D&D 5E Bow vs. Crossbow

[toucanbuzz]

If the game were going for realism (e.g. Battle of Crecy, historical notes on crossbows, modern tests of medieval weapons), we could break down their pros as follows:

Crossbows, advantages over bows

• Can remain loaded for hours, another person can load secondary crossbows to maintain firing rate
• Easier to aim (mechanical release, able to aim down the arrow instead of bow's intuitive firing)
• Easier to train troops in
• Quarrels cheaper and easier to make
• Strength not a factor to fire, fatigue of drawing and releasing bow negated
• Energy efficient when hitting armor (quarrels less likely to shatter)
• Able to be fired defensively without exposing body, fired flat (no arc needed), and while seated

Bows, advantages over crossbows

• Far better range
• Cheaper to make bows (not ammo) and maintain
• Superior firing rate
• Highly dependent on skill and strength of user (a famous shipwreck from 1545 was found with an archer who had physical deformities from having used the longbow, which required 200 lbs of pressure and very strong people to use it)

Ultimately, in D&D terms, the crossbow should be a simple weapon based on Dexterity, expensive to buy but with cheap ammo. It should have a shorter range and the ability to be fired while prone and without sacrificing cover when aiming. There's plenty of modern videos in which skilled experts have recreated medieval crossbows and seen, in a non-stressful, non-combat situation, how many shots they can fire. (It's at best 1 every 12 seconds, depending on the reload system). The only way you get a firing rate similar to a bow is by having pre-loaded crossbows handy, or an assistant to load and hand you one. A 6-second firing rate, or with a Feat, a supernatural more-than-one per 6 seconds, defies all physics and reality.

The longbow should be a martial weapon based on Strength. The more you can pull these 160+ pound draws, the more damage that can be done. The shortbow still has an 80 to 100 pound draw, meaning that despite its ability to be fired from horseback with a shorter draw and less range, it still requires a solid amount of strength, though it was never meant to pierce metal armors.

 

[Ashrym]

Ugh. I do not offer darts as a standard equipment and now I am glad I do not. Imagine one of these getting a +10 in damage from ss, whereas a thrown spear is meager in comparison.
That would disturb my sense for realism.

Straight in the eye, through to the brain. lethality not a problem.

And darts represent any kind of small throwing weapon - shrunken, throwing knives (too small to be daggers), batarangs, etc.

Yes. The dart representing shuriken covers the monk / ninja throwing star concept. Applying sharpshooter to throwing stars on a shadow monk seems highly appropriate to me.

A person needs to remember that sharpshooter isn't an application of additional force. It's an abstract aimed shot.

Only if you plan to use a hand crossbow. But that's a problem with Crossbow Mastery being overpowered, not with crossbows in general (hand crossbows are inferior to both shortbows and longbows unless you have the feat). Also, it limits you to an effective range of 30 feet.

That's the thing, though; give a 12th level battle master a hand crossbow to build around and it's actually a melee build because of crossbow expert's second benefit. The range is actually a benefit for a melee capable build.

A character like that would switch to the heavy crossbow (or long bow) for real ranged attacks.

An artificer splash also removes the loading property through the repeating shot infusion (or by having one in the party), and that splash removes issues with running out of ammunition. That also means the fighter can keep his shield for AC because he no longer needs 2 hands to load the hand crossbow and never needed 2 hands to fire it.

Hand crossbows make for strong builds. I'm a lot more concerned when I see a Drow with a hand crossbow these days than I was in previous editions.

EDIT: crossbow expert and sharp shooter combine to remove the range penalty so the hand crossbow build is good to 120 ft range.