Hi All... I'm not at all familiar with 3e (yet) but I like Coyt Watters' idea of allowing a "rapid fire" if you exceed the strength requirement of the weapon. Crossbows alow weak marksmen to store muscle energy in their bow mechanically over time with a cranequin. Hence a slow rate of fire. If you have a significantly higher strength you should be allowed to arm it quickly with a lever - provided the crossbow in question has such a lever fitted. I don't think I'd be quite as lax as to say one point of strength over the raiting is enough, but most crossbows in a lord of the manor's armoury would be built for STR 10 ordinary drafted infantry to use. That was the point! STR 15+ adventurers could well be able to do something more spectacular with such devices. Any crossbow you happen to find will probaly only have the arming mechanism its owner intended to use fitted. Why pay extra for more than one? If you have to wind a handle then that's how long it takes and having extra strength is no use, your rate of fire is standard for the weapon. If you have to pull a lever and you don't have the strength you can't arm it, but your rate of fire is that of a light crossbow. The hand crossbow might well be capable of rapid fire, but since it does puny damage, who cares? One can thorw 3 darts or 2 daggers, so allowing rappid fire with some penaty to hit for lack of aim time is quite reasonable. Of course if any of these crossbows are magic then all bets are off! Rgds, Michael. ---------------------------------------------------------------- GMAST Home Page: http://www.phoenyx.net/gmast/
