how easy is it?

[SolosAddie]

How easy would it be to make a crossbow- focused char.

I'm thinking for power, goliath with a great x-bow (3d8) does the most damage, specially if you're allowed to pay for it to be repeating.

from my knowledge it seems bows are favored and better to go with.


Can x-bows be as good?

thanks

 

[moritheil]

from my knowledge it seems bows are favored and better to go with.

They are.

Can x-bows be as good?

thanks

Unlikely. There are more feats for crossbows now, including Crossbow Sniper, but in general fast reloading and the ability to add strength to damage is what makes longbows superior.

 

[blargney the second]

Catfolk make decent ranged combatants with their +4 to Dex. With Crossbow Sniper, that's +2 to hit and +1 to damage. You can pop some Strongarm Bracers on to get the weapon size increase.

 

[Arkhandus]

Screw that great crossbow junk.

Go half-giant, from the Expanded Psionics Handbook (or the 3.5 SRD online).

Get a light crossbow of Large size, since you can use it fine as a Half-Giant.

Max out your Dexterity and Wisdom as much as you can, no other stats will matter much except Constitution. Just make sure Con is decent, it doesn't have to be great.

Class-wise, start out with 1 or 2 levels of Psychic Warrior, for the bonus feats, HP, and psionics. Then turn to the Ninja class from Complete Adventurer; the ability to turn invisible for a full round several times per day will help you make Sudden Strikes with your crossbow, boosting your damage output. Eventually you'll be able to poison some of your bolts quickly, which might help a bit too.

The Vigor power can help you survive at low levels without a great Constitution, and Offensive Prescience or Offensive Precognition will be your friend (I'd go with Offensive Prescience, for its damage boost, since you shouldn't have too much trouble actually hitting stuff).

Take Psionic Shot and Point Blank Shot as two of your early feats. Get Rapid Reload and Rapid Shot after those, that way you can fire multiple times each round. Then pursue the Crossbow Sniper feat from PHB 2. You'll need Weapon Focus first, though. Deadeye Shot and Telling Blow will also help. Improved Critical or the Keen magic weapon property will also help later, since crossbows have a decent threat range to begin with and Telling Blow pumps up your critical hits with sneak attack dice and such.

Get your Concentration skill as high as you can keep it, until you reach the point where you can easily make the skill check for attaining psionic focus. It'll allow you to use Psionic Shot frequently. Just remember to keep 1 power point in reserve at all times in order to attain psionic focus.

Later on you can get Psionic Meditation and Greater Psionic Shot or Deep Impact, to further boost your damage output sometimes.

 

[Pinotage]

The big problem with the crossbow is damage output, really. AFAIK, there aren't any Mighty Crossbows around, which do extra damage based on Strength, so based on that alone you can't compete with a bow.

Pinotage

 

[irdeggman]

The big problem with the crossbow is damage output, really. AFAIK, there aren't any Mighty Crossbows around, which do extra damage based on Strength, so based on that alone you can't compete with a bow.

Pinotage

Only if you want MAD.

Staying with a DEX based character a crossbow isn't so bad. You need the feat to fast reload, but the base weapon damage is more. Lgt xbow 1d8, shortbow 1d6 hvy x-bow 1d10, longbow 1d8. Also the range increment is higher for xbow when compared to regular bows (not composite ones). lgt xbow 80 ft, shortbow 60 ft, hvy xbow 120 ft, longbow 100 ft.

In 3.5 there aren't mighty bows anymore but all composite bows have a str rating and if you don't have the right str rating (as in minimum) you suffer a -2 on attacks as well as not being able to gain the bonus to damage.

If you have a Str mod penalty you suffer that when using bows on damage rolls too. Doesn't apply to xbows.

Now if you're character is going with MAD (as in having high Str and Dex) then a composite bow is definitely better since the str rating stacks with any enhancement pluses gained.

But for someone that wants to focus on Dex and pay little attention to Str - go with a xbow. Works classes without martial weapon proficiencies - like psions and wizards (or psion or wizard-like).

The biggest drawback is the rate of fire.

 

[Darklone]

Ok, here's what you need:

Halfling with Xbow Sniper, maxxed Dex boosters, a good cleric friend to buy Grace potions from (Dex +10), two reloading HandXbows with either
- a generous DM who allows you to reload them as a free action with the Rapid Reload feat or
- enchant them to be reloading.
Put every energy enhancement on them that you can find and get wands of Flame arrow.

Now for classes... rogue comes to mind somehow but scout/ranger with the level 2 ranger spell that adds sneak attack damage is nice too. And you'll love that favored enemy bonus to all those many attacks you have.

Many attacks? Here we go.

Feats? Yeah, you need the full TWF thing plus PBS and Rapid shot. Boots of speed for an extra bolt. 6 attacks with BAB +6? Not shockingly good but not too bad either.

Additionally you might go for some 3rd party books that have arbalests or other Xbows that shoot stones (thunder stones are cheap!) or small alchemical potions in pots.

 

[Legildur]

There is also the Crossbow Mastery feat from Paizo's Curse of the Crimson Throne Player's Guide:

CROSSBOW MASTERY
You can load crossbows with blinding speed and even fire them in melee with little fear of reprisal.
Prerequisites: Dex 15, Point Blank Shot, Rapid Reload, Rapid Shot
Benefit: The time required for you to reload any type of crossbow is reduced to a free action, regardless of the type of crossbow used. You can fire a crossbow as many times in a full attack action as you could attack if you were using a bow. Reloading a crossbow for the type of crossbow you chose when you took Rapid Reload no longer provokes attacks of opportunity.
Special: A fighter may select Crossbow Mastery as one of his fighter bonus feats. A ranger may select Crossbow Mastery in place of Manyshot for his improved combat style at 6th level.

 

[Shin Okada]

As already stated, Crossbows are better for someone with strength penalty. And that means, you would better have some other way than strength to add extra damages.

Sudden Strike or Skirmish abilities (Ninja, Scout and some prestige classes) will be good for those type of characters.

 

[Legildur]

I forgot to add on the tactical employment of the crossbow - it can be fired from the prone position (which grants +4 bonus to AC against ranged attacks).