Crossbows have no recoil

[Skarg]

And that would be yet another separate issue, calling for a reworking of weapon damage and armor protection values to be more realistic. Which would affect balance, and be a whole other topic.

[David Bofinger]

Originally Posted by hcobb

Note resting the crossbow on the shoulder for stability rather than against the shoulder to resist recoil.

But what about a muzzle-loading musket? Resisting the recoil is irrelevant, since the weapon is going to be taken offline as soon as it is fired, but it's nonetheless placed against the shoulder.

Guns have a tiny bit of recoil from a tiny bullet and a lot more from pointing a rocket engine forwards. Hence recoilless rifles that vent some of these gasses to the back.

This is incorrect. A 5.56 mm NATO round, for instance, has a 4g projectile and only about 2g of propellant. The propellant comes out the front but some of it is sent sideways by the muzzle brake and even if it wasn't the average speed would only be half that of the bullet.

[hcobb]

Of course that fine plate that is bouncing heavy crossbow bolts would cost at least a million dollars in 2019 currency. So only really high class PCs would be wearing it.

https://armstreet.com/news/the-cost-...n-modern-money

[David Bofinger]

Originally Posted by hcobb

Of course that fine plate that is bouncing heavy crossbow bolts would cost at least a million dollars in 2019 currency. So only really high class PCs would be wearing it.

https://armstreet.com/news/the-cost-...n-modern-money

Not sure where that figure is coming from, but the cost of C15 Milanese armour is listed in the article you adduce as about six months' wages for an ordinary grunt. Even if we include all the bonuses and subsidies and so on, which I think is excessive since the C15 wages wouldn't include all that, this might be $40K. Milanese plate is good stuff and would routinely bounce a crossbow bolt as long as the visor was closed. But even if that's plate, and fine plate is ten times more, you're talking $400K. I can only get to $400K by making a bunch of assumptions to increase the cost of armour so realistically I think it would be a good deal less.

[hcobb]

The $ amounts in ITL are not 2019 numbers.

ITL 58 Army/police sergeant: $7800 a year (includes costs of living)

2019 USA US Army sergeant starts at $27k a year.

So a $400k (in 2019 numbers) fine plate would work out to a fifth of that or only 80k silver pieces.

[David Bofinger]

Originally Posted by hcobb

The $ amounts in ITL are not 2019 numbers.

My calculation doesn't use ITL in any way.