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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Aeric" data-source="post: 3636275" data-attributes="member: 17012">To be honest, I tend to agree.  1d4+1 just isn't a whole lot of damage, even if it's guaranteed to hit.  It's the equivalent of putting a laser sight on a .22 pistol. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />You make a good argument for the crossbow - for mundane ranged weapons in general, really - versus the wand.  Sure, the wand hits automatically, but with 15-20 crossbows for the same price, the odds are pretty good that at least one bolt will hit.  Color me convinced.Okay, then: if not wands, then what?  Let's build a better crossbow!Forge of War mentions self-loading crossbows; I imagine such a weapon would probably look something like the so-called repeating crossbow, with a magazine of bolts fitted to the top of it.  It wouldn't be an exotic weapon, though, since the magic (Unseen Servant?  Animate Object?) of the weapon would be doing the reloading, not the user.Still, it's just a crossbow.  It lacks the armor-penetrating power of a bullet*, which is what I was looking for--something analogous to a firearm without actually being a firearm.  Brilliant energy is simply too expensive to use on anything, and the fact that it would be unable to affect undead or constructs (although it should work against warforged, as they are living constructs) limits its usefulness anyways.  Maybe as a sniper-type weapon?Hmm...a "special forces" sniper with a couple of True Strike scrolls (and a level in Wizard or a high UMD skill to use them) would be simply devastating!I suppose for the common mudslogger, armor-piercing ability isn't as important isn't important since his main opposition - other mudsloggers - aren't going to be wearing much armor to begin with.  As for the heavy infantry and heavy cavalry, well...hopefully there's a similar unit nearby when they attack, I suppose.  Obscuring Mist would be incredibly useful on a battlefield, especially for a 1st level spell.(*I realize that both longbows and crossbows were pretty efficient at penetrating armor, but 3rd edition rules don't reflect that.  I'm thinking of houseruling both weapons as being ranged touch attack weapons, maybe giving the crossbow a -2 to hit, and making the longbow an exotic weapon like it should be--IIRC, the main reason firearms were adopted was because they were easier to learn and use than an English longbow.)</blockquote>

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