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

[Berandor]

Do *not* house rule it or give her profession in it. She's your wife, and you're going to have to lay down the law right now, else your other players will accuse you of favoritism. YOu only have two choices, as I see it:
a) dock her 20% xp (a -4 penalty on attacks with non-proficient weapons comes out as 20% on a d20) and take the crossbow away
b) divorce her and then house rule the proficiency - that way, you're no longer favoring your wife.

It's tough, but you're the DM. YOu have to make tough decisions.

 

[mmu1]

I think this is a non-issue... The restrictions on what equipment Druids can use are 90% (inconsistent) flavor anyway, it'll have no impact on game balance whatsoever. If it works, let her use it.

Personally, I've house-ruled Druids to be proficient with shortbows a long time ago to do away with this sort of nonsense. (figuring that crossbows are too complex mechanically to fit the class well)

 

[alsih2o]

Do *not* house rule it or give her profession in it. She's your wife, and you're going to have to lay down the law right now, else your other players will accuse you of favoritism. YOu only have two choices, as I see it:
a) dock her 20% xp (a -4 penalty on attacks with non-proficient weapons comes out as 20% on a d20) and take the crossbow away
b) divorce her and then house rule the proficiency - that way, you're no longer favoring your wife.

It's tough, but you're the DM. YOu have to make tough decisions.

Wow. Sometimes many posts pass before any wisdom. This IS the solution.


All the other players were fine with her using the Xbow, so we ruled to gloss it over, but favoritism had never crossed my mind. I guess, for the good of the game, I will have to go with option B there.

Thank you for not going with the flow and waking me to the reality fo what I am facing there Bear and Door. Thank you.

 

[tarchon]

I think I'd just leave in the crossbow prof and yank the the sling and dart profs in exchange.

 

[Voadam]

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.

No, no, no, if you take the bones out of the druid's leg she will obviously be unbalanced. The pegleg counterbalance is an inelegant kludge to fix this glaring rules problem.

 

[random user]

This would be my way...

"Druids are proficient with the following weapons: club, dagger, dart, quarterstaff, scimitar, sickle, shortspear, sling, and spear."

Some of that list include metal, so I don't think having it be bone etc has to matter that much.

Instead I would explain it like this:

"You know, you've always been proficient with the crossbow; ever since you picked one up, it seemed natural to you. You just recently realized that most druids eschew the crossbow; indeed all the other druids you've met (if the character has met any) haven't even been proficient with it."

Now you have a mystery. The player doesn't know why, the characters don't know why. There is no story interruption. And now you have a plot device if the players choose to pursue it.

 

[tarchon]

No, no, no, if you take the bones out of the druid's leg she will obviously be unbalanced. The pegleg counterbalance is an inelegant kludge to fix this glaring rules problem.

I think a druid's pegleg would probably be a treant or have a dryad living in it or something.

 

[alsih2o]

I think a druid's pegleg would probably be a treant or have a dryad living in it or something.

Maybe a small woodpecker familiar could live in a hollow found halfway down?

 

[Greylock]

Has alsih20 mentioned that this is a LARP?

I thought the bone-crossbow/pegleg substitution fair and balanced. Now ya'll want us to chop off the limb, and then have alsih20 divorce her? Man, you guys are mean.