PF problem with Crossbow s

[Krazzman]

Hi.

In my current campaign I have a problem with crossbows. I believe them too weak.

One of my players is a oradin focused on his magical repeating Crossbow (+1d6 elemental damage).

They faced lots of level 2 kobold's with small heavy crossbows in a tuckeresque sort of dungeon. And through that it showed both ways that with normal bows both would've been dead lier.

Any recommendations for buffing crossbows without the dex 22 Tiefling doing more damage?

[Psyren]

They faced lots of level 2 kobold's with small heavy crossbows in a tuckeresque sort of dungeon. And through that it showed both ways that with normal bows both would've been dead lier.

Can you elaborate on this? What caused you to think regular bows would have been deadlier?

If it's number of attacks, that shouldn't come into play at level 2, and if it's not getting a stat added to damage, bows don't get that either until you have composite bows, and even then kobolds would be unlikely to take advantage.

[Vortenger]

If its the loading action of the crossbows, there's always the Rapid Reload feat.

[Krazzman]

The point was each kobold's had 12 hp. He did something along 1d10 +1d6 +4. He can shoot 5 times without the need to reload which then follows as a standard action thanks to rapid reload.

They were in a room with 4 plateaus. The highest being 6 above ground. 4 kobold's on the 4 plateau. And 8 on the 6 Plateau with 20% cover and for out Crossbow archer 20% concealmend through poor lighting.

The room was around 20 m deep and 12 m wide (9m being 30 ft).
With bows the kobold's could have fallen back and still attack them. But they are not the point. I just have the feeling that the player's damage doesn't scale that good.

[Psyren]

That sounds like a poor situation for archery in general; I'm not really seeing how the player having a bow would have made that any better for him.

Archery generally doesn't scale well, it's true - your best bet is a source of bonus damage (like Deadly Aim, Favored Enemy or Sneak Attack), such that the archer can rack up damage through multiple shots since it's easier to full-attack at range. It's much harder to get a stat modifier added to ranged attacks than it is to melee ones, and also harder to multiply that bonus, plus archers have to deal with things like DR, cover and concealment more often. But again, these are all factors that apply to every ranged weapon, not just crossbows. Crossbows are hit a little harder due to needing rapid reload later on, but they also don't need martial weapon proficiency and tend to have larger damage die.

[Krazzman]

That sounds like a poor situation for archery in general; I'm not really seeing how the player having a bow would have made that any better for him.

Archery generally doesn't scale well, it's true - your best bet is a source of bonus damage (like Deadly Aim, Favored Enemy or Sneak Attack), such that the archer can rack up damage through multiple shots since it's easier to full-attack at range. It's much harder to get a stat modifier added to ranged attacks than it is to melee ones, and also harder to multiply that bonus, plus archers have to deal with things like DR, cover and concealment more often. But again, these are all factors that apply to every ranged weapon, not just crossbows. Crossbows are hit a little harder due to needing rapid reload later on, but they also don't need martial weapon proficiency and tend to have larger damage die.

Character in question is a Oradin//Ranger.
The "party" is level 4. He went for Life Oracle 2/Paladin 2//Ranger 4. (Has a rebuild pending if he wants to)
Favoured Enemy is Magical Beasts, which the party has yet to encounter.
He has Deadly Aim and started with a bonus Elemental Damage (Electricity). (due to weapon enchantments being cheaper in my games and the enhancement scales with level [+1 until level 4, +2 from level 5 on] and enchantments being cheaper.)

The problem I have is that the Magus//Slayer (Tiefling, Dex build with 22 Dex) can basically shoot like the Oradin does with maybe 4 damage less... with nearly no investment other than activating a bloodline power.

Should I consider a change to Favoured Enemy? (The Oradins backstory pictured him as a Wanderer/Traveler gone guardsman for the current "Questhub".)

[Psyren]

You can but I don't see why you need to. Even with minimal damage rolls, he's doing half a kobold's health in one hit, right? And there's a decent chance he can one-shot them too, concealment aside.

As for your magus, when you say "bloodline power" you mean he is an eldritch scion right? Which bloodline power is he using? And isn't he burning his eldritch pool to do it?