Then Marshall Dillon remembered he can't use guns...

[Gez]

Do you just say "whoops" and go on playing wihtout the crossbow? I do not feel like deducting XP ir soemhting drastic, but is there anything needed to explain it or woudl you just go on playing as if it never happened?

Was the druid too powerful? Did that character stole the others' spotlight? And the other players' fun?

If not, then, giving this druid crossbow proficiency was perfectly balanced and you can keep it.

As for why she can use it but other druids aren't trained... Maybe the crossbow is a family heirloom and she was trained to use it when she was a kid? Maybe it's an EZ-XBow-For-Dummies (tm), a model renowned for its particularly impressive ease-of-use, making a weapon proficiency not even necessary to use it without penalties?

Otherwise, here's how you could remove it without creating a discrepency. Next time the druid's BAB goes up, give her a -1 penalty. Then, at the next BAB-bump, -2. And so on until you reach the normal, official, straight-from-the-rules -4 penalty.

This way, you'll go back to legitimacy in 5-6 levels, and you won't have weird situations like "strange it seems I can't hit wolves anymore."

Finally, another solution may be to have, in story, the crossbow be broken, stolen, or lost; and the druid prefers to replace it with a bow. End of story.

 

[Voadam]

No, this sounds too much like punishing the player for the DM's mistake. Just do as everyone else has suggested--create a bit of backstory to explain why she uses a crossbow, and move on.

I might classify that as a player mistake. The druid in 3.5 can use a crossbow, just at the -4 nonproficiency penalty so the druid player can choose to use a crossbow no problem. As a player I generally consider it my responsiblity to understand the PC stuff appropriate for my PC, including what my character's proficiencies are.

That said I've always thought the druid weapon knowledges and excluded weapon knowledges bizarre and think giving them all simple weapons would make sense. Scimitars but not all simple weapons is just plain wierd and there is not really a good flavor reason for it.

 

[Jeff Wilder]

No, this sounds too much like punishing the player for the DM's mistake.

How in the world is this punishing the player? I think "retroactively ignoring the -4 proficiency penalty" is a better solution than "permanently ignoring a class restriction." If the druid's player decides to give up the crossbow, the druid must've decided he wasn't good enough with it. No big deal. I've had PCs switch weapons in mid-career plenty of times.

 

[Celtavian]

re

Just give her proficiency with the crossbow and tie it to her background. Dad taught her to shoot the crossbow. More flavor for the character and your game world.

 

[Greylock]

I might classify that as a player mistake. The druid in 3.5 can use a crossbow, just at the -4 nonproficiency penalty so the druid player can choose to use a crossbow no problem. As a player I generally consider it my responsiblity to understand the PC stuff appropriate for my PC, including what my character's proficiencies are.

Well, to be fair to our DM's fair wife, this is really her first go at DnD. She is learning the ropes as she goes, and doing a mighty fine job of it. She is a fine roleplayer, and handling herself in battle as well as can be reasonably expected of a low-level Druid. The crossbow has been handy for her, and our merry band. Having a caster as your first PC is hard enough. She's only now coming to find out how to maximise her spells potential. All-in-all, the crossbow has actualyy helped balance the game for her in regards to the rest of the players. It's kept her in the thick of things while she learns the ins and outs of the rules.

That aside, I suggested that, for sheer balance, we rule that the bone used to craft the crossbow should come from one of the Druid's legs, with toe bones used for cogs, etc. Replace said leg with a slightly short pegleg, to account for the lack of balance. Alsih20 promptly had an Ogre bash my char's skull. So my horse bit the Ogre and killeded him real good.

Or something like that...

You all will see, when the Story Hour eventually gets posted.

 

[alsih2o]

She IS in her first game.

Greylock DID suggest the leg bone thing.

He DID deal the death blow to an ogre with a horse bite.

Yes, we are trying to do something about him.

 

[jgbrowning]

Never let balance get in the way of fun. Let her use a flying pie if everyone's fine with it.

joe b.

 

[Varianor Abroad]

What they all said!

jbrowning, why am I suddenly envisioning an orc and a druid at high noon on the streets of some dusty western town? "Fling, stranger!"

 

[tarchon]

I suppose she's lucky she's not in a suspicious party. Might've thought she was a doppleganger or something.

 

[Zappo]

I think that the idea of a bone and wood crossbow is a good one. Solves everything.