Crossbow

A crossbow was a weapon consisting of a bow, called the "prod" or "lath", mounted on a stock that fired specially-made projectiles called bolts.

Description
A mechanism in the stock held the bow in its fully-drawn position, without human effort or intervention, until it was shot by releasing a trigger. Due to the short travel of the bow section in firing the weapon, significant force was needed to prime it for firing.

Hand Crossbow
A hand crossbow was a very small crossbow ideal for concealment. It was a short range weapon that could be drawn for firing with just one hand. They typically cost around 100 gp.

Light Crossbow
A light crossbow was was simple crossbow with a bow made of a single piece of wood, usually ash or yew. It was small enough to be fire from one hand―albeit less accurately. A pair of them could be wielded and fired simultaneously, but two hands were required in order to reload each light crossbow, usually by inserting a bolt and pulling a lever. They typically cost around 35 gp.

Light crossbows cost around 35 gold pieces.

Heavy Crossbow
A heavy crossbow, also called an arbalest, was a larger version of the light crossbow. It was primed with a winch. Although it could be fired with one hand, accuracy was impaired even further than with a light crossbow due to the increased weight. It required two hands to reload.

Heavy crossbows cost around 50 gold pieces.

Repeating Crossbow
Repeating crossbows are available in both light and heavy varieties, and hold a case of five bolts. These bolts can be fired in quick succession, interspersed with the drawing action, to avoid having to continually reload bolts. Two hands are required to operate the repeating crossbow, due to the need to draw the bow each time a bolt is fired.

A light repeating crossbow costs around 250 gold pieces, whereas a heavy repeating crossbow costs around 400 gold pieces.

An enchanted variety of repeating crossbows existed in the Moonsea region. These enchanted +3 light crossbows gave its users the boon of haste that not only affected the crossbow's firing speed, but also the wielders movement speed.

Ammunition
Crossbows of all sizes fired bolts, otherwise known as quarrels. Though shaped like arrows, their shafts were much thicker and shorter. Bolts used in active warfare would often had conical or pyramidal-shaped heads. Ten bolts usually cost around 1 gold piece, while a case of five bolts for a repeating crossbow of any size typically cost the same amount.

Appearances

 * Novels
 * The Fanged Crown
 * Video Games
 * Baldur's Gate series • Icewind Dale series