Does your ranger use a crossbow?

[Jhaelen]

I'm curious as to how people handle what seems like a rule designed to whitewash logical sense.

Please define logical sense.

 

[Destil]

I'm also a bit disappointed in some people who don't care how it works as long as they get the effect of the power. To me that is a munchkin excuse. To each his own though.

That's not really a problem in a game where you can trip a gelationous cube...

The problem is it would have been possible to make crossbows different and interesting. Don't let weapons with a load time be used for powers that attack more than once, then design some powers that require and reward it (i.e. a ranger who can shoot through one guy and into a second, rather than snapping off two arrows, or some rogue high W attacks that require a crossbow). It would have been an interesting and flavorful mechanic.

Instead it's just 'crossbows have good accuracy and bad damage since they're designed for rogues'.

 

[ourchair]

I haven't had much experience building rangers and other ranged characters yet, but I like the idea of making a ranger who does loads of damage but attacks only once per round (preferably with a high to insane attack bonus)

Why?

So you can fluff it like a shotgun.

 

[Holy Bovine]

I'm also a bit disappointed in some people who don't care how it works as long as they get the effect of the power. To me that is a munchkin excuse. To each his own though.

Lets not throw around loaded terms like 'munchkin', mmkay?

Like others have said it could be magical (most rangers look for a magic bow as soon as possible ime), specially modified or treated bolts or even some fancy quadruple stringed monstrosity that allows you to fire 4 bolts at a time but stresses the thing terribly and you have to spend a few minutes after each battle repairing it (short rest, ta-dah!). My point is it doesn't really matter - it is certainly possible to allow something like this to ruin an RPG for you but it seems trifling.

 

[N0Man]

This is actually one of the few verisimilitude sticking points for me (particularly with blinding barrage).... level one rogues shooting 9 times with a crossbow in 6 seconds is a bit of an issue.

You actually literally interpret *every* round as being literally 6 seconds? I've always seen 6 seconds as being more of a vague estimate or an average that expands and contracts as needed at the speed of plot.

If you literally interpret every round taking 6 seconds and every turn player's round being a completely district segment of time, then then your level 1 rogue shooting 9 shots in 6 seconds is the least of your worries.

How about a level 11 Raging and Bloodied Barbarian with the Feats Fast Runner, Bloodied Fleetness, Fleet-Footed and the Wildrunner Paragon Path that can go from a full stop to moving forward while carrying weapons, make 2 charge attacks, and end up covering 69 squares (345 feet) in 6 seconds? That's nearly 50% faster than a world record holding runner, and they don't have to carry weapons or kill anyone on the way, and the Barbarian isn't even "Running".

I could have cherry picked far more absurd examples than that, but the point is that it's easy to find absurd unrealistic actions in a fantasy roleplaying game. It's kind of pointless to pick minor examples to let bother you.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

I think they may have missed a chance to differentiate the two types of bows more but on the other hand that would also have made it difficult to design a class like ranger that could use both types effectively. Making them work pretty much the same greatly simplified the rules and like everything in RPGs some level of abstraction is inevitable.

 

[mneme]

It's easy enough for them to differentiate types of bows later -- with multiclass weapon feats, or even just class feats that require that you be using a crossbow, etc.

And, of course, if you want a different style for your crossbow user, you can take Steady Shooter at paragon levels -- giving you +3 damage if you play your guy as a sniper who takes and holds a position rather than running around the battlefield. (or at least, holds positions that are likely to be safe enough to fire in -next- turn; the feat is less limiting than I'd thought).

 

[NoA82]

I don't know why but it seems to me from an rp stand point it just would not work. I know rp can't rule all but it makes all my choices for me

 

[Otterscrubber]

Fireballs and dragons are both magical in nature. So do you think of your ranger as magically reloading the crossbow that fast? Granted you shouldn't be able to fire 12 arrows in a round either but I can at least picture some gangsta elf doing the "Men in Tights" 6 arrows at once move.

And I'm not saying your ranger is dumb. I just want to know how you picture your ranger doing attacks with the crossbow so fast.

Well after a certainly level, probably 3rd in most cases, most characters will be using magic weapons, which are also magical in nature. Does that help?

 

[Otterscrubber]

I could have cherry picked far more absurd examples than that, but the point is that it's easy to find absurd unrealistic actions in a fantasy roleplaying game. It's kind of pointless to pick minor examples to let bother you.

Well said, just have fun and kick butt!