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View Full Version : New hand crossbow ammunition - What should the cost be?



Boci
2010-08-07, 10:01 AM
Designed for my versatile commando swashbuckler daring outlaw. They are all non-magical. DM has aproved them but is not sure what the price will be and does not trust me to be the judge of that.

Deep Biters: These bolts can only be fired from a handcrossbow, or similar magical item. Made from the fangs of deep hydras, these projectiles are designed to do more damage than the average bolt, but loose momentum faster. Against an adjacent target they deal an extra 6 damage. To a target 1 square away this drops to 4 and they deal only 2 extra damage to a target 2 squares away. Thay are treated as normal bolts for a target 4 squares away, but for every square beyond 4 they recieve a cumulative -1 to damage.

Shatter Bolts: These bolts can only be fired from a handcrossbow, or similar magical item. Made from razer sharp crystal, these bolts but through flesh like a hot knife through butter, but deal poorly with armour. These bolts deal double damage (for the purpose of what is and is not multiplied treat it as a critical hit, but for no other purpose. Use the normal multiplication rules for interation with an acctual critical hit.) However, for every 1 point of AC granted by the targets armour or shield, there a 5% chance the bolts will shatter and deal no damage. Magical enhancement bonuses do not increase the %-tage, but natural armour enhancers do. For natural armour half the value (thus an NA of 1 presents no risk).

So how much would these cost?

DragoonWraith
2010-08-07, 10:48 AM
I honestly have no idea what they should cost; sorry.

But why hand crossbow only? Seems to me they'd fit fine in any crossbow...

Boci
2010-08-08, 07:22 AM
But why hand crossbow only? Seems to me they'd fit fine in any crossbow...

Something about the difference between different crossbow bolts. My DM said that whilst light and heavy versions would fire the same kind of bolt, the latter just putting more force into the shot, hand crossbows would have to use their own type of bolts. He said you could not simply increase the scale of a bolt made from non-standard material to fit into a larger crossbow. Shrug, he understands physics better than me. I briefly argued with him that realistic or not this rule was just an unneccissary resptirction but he was pretty insistant on this house rule and since I never plan on using a crossbow that is not hand I gave up. Feel free to modify/ditch the houserule if you want to use this ammunition yourself.

lesser_minion
2010-08-08, 07:39 AM
That would make some sense for some materials, if the whole bolt was made from the material.

But my impression is that crossbow bolts are constructed in the same way as arrows -- a wooden haft and using something else as a tip.

DracoDei
2010-08-08, 09:56 AM
The first one... well at melee range it deals about x2.5 damage (Hand Crossbow is 1d4 for a medium character, right?)... so maybe x5 the cost of a regular bolt... not that much really.

The second one... x3 the cost for regular bolts. That extra roll might slow the game down, but it can't be helped... the only way of avoiding the roll would be to increase (double?) the AC bonus for the appropriate sort of armor etc, but...

Also, you need to clarify if Amulet of Natural Armor and give the 2 for 1 damage negation chance (as opposed to none at all).

Boci
2010-08-08, 10:45 AM
The first one... well at melee range it deals about x2.5 damage (Hand Crossbow is 1d4 for a medium character, right?)... so maybe x5 the cost of a regular bolt... not that much really.

Medium sized damage is 1d4 yes. So 5gp for a pack of 10?


The second one... x3 the cost for regular bolts.

So 3gp for a pack of 10?


That extra roll might slow the game down, but it can't be helped... the only way of avoiding the roll would be to increase (double?) the AC bonus for the appropriate sort of armor etc, but...

Yeah, but I wouldn't use it against creatures I could tell had armour, and doubling the AC bonus wouldn't be the same.


Also, you need to clarify if Amulet of Natural Armor and give the 2 for 1 damage negation chance (as opposed to none at all).

Done.


That would make some sense for some materials, if the whole bolt was made from the material.

But my impression is that crossbow bolts are constructed in the same way as arrows -- a wooden haft and using something else as a tip.

Good point. I'll mention it to my DM.

FlamingKobold
2010-08-08, 12:10 PM
I'd go 3gp for 10 bolts for the first and 2 gp for 10 for the second. THey aren't that powerful, hand crossbows aren't that awesome anyway, and they're both very situational.

arguskos
2010-08-08, 03:02 PM
As a note, D&D already has bolts made from glass. Dragon Compendium introduced the Shatter Bolts, which have a 18-20/x3 crit range, but have a chance to break if you're hit by a melee attack while carrying them (which is stupid IMO). Just felt you should know that one.

For your specific bolts...
Deep Biters: I'd go with 1 gp each, give or take. Since you're hand crossbowing, it's fairly likely you're always going to be inside of two squares, perhaps closer, and since these can add a flat 6 damage to any attack, I think a mildly annoying price of 1 gp is called for.

Shatter Bolts: 3-4 gp each sounds right. Yes, they have a chance to fail, but free damage multiplication is pretty sexy and has a high chance of abuse, so a higher price is called for.

Just me though.