Hey all! Working on a dwarven sniper type character. What do you think of a Repeating Great Crossbow? I figured that it would cost 600 gp and require an exotic weapon feat to use. I cannot see anything wrong with this, as the Heavy Repeating Crossbow is very similar in function. Opinions?
Repeating Great Crossbow?
- Thread starter mirivor
- Start date
UltimaGabe
First Post
Eh, it'd be fine with me.
Stormrunner
Explorer
Well, the RAW don't specify how the "repeating" function works. Art has varied from the historical Chinese lever-action bow, to one that has a crank, to one with a stack of five bows.
Realistically, the historic weapon has a large lever which moves the entire "magazine" section forward and back. A catch on the underside snags the string as it moves back, and another one pops the string out of the notch when it reaches the farthest-back position, stripping a bolt off the bottom of the magazine. So
-and-fire is one action, one pull of the lever. However, since you are holding the weapon with one hand and working the lever with the other, the bow must be "light" enough that you can it one-handed. So a "heavy repeating crossbow", much less a repeating Great Crossbow, is not realistic. Also, since you are literally "shooting from the hip", accuracy is terrible. Historically it was a battlefield weapon - point it at a big mass of enemy troops and you'll probably hit something - not a sniper weapon.
But, if you aren't bothered by the existence of the Orcish Double Axe, you can handwave the existence of Repeating Great Crossbows too, I suppose.
(edit - ah, don't you love mindless, automated "swear word" replacement?)
Realistically, the historic weapon has a large lever which moves the entire "magazine" section forward and back. A catch on the underside snags the string as it moves back, and another one pops the string out of the notch when it reaches the farthest-back position, stripping a bolt off the bottom of the magazine. So
-and-fire is one action, one pull of the lever. However, since you are holding the weapon with one hand and working the lever with the other, the bow must be "light" enough that you can it one-handed. So a "heavy repeating crossbow", much less a repeating Great Crossbow, is not realistic. Also, since you are literally "shooting from the hip", accuracy is terrible. Historically it was a battlefield weapon - point it at a big mass of enemy troops and you'll probably hit something - not a sniper weapon.But, if you aren't bothered by the existence of the Orcish Double Axe, you can handwave the existence of Repeating Great Crossbows too, I suppose.
(edit - ah, don't you love mindless, automated "swear word" replacement?)
Last edited:
Lord Pendragon
First Post
I feel silly, but I can't figure out what the censor is censoring...Stormrunner said:
Load?
Hold?
Lord Pendragon
First Post
Oh, of course...shilsen said:
Thanks. I wasn't even coming close. Never play guessing games in the middle of the night/morning.
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