized.

Good call on distances and not needing the crossbow. Thanks!

Unfortunately She has no strength (09) Which also make her Claw attacks pretty poor. I could do zero damage! If you have ever seen 2 cats have a bit of paw flailing at each other and not actually make contact, that is how I imagine she would be in a cat-fight.

Re weapon, I think I'll just have a simple dagger as a back-up weapon and probably never use it.

 

[Oofta]

 

[rgoodbb]

Has this thread suddenly descended into the Wacky Instrument Picture Thread!

 

[Plaguescarred]

Can anyone clarify if the action economy can let me use the crossbow as intended above or it is totally inefficient/not doable?

RAW your bard must have a free hand to use a musical instrument as a spellcasting focus for his spells having material components (which can be the same hand used for somatic components) and two hands to use his light crossbow. Dropping an item was clarified to not use an item interaction by Jeremy Crawford on twitter https://twitter.com/JeremyECrawford/status/584435399767883776?ref_src=twsrc^tfw

@DnDMontreal what are the rules on dropping weapons? People are dropping weapons to circumvent only having one 'Interaction with Object'
@JeremyECrawford The intent is that letting go of something requires no appreciable effort. But picking it up does.

So here's the different possibilities you have;

1. If you have both items in hands you can cast spells normally or stow your violons as a free item interaction and use your light crossbow with two hands.

2. If you have your violons in hands you can cast spells normally or drop it and pull your light crossbow a free item interaction and use it with two hands.

3. If you have your light crossbow in hands you can make attacks normally or pull your violons a free item interaction and use it with with 1 hand.


Yan
D&D Playtester

 

[Shadowdweller00]

Now that I look around, I found this:

View attachment 81104

That...hurts my head. Just no, folks. Just, no.

 

[Ancalagon]

Go on then I'll Bite....Whats a jaw harp?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irATiFt6AUM

 

[rgoodbb]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irATiFt6AUM

Oh.....that's a jaw harp!