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<blockquote data-quote="Kraydak" data-source="post: 6292534" data-attributes="member: 12306">Why do crossbows suck is the wrong question.&nbsp; The right question is &quot;Why don't bows suck&quot;.&nbsp; Other than bows (and in post UA 1e/2e, darts), all ranged weapons other than bows have sucked.&nbsp; Crossbows?&nbsp; Sucked.&nbsp; Javelins?&nbsp; Sucked.&nbsp; Firearms?&nbsp; Sucked.Two important aspects of DnD are that it plays very fast and loose with what a melee attack even is, and it takes a lot of hits to drop a guy.&nbsp; Unlike melee attacks though, ranged attacks are well quantized: each attack consumes one piece of ammo.&nbsp; This causes problems with crossbows and early firearms: you can't just up the attack rate while maintaining SOD, so unless individual hits are EXTREMELY high damage, the sustained damage is unacceptably low.&nbsp; It also causes problems with thrown weapons: unless the weapons return, you can't carry that many.Bows hit the sweet spot where people are willing to accept high ROFs while having ammo that can be carried in bulk.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Kraydak, post: 6292534, member: 12306"] Why do crossbows suck is the wrong question. The right question is "Why don't bows suck". Other than bows (and in post UA 1e/2e, darts), all ranged weapons other than bows have sucked. Crossbows? Sucked. Javelins? Sucked. Firearms? Sucked. Two important aspects of DnD are that it plays very fast and loose with what a melee attack even [B]is[/B], and it takes a lot of hits to drop a guy. [I]Unlike melee attacks though, ranged attacks are well quantized[/I]: each attack consumes one piece of ammo. This causes problems with crossbows and early firearms: you can't just up the attack rate while maintaining SOD, so unless individual hits are EXTREMELY high damage, the sustained damage is unacceptably low. It also causes problems with thrown weapons: unless the weapons return, you can't carry that many. Bows hit the sweet spot where people are willing to accept high ROFs while having ammo that can be carried in bulk. [/QUOTE]

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