Why no mighty crossbows?

[MerakSpielman]

It seems to make sense that they would exist. A crossbow with a heavier pull that can only be loaded by a character with the approprate strength bonus, and then deals the Mighty bonus to damage when fired.

The only potential I can see for abuse is to have all the characters have a mighty crossbow, which the strongest character pre-loads for them so they can get extra damage the first round of combat. But that doesn't really seem that bad.

 

[dcollins]

I think there's a realism factor in that Heavy Crossbows were drawn by a crank, so anyone could do it regardless of strength (mechanical advantage). My understanding is that crossbows were never built in stronger-or-lesser varieties, and no one ever got particularly fit for/by using one (as opposed to English longbows).

I'm sure that motivation can be critiqued, by that's where it springs from. There's some tradition of heavier/lighter longbows, but not for crossbows.

 

[Lasher Dragon]

I agree with dcollins - a crossbow does not rely on a player's strength to it, whereas with a bow you could make it incredibly taut, where only the strongest could get a full pull on it.

Oops I guess I said a bad word unintentionally. My bad hehehe

 

[WizarDru]

Heavier crossbows were called Trebuchets.

Seriously, there are no 'mighty' crossbows, because they didn't really work that way. You could invent an exotic version, but to quote about.com, "No bow is perfectly efficient, but Medieval crossbows were particularly inefficient. The reason for this is that the draw length and the lathe (also called a prod) of crossbows are short. So even though a crossbow may have a great deal of stored energy when spanned, the tips of the lathe do not have enough time to reach the maximum velocity, so the amount of stored energy is not transferred fully to the bolt. It is the lathe tip velocity that determines the speed of the bolt that is loosed. This problem could have been alleviated with a longer draw length or a longer lath, but that would increase the weight and bulkiness of the crossbow, which are already two distinct disadvantages of the Medieval crossbow. "

..and:

"Throughout the Medieval Period though, crossbows became more powerful. Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey loosed a bolt from an actual Medieval crossbow spanned with a cranequin and achieve a cast of 490 yards. The ordinary 15th. century crossbow would likely cast a bolt 370-380 yards. These crossbows would surely outperform almost any longbow in terms of distance, but the accuracy of the crossbow at those ranges would likely be poor at best. At point blank range, the crossbow almost certainly had very high penetrating power."

 

[MerakSpielman]

OK, so historically there is no precident, and realistically the physics don't really work that well.

But within the context of a D&D game, where the weapon rules are unrealistic at best anyway, might it not be reasonable to allow characters to purchase such an item?

 

[Lasher Dragon]

Well as far as I'm concerned if the DM likes it go for it. Maybe make a new +1 bonus that increases the die damage by one step or something.

 

[kenobi65]

a crossbow does not rely on a player's strength to it

That made my afternoon. Let's see if, instead of a cocking mechanism, you could use a screw mechanism and get it by the filter...

 

[DreamChaser]

Light crossbows are xbows that you can draw by hand (move action to load) and they have high penetrating power (1d8 damage compared to 1d6 for the short bow). A heavy crossbow is stronger, requires a mechanism to pull back (thus longer reload), and deals more damage (1d10 compared to a long bow's 1d8).

I don't see any real way to make a mighty crossbow to take advantage of higher strength without raising the question of a wimp just using a crank to pull it back. A character with a strength of 2 could still use a "mighty crossbow +8" with the help of a strong enough crank. The benefit would have to be inherent in the weapon, which means it is not a strength bonus but an inherent bonus or something like that.

DC

 

[MerakSpielman]

Light crossbows are xbows that you can draw by hand (move action to load) and they have high penetrating power (1d8 damage compared to 1d6 for the short bow). A heavy crossbow is stronger, requires a mechanism to pull back (thus longer reload), and deals more damage (1d10 compared to a long bow's 1d8).

I don't see any real way to make a mighty crossbow to take advantage of higher strength without raising the question of a wimp just using a crank to pull it back. A character with a strength of 2 could still use a "mighty crossbow +8" with the help of a strong enough crank. The benefit would have to be inherent in the weapon, which means it is not a strength bonus but an inherent bonus or something like that.

DC

Well, you could rule that it takes a number of rounds equal to the Mighty bonus to work the crank. And that for each bonus to Str a character has, that number is reduced by one (to a minimum of a move action).

 

[Sithobi1]

Longbows were produced for each person specifically, or people selected one that fit them from a range of different ones; crossbows, on the other hand, were standardized and were utilized by common people.
And trebuchets are catapults, a ballista would be a crossbow.