It could fire bolts through several unarmored men standing in a row. The bolts it fired would be at least 1 inch in diameter, and around 2 feet long. That means you'd have to pull the string back with 2,000 pounds of force to lock it so it could be fired. Very roughly, the most powerful historical crossbows that could be carried around on foot had a draw weight of ~2,000 pounds. The most powerful crossbows should deal tremendous damage, maybe 200+, but must take ~30 seconds to load, and could only be loaded on foot.What skill level? Lowest? 300+? Somewhere in the middle?

I bought a fairly-historically accurate custom made one, and I own several books on them. I really, really like Medieval crossbows. The interesting thing is that in real life, there were pros and cons to each, and neither was 'better' than the other. Bows and crossbows use a variety of bolts or arrows - needle bodkins for piercing cloth and chainmail, wide bodkin for piercing plate, swallowtails for anti-horse, blunts were only used in real life for hunting small game like rabbits, but I suppose they can be added to the game anyway. There are lots to choose from - belt hook, spanning belt with pulley, goat's foot lever, cranequin (maybe), windlass, etc. Accuracy increases considerably as the player gains levels.ħ. The player starts off being very inaccurate with bows. Accuracy only increases slightly as the player gains levels.Ħ. The player starts off being very accurate with all crossbows. When you switch from another weapon to a crossbow, you always have to load it.ĥ.

Medium and heavy crossbows can't be loaded or fired on horseback.ĥ.

Weak crossbows can be loaded and fired on horseback. The most powerful crossbows should deal tremendous damage, maybe 200+, but must take ~30 seconds to load, and could only be loaded on foot.Ĥ. The weakest crossbows should do about as much damage as the medium-strength bows.ģ. Make all crossbows take longer to load and fire than bows.Ģ. Here's what I would do if I were designing a game that was trying to be more true-to-life and less fantasy:ġ.

Mount and blade crossbow