Custom hand crossbow

[KnotaGuru]

Hello all. I'm trying to convince my DM to allow me to have a custom magical hand crossbow that gains abilities as I level up or perform side quests to unlock. Any suggestions for fun and interesting abilities?

For reference, I'm a vHuman level 5 Gloom Stalker Ranger with the Bounty Hunter background and have the Crossbow Expert and Sharpshooter feats. I plan on dipping Rogue 3 (Assassin) next. We're doing the TftYP as a campaign and just finished the second adventure. The other party members are: AT Taxabi Rogue, EK vHuman Fighter, Human Grave Cleric, and Elf Bladesinger Wizard.

[Mr.Spastic]

My suggestion is to stop. There is a reason that the only magic crossbows available in the DMG are just +x weapons and your character is a prime example. You don't need a crazy magic item. You are quite fine as is.

[KnotaGuru]

My suggestion is to stop. There is a reason that the only magic crossbows available in the DMG are just +x weapons and your character is a prime example. You don't need a crazy magic item. You are quite fine as is.

Appreciate your concern. The abilities don't have to be offensive boosts (deal force damage instead of piercing or gain temp HP on crit rolls), they could be defensive (ability to cast protection from poison or misty step), skill bonuses (advantage on Survival checks), flavorful (always know when sun will rise or ability to read lips). These are not abilities I expect right away, just something that might happen over the next 10 levels. Right now I think a +1 hand crossbow would be great.

[Mr.Spastic]

Ah, I see. Well if you want a "ranger-ish" crossbow allowing it to have charges to cast some spells would seem fitting. I would probably go with something like this

The Crossbow of the Huntsman

This crossbow has 6 charges and regains 1d6 charges at dawn. You can expend charges to cast spells.

1 Charge: Ensnaring Strike no concentration

1 Charge: Hail of Thorns no concentration

2 Charges: Pass Without a Trace

4 Charges: Conjure Animals

[Xrposiedon]

To be quite honest, I get your feelings on wanting power as a player.

However, from a DM perspective, characters who shell out damage, or have customized items can really ruin a DMs fun. You already are going to be doing a crap ton of damage...that wont change. The DM however, needs to enjoy his side too. Think of him as a player who wants to see his little creatures do really well. When you have items that give you abilities or resistances, or do damage that bypasses immunity by being necrotic or whatever....he as well is going to have to plan much harder to make fights more interesting.

I know it can be hard hearing that your wishes may be unreasonable, but requesting a custom item in general isnt really a good idea. If your DM wants to give you one, that's fine. However, requesting it has a lot of consequences not only for your DM, but also the general enjoyment of your party too. If you are always stealing the show by being the playmaker / damage dealer....you may start to notice some of the party feeling unimportant.

My suggestion would be to just try and see if you can purchase a +1, +2, or find one. There is a reason most of the extra effects are on the bolts / arrows for ranged weapons, not the weapon itself.

[Malifice]

Hello all. I'm trying to convince my DM to allow me to have a custom magical hand crossbow that gains abilities as I level up or perform side quests to unlock. Any suggestions for fun and interesting abilities?

For reference, I'm a vHuman level 5 Gloom Stalker Ranger with the Bounty Hunter background and have the Crossbow Expert and Sharpshooter feats. I plan on dipping Rogue 3 (Assassin) next. We're doing the TftYP as a campaign and just finished the second adventure. The other party members are: AT Taxabi Rogue, EK vHuman Fighter, Human Grave Cleric, and Elf Bladesinger Wizard.

Remove DM Permission and take levels in Hexblade Warlock [blade].

At 1st level bond with your Hand crossbow (you can use Charisma with it)

At 3rd level you can take Improved Pact weapon, turning your pact weapon into a +1 Hand crossbow.

Take 2 more levels and you'll get to Eldritch smite with it.

[Azgeroth]

why do they have to be magical??

why not 'mechanical' upgrades, such as..
enabling a grapling hook shot
firing pitons into stone
collapse down into a very small (easy to conceal) footprint
mechanism for the easy application of poisons/oils
mechanism for easy switching of ammunition types

small concealed compartment for a firestarting kit

[Keravath]

As the DM, I would rule that every additional ability on the weapon would require an additional attunement slot.

The reason is simple. Most magic items take an attunement spot. You only have three slots. Basic weapons do not need them.

You want a magic crossbow that gets more powerful as you level up. This effectively combines abilities of multiple magic items into one magic item. If I wanted to balance that ... each additional ability beyond the basic "+" of the weapon would cost an attunement slot so at high levels your artifact level capability weapon would be the only attunement magic item you would have (though by that point the weapon is probably sentient too :) ).

Crossbow quest ..
1) Magic crossbow
Level 1-4 +0
Level 5-10 +1
Level 11-16 +2
Level 17-20 +3
2) Additional abilities earned at levels 5, 11, 17 - attunement slots required increases to 1,2,3
Level 5 - +2 to initiative
Level 11 - advantage on initiative rolls, +2 stealth, +2 investigation, +2 perception, 30' blindsight
Level 17 - advantage on initiative rolls, +2 initiative, +3 stealth, +3 investigation, +3 perception, 30' truesight, +1d6 psychic damage

As the sentience and awareness of the crossbow increases the shared perception abilities increase. By 17th level, the sentience can utilize the power of its mind to enhance the damage from the weapon. By this point the weapon and its wielder are almost symbiotic. The weapons sense of the world can not be fooled by magical effects.

However, by level 17, this is a legendary weapon and is the only attunable magic item they would have. In addition, each level of capability would require a quest to complete and open up the next level of sentience within the weapon. The minimum character level is specified but the quest could be completed later.

Note: The level 5 version is based on Nettle - a sentient crossbow available in Adventurer's League at tier 2.

[rahimka]

I'd recommend either:

Go with the "mundane" tech add-on suggestion above. Either the result of your PCs own investment in terms of materials and downtime or through a sidequest to find a tinkerer/craftsman that can do the work for you (for a price of course).

If I were the DM, I'd be more generous/flexible if the player is doing it themselves because it's not just using their gold, it's trading off their other options for downtime and also an investment in the RP and development of their character into creating a personalized piece of equipment.

-or-

Find existing magic items whose function would work well as add-ons or bonus abilities and then use those as the base. A Lantern of Revealing for example is not an EXTREMELY powerful item, but being able to turn on that function sure would be handy on a crossbow.

HOWEVER, similar to what is recommended above, I'd have to have suggest that adding extra magic abilities should mean requiring some attunement. ESPECIALLY if you are adding more than one special feature.

And again, HOW you are getting your hands on this/these upgrades for your weapon would make a difference in what I'd allow as a DM. The more the player and the character are investing in it (in terms of time, gold, well done RP, etc) the more of a "reward" I'd be inclined to grant them.

If you want a great example, look at some of the Vestiges in the material created by Matt Mercer. These all start out as very nice magical gear (generally requiring attunement), then they unlock a greater power under the right circumstances, and can eventually become minor artifacts for a high level player that has bonded to them and learned their secrets. The point is that they aren't just power-ups, they require investment of time and effort to become something special. So maybe, for now, your PC gets a +1 weapon and doesn't even realize it can BE something more until he reaches a high enough level that its true power starts to awaken for him.

[Ganymede]

Magical items that get more powerful through the course of a campaign, whether because they awaken to new powers through story progression or because a PC or NPC modifies them in some way, is pretty common.

To help get buy-in from your DM, you'd probably need to do two things. One, ensure that the improvements are modest; you don't want to scare away your DM with some sort of wombo-combo. Two, perhaps suggest that the improvements are fueled by sacrificing the magical essence of other magic items found in the campaign; this would give the DM an easy way to control when and how your crossbow gets improved.