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

[Johnny Angel]

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?

Flintlock pistols were in fact carried loaded, needing only action on the hammer with the thumb to make them ready to fire. You didn't reload them in the middle of battle, you dropped them as soon as they were discharged, hoping you'd live to pick them up later, and draw another from your 'brace of pistols'. So, nearly the same effect was available in real life.

If your campaign allows for the flavor of mechanical wizardry, there are plausible ways to imagineer what is in effect a self-reloading hand crossbow - or at least a quarrel launcher. Being able to pluck back the actual string to feed off the tension in an actual bow seems too Rube Goldberg compared to the more plausible action principle of a bolt powered by a spring that has to be wound or a pneumatic system that has to be pumped. I've also never liked the notion of having a crossbow with a sort of magazine, though I am told there is historical precedent for this. I like the drum concept better for this.

But I do agree with you that going through all the hand-waving about how a thing would be mechanically possible seems like just bending over backwards to deny firearms a place in your campaign. However, I myself would actually use both - comically complicated gnomecraft items that expand the functionality of slings or crossbows, plus the relatively simpler real-world technology of flintlocks and even revolvers.

 

[ExploderWizard]

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?

Thanks! This made my day.

 

[RangerWickett]

It's weird. I'm fine with a mighty barbarian swinging a pair of 8-ft. greatclubs while raging . . . but the idea of a guy holding a crossbow in each hand and somehow managing to load them both is silly.

If any player wants to do this, I'll save my rage for something else, and handwave it as him inventing a clip and autoloading mechanism.

What's funny is that I now have a player in my game dual-wielding hand crossbows.

And his character seems overpowered. With Crossbow Expert and Sharpshooter he chews through enemies. I think the real broken thing, though, is humans getting a bonus feat.

 

[Dausuul]

Many pistol crossbows have cocking levers. Shove it down and it hauls the string back to full cock. It's not utterly implausible that you could do that while holding something in the other hand, and even drop a bolt into the slot afterward.

Now, I admit that doing all this three times in six seconds, and shooting accurately, is asking rather a lot. But if a low-to-mid-level fighter is skilled enough to take on an elephant with nothing but a greatsword, and win consistently, I don't see why it's so outrageous for her compatriot to dual wield hand crossbows.

 

[sigfile]

What's funny is that I now have a player in my game dual-wielding hand crossbows.

And his character seems overpowered. With Crossbow Expert and Sharpshooter he chews through enemies. I think the real broken thing, though, is humans getting a bonus feat.

Nah. Sharpshooter and Great Weapon Master are kind of crazy. I can't say I've looked at the high-level ramifications of this change, but I'm entertaining changing the -5/+10 option those feats grant to a once/round thing. Both of those feats are a lot less curve-shattering if the fighter isn't doing an additional 30-40 damage per round every round at level 5.