Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Anyone comapred Crossbows to Longbows?

Which are better? Should I keep Astarion using a Longbow or use a Light Crossbow instead?

I'm pondering buying a +1 light crossbow for him on top of a pair of +1 rapiers.

I hope you didn't take the dual wielder feat, it's +1 damage per swing, +1 ac... or in other words rubbish versus +2 dex which does both of those and +1 to hit on top.

As for bows, the loading feature is primarily what separates crossbows with the other bows - and the loading property only matters with 2 or more attacks. So for a Rogue, a light crossbow is the same as a longbow, meaning yeah get the +1 light crossbow.

atm theyre basically the same

Heavy Crossbow > Longbow though, but I don think Astarion has prof for those.

Eventually, with feats, Hand Crossbows beat out just about every other ranged weapon, tho idk how that'll be implemented into BG3.

I had my Ranger using a basic Longbow until I realized the Heavy Crossbow +1 that I had been carrying around was better in every way. More damage, still uses dexterity plus the +1 bonus. Still one attack per round. Really no reason not to use the heavy crossbow over longbow.

I took the dual wielder feat so I could dual wield rapiers. It was worth it for that alone, and why does it even matter when its only an EA and you can replay as many times as you like?



And yes Astarion can't use heavy crossbows. I'll pick up the +1 light xbow to try out then.

Crossbows are better on a rogue.
Bows are better on anyone else starting with level 5, unless you took crossbow expert feat at level 4 (I am unsure whether the feat is actually in the game)

Why is that?

Because in 5e, crossbows without the feat can only make 1 attack per round. And at 5th level, most martials (rogues excluded) gain a second attack. Maybe it might be easier to understand if I broke it down like this:

Fighter at 4th level
- Crossbow (without Crossbow Expert feat) 1d10 + Dex damage (1 attack)
- Crossbow (with Crossbow Expert feat) 1d10 + Dex damage (1 attack)
- Longbow 1d8 + Dex damage (1 attack)

Fighter at 5th level
- Crossbow (without Crossbow Expert feat) 1d10 + Dex damage (1 attack)
- Crossbow (with Crossbow Expert feat) 1d10 + Dex damage, 1d10 + Dex damage (2 attacks)
- Longbow 1d8 + Dex damage, 1d8 + Dex damage (2 attacks)

Doesn't the extra attack at level 5 work with crossbows? Its not going to matter currently since 4 is the cap but I want to try heavy crossbows on my ranger.