Talk:Rapid Fire Crossbow (3.5e Equipment)

Ratings

	The Dire Reverend favors this article and rated it 4 of 4!
	Who needs realism? I don't.

	Leziad likes this article and rated it 3 of 4.
	A good substitute for the heavy repeater. Also cool kids don't care about realism.

	Quey opposes this article and rated it 0 of 4.
	To start, completely unrealistic. The PHB repeater is already a bit of a fudge on reality, but this is just grossly twisted. Objects don't get actions. Finally, there is no rule here for rewinding any springs or something to make the "autoloading mechanism" work. You just shove in bolts and it works itself like magic. I might consider liking it if at least that part made sense.

	BackHandOfFate favors this article and rated it 4 of 4!
	To start, completely realistic. The PHB repeater is completely inferior, and this is the best ninja weapon ever. Objects should always get actions. Finally, there is a rule that I just made up that requires ninjas to dual wield these at all times. You just shove in bolts and it works itself like 'technology'. I might consider hating it if it didn't have moving parts.

Unrealistic?

D&D. Unrealistic. Whatever do you mean?

But if you say so, I guess you're right that auto-loading mechanisms are impossible. That's why machine guns, auto-crossbows, and other rapid-fire devices were never invented. Seriously, how can a machine fire AND load itself? Impossible, gotta be magic. -- Eiji-kun 10:12, 7 August 2012 (UTC)

And of course we cannot abide unrealistic things. --DanielDraco 10:36, 7 August 2012 (UTC)

...Oh snap! The Dire Reverend 15:21, 7 August 2012 (UTC)

It wouldn't hurt to have a sentence describing how it works, would it? Machine guns store their energy in gunpowder in the shells. Real automatic crossbows have some sort of mechanism whereby the firer pulls back the string before each shot, but being able to fire continuously by holding down the trigger precludes that unless it's an absurdly heavy trigger. Why not say something like "each bolt is spring-loaded in the clip" or "special crystals most commonly mined on the Elemental Plane of Wood are laid down the barrel, functioning as a wooden railgun"? --Foxwarrior 18:05, 7 August 2012 (UTC)

I don't mostly because it's a pointless bit of fluff I feel best left up to others, if they ever actually want to incorporate it. In Eberron, it's probably alchemical crystals and magiscience. Elsewhere it might be some kind of steampunk device. I'm not really too worried about settling on any particular one. -- Eiji-kun 18:20, 7 August 2012 (UTC)

If it's fluff that you don't want, why include the description "The crossbow loads itself as a free action as long as their is ammo in the stock."(sic)? Objects don't get actions, creatures do. And it's not unprecedented to say "in a medieval setting, this works with alchemical hydraulics while industrial tech versions may use steam, but the concept remains the same" or something of the sort. But as Foxwarrior stated, there has to be something to pull back the string. Guns have the benefit of each unit of ammunition able to provide some energy to move to the next round, but crossbows do not. So if you want to keep the item setting-agnostic, at least give a general mechanism that could be interpreted in different contexts instead of an object gaining creature abilities. I'd also suggest bumping the price back up, at least to be on par with the repeating crossbows already out there. Right now, it's cheaper for the damage it does.--Quey 22:24, 7 August 2012 (UTC)