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The ST 14 adventurer we mentioned earlier could use a ST 14 crossbow every 4 seconds.
6 lb. $150.
2d imp to 280/350, Acc 4.
If, as is typical, the crossbow has a stirrup on the front a ST 14 crossbowman can use a ST 16 (using one leg) or a ST 18 (using both legs).
2d+1 imp to 320/400 for ST 16 and 2d+2 imp to 360/450 for ST 18.
But wait! There's MORE!
Slowing the rate of fire to once every 20 seconds a goat's foot will let them use a ST 20 crossbow.
3d-1 imp to 400/500.
Slowing the rate of fire to once every 36 seconds with a windlass lets them use a ST 42 crossbow!
5d+1 imp to 840/1,050.
A ST 14 crossbow does 2-12 raw damage, 0-8 will penetrate doing 0-16 damage to the body. Average hit will roll an 7 which gets 3 to penetrate for 6 damage.
A ST 16 crossbow does 3-13 raw damage, 0-9 will penetrate doing 0-18 damage to the body. Average hit will roll an 8 which gets 4 to penetrate for 8 damage.
A ST 18 crossbow does 4-14 raw damage, 0-10 will penetrate doing 0-20 damage to the body. Average hit will roll an 9 which gets 5 to penetrate for 10 damage.
A ST 20 crossbow does 2-17 raw damage, 0-13 will penetrate doing 0-26 damage to the body. Average hit will roll an 9 which gets 5 to penetrate for 10 damage.
A ST 42 crossbow does 6-31 raw damage, 2-27 will penetrate doing 4-54 damage to the body. Average hit will roll an 18 which gets 14 to penetrate for 28 damage.
If you're only shooting twice a minute... Maybe the stupid strong crossbow is the way to go.
The thing that crossbows have over bows should be more damage for the same strength, and less requirement for training (for close or medium range, there should be less of a training requirement/untrained penalty) as they really are point and shoot devices.
ReplyDeleteGonnes have both shock and damage going for them, and the early handegonnes were really close quarters fighting weapons. As in the mounted fighter comes within 10' of the spear or pike wall and the handegonner shoves his gonne-on-a-pole as close to the horse or fighter as possible and 'Dodge THIS, Motherhumper!!!' Add in shock to the horse not trained around gonnes and how the horse will freak at the devil smell of powder and the sound and sight.
Or, again, pike and shield wall maneuvering against pike and shield wall and the handegonners blazing away at pike length.
They weren't meant for distance shooting. Until, really, the advent of a decent wheel or snaphanse, the gunners were for close range and archers and crossbowmen for medium to long range.
That shock and awe thingy, that's the real kicker. Especially in close quarters as even a handegonne has enough power behind the projectile (force and energy) to blow into armor and make a bloody mess. Which is very disturbing to the people on the receiving end and his/her/its close mates.
Toss in noise effects and cloud effects and smell effects within a close environment and gonnes, though not that powerful in damage, cause a lot of side effects. And that's on the open field. In a hall or small room the gonne will immediately, due to smoke and flash and noise, act much like a modern flash-bang.
Of course, this effect will be on everyone around the damned item, so that would be a fun thing to pull on a party trying to be a bunch of weisenheimers in a dungeon...
The GURPS ST value is the strength of the operator and whether they can use the thing, not directly related to the pull weight.
DeleteBut note that a ST 14 Longbow does 1d+2 imp and a ST 14 Crossbow does 2d imp. The crossbow DOES do more damage in GURPS.
The Gungeons part of the previous post was supposed to guide you into thinking terms of dungeon exploration and those kind of close quarter fights in tight spaces.
With magic being as common as it is in AD&D, I wonder how much shock value will still be left for guns to utilize. Lightning bolts and fireballs might have people numb to bright flashes and loud noises in a way that didn't happen historically before guns.
In Ad&D 2nd edition guns were shocking by how quickly you could kill something if you are lucky. On damage you do your base damage roll then a knockdown roll, if the knockdown roll is over 7 (on a d8 for most guns) you roll an additional damage die and knockdown roll, rinse and repeat. Those rules were from the Players Option book, iirc it worked slightly differently in the spelljammer where the starwheel did 1d4 but you added an additional damage die on a roll of 4 until you stopped rolling 4s.
ReplyDelete