Hand crossbow

The hand crossbow is a missile weapon, commonly referred to as a ranged weapon, that fires a projectile (usually a light crossbolt), and requires the ranged weapon skill to use effectively. Crossbow bolts are arrow-like projectiles that are much shorter than arrows but considerably heavier. The crossbow is attached to a stock, so that it can be kept in the loaded state without effort from the user. In general, a crossbow is much easier to wield than its cousin, the bow.

The hand crossbow is unique for its small, one-handed design, allowing the wielder to employ it along with a shield, or even with two weapon combat. Unlike heavy or light crossbows, archers using hand crossbows do not get the bonus attack strength for kneeling or lying prone.

Hand crossbows take 1 second to cock and 3 seconds to fire; Firing an uncocked hand crossbow takes 4 seconds.

Because they are one handed weapons, grabbing a hand crossbow when you have nothing in your hands places the crossbow in your right hand (whereas two handed crossbows go to your left hand). The point of hand crossbows is to either wield 2 of them at once, or to hold a shield in your left hand. As a consequence, your parry DS with a hand crossbow is significantly less than the already limited parry DS of two-handed crossbows.

When used in melee to attack or parry, the hand crossbow acts as a cudgel (including AvD stats). Blunt weapon skill is recommended for using the weapon in this manner.

Alternate Names

• unknown

Game Mechanics

This table applies to the hand crossbow when used as a ranged weapon.

Weapon	AG	Cloth	Leather				Scale				Chain				Plate				RT	Min RT	Damage Type	STR/DU
	AsG	1	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
Hand crossbow	DF	.275	.225				.250				.190				.135				4	4	Puncture/Slash	50/285
	AvD	20	26	25	24	23	20	18	16	14	34	30	26	22	27	21	15	9

The standard hand crossbow has a weight of 4 lbs.

Two-Weapon Combat

Training in Two Weapon Combat allows you to wield 2 hand crossbows at the same time.

First the right hand crossbow is fired, and will always succeed in firing (though it may, of course, be evaded or blocked as usual). Then, if the target hasn't been dispatched, the left hand crossbow may or may not fire, depending on a hidden roll. The primary factor in this hidden roll is TWC skill - with little TWC skill, you almost always fail to find the opening, which looks like:

>fire
You cock and load your hand crossbow with a wooden bolt.
You fire a wooden bolt at a fanged goblin (37V)!
  AS: +57 vs DS: -6 with AvD: +24 + d100 roll: +12 = +99
   A clean miss.
The bolt streaks off into the distance!
You are unable to find an opening for your left-handed shot.
Roundtime: 5 sec.

Whether the second shot happens or not, both crossbows will be uncocked afterwards, and the roundtime cost is the same.

Timing

You can cock each hand crossbow separately; each will take 1 second.

Firing takes 3 seconds base RT (whether you hold one hand crossbow or two). For each uncocked crossbow in your hands, add 1 RT (thus, firing with both uncocked takes 5 RT).

To contrast them to other crossbows: A light crossbow takes 2 seconds to cock and 2 seconds to fire, and a heavy crossbow takes 2 seconds to cock and 3 seconds to fire.

Attack Strength

The right hand crossbow uses the standard ranged AS, although kneeling does not add any bonus like it does for two-handed crossbows.

The left hand crossbow uses the standard ranged AS formula, except the skill component is replaced by 3/5ths Ranged Weapon and 2/5th TWC:

Skill component = TRUNC((3 * Ranged weapon skill + 2 * TWC skill + 4) / 5)

Related Articles

• Ranged Weapons
• Fletching
• The Art of the Bow: Guide