Dedicated Crossbow Specialists; how good are they?

Has anyone specialized a fighter as a crossbowman, either as a light or heavy crossbowman? How does it play out with buffs and skills? I am considering making a dedicated heavy crossbow fighter but considering it is tough to console in new players I do not want to get too involved in a game only to find out I made a big mistake. The skills and proficiencies show it should be good, at least okay, but I KNOW the dedicated archer route (with longbow) is a definite winner, but I am not so sure the crossbow route is the same....... any info/gameplay experience would be greatly appreciated.

 

I have heard rogue with a crossbow is insane. I think the sneak attack and flanking can be devastating, but I dont know the exact feats and levels in order to achieve this.

 

Crossbows are very good for low strenght characters, since crossbows dont use strenght modifier in the damage.
As I dont use any kind of Crafting Feats, I usually have a cleric (or bard sometimes) focused in crossbow, sisce they're proficient in the use of the weapon.
The Feats for crossbow are very similar to the ones for bow: I begin with Precise Shot and Point Blanc Shot, and then Focus in the 3th level, Rapid Relad in the 6th level and then Rapid Shot in the 9th. Greater Focus is a good choice too, but Im not sure if Multiple Shot works for Crossbows. Ill try and let ya say.
Obviously, if ya have a medium char, use a heavy crossbow, and take a light one just for small chars. Since Repeating Crossbows have a very small damage, I never pick then.

 

I can't vouch for a fighter doing the crossbow thing but a rogue with the correct feats along with a nicely crafted light crossbow is the bees knees at about 7th or 8th level and above. Anything they target is dead as fried chicken, guaranteed. Hill giants, ettins and everything else. You throw just Keen and Holy on the crossbow and they are set for the rest of the game. The biggest problem I've found with the build is that you waste a goodly amount of ammo because things die in the first or second shot and whatever comes after is just unnecessary. I don't think it would be the same for a fighter because they can't sneak attack.

 

Hi
Quite frankly, I would consider a Fighter Crossbow specialist to be a waste of feats. If you want to create a "missile specialist" I would recommend creating a Ranger with high DEX and going with the "Archery" specialty at 2nd Level. If the ranger has decent STR, buy a Masterwork Composite Longbow of the appropriate strength from the cabinet maker in Hommlet, craft it to +3 Holy, Shocking Burst, Icy Burst , and said Ranger will be the most lethal member of your party in no time at all.
The Royal Canadian

 

Thanks all. I use an elven fighter as my longbowman and properly feated and magiked he is insane in damage. But it does get a bit boring.

I understand the part about using a thief; but I always have my thief a dual wielder with a rapier/longsword and dagger and he is equally deadly (I go with longsword if the thief is elven; almost always).

But I am wondering more about the rate of fire/damage... can you get crossbows of accuracy or crossbows of speed as per the DMG?

Just about to start a new game so I don' want to get too far in to find out the character is not "helpful".

 

Xbow is simply not as good as bow in ToEE.

As far as I'm aware there's no such thing as a "mighty" xbow in the game. The best bow user I made was.

4 fighter for focus feats, and wep sepc +2 dmg, Improved Critical
2 Ranger, for Fav enemy Bugbear +2
4 Rogue for Sneak attack (I hate losing too much attack "hit" bonus)

You can make variations on this such as 5 ranger 5 rogue (to get more favoured enemies etc). In the end I like 4 Fighter since wep Spec is +2 *all the time*. You can also dump 2 rangers for more rogue, extra 1d6 if you want too, but get less hit.

If you pick fighter I think you can get enough feats for "quickdraw", which means you swap to sword and board after each shot.

Since bows can be "mighty", and are 2H, you get 1.5 your STR added. Typically you will get

+7 dmg from STR
+2 dmg from Wep Focus
+3 From Enchantement
+2 (poss) from favoured enemy
+9 (average from sneak attacK) - can be more depends on combo you picked
+4 (average damage from bow)
+4 (average from Holy/Burst etc) maybe more cant remember
=
31 dmg per hit on average

Of course its a bit higher than this due to me not including crit etc.

Cast "Glitterdust" on enemies before attack to get guaranteed "sneak attacks" on all hits.

Get Rapid Shot and Hasted = 4 attacks = about 124 dmg per round if all hit. The char often 1 round shots Etins etc.

With xbow, you need to take the extra "Rapid Reload" feat, but can't get any STR bonus on your hits. *Very importanty notice how in DnD 3.5, weapon damage becomes increasingly irrelevant*....it's all about the "mods" man! That 1d10 (average 5) may seem cool at the start but really it's pretty lame.

I found this char a hassle to play early on, but at about level 7-8 it gets OP....so kinda a weird all round experience.

BTW don't forget about the "sling". People think it's lame, but it gets STR added on from level 1, you don't need to find a "mighty" sling. Now if you take halfling you get +2 extra hit for it (makes up for rapid shot).

As a rule I equip my fighters with slings as backup weapons, far more effective than a longbow at level 1 due to the Strenght component. Anyway, I went on a bit! Hope you find this useful

 

Thank you, I didn't know about the sling strength bonus.

Spot on!

 

Interesting post BruntFCA. Definitely something to think about.

Definitely worth a try.

 

I just don't see how any ranged specialist could do well in the Temple setting. Early in the game, where you are outdoors more, or in wider spaces, yes, and I give all my characters some ranged weapon, even upgrade to composite LBs when money becomes available, but later in the game I don't think I ever use them again, unless I am webbed and can't move. Even my spellcasters use any spell or a wand before pulling out the crossbow or sling.

How does the uber bowman ranger avoid AoO from being surrounded in tight rooms?

 

You just let them stand in back while the fighters rush in and they'll most likely get high initiative if you took imp ini. I always use a straight rogue with a light crossbow. Whatever the character targets, dies. No exceptions. Ever see what a 20th level crit sneak attack looks like? It's ugly. You can't even use rapid shot because that wastes ammo like a machine gun. First hit kills. The quarry dwarves really don't like greater invisibility rogues with crossbows, lol.

 

Tanks block them at the door and the ranged guys jostle for positioning.

 

There is no bugbear favorite enemy. Is it monstrous humanoid?

 

Hi
I think Bugbears fall under the "Goblinoid" category.
The Royal Canadian

 

Yep, goblins, hobgoblins and bugbears are goblinoids.