Hand Crossbows of Sneak Attack?

[Wasp]

Hi everyone

What do you think of the following magic Item? Too powerful? Too niche?

Doublecross Bow

Hand Crossbow, very rare, needs attunement, you can attune to more than one copy of the Doublecross Bow

The Doublecross Bow does not have the loading property. Ammunition of your choice that is in your quiver magically transfers into the Doublecross Bow when you pull the trigger.

If you wield one attuned Doublecross Bow in your main hand and one other attuned Doublecross Bow in your off hand, the following applies in addition:

- If you don't already have the Sneak Attack class feature, you gain the Sneak Attack class feature of a Rogue at half your level (rounded DOWN)
- If you do have the Sneak Attack class feature, you gain one additional Sneack Attack die and you land a critical hit when sneak attacking when you roll a natural 19 or 20.

[John Out West]

I might make it so that you get the Sneak Attack of a level 1 rogue, not half your level. Sneak Attack, being the main source of damage for a rogue, would effectively multiply the damage output of a character by 1.5x. Without this change, Rogues should probably be the last ones to use it, since it only increases their crit chance by 5% + 1d6.

I would have the crossbow work by itself. Requiring two very rare magical items just to get the main effect seems unnecessary, unless you intend for them to come as a pair, to be used with a mundane crossbow, or for the doublecrossbow to split into two magically. (The last one is my preferred option)

I would take some time and figure out how to emphasize the "Doublecross" in doublecrossbow. At first i thought it was a crossbow with two arrow slots based on the name. I was very satisfied when i realized it was a doublecross crossbow. Maybe "Doublecross-Bow" or something of the like? Puns can be hard.

I hope that helps!

[Wasp]

Thank you for the feedback!

I might make it so that you get the Sneak Attack of a level 1 rogue, not half your level. Sneak Attack, being the main source of damage for a rogue, would effectively multiply the damage output of a character by 1.5x. Without this change, Rogues should probably be the last ones to use it, since it only increases their crit chance by 5% + 1d6.

True, but it also makes it a little less "interesting". Maybe going with 1/3 your level, rounded down? That would scale from 0 to 3D6...

I would have the crossbow work by itself. Requiring two very rare magical items just to get the main effect seems unnecessary, unless you intend for them to come as a pair, to be used with a mundane crossbow, or for the doublecrossbow to split into two magically. (The last one is my preferred option)

Well, I thought it would be fun if the Double-Crossbow would work better if you useds double crossbows... But I like the idea of it splitting into two...

I would take some time and figure out how to emphasize the "Doublecross" in doublecrossbow. At first i thought it was a crossbow with two arrow slots based on the name. I was very satisfied when i realized it was a doublecross crossbow. Maybe "Doublecross-Bow" or something of the like? Puns can be hard.

Yeah, as you probably guesses this all started with the pun of doublecross and double crossbows, so any idea how to improve on that pun would be very welcome.

[Eurus]

Conversely, I think it's a very niche item only useful for specific characters. A 10th level character would only add 3d6 damage to one attack per round, which is less than they would do just attacking twice with a flametongue. So, if you have Extra Attack, it's probably not worth it. Additionally, this is two very rare items requiring two attunements.

I would suggest having it be one crossbow that, when attuned, splits in two so you don't need to pay for and attune two items.

[PhantomSoul]

I would suggest having it be one crossbow that, when attuned, splits in two so you don't need to pay for and attune two items.

Alternatively, you still have two items, but they use a single attunement slot for the pair. When you first find one of the crossbows, it *always* shoots towards the other one (double-crossing it!) regardless of where you fired it. (Perhaps only if attuned, and you can potentially couch it in a curse.) That means that the first weapon has a built-in guide towards the second weapon and turns it into a potential "mini-quest"... and stealing one could be lead to extra fun hunts if someone pieces the mechanics together!