Crossbows in D&D 5e and in general

Crossbows (and similar weapons) have been bad choices in most editions of D&D despite being rather iconic. This is a recurring theme in 5e, where the system itself seems to work very well in general but there's a few options that just don't quite work well. Supposedly crossbows're easy to use (point and click) but have a longer loading time, which makes them reasonable for wizards but not other less skilled users, but bows are often superior. Combat & Tactics allows them to ignore up to 5 points of legit armor, making them actually viable in late 2nd edition because you've got a reasonable to-hit bonus over bows which are multiple shots. Let's ignore the fact that bows also require strength and longbows shouldn't be used by Str 8 characters and focus on the crossbow though.

The whole "realism" thing in D&D is rather odd, because up until Combat & Tactics rounds were 1 minute each, so attacks and HP and AC were all rather abstract (like you'd really only make one or two attacks in one minute or legit 1.5 attacks a minute so on even rounds of combat you get an extra attack). Fast forward to third edition: loading takes either a move or a full round, perpetuating the idea the they're slow but powerful. Except they're higher crit range than bows (19-20 vs 20) and damage (1d10 for heavy vs 1d8 for a longbow) and simple weapons (longbows are martial) but longbows have a bigger crit multiplier (x3 vs x2 for crossbows). So there's benefits of crossbows but they don't seem that big.

I wish the loading property in 5e came with a rider that loading weapons did an extra die of damage (or extra d12) at 5th, 11th, and 17th level to counteract their incredibly limiting loading property (or perhaps only if you have the extra attack feature). Slow but powerful, but once/per/round like a cantrip.. 2nd edition made that happen eventually with the Combat & Tactics upgrade, plus a larger damage die meant more in 2e I think. But then 5e went and ruined this by making the crossbow expert feat which lets you ignore the loading property, and my proposed loading property fix isn't going to play nicely with the rogue who doesn't care about extra attack right off the bat.

As far as I can tell, the crossbow expert feat does exactly what feats shouldn't do: this feat is basically required for any warrior-type who would be using a crossbow to make use of their extra attack feature (but rogues and clerics don't need it as badly as they don't get extra attacks). In essence, if you want to play a crossbow using ranger, you need this feat. Its also ridiculously abusive, if it was meant for a drow assassin to be able to attack once with the short sword and once with the hand crossbow, because in practice people use it to dual-wield hand crossbows. This just kinda breaks the versimilitude for me. But whatevs, that's how its written.

Can crossbows be fixed here? I think they can with a little slight of hand. This needs to be a D&D style fix though, so it can't be as simple as an alternate weapon system like in 13th Age or Dungeon World where your class determines weapon damage (which is a mighty fine solution, just not D&D). First, remove the loading property from the light crossbow. The feat give it that wonkiness and rogues get it, and removing the loading property will fix the rogue problem. Any rogue can now use it off-hand for a bonus action attack but the ranged attacks while engaged disadvantage will make it less-than-ideal still. Technically any rogue could also dual-wield these, but they could also toss an off-hand dagger so that's not much of an issue. Still ridiculous, but meh. Next revise the loading property: if you are entitled to an extra attack with a weapon with the loading property due to the extra attack feature, it deals an additional die of weapon damage per extra attack you are entitled to. If you ignore the loading property, you ignore all the loading property, because a level 17 fighter making extra attacks is probably better than getting a pittance more damage. This also clandestinely fixes slings in the process. And maybe blowguns, its not clear what an extra die of damage looks like when a weapon's damage "die" is just 1 point. I'm torn between saying an extra die of damage or just an extra fixed damage like a d10.

By the by, I'm still torn on trying to fix strength by removing the ability of Dex to add to damage, or capping it at +2 to damage (i.e. a finesse weapon adds strength to damage or a max of 2 points of dex bonus, whichever is higher). It would nerf dex-based characters a bit in terms of damage, making strength a bit more appealing, but might have other implications that I haven't explored yet.

D&D 5e: Combat & Tactics inspired weapon properties

Here's a little draft of what I was thinking of in my previous post.  I've just taken the combat stuff from the basic rules and added in a few bits in red. The formatting is pretty janky, but eff that. You can see the basics, despite any typos.

I'm calling this System I, the most complex system of properties. System I uses the most weapon properties, including a number of +1 bonuses or penalties. It is more detailed than the simpler system II or basic system, but may be less efficient in play. The DM must broadly describe the physical appearance of humanoid opponents so players know when they can apply these bonuses or penalties. These minor bonuses or penalties may make some weapons more or less desirable in certain situations, so a well-armed warrior will want to switch weapons based on his opponents. Given this, the DM should have few qualms about sundering equipment, and the mending cantrip may see much more use. If mending cannot fix a magic weapon, you may rule that a magic weapon can only be sundered by a more powerful magic weapon (i.e. a rare +2 could sunder an uncommon +1), choose a different piece of equipment to sunder (reducing the effectiveness of non-magic armor or damaging a backpack) or rule an item which ought to be sundered–but cannot be–is instead disarmed. Or some other alternate effect.

Weapons

Name                          Cost           Damage                                    Weight      Properties

Simple Melee Weapons

Club                             1 sp            1d4 bludgeoning                       2 lb.           Light

Dagger                        2 gp           1d4 piercing                             1 lb.           Close-quarters, finesse, focus (Arcane), light, thrown (range 20/60), quick

Parrying Dagger      5gp           1d4 piercing                         1 lb.          Close-quarters, finesse, light, defensive, quick

Greatclub                    2 sp            1d8 bludgeoning                       10 lb.         Two-handed

Handaxe                      5 gp           1d6 slashing                              2 lb.           Light, thrown (range 20/60)

Javelin                         5 sp            1d6 piercing                             2 lb.           Close-quarters, thrown (range 30/120)

Light hammer            2 gp           1d4 bludgeoning                       2 lb.           Light, thrown (range 20/60)

Mace                           5 gp           1d6 bludgeoning                       4 lb.           Armor-piercing (medium)

Quarterstaff                2 sp            1d6 bludgeoning                       4 lb.           Focus (Arcane, Druidic), ineffective (heavy), versatile (1d8)

Sap                              1 sp          1d6 bludgeoning                  1 lb.          Finesse, light, subduing

Sickle                          1 gp           1d4 slashing                              2 lb.           Focus (Druidic), Light

Spear                           1 gp           1d6 piercing                             3 lb.           Close-quarters, set-for-charge, thrown (range 20/60), versatile (1d8)

Unarmed strike          —              1 bludgeoning                           —              —

Simple Ranged Weapons

Crossbow, light           25 gp         1d8 piercing                             5 lb.           Ammunition (range 80/320), loading, two-handed

Dart                             5 cp           1d4 piercing                             1/4 lb.       Finesse, thrown (range 20/60)

Shortbow                    25 gp         1d6 piercing                             2 lb.           Ammunition (range 80/320), two-handed

Sling                            1 sp            1d4 bludgeoning                       —              Ammunition (range 30/120)

Martial Melee Weapons

Battleaxe                    10 gp         1d8 slashing                              4 lb.           Sundering, versatile (1d10)

Estoc                          30 gp        1d8 piercing                         3 lb.          Close-quarters, finesse, armor-piercing (heavy, medium)

Flail                             10 gp         1d8 bludgeoning                       2 lb.           Disarming, tripping, wrap-around

Guisarme                  20 gp        1d8 piercing                         6 lb.          Close-quarters, heavy, reach, set-for-charge, tripping, two-handed

Glaive                          20 gp         1d10 slashing                            6 lb.           Heavy, reach, set-for-charge, two-handed

Greataxe                     30 gp         1d12 slashing                            7 lb.           Heavy, sundering, two-handed

Greatsword                 50 gp         2d6 slashing                              6 lb.           Armor-piercing (heavy, medium), heavy, two-handed

Halberd                       20 gp         1d10 slashing or piercing     6 lb.           Armor-piercing (heavy, medium), heavy, reach, set-for-charge, two-handed

Lance                          10 gp         1d12 piercing                           6 lb.           Reach, special

Longsword                  15 gp         1d8 slashing or piercing       3 lb.           Versatile (1d10)

Maul                            10 gp         2d6 bludgeoning                       10 lb.         Heavy, two-handed

Morningstar                15 gp         1d8 piercing                             4 lb.           Armor-piercing (heavy)

Pike                             5 gp           1d10 piercing                           18 lb.         Close-quarters, heavy, reach, set-for-charge, two-handed

Rapier                         25 gp         1d8 piercing                             2 lb.           Close-quarters, finesse, ineffective (heavy)

Ranseur                     X gp          1d8 piercing                         10 lb.        Close-quarters, defensive, heavy, reach, set-for-charge, two-handed

Scimitar                      25 gp         1d6 slashing                              3 lb.           Finesse, light

Scourge                     5 gp          1d6 slashing                          2 lb.          Disarming, finesse, ineffective (heavy, medium), wrap-around

Shortsword                 10 gp         1d6 piercing                             2 lb.           Close-quarters, finesse, light

Trident                        5 gp           1d6 piercing                             4 lb.           Close-quarters, thrown (range 20/60), versatile (1d8)

War pick                     5 gp           1d8 piercing                             2 lb.           Armor-piercing (heavy)

Warhammer               15 gp         1d8 bludgeoning                       2 lb.           Versatile (1d10)

Whip                            2 gp           1d4 slashing                              3 lb.           Disarming, ineffective (heavy, medium), finesse, reach, tripping, wrap-around

Martial Ranged Weapons

Blowgun                      10 gp         1 piercing                                 1 lb.           Ammunition (range 25/100), ineffective (heavy, medium), loading

Crossbow, hand          75 gp         1d6 piercing                             3 lb.           Ammunition (range 30/120), light, loading

Crossbow, heavy        50 gp         1d10 piercing                           18 lb.         Ammunition (range 100/400), armor-piercing (heavy), heavy, loading, two-handed

Longbow                     50 gp         1d8 piercing                             2 lb.           Ammunition (range 150/600), heavy, two-handed

Net                              1 gp           —                                              3 lb.           special, thrown (range 5/15)

New Properties:

Armor-piercing. This weapon provides a +1 bonus to hit opponents wearing the apropriate class of armor (heavy, medium, or light).

Close-quarters. This weapon can be used without penalty in tight spaces, underwater, or in close formation.

Defensive. This weapon provides a +1 bonus to your armor class as though it were a shield when it is wielded in your off hand (or two-handed). You can benefit from only one defensive weapon at a time, and cannot combine this bonus with a shield.

Disarming. This weapon provides a +1 bonus to rolls to disarm an opponent. Additionally, when you score a critical hit you may disarm your opponent in lieu of doing additional damage.

Focus. This weapon can be used as a focus for appropriate spellcasters (Arcane, Divine, Druidic).

Ineffective. This weapon has a -1 penalty to hit opponents wearing the appropriate class of armor (heavy, medium, or light).

Quick. When you are being grappled or a larger opponent otherwise moves into your space, you may use your reaction to make a free attack.

Set-for-charge. When you ready this weapon for an attack and an opponent moves at least 10 feet to within your reach, your readied attack is considered a critical hit if it hits.

Subduing. When you attack to subdue with this weapon, you knock the target out if they are reduced to less than two hit points for each of your levels (i.e. 6 hit points or less when you are level 3).

Sundering. This weapon provides a +1 bonus to rolls to break an opponents weapon or shield. On a critical hit, in lieu of dealing additional damage you may destroy an opponents shield.

Tripping. This weapon provides a +1 bonus to rolls to push an opponent, but only when pushing them prone. Additionally, when you score a critical hit you may push a two-legged opponent prone in lieu of doing additional damage.

Wrap-around. This weapon provides a +1 bonus to hit opponents using shields or behind cover.

So what about that System II? You get it by removing armor-piercing, ineffective, and wrap-around. System II abandons a few of the options that might drag down play in system I, notably the minor bonuses or penalties of weapon vs armor type. This should result in a slightly more detailed game than the basic rules, but may make weapon choice still a bit more exciting.

I'm still looking at a few of the consequences of this system. For example, you may see the Longsword now can also do piercing damage (but doesn't get the close-quarters property). This is because the otherwise identical axe now gets sundering. So its still a bit of an exercise in grid-filling and doing what you can to distinguish each weapon here. There's probably a couple other oddities that I didn't notice yet and probably should fix, but this is quite worked out compared to the previous musings. But the basic rules have this too: no point in choosing a sickle when you could have a hand-axe. Which made me think maybe a couple weapons could have the Arcane Focus, Divine Focus, or Druidic/Primal focus too, meaning a druid just might pick a sickle as a weapon. Its not much, but that's pretty much why the sickle is an option, no? So make it explicit in a few places. But there's probably a few more weapon pairs that could be distinguished a bit more.