The Ranged Armory · Chapter 6

Crossbows

A crossbow stores the shot in a limb that a latch holds, not the wielder. Everything good and everything bad about the family comes from that one difference.

Nobody needs to be strong and nobody needs to be trained. A crossbow spans with a hook, a lever, or a crank, so the energy goes in slowly over several seconds and comes out all at once. A farmhand with a windlass puts more force behind a bolt than a war-bow archer who has shot since childhood.

Slow-Firing is what it costs, and it is the axis the whole chapter is built on. This family runs from a hand crossbow that reloads in a moment to an arbalest that costs two Actions between shots, and that spread is a genuine range of decisions rather than a range of damage numbers.

The largest family in the book, because the mechanism admits real variation: how it is spanned, whether it feeds from a magazine, whether the bolt runs in a groove or a barrel, and what is tied to the end of it.

Skill: Light Ranged, except where noted.

Hand Crossbow

Pistol Crossbow, Sleeve Bow, Assassin's Latch, Bracer Bow

A crossbow small enough to span by hand and shoot in one, held and fired like a pistol.

It does among the least damage of any crossbow and it is the only one that goes under a coat. It is Restricted almost everywhere for that reason: a weapon that kills quietly at Short range and looks like nothing is a weapon that laws are written about.

Light Crossbow

Latchet, Goat's Foot Crossbow, Belt Hook Crossbow, Sporting Bow

A wooden prod spanned with a belt hook and a stirrup, or with a goat's foot lever for anybody who would rather not squat.

This is the family's baseline and the sensible purchase. It matches a longbow's range one point of damage short, carries Pierce 1 the longbow does not, gives up Arcing and Auto-Fire, and asks nothing of the wielder's Might at all.

A militia armed with these is dangerous in a fortnight. A militia armed with longbows is dangerous in a decade.

Heavy Crossbow

Arbalest, Windlass Crossbow, Cranequin, Steel Prod

A steel prod spanned with a windlass or a cranequin, throwing a short heavy bolt with more force than any hand-drawn weapon can manage.

Pierce 3 is the highest in the book and it is the entire point. This is the weapon that answers plate armour, and Auto-Fire is what a bolt does after it has gone through the first man: spend Boon to loose again at the cost of a wilder aim, and it does not stop at one.

Slow-Firing 2 is brutal and it is meant to be. Two Actions between shots means roughly one shot every three rounds. The arbalest wins the exchange it starts and loses every exchange that lasts.

The most expensive personal weapon in this book.

Gastraphetes

Belly Bow, Belly Shooter, Stomach Bow, Gastraphete

The ancestor of the crossbow and the descendant of nothing. A sliding stock is braced against the belly and the shooter's entire weight drives it down against the ground to span the bow.

It hits nearly as hard as an arbalest and costs well under half as much, and every one of those savings is visible in the stat line. It needs Might 4, it must be Prepared before it can be spanned at all, it is the heaviest thing a character carries in this book, and it takes two Actions to reload.

It is what you arm a siege garrison with when the treasury is empty. Nobody has carried one in the field in three hundred years.

Repeating Crossbow

Cho-ko-nu, Magazine Crossbow, Chu Ko Nu, Repeater

A gravity-fed magazine sits over the groove and a lever spans, loads, and looses in one stroke. Ten bolts leave it in the time an arbalest sends one.

It is the only crossbow in this book with no Slow-Firing at all, and it pays for that with the worst damage and the worst Crit in the family. The bolts are short, unfletched, and thrown by a weak prod.

Limited Ammo 10 is a benefit here, not a drawback. Ten shots then a full reload, which takes a minute and cannot be done under fire.

The correct use is volume against unarmoured targets, and the correct pairing is a poisoned magazine.

Multi-Bolt Crossbow

Sheaf Crossbow, Double Bow, Split Groove, Scatter Latch

Two or three grooves cut side by side under one prod, loosing every bolt at once in a spreading fan.

Auto-Fire on a weapon already carrying Inaccurate 1 is the reason to own one. Where the arbalest's Auto-Fire is one bolt continuing through a rank, this fires several bolts at once and lets them go three places.

Inaccurate 1 is the fan. Nothing that leaves a weapon in a spread is aimed, and against a single target the multi-bolt is simply a worse light crossbow.

Buy it for corridors, doorways, and crowds. It is a bad duelling weapon.

Stonebow

Prodd, Bullet Crossbow, Pellet Bow, Slurbow of Stones

A double string with a pouch between, shooting a stone or a cast pellet rather than a bolt.

It is the sling's answer inside the crossbow family, and it carries the same Scavenged for the same reason: the ammunition is the ground. It is the only crossbow that costs nothing to shoot and the only one that cannot use the shafts in Chapter 9.

Crushing damage and Knockdown put it somewhere no other crossbow goes. Against an armoured target it is poor. Against an unarmoured one it puts them on the floor, and it does that forever without resupply.

The hunter's and the poacher's crossbow, and the one that stays useful when the supply train does not arrive.

Slurbow

Barrelled Crossbow, Tube Bow, Enclosed Latch, Slur Bow

The bolt runs in a closed tube rather than an open groove, so it leaves the same way every time.

It is the most precise weapon in this book. Nothing else carries Guided and Accurate together, and the combination is not simply more dice: Guided strips uncertainty out of the pool rather than adding successes to it, which is what a marksman wants at long range against a small target.

Fragile 1 is the barrel. It is a fitted wooden or brass tube around a moving projectile, and a fouled or split one is not a precision instrument any more.

The price of the precision is Slow-Firing 2, matching the arbalest, on a weapon doing a light crossbow's damage.

Harpoon Crossbow

Line Launcher, Whaler's Bow, Grapnel Bow, Tether Latch

A heavy barbed head on a short thick shaft with a line made fast behind it, thrown by a stiff prod at close range.

Ensnare 2 lasts exactly as long as somebody keeps hold of the rope. Letting go frees the target and costs nothing else. While the target is held, the wielder is held too.

Bleed 1 is the barb working against anything that pulls away from it.

The hand-thrown harpoon in The Fantasy Armory is a different weapon: it leaves the hand and is the projectile. This one launches a head that is bought separately, and it launches it further and harder than an arm can.

Net Launcher

Retiarius Bow, Snare Caster, Capture Bow, Net Gun

Four weighted arms folded into a frame, thrown as a spreading net that closes around whatever it reaches.

Ensnare 3 is the highest rating in the book, and breaking out of it is a Severe check. Against a fleeing target, a charging animal, or something that needs to arrive alive, that is worth more than any damage number on this page.

It cannot inflict a Critical Injury and it barely does damage at all. This is not a weapon that hurts people. It is a weapon that stops them, and it is priced as though stopping them is the whole product, which it is.

Slavers, beast-takers, city watch, and anybody whose employer specified a live delivery.

Choosing a Crossbow

The family sorts on one axis before any other: how long until you can shoot again.

Slow-Firing	Weapon	What it buys
0	Repeating Crossbow	Volume, at 4 damage
1	Hand Crossbow	Concealment
1	Light Crossbow	The sensible default
1	Multi-Bolt Crossbow	Three targets at once
1	Stonebow	Free ammunition, Knockdown
1	Net Launcher	A live capture
2	Slurbow	Precision
2	Harpoon Crossbow	A line on the target
2	Heavy Crossbow	Plate armour, at 1175
2	Gastraphetes	Plate armour, at 525 and Might 4

Read the bottom two rows together. The Gastraphetes gives up one point of Pierce and asks for Might 4, a Prepare, and five Encumbrance. In exchange it costs well under half as much as the arbalest. A wealthy character buys the arbalest. A strong and poor one is not badly served.

Nothing in this chapter carries Arcing. A crossbow shoots flat, which is the standing trade against Chapter 5: bows go over things, crossbows go through them.