Hand Crossbow

“I always wanted a small crossbow, but I would never use a balestrina.”
— Tassando Vespari, rogue, Drôl, 1038 FB

People who know how to craft the complicated torsion mechanism of a balestrina keep that secret to themselves. The common hand crossbow is as small as a balestrina but works just like a normal crossbow. At short range, it is as dangerous as the light crossbow, but its lethality rapidly drops off at longer ranges.

Detractors say that hand crossbows have no penetrative power compared to other crossbows or balestrinas.

Their price and effectiveness at short range compensate somewhat for this.

“The hand crossbow has one great advantage over the balestrina, namely, it is not as prone to jamming.”

— Arbosh son of Angrax, forge dwarf master smith

“But the balestrina is much more stylish.”

— Carolan Calavanti, Vinsaltan vagabond

Technique	Damage	Reload	Range	Ammo	Weight	Length	Cost	Complexity
Crossbows	d6+3	3 actions	5/25/40	bolts	0.75 stn 1.5 lbs	40 cm 16 inches	100 S	complex (3 AP)

Weapon Advantage: At short range, add +1 DP (for a total of 1D6+5, including the normal DP bonus for range).

Weapon Disadvantage: At far range, subtract 1 from DP (for a total of 1D6+1, including the normal DP penalty for range).