Crossbow Everlasting

[Arbiter of Wyrms]

I had posted this on another thread, but I realized it was a bit of a hijack, so now it's here.

After I got the Book of Eldritch Might, I started thinking about crossbows with magical enhacements that obviate the need for reloading and re-cocking. The following is what I came up with. It's been very popular amongst both players who prefer not to have to sweat the little details and those who like neato magic items that they don't actually need.


Crossbows Everlasting:

Devlin’s Barb 0th level Wizard Spell (1st level caster) 1,000gp
Animate Rope 1st level Wizard Spell (1st level caster) 2,000gp

+5 bonus 50,000gp
+4 bonus 32,000gp
+3 bonus 18,000gp
+2 bonus 8,000gp
+1 bonus 2,000gp

Masterwork Crossbow, hand [tiny] 1d4 19-20/x2 400gp
Masterwork Crossbow, heavy [medium] 1d10 19-20/x2 350gp
Masterwork Crossbow, light [small] 1d8 19-20/x2 335gp

Wyrmling’s Wrath
This +5 Light Crossbow bears the image of an amethyst dragon, its wings forming the crossbar. Though the weapon is not capable of attacking on its own, the wielder may attack using all of his or her attacks for the round, as the weapon instantly and automatically re-cocks itself immediately after being fired and reloads itself with a magically created bolt whenever it is aimed. Market Price: 53,335gp Caster level 15th


Before you point out that this is a real bargain of a first-level spell enchantment, I'll point out that, at PHB prices, this enchantment is equal to about 60,000 arrows. At roughly 14 combat encounters per level, over the course of 20 levels, you'd have to fire a mean of 214 arrows per encounter to justify the expense of this enchantment.

Yes, I know that this improves the crossbow a great deal, but it still doesn't make it better than a regular bow.

 

[Arbiter of Wyrms]

Feedback, anyone?

 

[Evilhalfling]

Wouldn't it be easier just to create an everlasting property valued at +1 ?
I know the 11th lvl archerer IMC would love to stop carrying the pile of quivers she needs for a long dungeon - addtionally all weapon properties (except int)
are valued in terms of weapon bonuses.
Perhaps and endless quiver? Ehlonnas only carries 60 +18 +4 items and you have to fill it yourself.

 

[Pyrex]

There's an Autoloading (can't remember the actual name) weapon property as a +2 equivalent in the Arms & Equipment Guide that stores 50 bolts in an extradimensionals space and allows the user to reload the crossbow from that space as a free action multiple times per round.

Sounds like it's exactly what you're looking for.

 

[Psimancer]

'Quickloading' - Magic of Faerun (pg 140) or Arms & Equipment Guide (pg 97); 100 bolts; Free Action to load (Hvy is ME); Market Price: +2 bonus. You can even have different types of bolts in the extra dimensional space and load what you want...

 

[Storyteller01]

Slightly off track, but...


Preferred some feats that made the most of the one shot a crossbow had (something similar to a sniper.

One I had read about enabled you to do multiple attacks worth of damage in a single shot (ie: if the BaB was +6/+1, you get to 'attack' twice, and do damage as if you had fired twice).

The catch: You had to declare before each shot whether this was an 'aiming attack' (you roll, but hold the shot) or to actually take the shot. If successful, you did damage for every successful attack roll. If you missed, the whole round is wasted...

 

[Arbiter of Wyrms]

Wouldn't it be easier just to create an everlasting property valued at +1 ?
I know the 11th lvl archerer IMC would love to stop carrying the pile of quivers she needs for a long dungeon - addtionally all weapon properties (except int)
are valued in terms of weapon bonuses.
Perhaps and endless quiver? Ehlonnas only carries 60 +18 +4 items and you have to fill it yourself.

At +1, it's just too cheap for a heavy Xbow that a character can use their full attack routine on. At +2, it's too expensive to justify for a bow-wielding character who wants to just not worry about buying, storing and carrying ammo. The whole point is to pay for convenience, the number one product in America today.

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

With a Devlin's ring from the CBoEM and the Quick Load feat from the 3.5 PHB, you've almost got this.