Crossbows, Thousands of Them [3.5]

[Flickerdart]

Would this be a moderately effective idea for a ranged attacker?

Quick Draw, EWP Repeating Crossbow, Multiweapon Fighting line. A race with lots of arms (let's go with Arrow Demon, but if anyone can get more arms that can hold weapons, feel free to suggest). Probably get some Artificer levels in there for Bane bolts. Buy lots of cheap Repeating Crossbows.

Strategy: As a free action, draw n Repeating Crossbows from your Bag of Holding. Fire them all. Next turn, drop them all, draw n more Repeating Crossbows, fire them all...
Even without additional sources of damage, the hurt's not bad: 4d8 (average 16) per round with the basic three feats (or even just Quick Draw and Multiweapon, using regular Light Crossbows), and a crossbow sniper with a steadily growing pile of crossbows around him looks too hilarious not to be worth exploring. The enchantments would be on your bolts, so that you could afford a whole bunch of mundane crossbows. So, Playground, make this ridiculous concept work!

[HCL]

You need at least 1 warblade level for blood in the water (a critical gives you +1 attack and damage for a minute, refreshes and stacks each time you score a new one) and Exotic weapon proficiency: Hand crossbow. If you can make those crossbows Aptitude crossbows you can also take the lightning maces feat and get free attacks when you score a critical. You might want leadership and an army of kobold followers who are shrunk via permanent reduce person to reload them for you.

[Signmaker]

Girallon's blessing for more arms, Insectoid Template for even more. Get Woodland Archer for the +4 when you do miss (as it's quite likely). See if you can get a local caster to Chain Greater Magic Weapon and thus make all your bolts hurt hard.

[SilveryCord]

:o I take credit for bringing this idea to life!

[Flickerdart]

:o I take credit for bringing this idea to life!
There's no reason why we can't all enjoy this- *shoots you with 1000 crossbows*

[BobVosh]

I like it. However: You can draw a weapon as a free action instead of as a move action. You can draw a hidden weapon (see the Sleight of Hand skill) as a move action.

Doesn't it count as hidden if it is in another dimension?

Nevermind. How many crossbows scattered across the floor until it becomes difficult terrain?

[Eldariel]

Hm, seems like Jade Phoenix Mage or RKV. Feats are a prob (let's face it, that thing takes a lot), but with some item use and such, it should be doable and more importantly, you get Chain Greater Magic Weapon to actually enhance all the weapons, along with Tiger Claw/Diamond Mind maneuvers to shoot enough of them to...well, make it impressive. Of course, you need to Item the maneuvers since the standard progression grants you none.

Hm, I'd frankly go Ur-Priest Vindicator since it releases a level or two for Warblade to pick up some Tiger Claw and Diamond Mind, and gets you 9th level maneuvers and spells meaning you can pull off Very Raging Time Stands Still Mongoose. Oh yeah, and extra swift actions + Raging Mongoose + free recovery + Time Stands Still. It may take a level of Swordsage to truly match up to the Tiger Claw/Diamond Mind-prerequisites (you need 4 Diamond Mind and 3 Tiger Claw-maneuvers), but yeah.


Actually, yeah, one level of Swordsage is all it takes as long as it's taken late enough. You take Sudden Leap, Rabid Wolf Strike/Wolf Fang Strike, Blood in the Water, Moment of Perfect Mind, Action Before Thought & 2 of Insightful Strike/Mind Over Body/Emerald Razor/Sapphire Nightmare Blade (depending on whether you take it on level 5 or 9). That qualifies you for Time Stands Still & Raging Mongoose, which you can then Item.

[Faleldir]

Insectile explicitly does not allow extra attacks.

[Dimers]

Use a hecatoncheires (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Hecatoncheires) for your race! :smalltongue:

[tyckspoon]

Hate to rain on this, but I'm pretty sure Quick Draw isn't enough to enable the idea. Taking an item out of a Bag of Holding or even a Handy Haversack is a particular Move Action, regardless of whether or not the item is a weapon (that is, you are not taking the action 'draw a weapon'. You are taking the action "retrieve something from my bag".) You need an ability to speed up picking up things off the ground/pulling something out of your backpack. Otherwise your dakka is limited to what you can actually secure about your own person and not stuffed in a bag.

[Grumman]

I prefer my method: Goliath with a large Splitting, Exit Wound light crossbow and Rapid Reload. It does as much damage as a ballista and you can fire it 10-12 times a round, without Lightning Maces shenanigans.

[Gralamin]

Hate to rain on this, but I'm pretty sure Quick Draw isn't enough to enable the idea. Taking an item out of a Bag of Holding or even a Handy Haversack is a particular Move Action, regardless of whether or not the item is a weapon (that is, you are not taking the action 'draw a weapon'. You are taking the action "retrieve something from my bag".) You need an ability to speed up picking up things off the ground/pulling something out of your backpack. Otherwise your dakka is limited to what you can actually secure about your own person and not stuffed in a bag.

Custom Advanced version of the Efficient Quiver? The Efficient Quiver itself is 1,800 gp to be able to do this easily with 6 crossbows, with some ammo benefits. Using it to price something that can hold, say, 60 crossbows, wouldn't be hard (Somewhere around 18000 gp, obviously).

[Roderick_BR]

Well, that's actually a normal maneuver in many old wars, carrying more than a weapon to switch quickly as each one runs outta ammo. So, yeas, it's valid, if you can have your extra weapons handy.

Using a bow is easier, though, as you can use all your attacks/round with it normally, as long as you have ammunition.
That feat used in Quick Draw could be used for Improved Critical (getting critical 19/x3, better than the 19-20/x2 from the crossbow, or just get a Sharpened weapon and save the feat), and the feat used in the repeated crossbow, use it in that Great Bow exotic weapon (it's like long bow, only 1d12 base damage), if you are worried with base damage (the only thing crossbows have better than bows).

[deuxhero]

Needs more dakka.

[awa]

i think the handy haversack was errated to be a free action in one of the books although im not sure which one. you can draw a weapon as a free action if you have quick draw whats the problem? all you want to do is draw a weapon.

[Sploosh]

What happens if they fight in the shade?

[oxybe]

thri-kreen who's had a casting Girallon's Blessing would have 6 arms. have the ammo cartridges hanging off bandoleers and the crossbows tied to your arm with a small leather strap (kinda like a big-assed wiimote).

hold 6 light repeating crossbows, fire them all off, "drop" one (it's still tied wii-mote style), use this free hand to load all of them, quick draw the dropped one, drop a loaded one, load the one you just drew, quick draw the dropped one. spout/click awesome one liner.

i have no clue if this would work. by rule of cool, yes. raw... probably not

thri-kreen rogue? 6 instances of 1d8+Xd6 sneak attack?

pew pew pew

[The Glyphstone]

Insectile Thri-Keen with Girallon's Blessing and +1 Autoloading Aptitude Repeating Hand Crossbows. Insectile limbs can hold weapons to shoot with, they just don't give extra natural weapon attacks. That's 10 arms = 10 crossbows, plus extra if you can somehow fit in Fang of Lloth. Get up to Greater Multiweapon Fighting and you can loose 30+ crossbow bolts/turn.

I tried to build a character like this (without the Blessing and Aptitude though) for a pirate-themed game once. It never got started,though it would have been great fun.

[oxybe]

i dunno about the extra insectile arms. the exact working is
"Attacks: Despite having six arms, insectile creatures gain no additional attacks." this could be interpreted as no extra attacks period. you just have more arms to manipulate objects with.

even so, this way you don't even need to drop crossbows... use the insectile arms to load the crossbows :smallbiggrin:

[Grumman]

thri-kreen who's had a casting Girallon's Blessing would have 6 arms. have the ammo cartridges hanging off bandoleers and the crossbows tied to your arm with a small leather strap (kinda like a big-assed wiimote).

hold 6 light repeating crossbows, fire them all off, "drop" one (it's still tied wii-mote style), use this free hand to load all of them, quick draw the dropped one, drop a loaded one, load the one you just drew, quick draw the dropped one. spout/click awesome one liner.

i have no clue if this would work. by rule of cool, yes.
You are using Wii straps, and after you reload you want to grab the crossbow with the hand to which the crossbow is tied, leading to your character looking like a right berk. By the "rule of cool", your character ignites and dies in the fires of shame.

Besides which, the light repeating crossbow is a trap. You cannot rapid-fire a repeating crossbow one-handed anyway, and it takes a full-round action to reload. Either take Rapid Reload [light crossbow] instead of Exotic Weapon Proficiency [repeating light crossbow] and just say it *looks* like a repeating crossbow, or go all-out and buy a heavy repeating crossbow like a real man (or real woman, or real insectoid monstrous humanoid).

[AustontheGreat1]

is it possible to play marilith, for more arms? or perhaps mind switch?

[Kobold-Bard]

is it possible to play marilith, for more arms?...

Not pre-Epic.


Use a hecatoncheires (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Hecatoncheires) for your race! :smalltongue:

:smalleek: Wuh.....I think my brain just melted.