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<blockquote data-quote="jgsugden" data-source="post: 8374502" data-attributes="member: 2629">Note that there is a lot of people that disagree with the notion that Sharpshooter + Crossbow Expert is broken. It is a high investment for a quality return, but it does not break the game, as the term broken would indicate.&nbsp; It allows you to provide striker level damage.&nbsp; You can get the lower base damage and range of the hand crossbow (125 is a pain when you're wielding a hand crossbow) with the extra attack, or you can get the higher damage and range with one less attack from the bigger crossbows.&nbsp; Melee characters, on average, do more damage when they hit, don't face the same 'blocked attack' issues due to total cover and provide strategic limitations on enemy movement.&nbsp; Ranged characters are not straight up better.&nbsp; Each build provides benefits, but each also has limitations.Had people been playing this wrong for all of these years, it would have come up by now with clarification from the game designers.&nbsp; I've played several ranged weapon PCs in 5E.&nbsp; Tiefling (Glasya) ranger longbow archer with Divine Soul, Cleric of Order, Assassin and Battlemaster levels (RP based multiclassing - there was a long story there).&nbsp; Sharpshooter was the only feat this PC took.&nbsp; The sorcerer side of things were what made this PC highly effective.&nbsp; This was my favorite archer, as the archery was the 'baseline' of the PC, and there was a lot of utility work the PC provided in addition to that baseline.&nbsp; Dwarven heavy crossbow fighter/rogue with crossbow expert and sharpshooter.&nbsp; This game featured a lot of long range naval combats.&nbsp; He was effective, but the warlock and their incredibly long range eldritch blasts with push were more effective.Drow Hand Crossbow PC.&nbsp; This was a campaign that featured a lot of dungeon delves with smaller dungeons.&nbsp; The close quarters felt like they'd serve the Hand Crossbow well, but in the end the PC ended up feeling more like a polearm PC than a ranged PC.&nbsp; Elven Longbow Fighter (Eldritch Knight) - Maximized Sharpshooter attacks and accuracy.&nbsp; We were making 6 (levels 7 to 10), 8 (levels 11 to 19) and 10 (level 20) attacks per round with action surge thanks to help from a bard and a ring of spell storing at higher levels.&nbsp; This PC had Winged Boots and much of the action was outside, so she was able to avoid attacks.&nbsp; This was my most powerful archer PC relative to the rest of the party, but even then it was not a problem.&nbsp; Damage was her role.&nbsp; She was very efficient at dealing it.&nbsp; Still - not broken as everyone had a blast in that campaign.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="jgsugden, post: 8374502, member: 2629"] Note that there is a lot of people that disagree with the notion that Sharpshooter + Crossbow Expert is broken. It is a high investment for a quality return, but it does not break the game, as the term broken would indicate. It allows you to provide striker level damage. You can get the lower base damage and range of the hand crossbow (125 is a pain when you're wielding a hand crossbow) with the extra attack, or you can get the higher damage and range with one less attack from the bigger crossbows. Melee characters, on average, do more damage when they hit, don't face the same 'blocked attack' issues due to total cover and provide strategic limitations on enemy movement. Ranged characters are not straight up better. Each build provides benefits, but each also has limitations.Had people been playing this wrong for all of these years, it would have come up by now with clarification from the game designers. I've played several ranged weapon PCs in 5E. Tiefling (Glasya) ranger longbow archer with Divine Soul, Cleric of Order, Assassin and Battlemaster levels (RP based multiclassing - there was a long story there). Sharpshooter was the only feat this PC took. The sorcerer side of things were what made this PC highly effective. This was my favorite archer, as the archery was the 'baseline' of the PC, and there was a lot of utility work the PC provided in addition to that baseline. Dwarven heavy crossbow fighter/rogue with crossbow expert and sharpshooter. This game featured a lot of long range naval combats. He was effective, but the warlock and their incredibly long range eldritch blasts with push were more effective. Drow Hand Crossbow PC. This was a campaign that featured a lot of dungeon delves with smaller dungeons. The close quarters felt like they'd serve the Hand Crossbow well, but in the end the PC ended up feeling more like a polearm PC than a ranged PC. Elven Longbow Fighter (Eldritch Knight) - Maximized Sharpshooter attacks and accuracy. We were making 6 (levels 7 to 10), 8 (levels 11 to 19) and 10 (level 20) attacks per round with action surge thanks to help from a bard and a ring of spell storing at higher levels. This PC had Winged Boots and much of the action was outside, so she was able to avoid attacks. This was my most powerful archer PC relative to the rest of the party, but even then it was not a problem. Damage was her role. She was very efficient at dealing it. Still - not broken as everyone had a blast in that campaign. [/QUOTE]

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