An Arbalester

[hbsobkowiak]

In true RP style we dont always choose the weapon or skills that are most leathal in combat or exploring. It has always been my RP style that best suits me as a rouge and I think I can bring justice to the class, or hope so at least.  With that being said the Prc of Arbalaster would be very nice for me and wonder about the implemetation.  I have seen kits that work in that direction and some kits thats grant dispel magic bolts at higher levels. I have even seen talk of a sharshooter.  I dont think a straight fighter specialized in cross bow does justice nor a rouge alone because of the in ability to specialize. Is there any input about this Prc and or knowledge to point me in the right direction to put together this concept? Keeping in mind most crossbowmen of armies have no experience and are for mass arrow employment. As the PC gains experience and knowledge there should be a reflection in the damage by placing shots, like a called shot, and increased rate of fire beyond that of the level increase. The crosbow was banned by the pope during the crusades for being "murderous". Where has that ability gone.
Any sugesstions and or comments would be appreciated.

[Ar7]

If you are going to make an arbalester not a crossbowman, then I suggest putting points into strenght. Not very useful, but they are needed for RP, since an arbalest was much bigger than a crossbow and required a lot more strenght and time to load. Also, if you will be making an arbalester, then do not take rapid reload, since it took a lot of time to reload an arbalest. So it would be appropriate if only one attack per round was shot.

It is a very interesting idea you have, it is certainly hard to implement, but the result should great.

Good luck

[hbsobkowiak]

It was my understaning that an Arbalester was the generic term for a cross bowman in PnP D&D. I do not know if it was for the lack of better words or not. I have seen a couple kits sugesting the recomendations but I have never seen a complete build. I think in the terms you sugest it would be more of a light crossbowman then. There has got to be a way to make the crosbow more leathal.
One of the reasons behind the rouge with a sneek attack, that allows for a "placed shot/sneek attack damage" causing more dammage.

[ZeroVega]

  Whenever I think of a Rogue, that would rather place a nice bolt/quarral in someone's back rather than a knife, I think of a light crossbow. I like the build idea you have and definatly incourage you to go through with it... here's my advice though.
    A rogue with 16-18 Dextarity and 12 Strength would definatly be able to pull off Rapid Reload on a Crossbow. I always looked at reloading a crossbow quickly as having more to do with the speed and agility of one's fingers (same as with a bow... that half giant may be able to pull the bow string until it's about to break but it won't matter if he can't find and load is arrows).
    As for the heavy crossbow, I agree with Ar7... kinda. It's 12lbs, to lift it up, aim it, and hold it steady to fire would alone use a lot of energy, not to mention reloading it and repeating. I wouldn't take the Rapid Reload with that unless I had 16+ strength... however something good to remember is it is a fantasy world and however realistic we want to make it, it's more important that we have fun playing a character, than not have any fun cause we tried to make the most realistic build possible.
  ZV-

[Ar7]

Just a small note, to reason why I believe a rapid reload on a heavy crossbow/arbalest is impossible. Namely, these weapons had steel strings and there were special "winders" that were attached to a arbalest/heavy crossbow, because it wasn't humanly possible to reload one without one of these things.

[hbsobkowiak]

I guess the real question is, would a developed Prc be worth the effort?  Or would it just be better to focus all feats on the cross bow ie. Called shot, rapid reload, point blank shot. And then let the rouge class carry the damage multiplier for sneek attack to simulate better aim or placement, and close combat dodge, evasion and the like.
I look at the Arcane Archer, wow the special abilities are numerous and it is very limited to race and class.  What ever happened to the Human? Are we so undesireable, but I guess that is another topic. Would an arbalister draw que's from the archer and reflect that build without the magic effects.  Another thought was the Death Attack, a class that allows the possibility of stun after a hit would line up with the original "Bolter" that had the Dispel magic bolts at higher levels.  Or even a Feat that allows for knockdown from the range with a required called shot. Just imagine a called shot with a % chance to knock you off your feet.  I would imagine this would be detrimental to a spell caster and or anyone trying to fight in the front line. This is still limited by the range, sneeks dont work from too far out so to gain maximum advantage the Bolter needs to be rather close.Too close for a non armor wearing character without a very high dex if he would like to live longer than one engagement.
If anyone has a sugestion were I might find a kit that reccomends a Prc please let me know. It was many years ago I saw this, way before 3e.  So long I belive the Unearthed Arcana just came out.

[Talan Va'lash]

Exactly what an Arbalest is is up for debate.  In literature it is used to describe crossbows ranging in size from medium shoulder fired bows to large mounted crossbows almost on the scale of a Ballista.

Anyway, I've always thought that crossbows were implemented poorly in D&D.  Having a standard dX for damage ignores the crossbows dramatic stopping power at close range and their relative uselessness at long range.

Even the length and fletching (or lack of fletching) on (most period) crossbow bolts demonstrates that they were maximized for close range combat.  A short wide bolt with minimal or no fletching is powerfull and effective at short ranges, while it would bounce off someone wearing a leather jacket at long range, if it was even accurate enough at long range to hit anything.

Crossbows really should have a very short range increment and their damage should be scaled to the number of range increments.  XdX within the first range increment, (X-1)dX within the second, (X-2)dX within the third, and so on.  Either that or keep the original XdX and just put a penalty on damage equal to (# of range increments) x (-2) or something.  Since the range increments have to be small to have damage scale appropriately, there would only be a -2 penalty to attack rolls every 2 range increments instead of for every range increment as is standard.

The length of the range increment and number and size of the original damage die would depend on the style of the crossbow.

So yeah, Crossbows will never play their proper role in D&D unless you modify the rules a bit, and will never play their proper role in NWN since there is no range system other than the distance at which the graphics engine renders enemies on your screen.

-TV

[hbsobkowiak]

Well said sir, but with the attempt of building a crosbowman with the sneek attack simulates the massive(murderous) dammage at short range and it looses its sneek attack so at long range basic dammage applies may simulate this effect. I dont know what the complexities of programing this are but if it can not be programed it can be simulated in some way.
I would think as a rouge base class with feats in Weapon focus, rapid shot, point blank shot, and aimed shot would be the standard feats that would apply to a crosbowman. I would like to see feat, enchant arrow 1,2,3,4 etc with levels as the arcane archer, but more as a bonus for "specialization" not magically enduced. What makes this extreamly leathal is if this is coupled with hide in plain sight. Fire - hide fire.  This combination has worked well on action servers and will cause massive dammage. Then find a silly little gnome to make a repeater and you would have a bolt baragge causing 30 is HP per with dx and xd6 sneek.
All of this is staying true to the porpouse behind a crosbowman, they do not operate well solo.  They need a "basher" to occupy the enemy to take full advantage of the sneek while in combat. But then would chain mail allow for the freedom to accoplish this.  Historically I think they were mostly padded for cost reasons and they were not front line combatants.Then in the RP style I would think a helm would impair the ability to aim. Unless they were Amber galsses .

A little note about the arbalest, yes, it is larger than you heavy crossbow, and for some it did come with a stand to set the arbalest upon (at least historically) because it was nose heavy. Great strength was required to reload, usually pulled when held down by the feet and then pulled up. Think the firing was 1 shot every three rounds, cause it took two rounds just to reload the thing. Then it was reduced to 1 shot every two rounds when using a gear crank. The gear crank required two hands.
Technically speaking, the arbalest was only ever effective when defending the castle ramparts from a siege. Where you would have the wall to protect you while you reloaded.
Not a very good weapon for your common adventurer.

[Stephen_Zuckerman]

Feat (Character Attribute): Arbalester

Prerequisites: Dex 16+, Str 14+, BAB +7, Point Blank Shot, Weapon Focus [Crossbow, light], Weapon Focus [Crossbow, heavy], Rapid Reload

Benefit: The character gains a damage bonus when firing a crossbow at a target within 30', and fires a Heavy Crossbow at the same rate as a Light.

Light Crossbow - +1d6
Heavy Crossbow - +2d6