(4e) Dual Crossbow fighter

[Grifthin]

So - Is it still possible to play a Human Fighter that wields 2 Repeating Crossbows in 4ed ? The thought idly crossed my mind as I was considering converting our current campaign to 4e and I didn't know if some of the crazier characters would be able to go over. Don't the 4ed fighter get their at will/daily etc powers focussed around swords/axes etc ?

[Kylarra]

There's really not much point in dual wielding ranged weapons in 4e and a repeating crossbow is 2-handed, so I guess the answer to your question is "no". You could dual wield hand crossbows, but you wouldn't be getting much benefit from them other than options on your enchantments.

As far as weapon restrictions, I believe only rogues have [weapon] powers that are restricted to certain categories beyond the usual either melee or ranged.

[Evard]

Well it depends what the power says, if it says melee weapon, weapon, or ranged weapon. I believe that most fighter powers are melee weapon (or two melee weapons for the tempest fighter).

Drows have feats that allow them to use a hand crossbow as an offhand weapon... which is helpful to the rogue class

[Mike_G]

Repeating crossbows take two hands to shoot. They're lever action, not a trigger like a pistol, so, no, unless you have four arms.

Hand crossbows need two hands to load, so you could shoot both, once, and then have to reload both. So, as a first round tactic, it might have some merit.

[Eorran]

I've found that converting characters from earlier editions has been a disappointing experience. I enjoy playing 4th ed a lot, but I find that the rules system is different enough to make conversion not work well.

As stated, even hand crossbows require two hands to reload. The Fighter doesn't really get much in the way of ranged weapon love; a Rogue or Ranger would be able to make better use of the weapon, as they have class abilities designed with such weapons in mind.

[Kylarra]

Repeating crossbows take two hands to shoot. They're lever action, not a trigger like a pistol, so, no, unless you have four arms.

Hand crossbows need two hands to load, so you could shoot both, once, and then have to reload both. So, as a first round tactic, it might have some merit.

Even then it's not really that much more useful than just dropping the first one and pulling the next from your pack.

[Artanis]

So - Is it still possible to play a Human Fighter that wields 2 Repeating Crossbows in 4ed ? The thought idly crossed my mind as I was considering converting our current campaign to 4e and I didn't know if some of the crazier characters would be able to go over. Don't the 4ed fighter get their at will/daily etc powers focussed around swords/axes etc ?

Like with many things in switching from 3e to 4e, a lot comes down to what exactly it is about the character that you're looking for. You want to take the core of the character concept and make a 4e one based on that.

For instance, what, exactly, is it about having 2 xbows that's important? Is it the image of a character with xbows akimbo, or is it just the ability to spray an unholy number of bolts in a single turn?

Is it absolutely vital for the character to be called a "Fighter", or was the Fighter class simply the best match in 3e for what you wanted to do mechanically?

That sort of thing.

[Yakk]

Two-Fisted shooter lets you dual-wield crossbows. There isn't much point in doing so, as I am not aware of a power, feat or the like that makes dual wielding crossbows that useful. :-)

I'd convert the character to being a Ranger who uses a Superior Crossbow with the Rapid Reload feat. You'll get ridiculous numbers of bolts in the air.

Note that the 4e Ranger is really a "type of fighter" from a 3e perspective; the 4e Ranger killed the 3e scout and took his stuff, and became a martial character.

The 4e Fighter is a 3e fighter who specialises in defending his allies, while a 4e Ranger is a 3e fighter who specialises in lots of attacks with a bow or a pair of melee weapons.

[TricksyAndFalse]

If converting, I'll suggest being open to changing classes. Don't feel like you have to stick with fighter or cleric because that's what your 3.5 character was. If your 3.5 fighter used ranged weapons, you'll want to convert to a class with ranged weapon powers (archer ranger, maybe even prescient bard). Ignore the name of the class, and pick one based on the powers, role, and feel of the class.

As others have said, there is not much point to using a ranged weapon in each hand in 4E. Gun-fu is cool though. If I were DM, I'd let you use the mechanics for a single 2H repeating crossbow, flavored as a repeating hand crossbow in each hand.

[Evard]

Ok here is what you do :) take the stats for the hand crossbow, call it a pistol (gets 6 shots) take all the fighter powers change the power type from melee to ranged. You now have some type of cowboy.

I remember that when 4e came out wotc said something about feel free to change things up.

[Mike_G]

This is the repeating crossbow.

You see, there is no possible way to one hand this thing.

If you want to make a crossbow that magically rekoks itself (I know how to spell. The filter kills the real word) that would be fine, but the mundane repeating crossbow is based on a Chinese design where you hold the bow and work the lever with the other hand to kock and release the bow.