Historically, What Was The Rate of Fire For Crossbows?

[Zad]

I am no expert on research. However I can see that there are some problems with the question. First off, there is likely no average rate of fire for a crossbow, since "crossbow" can mean a wide variety of devices. If you look at a source saying that a man fired X per minute, you really need them to be specific about what kind they were firing.

Also, the sources you cited above may or may not be great sources. But the question becomes "Where did they get their information from?" When doing research, it's best to chase back to the primary source. If you can't find a bibliography, then you may be better off not considering something as a credible source, unless of course it is the original work of someone who knew (i.e. was there or something).


Rather than research, you can use practical example. The SCA offers some interesting examples, as you have people using period equipment. A skilled person with a crossbow (that they can draw manually) can probably get a shot off every 6-7 seconds from what I've seen. Anything that requires a winch - your guess is as good as mine.

 

[ErichDragon]

Something else to consider when drawing Rates of Fire from historical sources is that these are written in terms of a battle. The ROF would not accurately reflect the ROF of a single person shooting by himself, but for a tightly packed formation of people, all working together to shoot at the same time.

Since this usually doesn't happen in DnD you can pretty much take the ROF of historical texts with a grain of salt.

Also, when your source on the War of the Roses referred to fighting on foot as 'the French technique' they were probably not referring to the technique of French Knights but of the way the English Knights, in France , often fought during the 100 Years War.

 

[daTim]

I think their stats reflect the weapons well enough for the abstract system of D&D.

A Crossbow is simple, which means even a peasant can use one, and the rate of fire for a large crossbow comes out to about 6 every minute (I think) which is generous, but keeps it from being useless. If it fired too slowly it would be more advantageous to just use a bow with the -4 penalty. Lastly, it has a 19-20 x2 critical range, meaning it can do some mean damage fairly easily. A group of peasant conscripts with these can really rack up damage.

A crossbow is martial, so only trained soliders can even use one effectively, they fire faster up to 10 shots per minute, and do enough damage to kill any commoner. If you get a critical hit it does devestating damage on its x3 critical, especially a mighty composite one (which I think represents a true longbow).

A longbow historically begins to break down when you get multiple attacks per round. At lvl 6 with rapid shot, you are able to fire one arrow every two seconds with rapid shot. Whereas a Crossbow stays mainly the same, and becomes marginaly more useful with "rapid reload" though I dont see why you would take Rapid Reload instead of a martial proficiency in bows... besides some sort of hardcore character concept.

 

[Bob Aberton]

I've never actually used a crossbow myself, but I have some experience with longbows (recurves, actually)...

I would imagine a crossbow would be much more easy to use, because you don't get the whole arm-wobbling from holding the string back; the crossbow holds the string, you just point and shoot.

With a longbow, as others have said, they might have better range and certainly shoot faster, but it takes a lot of training - hence their rating as martial weapons rather than simple weapons. I'm a casual archer, I shoot at a range every few weeks for an hour or so; I can hit the target at 20 yards maybe 45-50% on a good day.

However, that said, longbows have a fair amount of power, too. I once shot a few in my basement with a crappy 35# bow; since it was left handed (I'm right handed, heh), I put most of the shots into the concrete wall.

And I mean in to the concrete wall. There were some pretty good dents in it when I went to collect my arrows.

Does this mean that longbows, too, should get some kind of bonus vs. armor? I much prefer the rules the way they are...anyways, in a fantasy world, perhaps crossbows are so well made that a peasant can fire 10 rounds a minute or whatever the RoF is in the PHB...

 

[Angcuru]

I suggest you send this question to Mail Call or Conquest on the History Channel.

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Some shmuck from Indiana beat ya to it.

BTW, R.Lee is NOT proficient with a crossbow.

 

[Ulrick]

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Some shmuck from Indiana beat ya to it.

BTW, R.Lee is NOT proficient with a crossbow.

So. It'd be pretty cool to watch him swear and curse while trying to operate the thing.