Heavy vs. Light Crossbows

[SquareKnot]

Sorry to bother people with this, but I've looked everywhere to try to find the differences between a heavy and light crossbow in terms of rate of fire and range. The damage difference is 1d8 vs 1d10, if I remember correctly. The light crossbow is faster, but has shorter range. But how much faster, and how much shorter range? And if the range of the heavy is greater than I can see, does the extra range really help? If I fell an orc with a heavy crossbow in the forest, does it really die? No wait, that's a different discussion.

Thanks

[feniox]

The heavy crossbow is also cumbersome, and gives a minus to your hit bonus, or at least im pretty sure it does. I think it's - 2. Unless I made a mistake somewhere, I do that from time to time

[Vellyn]

I use the heavy crossbow and have used a light crossbow. The difference is visible in game regarding the rate of fire between the two but I could not tell you how much. It is more cumbersome ... quite a bit actually. As for the -2 to your attacsk, it doesn't show that on my stats anywhere, so that one i'm unsure of.

PS ... nice to see another fellow Coloradan in here

[Talan Va'lash]

feniox - 9/13/2005  11:20 AM

The heavy crossbow is also cumbersome, and gives a minus to your hit bonus, or at least im pretty sure it does. I think it's - 2. Unless I made a mistake somewhere, I do that from time to time

I'm not sure where you got this idea.

Unfortunately I don't know how crossbow reloading time is implemented in NWN.

In PnP reloading a light crossbow is a standard action (or is it a move action... whatever it is the result is as follows,) so you can attack once, then reload in one round (limiting your rate of fire to 1 shot per round unless you take rapid reload.)

Reloading a heavy crossbow is a full round action (I think it can also be split into two standard actions so you can half reload in one round and finish in the first half of the next.)  Which means you can:

round 1 - shoot once, start reloading
round 2 - finish reloading, shoot once
round 3 - you have to spend this entire round reloading
Then repeat this process.

In NWN I'm thinking (not sure) they're both the same, i.e. you can only shoot once per round, to take advantage of multiple attacks per round you have to take rapid reload.

I'm fairly sure there are no ranges for ranged weapons in NWN, if you can see it you can shoot it in my experience.

-TV

[IDii]

Yeah, in NWN those weapons have like no difference other than heavy crossbow weighs a bit more and deals more damage... heh.

And they both fire the same speed. It's 1 attack a round, no matter how many attacks you have... Unless you take rapid reload, which gives you as many attacks a round as you normally have.

[Vellyn]

Interesting ... i always thought the light crossbow fired a bit faster ... I stand corrected

[feniox]

Talan Va'lash - 9/13/2005  10:30 AM

feniox - 9/13/2005  11:20 AM

The heavy crossbow is also cumbersome, and gives a minus to your hit bonus, or at least im pretty sure it does. I think it's - 2. Unless I made a mistake somewhere, I do that from time to time

I'm not sure where you got this idea.

Me neither, it's been ages since I compared the two in game, like waaaaaaaaaaaaay back, probably before I understood what I was doing, heh.

[SquareKnot]

It looks like IDii is right, there really is no game-mechanic difference between the heavy and light crossbow, except the weight and damage. This thread over at Bioware seems to bear that out:

http://nwn.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=402938&forum=42&highlight=Crossbow+Rate+Fire

Funny that I didn't find that thread last time I looked...

The power of suggestion is a strange thing. I could swear that the light crossbow loaded faster in game, but that's just because I thought it should.

Thanks to everyone who answered. Now I can go ahead and buy an Oak Heavy Crossbow without fear of buyer's remorse. Then again, I'm getting it from Aleister, so I may regret it anyway...

Oh, and Vellyn, always good to see fellow Coloradoans (you, me, Variable, and * pounds fist * can't think of his name)

[Vellyn]

There is also Raven Whitewood who is stationed in Colorado Springs ... we should start a Colorado guild or something :-p

[lonnarin]

And in real life a heavy crossbow takes a minute or two to reload.  Many soldiers had to sit down, brace the bugger with their legs and pull back with all their might just to lock it into place.

D&D horribly misrepresented them, NWN and PnP.  Even with twice the feats, there should NEVER be crossbow rapidshot, unless you have a repeater crossbow.  Even then, it'd take about as long as PnP rules for heavies, else it'd jam on your or put an eye out..

On the plus side though, at a close range of less than 20 feet, they could easily pierce many of the better fullplates.  Militaries were downsizing armor for mobility well before gunpowder became refined because of these beauties.

I'd imagine light crossbows to be relatively sized like hunting crossbows commonly seen today, but a bit larger and bulkier.  Working with alloys instead of wood, we can keep them pretty darn lightweight and compact in modern times.  These are a bit easier to reload, but no matter how "experienced" the marksman is, they would still backfire or jam if you tried launching more than one every 6 seconds/one round.