The arts of arcane archery are weaved into Elvish tradition dating back millenia. once upon a time, the secrets of arcane archery were tightly guarded by the elvish communities that had them. in recent years however, the arts of arcane archery are taught to people from all races. however, great care was taken by many tutors of this discipline to ensure that their students respected the traditions of millenia past, and were often very selective when it came to selecting their students.

however, as time went on, people started to stray from tradition and instead began to innovate, and this eventually led to the creation of the arcane arbalist. otherwise known as "bolt aces" or "boltslingers," arcane arbalists are becoming increasingly more common, much to the distaste of elven traditionalists. using magic to assist in the effective use of their weapons, arcane arbalists turn the use of what is normally a slow and clunky weapon into a blood-stained art form.

 

Arcane Arbalist Training

At 3rd level you learn how to use the arcane arts to better use your crossbow. you gain the following benefits:

• You gain proficiency in Arcana, if you do not already have it.
• You gain proficiency in the heavy crossbow.
• you learn a wizard cantrip of your choice
• you learn to use magic to draw back the string and summon a new bolt into position in the blink of an eye. you ignore the loading property on crossbows and do not require a free hand to reload one.

Crossbow Trickshots

Also at 3rd level, you learn how to use crossbows like no-one else can. you gain the following benefits depending on what kind of crossbow you're using.

Heavy Crossbow: Pin. Whenever you successfully hit an attack against a large or smaller creature with a ranged sneak attack from a heavy crossbow you are wielding, you can forgo the sneak attack damage and instead force the creature to make a strength saving throw. on a success, the creature's speed is reduced by 10ft. on a failed save, the creature is pinned by the crossbow bolt and cannot move unless they or another creature within 5ft of them uses an action to free them.

Light Crossbow: Scout's Aim. Whenever wielding a light crossbow, you do not suffer disadvantage from being prone, and do not suffer disadvantage when attacking beyond your weapon's normal range while prone.

Hand Crossbow: Ambidexterity. Whenever you make an attack with a weapon and have a hand crossbow in your other hand, you can use your bonus action to attack with the hand crossbow in your other hand. this works for dual wielded hand crossbows.

When dual wielding hand crossbows, you gain a +1 bonus to all ranged attacks made with either of your equipped hand crossbows, and when you prepare an attack action, you can make an attack with both crossbows as part of the same reaction against the triggering creature.

 

Some of your features require the target to make a saving throw. The DC of your saving throw (known as your Arbalist save DC) is calculated as 8+ your proficiency bonus + your dexterity modifier.

Elemental Imbuement

At 9th level, you advance your knowledge of the arcane to an extent where you can channel elemental energy into your shots. whenever you deal sneak attack damage with a crossbow you are wielding, you can change the sneak attack damage to a different damage type other than the damage type of the original attack, instead dealing Fire, Cold, or Lightning damage. the piercing damage from the original bolt is also considered magical for the sake of overcoming resistances to nonmagical weapon damage.

Spell-Shooting

Starting at 13th level, you learn 3 spells: Cordon of Arrows (cordon of bolts), Conjure Barrage, and a first level wizard spell of your choice, which you can cast once at their lowest available levels. (level 1 for your chosen wizard spell, 2 for Cordon of arrows, and 3 for Conjure Barrage.) once you cast one of these spells once, you cannot cast that spell again until you complete a long rest.

Trickshot Mastery

Starting at 17th level, your mastery of the crossbow results in the improvement of all of your trickshots. the following additional effects are added to your level 3 crossbow trickshot features.

Heavy Crossbow: Pin. you can now pin creatures who are huge or smaller, and when you successfully pin a creature, you deal additional weapon damage equal to your intelligence modifier

Light Crossbow: Scout's Aim. all your light crossbow ranged attacks you make while prone can now benefit from your sneak attack bonus, and do not break stealth unless you hit your target and they succeed a perception check against your Arbalist Save DC. 

Hand Crossbow: Ambidexterity. Your bonus action hand crossbow attack can benefit from sneak attack even if you have already benefited from sneak attack during that round, so long as you select a different target to the one you originally sneak attacked with your main action.