New respect for crossbows

[S'mon]

Zander is of course right that the crossbow had a longer effective direct-fire range, but crossbow bolts aren't good for indirect arcing fire. In massed formations the English longbow allowed arcing fire out to about half a mile/900 yards/2700', shooting about 6 times/minute to a crossbow's 1/minute.

D&D has always handled bows poorly IMO. The 3e rules don't reflect at all the differences between bows and crossbows, and I've no idea why they think a non-composite longbow can't be 'mighty', when historical examples had draw weights of 135lb plus...
Nor do I understand why they have the (shorter) composite longbow outrange the regular longbow, incidentally reversing 1e & 2e.

You could start to get a bit more accuracy by doubling the heavy crossbow's damage (to 2d10), increase range increment (eg to 180'), and have it take 2 full rounds/18 seconds to reload, which is still too high but at least puts the FR at an historical 1/6 that of a longbow using rapid-shot. It's a battlefield weapon, not a personal-defense weapon.

I'm not really sure what weapon the light crossbow is trying to simulate - assuming it's a light, personal weapon, the damage & fire rate may be justifiable. The range seems if anything a bit high.

 

[Celtavian]

Re

I wish they would give the crossbow some advantage over the bow. I liked the way they gave Crossbows greater penetration power in the 2nd edition Combat and Tactics. They should include some kind of penetration advantage for crossbows in 3rd edition given their slow reload times.

EDIT: Political comment deleted. --Dinkeldog

 

[Thresher]

Ah I dunno if they stopped sending over their criminals to Australia, only a little while ago they sent down their cricket team to visit...
And by goodness, they got a slapping like a prison b***h on fresh meat Friday. It felt criminal

We'd like to play in some World Series stuff with the yanks too but Im not sure if they invite anyone else to play in them.

 

[MerakSpielman]

Honestly, though, a country that sends its criminals and dissidents to populate distant lands shouldn't be that surprised when they rebel against its rule...

 

[Dinkeldog]

Closed by me. If anyone really needs an explanation, e-mail me.

If someone wants to discuss a way to alter crossbow damage so that it's fair in their minds, then they're welcome to start a thread in house rules.

EDIT: It's too freaking early for me to have to do this.