Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Crossbow - Loading property removed?

This one is confusing. I'm assuming they just didn't want to implement loading? Otherwise I see no upside to this. It doesn't make ranged weapons more fun, as bows still exist. There is a feat that can fix this issue if you have a problem with it, and having bows and crossbows act differently just adds variety to the ranged weapons (which is nice imo, and also realistic).

I think people are missing the point here.

Very few people take this feat in PnP for the removal of loading. I mean feats are just too expensive for what amounts to a 1 d2 upgrade. And while the removal of short range disadvantage is nice, it's also very situational at best as you're really not advised to stand point blank when you're an archer. Again not worth a feat per se.

The VAST majority of people who take the feat do so for the 3rd quality, the extra bonus attack with a hand crossbow (not offhand so with full dex modifier). Weaponising your bonus action, especially early, is always worth a feat for martials and rogues too. That is primarily why this feat is taken at 4 by optimisers, even before sharpshooter or ASIs.

From the screenshots I've seen this has been removed which pretty much makes the feat totally worthless. That the real issue here. Without the need for loading or the extra attack this feat is utterly useless

Also I can't believe I have to say this, but if you don't think crossbows should get extra attack without the feat, just don't use them on your archer. That's what I did for my ranger run. It's really a very simple fix

Question for all:
Presuming this information is legit ... and larian is indeed removing Loading property ...

Would you like them to even damage between Bows and Crossbows?

Aka ... either make Heavy Crossbow and Longbow BOTH deal 1d10 or BOTH deal 1d8?
And ... either make Light Crossbow and Shortbow BOTH deal 1d8 or BOTH deal 1d6?
I think Hand Crossbows can remain as they are.

Bcs i would ...
I love Bows, and hate Crossbows (yes, i know, my obsessions are my own problem) so it would certainly please my little dead heart to be able to wield a bow with my Elven Ranger without loosing damage.

While all of this is true, I think it is important to remember that much of the strength will come from unique magic items, not a slightly higher damage die.

I am almost certain there will be a lot more (and thus probably better) magic short and longbows than hand crossbows.

In EA, there is only one special hand crossbow to my knowledge (Firestroker. Which is OK, but not as strong as for example spellthief)

Hi Sylph, I agree it doesn't make sense.

That's quite a point. It's off topic but the arguments against armors for casters works in the same sense too.
I usually reason with mundane weapons, but being this a videogame it feels fair to have more magic items all over the place, and these weapons makes most of these doubts less impacting.

Eh... I'm not sure how huge a difference it is for you to load a crossbow in 1/10th the time it takes in real or 1/20th. Either is completely unrealistic and the extra 1 damage isn't going to break the game.

I agree that getting rid of the BA attack from the feat does make it useless though.

Irl crossbows were underpowered and inaccurate. Just ask the French

It kind if is what we are talking about. You can't make sweeping generalizations about an entire class of weapons.

There are rapid fire crossbows irl

I wouldn't get my hopes up. Larian doesn't do balancing if it all conceivably interfers with their perception of fun. Besides, they have a track-record of making crossbows clearly superior to bows (DOS2) albeit not quite as blatantly as what seems to be the case here where shortbows and longbows are made completely redundant.