D&D 5E Crossbow Expert

[kerbarian]

The Crossbow Expert feat was changed slightly from the Alpha. Its last bullet point now reads "When you use the Attack action and attack with a one-handed weapon, you can use a bonus action to attack with a loaded hand crossbow you are holding." (emphasis added). The "loaded" is new.

My guess at the intent of this is to prevent a character from attacking with a hand crossbow (a one-handed weapon) and then taking a bonus attack with the same hand crossbow. Except... does it? Drawing ammunition is part of the attack with an ammunition weapon -- is this supposed to be an exception such that you can't draw ammunition as part of the bonus attack?

If so, could you use your "interact with an object" to load the hand crossbow between your regular attack and your bonus attack? That would prevent you from drawing your crossbow (or opening a door, etc.) and taking the bonus attack in the same round. A feat that would make you trade off attacks vs. interacting with the environment doesn't seem like something they would have intentionally added to 5E.

Maybe I'm reading too much into this. Any thoughts on whether you can use the same hand crossbow for both your regular and bonus attacks with Crossbow Expert?

 

[Juriel]

If so, could you use your "interact with an object" to load the hand crossbow between your regular attack and your bonus attack?

Yes, you could. I suppose this is the only reason for the addition of the LOADED requirement...

Another weird bit of minutia to keep track of. Was first-turn hand crossbow double-shooting REALLY such a problem?

 

[Syntallah]

The very first bullet point says you "ignore the Loading quality of crossbows with which you are proficient." So, no need to use your free action to interact with object. The loading of the bolt is part of the attack action. Which lets those dual hand crossbow wielding drow elf fighters take some serious amount of attacks in the round...

 

[Kobold Stew]

Comparison with the raw text of the Alpha isn't useful. What does the rule, as published, mean?

You can use your bonus attack to attack with a loaded (not an unloaded) crossbow.

Don't overthink it: you need to have ammunition for your weapon (we know from earlier in the description that the loading is "free", and the ability doesn't work if you don't have ammunition.

 

[Plaguescarred]

My guess at the intent of this is to prevent a character from attacking with a hand crossbow (a one-handed weapon) and then taking a bonus attack with the same hand crossbow. Except... does it?

Yes since the loading property is ignored by the feat but even if it was not, as written the feat doesn't differentiate the one-handed weapon and the hand crossbow so they can be the same weapon used more than once. Since the loading property only prevent you from firing more than one piece of ammunition with the same action, bonus action, or reaction, you'd still be good since it use a different actions for each attacks.

 

[Zelc]

I think it's to prevent you from using your bonus action to smack someone in the face with the unloaded hand crossbow (you can still smack them in the face with the loaded hand crossbow).



*thinks about building a character to hand crossbow-whip people in the face twice a round*

 

[kerbarian]

Hmm. Assuming it works, hand crossbow plus shield seems more effective all around than TWF when you take the feats for each. You'd have both higher damage (e.g. 2d6 + 6 vs 2d8 + 3) and higher AC (shield vs. +1 AC). If you add in the fighting styles (Archery vs. TWF) it becomes dependent on enemy AC, but I think the crossbow stays ahead.

Plus you get to attack freely at either point blank or range, which is huge. You'd lose out on opportunity attacks, though.

Hand crossbow plus shield is not what I'd call an iconic fighting style. I think it's probably better for the game if Crossbow Expert lets you dual-wield hand crossbows but not go crossbow plus shield, but it looks like the feat allows it.

 

[Zelc]

Hmm. Assuming it works, hand crossbow plus shield seems more effective all around than TWF when you take the feats for each. You'd have both higher damage (e.g. 2d6 + 6 vs 2d8 + 3) and higher AC (shield vs. +1 AC). If you add in the fighting styles (Archery vs. TWF) it becomes dependent on enemy AC, but I think the crossbow stays ahead.

I don't think there's anything that lets you attack with the shield (only shove).

 

[Kobold Stew]

Yeah -- it doesn't let you shield-and-crossbow 2/turn; it does let you sword and crossbow once each, though

 

[kerbarian]

I don't think there's anything that lets you attack with the shield (only shove).

The idea is that you're making two attacks with the hand crossbow using the Crossbow Expert feat -- there are no attacks with the shield. It's just that if you can make both your regular and bonus attacks with the same hand crossbow, you might as well use your other hand for a shield.