D&D 5E Crossbow confusion

[SkidAce]

Hmmm...I wonder if I could draft up a "crossbow buckler" in a CAD program....

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Okay, I feel like there's got to be an obvious answer here and I'm just blindly missing it. But...

What's the point (so to speak) of the hand crossbow in this edition?

I mean, I get the idea of the small, concealed crossbow for rogues and the like. My problem isn't conceptual, but in execution.

It's worse in all respects than the light crossbow, is only two pounds lighter, and is martial rather than simple. The only detail that justifies it is the fact that it's a light weapon. But...

The two-weapon fighting rules are very, very clear about applying to melee weapons only. They make an exception for thrown weapons, but not others.

If the alpha PHB is to be believed, the crossbow feat allows you to use the hand crossbow for TWF AND lets you remove the "loading" restriction. Meaning you could run around John Wooing the hand crossbow. Pretty cool (even if I'm not sure HOW you're loading it, fluff-wise). We'll see if it survives the changes made to final PHB, though.

 

[Mouseferatu]

If the alpha PHB is to be believed, the crossbow feat allows you to use the hand crossbow for TWF AND lets you remove the "loading" restriction. Meaning you could run around John Wooing the hand crossbow. Pretty cool (even if I'm not sure HOW you're loading it, fluff-wise). We'll see if it survives the changes made to final PHB, though.

I hope that's the case; that'd be cool.

As for how you're reloading... Well, the dual-crossbow character I want to recreate was sort of a "bunch o' little gadgets" type--like a far less over-the-top version of the characters from Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters or Van Helsing. So on those occasions where he didn't just drop the crossbows after firing, I always pictured one of two options. Either

1) Spring-fed "magazine" of arrows on the base of each crossbow, so you run one back and over the other to load, or...

2) A pair of small quivers that--again spring-loaded--slide a bolt through a notch on the side, so you run the crossbow down over the side of the quiver to load and cock.

Yes, both are kinda silly; I wouldn't use this character in a deathly serious campaign.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I hope that's the case; that'd be cool.

As for how you're reloading... Well, the dual-crossbow character I want to recreate was sort of a "bunch o' little gadgets" type--like a far less over-the-top version of the characters from Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters or Van Helsing. So on those occasions where he didn't just drop the crossbows after firing, I always pictured one of two options. Either

1) Spring-fed "magazine" of arrows on the base of each crossbow, so you run one back and over the other to load, or...

2) A pair of small quivers that--again spring-loaded--slide a bolt through a notch on the side, so you run the crossbow down over the side of the quiver to load and cock.

Yes, both are kinda silly; I wouldn't use this character in a deathly serious campaign.

Yeah, it works if you're thinking "cool" over "sensible". I kind of like the idea that the character does his own little modifications to the crossbow to make it work. "Hand crossbows of my own design!" So exactly HOW they work can be left to the imagination. (Add to it that the design is somewhat unfathomable so that if someone picked up his crossbows they wouldn't have an easy time figuring out how to make them work.)

 

[Dausuul]

Yeah, it works if you're thinking "cool" over "sensible". I kind of like the idea that the character does his own little modifications to the crossbow to make it work. "Hand crossbows of my own design!" So exactly HOW they work can be left to the imagination. (Add to it that the design is somewhat unfathomable so that if someone picked up his crossbows they wouldn't have an easy time figuring out how to make them work.)

This makes sense. It could be a home-built repeating crossbow; according to Wikipedia, repeating crossbows can shoot up to 10 bolts in 15 seconds. Coincidentally, that's exactly how fast a 20th-level fighter can attack.

 

[skotothalamos]

As previously mentioned, it's the action economy. With a hand crossbow, you're free to wander the battlefield, shooting some people and stabbing others, with nary a care in the world.

With a light crossbow, unless you want to waste your action putting your sword away when a ranged target presents itself, you have to throw it to the ground. Then if you have to move, you have to waste an action putting your crossbow away so you can pickup your sword. Or you stay in exactly one spot, constantly picking your weapons up out of the dirt until the enemy Mage thunderwaves you and the big Orc tavern brawler grabs you and you're trying to bash him over the head with your light crossbow because you've min/maxed your weapons so your sword is lying in the dirt 20 feet away but you still tell yourself that the hand crossbow is pointless.