If a PC straps hand crossbows to his arms in a way that leaves his hands free, allowing him to load them as both his hands are free, could he then use both crossbows every turn if he has the Crossbow Expert feat?
What's the point? Aside from "rule of cool" because duel wielding hand crossbows looks cool, what is the point?
My point is this:
Hand Crossbows are "light" weapons and so can be duel wielded without a feat, which leaves the issues of Loading and Ammunition.
Loading means you only get 1 attack per action, bonus action, or reaction to fire it. Crossbow Expert Feat negates this requirement.
Ammunition means you need a free hand to load a one-handed weapon. Crossbow Expert doesn't negate this requirement.
In Scenario 1 the player is holding 2 loaded hand crossbows.
Action: Fires 1st for 1d6+Dex damage
Bonus Action: Fires the 2nd for 1d6 damage (No Dex damage unless you have the Two Weapon Fighting Style)
Now the player can't reload either because she has no hands for the Ammunition rule, unless she has some special mount like you suggested.
In Scenario 2 the player is holding a single hand crossbow and has the Crossbow Expert feat
Action: Fires 1st for 1d6+Dex damage
Bonus Action: Fires the 2nd for 1d6+Dex damage
Side Note: Personally I feel the Warcaster feat should allow a player to ignore the Ammunition quality, because if you can use Somatic components to cast spells while hands are full, the player should be able to load an ammunition weapon while the hand is full.
Hand Crossbows are "light" weapons and so can be duel wielded without a feat, which leaves the issues of Loading and Ammunition.
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Side Note: Personally I feel the Warcaster feat should allow a player to ignore the Ammunition quality, because if you can use Somatic components to cast spells while hands are full, the player should be able to load an ammunition weapon while the hand is full.
Two-weapon fighting requires melee weapons. The light property on hand crossbows is effectively useless. It might be relevant if you use them to make melee attacks, but that's a pretty subpar strategy.
On that note, I disagree about War Caster. Practicing spells with your hands full is one thing, loading a crossbow with your hands full is another. It's like arguing the dexterity from being good at musical instruments or pen spinning or picking locks is going to translate to this very particular task. And if you think about it you're already pushing the limits by loading the crossbow super fast.
He gets the bonus to the damage for the second hand as well. The feature Two-weapons fighting does not play a role here because it is only for melee attacks.
The Crossbow expertise feat allows him to fire with two hand crossbows.
The Crossbow expertise feat allows him to fire with two hand crossbows.
In practice it doesn't, because he needs a free hand to load them and he doesn't have enough object interactions to stow and draw the weapon 2+ times in one turn.
If a player really wanted to make this his thing, I'd just homebrew a pair of self-loading magic hand crossbows, and let everyone else find an uncommon magic item shortly afterwards just to keep things fair.
Was this inspired by Kingdom Hearts' Xigbar by any chance?
Based on the description in the OP, I sort of envisioned something more like the one Bounty Hunter guy from Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (name escapes me at the moment), who essentially has a crossbow on his gauntlets that can then be loaded and fired, basically each gauntlet then has a hand crossbow setup leaving both hands free as your not actually forced to hold anything, although still new to some of the 5E mechanics so still would think that what others have said in that two-weapon fighting may not help as it applies to melee weapons only, cool concept though if you can get it to work in the manner you want.
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If a PC straps hand crossbows to his arms in a way that leaves his hands free, allowing him to load them as both his hands are free, could he then use both crossbows every turn if he has the Crossbow Expert feat?
Yes, if you are using hand crossbows on both hands.
Question oMinja,
What's the point? Aside from "rule of cool" because duel wielding hand crossbows looks cool, what is the point?
My point is this:
Hand Crossbows are "light" weapons and so can be duel wielded without a feat, which leaves the issues of Loading and Ammunition.
Loading means you only get 1 attack per action, bonus action, or reaction to fire it. Crossbow Expert Feat negates this requirement.
Ammunition means you need a free hand to load a one-handed weapon. Crossbow Expert doesn't negate this requirement.
In Scenario 1 the player is holding 2 loaded hand crossbows.
Action: Fires 1st for 1d6+Dex damage
Bonus Action: Fires the 2nd for 1d6 damage (No Dex damage unless you have the Two Weapon Fighting Style)
Now the player can't reload either because she has no hands for the Ammunition rule, unless she has some special mount like you suggested.
In Scenario 2 the player is holding a single hand crossbow and has the Crossbow Expert feat
Action: Fires 1st for 1d6+Dex damage
Bonus Action: Fires the 2nd for 1d6+Dex damage
Side Note: Personally I feel the Warcaster feat should allow a player to ignore the Ammunition quality, because if you can use Somatic components to cast spells while hands are full, the player should be able to load an ammunition weapon while the hand is full.
He gets the bonus to the damage for the second hand as well. The feature Two-weapons fighting does not play a role here because it is only for melee attacks.
The Crossbow expertise feat allows him to fire with two hand crossbows.
Well, I meant when they are already loaded. My point was that without Crossbow Expert you can't fire with 2 hand crossbow (action+ bonus action)
Based on the description in the OP, I sort of envisioned something more like the one Bounty Hunter guy from Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (name escapes me at the moment), who essentially has a crossbow on his gauntlets that can then be loaded and fired, basically each gauntlet then has a hand crossbow setup leaving both hands free as your not actually forced to hold anything, although still new to some of the 5E mechanics so still would think that what others have said in that two-weapon fighting may not help as it applies to melee weapons only, cool concept though if you can get it to work in the manner you want.