How to abuse crossbows ?

[Grifthin]

I've seen threads discussing Druids and mages and all sorts of Melee weapons. But how does one break the crossbow, how do you turn it into a devastating weapon of mass destruction ?

Rules Dnd 3.5
Crossbow - any.

Which one is the most abusable and how. Your thoughts please.

[Pharaoh's Fist]

Quick Loading Splitting Crossbow might be a start.

[Telonius]

Leadership feat, a whole bunch of Commoners with rapid reload, and a Bard.

[Eldariel]

TWFd Aptitude [ToB] Hand Crossbows with Lightning Maces [Complete Warrior]-feat, literal reading, Splitting [Champions of Ruin] and yeah (one of the free action reload tricks like Glove of Storing, Spare Arm, Ghostly Reload or such along with Rapid Reload is needed). That gives you damage that initially seems like it'd scale semi-infinitely.

Add some damage increasers like Crossbow Sniper [PHBII], Knowledge Devotion [Complete Champion], Ranged Weapon Mastery [PHBII] and you're fine. It doesn't actually go infinite, but it does easily deal enough to vaporize any statted entity in D&D a million times over.

EDIT: Oh, and add Blood in the Water-stance [ToB] to nearly guarantee hits after the first few ones. By strict reading, you can add Kaorti Resin to the weapon also (it's a Piercing weapon) and get x4 crits. Kaorti Resin Bolts would make more sense, but whatever.

Oh, and since you're using Aptitude Weapons, you can actually use Aptitude Great Crossbows [Races of Stone] (that have the 18-20/x2 crit range we're looking for) while still benefitting of Hand Crossbow-specific feats like Hand Crossbow Focus [Drow of the Underdark]. If we add some 3.0 material (Weapon Master/Disciple of Dispater), we could also hit a bigger crit range to truly go near-infinite. And yeah, high-level maneuvers like Dancing Mongoose/Raging Mongoose/Time Stands Still add an insane number of base attacks to top it all off.

[Cieyrin]

TWFd Aptitude [ToB] Hand Crossbows with Lightning Maces [Complete Warrior]-feat, literal reading, Splitting [Champions of Ruin] and yeah (one of the free action reload tricks like Glove of Storing, Spare Arm, Ghostly Reload or such along with Rapid Reload is needed). That gives you damage that initially seems like it'd scale semi-infinitely. Add some damage increasers like Crossbow Sniper [PHBII], Knowledge Devotion [Complete Champion], Ranged Weapon Mastery [PHBII] and you're fine. It doesn't actually go infinite, but it does easily deal enough to vaporize any statted entity in D&D a million times over.

Damn it, you covered everything I was going to cover.

Also, finish up your Archer's Handbook on BG! I'm getting impatient!

[Grumman]

I like the Thri-Kreen Ranger/Warblade gunslinger build. Dual-wield Splitting, Exit Wound light crossbows with the Blood in the Water stance and Time Stands Still. Shoot entire regiments of enemies at the same time.

[Tyndmyr]

Add a bayonet from CS for AoO attacks.

Instead of starting with normal bolts, consider starting with Tumbling Bolts, from A&E. Half range increment but +2 dmg. If you're already close, as in the case of most rogues, this mostly translates to free damage.

[Cieyrin]

Add a bayonet from CS for AoO attacks.

Instead of starting with normal bolts, consider starting with Tumbling Bolts, from A&E. Half range increment but +2 dmg. If you're already close, as in the case of most rogues, this mostly translates to free damage.

Ehh, Tumbling Bolts are so nerfed compared how they used to be...

[Thurbane]

If you can use 3rd party sources, the Crossbow Mastery feat is great for crossbows:

New Feat: CROSSBOW MASTERY
You can load crossbows with blinding speed and even fire them in melee with little fear of reprisal.
Prerequisites: Dex 15, Point Blank Shot, Rapid Reload, Rapid Shot
Benefit: The time required for you to reload any type of crossbow is reduced to a free action, regardless of the
type of crossbow used. You can fire a crossbow as many times in a full attack action as you could attack if you were using a bow. Reloading a crossbow for the type of crossbow you chose when you took Rapid Reload no longer provokes attacks of opportunity.
Special: A fighter may select Crossbow Mastery as one of his fighter bonus feats. A ranger may select Crossbow
Mastery in place of Manyshot for his improved combat style at 6th level.

http://paizo.com/download/pathfinder/PZO9000-2E.zip