Making a Crossbow Expert

[Bohemian Ear-Spork]

I need some help with a character build. Long story short, I've been out of the D&D for a few years now, and I'm really unfamiliar with most of the supplementary materials that have been released for 3.5. I've got me a PHB, and that's about it.

The DM, on the other hand, has just about everything. And I can reference it all at his place. But I'd rather have as much done BEFORE the game as I can. So I'm hoping that you guys can give me a hand here.

The setting is Eberron. The character concept is, to be honest, William Tell. The best damned crossbowman in the world, in other words.

I'm told that this is sub-optimal when compared to a regular archer, but that's something that I can live with. And I want to avoid any extraordinary or supernatural powers with this guy, too -- he's just a normal guy who's perfected his skills over the years, with practice, sweat, and effort.

So, with all this in mind, what classes, feats, and tactics would you recommend? The concept is the most important bit, but making him effective is probably a good idea too!

 

[werk]

In the words of one of the greats: "Don't Panic."

It would probably help if we could know what level you are going to be playing with, and some things you would like to see in the character. What are your stats? Do you want to totally front load and tweak him to be a crossbowman, or do you want him to be playable in a campaign but focused on his bow?

You're probably looking at a human fighter, high dex, feats are rapid reload, point blank shot, precise shot, rapid shot, weapon focus, weapon spec, many shot...

 

[frankthedm]

Sorry, won't work well at all in d20. Warhammer fantasy roleplay or Chaosium's BRP % system would be better choices. A semi realistic system where one blocks attacks, not soaks them with HP is needed, since in those systems blocking misslies is very hard.

In d20, You will need the repeating crossbow with a lot of energy enchantments. You loose a LOT because the crossbows are balanced to prevent a low STR character from doing too much damage. ever.

 

[ThirdWizard]

Crossbow sniper from PHB II lets you SA 60' away and gives 1/2 Dex bonus as damage.

 

[frankthedm]

Crossbow sniper from PHB II lets you SA 60' away and gives 1/2 Dex bonus as damage.

Looks like the half orc and dwarf rogues got some luvin'.

 

[Bohemian Ear-Spork]

In the words of one of the greats: "Don't Panic."

It would probably help if we could know what level you are going to be playing with, and some things you would like to see in the character. What are your stats? Do you want to totally front load and tweak him to be a crossbowman, or do you want him to be playable in a campaign but focused on his bow?

Damned fine questions. Stats are as follows, at least for the moment:

Str: 12
Dex: 18
Con: 14
Int: 13
Wis: 12
Chr: 9

I'm joining up at level 9, so those two extra points are probably going to go into Dex.

And basically, yeah...the crossbow is all he really knows. Carries a back-up weapon for HTH -- probably a cudgel -- but he'll do his best not to get into situations where he'll need it. He'll fail in this, I'm sure, but that's part of the fun.

 

[szilard]

Improved Critical is a must.

There is a feat in PHBII (Telling Blow?) that lets you add SA/skirmish damage to all critical hits. I don't recall if it works with ranged attacks, but if it does then this might be a nice damage boosting option.

-Stuart

 

[PaulKemp]

You're probably looking at a human fighter, high dex, feats are rapid reload, point blank shot, precise shot, rapid shot, weapon focus, weapon spec, many shot...

Definitely want to get Improved Critical into the mix, too, since you're coming in at level nine (need a +8 BAB to qualify). The critical threat range is the only place that a x-bow surpasses a bow, so you want to maximize that.

EDIT: SZilard beat me to the post. Damnation!

 

[kenobi65]

You're probably going to need to go with a light crossbow. With a light crossbow and the Rapid Reload feat, you can get your iterative attacks (as well as use Rapid Shot), since RR makes reloading a light crossbow into a free action. This is the only way you're going to be able to keep up with your peers on damage output; without Rapid Reload, or with a heavy crossbow, you'll never be able to shoot more than once a round.

Going with Ranger as a class would give you some archery feats for free: at your level, specifically, you'll get Rapid Shot and Manyshot. Rapid Shot works just fine with a crossbow, assuming Rapid Reload. Manyshot, alas, won't do you any good, as the feat description specifically mentions arrows (as opposed to bolts). At 11th level, you'll get Improved Precise Shot for free, which can be a very nice feat. Since you're getting an important feat (or two) for free, you can focus your feat slots on some of the other important ones, which others have mentioned. OTOH, fighter gets so many bonus feats (as well as allowing you to qualify for Weapon Specialization)...I think I just talked myself out of ranger for this build.

As frankthedm notes, the disadvantage you'll have (compared to using a "pull" bow) is that there's no crossbow equivalent to a "strength-rated" composite bow, so you'll be doing (at least a bit) less damage -- though, with your proposed build, you're only sacrificing 1 point per shot, as you'd only be able to use a Str+1 composite bow.

 

[Goldmoon]

TWF with light crossbows. Im kidding of course. What if you could though....