More Lowbie Crossbows

[bobownsya]

There should be more lowbie crossbows available. They are becoming a popular item among Rogues, but frankly the choices are underwhelming. I'd like to see more of them added to the shops, perhaps a few scattered through the 20-40 areas.

[FunkySwerve]

Anyone have a list handy of the ones already available?

Thanks,
Funky

[bobownsya]

Just took the time to go through and take down a list of light crossbows in the shops:

Light Crossbow +1-+7
Ruby Crossbow
Crossbow of Affliction
Crossbow of Murder
Crossbow of the High Forest
Crossbow of the Unicorn
Crossbow of the Lightning Strike
Greater Leech
Stung
Lawgiver

Of these, Lawgiver is the highest level at 19, however it is poorly itemized.

There are two other lightcrossbows I know of in the game: the Spelljammer Crossbow and the Arctic Scout Crossbow, available through the Beholders and Uroborous runs respectively. Possibly a few could be added to the Epic level areas, and a few as set drops in the Hells/Abyss?

[redbeard]

I also have a Sissrak light crossbow.

Yeah, I know I spelled it wrong.

[arek]

There's at least one other crossbow in the game: the Ssithrak light crossbow. And there may be yet another in Phleg, tho I've never seen it.

As for lowbie crossbows, I do think there are a few laying around as drops, but the first 'real' crossbow you'll see in the game is the sissy one, iirc. With that in mind, Level 20, 29, and 35 crossbows wouldn't go wrong for randoms (these could have appropriate +ab bonuses on them, along with other useful properties as appropriate). As for store crossbows, I wouldn't put any more in the store, unless the "Unlimited Ammo" property disallows the wielder from using his/her own ammo...and then I'd put that on any and all future store crossbows.

--Arek

[maljin]

There are also two light crossbows found at Manatakloss. One is from the merchants crates at the docks and has something like +14 ab and some other stats, the other is a drop from Xul'rae and has something like +16 vs elves but is inferior vs other foes compared the one mentioned above.

Both disintegrate in sunlight, but since you can usually pick up a couple on a single run (I think there are about 3 crossbows per chest) forgetting to switch and losing one isn't a big loss.

You can use them in most drow areas and most underground areas like the cave near Glithidhoul and MoaD. If I remember correctly one disintegrated upon portalling into the abyss for the Immo, but I was good to go with it on the bridge and it helped for the immo fight a lot as well.

mal

[bobownsya]

Oct 8, 2011 15:40:37 GMT arek said:

unless the "Unlimited Ammo" property disallows the wielder from using his/her own ammo...and then I'd put that on any and all future store crossbows.

--Arek

The unlimited ammo property does not allow you to use your own ammo, unfortunately.

[arek]

Oct 8, 2011 21:02:36 GMT bobownsya said:

Oct 8, 2011 15:40:37 GMT arek said:

unless the "Unlimited Ammo" property disallows the wielder from using his/her own ammo...and then I'd put that on any and all future store crossbows.

--Arek

The unlimited ammo property does not allow you to use your own ammo, unfortunately.

This is actually a Good Thing as it would allow the devs to put a few crossbows in the store with good AB bonuses on them, but that have the "unlimited ammo" property, thus preventing them from being used with other ammo. eg a L25-30ish xbow in imports with +10-12 AB and Unlimited Ammo. Nice AB bonus (thus allowing you to hit stuff), but lousy damage compared to random bolts.

Hope this clears things up as to why I was inquiring about that property. :-)

--Arek

[chirality]

It would be cool to see 20/29/35 (maybe 50 also?) randoms as arek suggested.

I wonder if it would be more desirable for such to have unlimited ammo or not, to allow use with other ammo. In the former case I feel like the ammo should be less powerful (again following arek's comments, which make perfect sense to me). It'd be hard to say--on the one hand, if one were to find one of these and not have to worry about ammo, that would be great. On the other hand, I feel like I would eventually end up wishing that after finally popping the (for example) level 35, I could use some really nice ammo with it.

[bobownsya]

While this thread is still alive, I'd like to bring up another topic about crossbows.

Could there be a bolt equivalent of Dung Arrows? It would be a great moneysaver for a new player.

Perhaps the higher level (Hells-Abyss level) light crossbows could have their own infinite bolt types, similar to how the AA bows work?

[arek]

chirality Any random crossbows (20/29/35) should NOT have unlimited ammo unless it's specialty ammo which would then be handled by the same scripts the AA bows use. The bioware "unlimited ammo" property would be something I'd recommend for storebought crossbows, where it might allow for somewhat higher +AB bonuses without unbalancing things.

bobownsya I like the idea of specialty crossbows for rogues which have built-in ammo. If feasible, I'd recommend a Level 50 crossbow like this, with the damage falling somewhere between the Level 35 and Pazuzu bolts. Note: I also think that, with the improved weapon buffs that have been introduced since their introduction, the Pazuzu bolts could use some major improvement.

--Arek

[redbeard]

I was wondering what some of these crossbows could look like so I stuck my nose in the toolset and came up with some options.

Level 20: +7 attack bonus, unlimited basic ammo.
Level 20: +9 attack bonus.
Level 22: +7 attack bonus, Unlimited 2d10 Acid ammo.
Level 22: +10 attack bonus.
Level 23: +13 attack bonus.
Level 24: +10 attack bonus, unlimited 2d10 Acid ammo.
Level 28: +10 attack bonus, unlimited 3d10 Acid ammo.
Level 35: +13 attack bonus, unlimited 4d10 Acid ammo.
Level 47: +14 attack bonus, unlimited 5d10 Acid & 2d10 Divine ammo.
Level 52: +14 attack bnous, unlimited 6d10 Acid & 2d10 Divine ammo.
Level 53: +15 attack bnous, unlimited 6d10 Acid & 2d10 Divine ammo.

These are just some options. I took a light crossbow and added the attack bonus, unlimited basic ammo and damage bonuses.

These bows have higher attack bonuses than equivalent melee weapons because they can't receive GMW. I limited +ab to 13 for pre-ll crossbows as I think higher +ab should be limited to legendary crossbows. Then again, the development team might prefer to keep the AB more in line with the enhancement bonuses available to melee weapons.

I like the idea of keeping number of damage types low to make it easier to decide which weapon to use in the presence of healing mobs.