Rapid Shot vs. Crossbows

[Gizzard]

How does the Rapid Shot feat interact with the reloading requirement of Crossbows? Is reloading "included" in the second free shot? Here's my guess at what happens:

round 1) full round action: take loaded crossbow and fire twice.
round 2) MEA#1: load crossbow.
-------) MEA#2: move 30' if desired
round 3) full round action: take loaded crossbow and fire twice.
round 4) repeat round 2 & 3

alternately:

round 1) full round action: take loaded crossbow and fire twice.
round 2) MEA#1: load crossbow.
-------) STD: shoot crossbow once only.
round 3) repeat round 2

Are these correct?

 

[Altamont Ravenard]

If you want to use the Rapid Shot feat (or use iterative attacks) with a crossbow, you either need
1) a repeating crosbow
2) the Rapid Reload feat.

Otherwise, you can't shoot more than once in a round (barring haste, etc.), since you need a full round action to shoot more than once, and reloading the crossbow takes at least a move-equivalent action.

AR

 

[AuraSeer]

Altamont Ravenard is correct.

In order to make multiple attacks (even with Rapid Shot), you must do a Full Attack, which is a full-round action. But firing twice with a crossbow would require a move action to reload between shots. You cannot take a FRA and a move in the same round, which means it's impossible to make multiple attacks with an ordinary crossbow.

 

[Pax]

If you want to use the Rapid Shot feat (or use iterative attacks) with a crossbow, you either need
1) a repeating crosbow
2) the Rapid Reload feat.

3) Any magic crossbow with the Quick-Loading enhancement (Magic of Faerun).

 

[Altamont Ravenard]

Altamont Ravenard is correct.

You know, that's damn tempting to put in a sig

AR

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

The 3.5 Rapid Reload feat in the PH is significantly better and allows characters with light or hand crossbows to take all ranged attacks they would normally be entitled to.

For a heavy crossbow, it turns reloading into a move action which means the best you could manage would be one shot per round.

 

[Particle_Man]

Hmmm...do you think that the complete warrior's handbook will have a feat that allows one to reload heavy crossbows as a free action, with rapid reload as a prereq.?

 

[Altamont Ravenard]

Hmmm...do you think that the complete warrior's handbook will have a feat that allows one to reload heavy crossbows as a free action, with rapid reload as a prereq.?

DOn't know, but I certainly would never go as far as to take 2 feats for that...

Follow-up question on using Hand and Light XBows: It is possible to use a Xbow in each hand. WOuld it be possible to take all your iterative attacks with your first Xbow and an extra attack with your second Xbow if you had the Rapid Relaod feat?

AR

 

[Particle_Man]

DOn't know, but I certainly would never go as far as to take 2 feats for that...

Follow-up question on using Hand and Light XBows: It is possible to use a Xbow in each hand. WOuld it be possible to take all your iterative attacks with your first Xbow and an extra attack with your second Xbow if you had the Rapid Relaod feat?

AR

Even though you can fire a Xbow in each hand, you need two hands to load a crossbow, so unless you are gifted with extra arms, then no. What you could do, I guess, is start with one crossbow in one hand, use rapid reload to get off all the shots on that one, drop it, Quickdraw the other, use Two Weapon Fighting (and the improved versions of it) and Rapid Reload to get off as many shots with the "secondary" crossbow as you would be allowed to have attacks with a secondary weapon in meelee combat. And you would have to declare this maneuver ahead of time, to take the attack penalties on your primary and secondary crossbow shots. At least that is my take on it.

 

[Endur]

Don't forget that someone else can take an action to load and crank the crossbow while you focus on firing.

Squires and henchmen and cohorts can be useful in a combat even if they don't have a BAB.