Searching the forums didn't reveal anything, and I haven't found any amendments for this, so I'm just gonna ask a group question:
Why does a light crossbow (rated as a simple weapon) have a higher damage die than a hand crossbow (rated as a martial weapon)? Is this just a typo? Do people house-rule these? Can they be interchangeable?
According to the Crossbow Expert feat, rules as written, you can make an attach with a hand crossbow as a bonus action (paraphrasing here). It would make more sense to either change this to one-handed crossbows or if the die damage was swapped between the two.
Because unlike the light crossbow, the hand crossbow is light. The wording on crossbow expert is intended to allow you to make an extra attack if you use the weaker weapon.
For a more narrative explanation, because hand crossbows are meant to be small enough to be sort of concealed. The smaller size makes it require more skill to use effectively.
Searching the forums didn't reveal anything, and I haven't found any amendments for this, so I'm just gonna ask a group question:
Why does a light crossbow (rated as a simple weapon) have a higher damage die than a hand crossbow (rated as a martial weapon)? Is this just a typo? Do people house-rule these? Can they be interchangeable?
According to the Crossbow Expert feat, rules as written, you can make an attach with a hand crossbow as a bonus action (paraphrasing here). It would make more sense to either change this to one-handed crossbows or if the die damage was swapped between the two.
Or am I reading this wrong?
The weapons table is full of nonsense. Hand Crossbows have the light keyword despite being ranged weapons (light is only defined for melee). Tridents are spears but martial. Greatclubs and maces have literally no reason to exist. And so on. You get used to it, and maybe you eventually house rule it if you're a DM (Greatclubs can just be 1d10 damage and the whole game makes more sense, for example).
The hand crossbow should be thought of as being really little, a bit along the size of a modern pistol. They are small and easily concealed, can be held and fired in one hand - the weapon of assassins. In standard dnd the bad guys usually have bolts tipped with poison, or rogue levels for sneak attack bonus damage erc.
Searching the forums didn't reveal anything, and I haven't found any amendments for this, so I'm just gonna ask a group question:
Why does a light crossbow (rated as a simple weapon) have a higher damage die than a hand crossbow (rated as a martial weapon)? Is this just a typo? Do people house-rule these? Can they be interchangeable?
Because the light crossbow (a twohanded weapon) has a bigger and stronger bow than a hand crossbow (a onehanded weapon). One of them being a martial type weapon has nothing to do with the damage.
According to the Crossbow Expert feat, rules as written, you can make an attach with a hand crossbow as a bonus action (paraphrasing here). It would make more sense to either change this to one-handed crossbows or if the die damage was swapped between the two.
Or am I reading this wrong?
Hand crossbows *are* onehanded. And no, it does not make sense to swap the damage die between the two.
Light keyword applies to all weapons, not just melee — you can have a handaxe in your main hand, a hand crossbow in off-hand and attack with both (action + bonus action) in the same turn.
Only if you were to use the hand crossbow to hit your opponent, by the TWF rules:
Two-Weapon Fighting
When you take the Attack action and attack with a lightmelee weapon that you're holding in one hand, you can use a bonus action to attack with a different lightmelee weapon that you're holding in the other hand. You don't add your ability modifier to the damage of the bonus attack, unless that modifier is negative.
If either weapon has the thrown property, you can throw the weapon, instead of making a melee attack with it.
None of this strictly would apply to the hand crossbow, as it is not a melee weapon. However, I'd allow a character to use it as an improvised melee weapon to strike at their opponent, or possibly even an improvised thrown weapon. I'd be hesitant to allow them to fire the hand crossbow, though, without giving some serious thought to balance, and that would certainly be a house rule.
Light keyword applies to all weapons, not just melee — you can have a handaxe in your main hand, a hand crossbow in off-hand and attack with both (action + bonus action) in the same turn.
I don't think it's an issue that two weapons have the same ingame statistics, or that one is 'inferior' to the other. Not everyone who plays the game looks at the stats and decides based on that.
This is false. You can't twf with a ranged weapon.
Light keyword applies to all weapons, not just melee — you can have a handaxe in your main hand, a hand crossbow in off-hand and attack with both (action + bonus action) in the same turn.
I don't think it's an issue that two weapons have the same ingame statistics, or that one is 'inferior' to the other. Not everyone who plays the game looks at the stats and decides based on that.
This is false. You can't twf with a ranged weapon.
Crossbow Expert is what people are talking about when they say using the hand crossbow with their bonus action....
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Searching the forums didn't reveal anything, and I haven't found any amendments for this, so I'm just gonna ask a group question:
Why does a light crossbow (rated as a simple weapon) have a higher damage die than a hand crossbow (rated as a martial weapon)? Is this just a typo? Do people house-rule these? Can they be interchangeable?
According to the Crossbow Expert feat, rules as written, you can make an attach with a hand crossbow as a bonus action (paraphrasing here). It would make more sense to either change this to one-handed crossbows or if the die damage was swapped between the two.
Or am I reading this wrong?
Because unlike the light crossbow, the hand crossbow is light. The wording on crossbow expert is intended to allow you to make an extra attack if you use the weaker weapon.
For a more narrative explanation, because hand crossbows are meant to be small enough to be sort of concealed. The smaller size makes it require more skill to use effectively.
The weapons table is full of nonsense. Hand Crossbows have the light keyword despite being ranged weapons (light is only defined for melee). Tridents are spears but martial. Greatclubs and maces have literally no reason to exist. And so on. You get used to it, and maybe you eventually house rule it if you're a DM (Greatclubs can just be 1d10 damage and the whole game makes more sense, for example).
The hand crossbow should be thought of as being really little, a bit along the size of a modern pistol. They are small and easily concealed, can be held and fired in one hand - the weapon of assassins. In standard dnd the bad guys usually have bolts tipped with poison, or rogue levels for sneak attack bonus damage erc.
Because the light crossbow (a twohanded weapon) has a bigger and stronger bow than a hand crossbow (a onehanded weapon). One of them being a martial type weapon has nothing to do with the damage.
Hand crossbows *are* onehanded. And no, it does not make sense to swap the damage die between the two.
Only if you were to use the hand crossbow to hit your opponent, by the TWF rules:
None of this strictly would apply to the hand crossbow, as it is not a melee weapon. However, I'd allow a character to use it as an improvised melee weapon to strike at their opponent, or possibly even an improvised thrown weapon. I'd be hesitant to allow them to fire the hand crossbow, though, without giving some serious thought to balance, and that would certainly be a house rule.
This is false. You can't twf with a ranged weapon.
Crossbow Expert is what people are talking about when they say using the hand crossbow with their bonus action....