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"The Dwemer crossbow is an ingenious device that permits someone with only modest training and skill to fire a missile bolt massive enough to penetrate heavy armor. The Imperial Legion's mass-produced version is somewhat less effective, and most Imperial missile troops and hunters use the more popular short and long bows." - http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Garothmuk_gro-Muzgub

Looks like the crossbows were created by the dwemer.

My opinion, nothing more as usual : given the choice of a load of different crossbows, heavy, light, different materials, new mechanics etc., i.e. done properly, or one spear or halberd, I would still take the pole with a sharp bit on the end. It would add new tactical considerations, whereas a crossbow is still for the most part a bow in effect.

Bah, I already answered this in the first page, yet everyone still misses the point. Crossbows will be the weapon of choice for assassins, because a higher base damage will result in a more damaging sneak attack. Rate of fire is irrelevant if you can one-shot a mob with a crossbow that you couldn't with a bow. Also, in fantasy, assassins and thieves often use crossbows over bows because they are easier to conceal.

One more weapon choice is good.

But i want moooaar!!

Moar!

just a thought, but maybe it would add variety to the archery skills that melee gets with one and two handed weapons? imagine this:

lets assume that a crossbow has a straighter flight arc, faster travel speed and higher base damage (maybe even a perk for armour negation), has a long reload between bolts that requires you to either move very slowly or stand still to do, this kind of weapon has many advantages over a bow while still having a lot of disadvantages.

a straight up archer may find little use for such a weapon because it's slow to deal it's damage (after the first shot) and the penalty to your movement for reloading would severely limit your abilities to avoid damage in conflict, however they may still choose to use one to fire an opening shot than switch to a bow.

a warrior would find this more useful than a bow because it provides a much stronger opening move to a bow and after the first 1 (maybe two) shot(s) they would switch to melee anyway, this also works in terms of RP because it takes less skill/practice to fire a crossbow than it does a bow.

a sneak archer may make very good use of it by high spike damage and than retreating into the shadows, allowing them to slowly and methodically pick of their opponents one by one, although because they are less mobile between shots they may run a risk of being found or at the very least taking longer than a normal stealth archer, think sniper vs marksman.

I'm sure there are others but I'm too tired to think of them, but essentially there is no point arguing that it's a bad suggestion just because it works like a bow, two-handed weapons work just like one-handed weapons, yet I'm sure you'd all [censored] and moan if they removed them.

I know how crossbows could be different. The Learning curve and slow fire rate translated into the skill. Each shot gives much more XP towards a skill up than a bow. This would represent the ease of using it and how it is easier to be effective when using it. Make the damage less skill related. Instead of more damage as you level up how about decreased reload times as your skill increases and better armor penetration. This would make it a valuable tool for a warrior who wishes to weaken a distant target a bit before engaging them but doesn't want to put perks into Archery. There should be a fire once mechanic and then spend about 20 seconds with a decrease of 1 second every 10 skill levels or so reloading it. Not too long but long enough. Anymore gets tedious and annoying while less is unbalanced and unfair. A standard crossbow should deal about the current damage of a Glass bow at level 1. A dwemer crossbow dealing about the same as a Daedric bow. These things should be semi rare imo with a unique scoped Dwemer crossbow for long range sniping. Just some thoughts

oh, excuse me. Sorry for wanting more weapons for the archery skill. I guess I'm everything you describe because i want throwing stars back as well? Your theory is stupid.

Its one of those things that some people are begging for, but itll be forgotten about after a couple hours of play. Spears on the other hand would be alot more interesting being that itll add greatly to certain rp perspectives.

And if we wanted to Roleplay an Arbalest? I kind of agree that Spears would be more interesting but that doesn't make them more valuable from a RP perspective. I think they would have more stratagem involved(IF DONE RIGHT!)

i saw one guy ask for crossbows to be like guns. he said that they should be "rapid fire, low damage, straight-shooting", which is pretty much a pistol. what a fail. i don't care if crossbows are in or not, i'll stick to... whatever my playstyle is.

bring on the crossbows mofe variety can onli be a good thing...

Crossbows requires skill,'cause you've to re-charge them in time during combat and this could be particularly difficult (who had played Gothic know what i mean)...i think that their addition would be welcomed from a large number of Tes players/fans -and the same applies to Spears probably.

For those who don't like them..well,no one forces you to use crossbows eventually - just like any other weapon in the game

e.g. i've never used a mace perhaps in Skyrim (except from that "special one")

I have hardly used anything except one handed swords, bows and magic.

eh, i'll probably use them at some point. my playstyle is pretty much just pick a random type (ranged/magic/melee) for each encounter, but i mostly use magic and ranged

Powerful but slow to reload. The perfect assassin or siege weapon. If the first shot doesn't kill, it will surely cripple any foe, unless it's a miss. It's different from a bow.

I want crossbows because I like them, Im sick of seeing regular bows, crossbows feel more badass to me, and it adds more gameplay options for marksman characters.

Nostalgia?

I never really used 'em in Morrowind, probably the same reason folks are so excited about the possibility of spears.

I'd like to get a crossbow if only to make my marksman skill worth more, it's kind of lame that two handed and one handed weapon classes get several of each but marksman only has one. So I say bring on the crossbows.

A crossbow would have to have great power to make them useful. The range is shorter than a bow's, so it should be slow but pack a huge punch. As for spears, it would offer a refreshing change from the usual that is present in Skyrim and Oblivion.

I would think an assassin would be more inclined to favor a bow. Crossbows are generally loud and could give away the assassin's position. Bows can be made darn-near silent. Of course, in terms of game mechanics that means nothing, because the devs probably wouldn't go through the trouble to make crossbow noise have any effect on stealth. So yeah, for a game, a crossbow's higher damage would probably make if more popular with people who RP assassins.

Crossbows are also generally much bulkier than bows, depending on their construction. You could probably conceal a small, pistol style crossbow easier than a bow, but I think a little composite bow would be much easier to conceal than a full-sized crossbow. But again, for a game, this really means nothing.

Agree with this (and said the same thing on page 2 )

My nightblade would immediately drop his bow for a crossbow, any day of the week if they are well implemented.

Thing some posters don't seem to realize is that first shot is different than average of shots. A bow with high rate of fire but lower initial damage (and higher initial draw time) will score more damage in the end than a crossbow.... but that is not the case if both weapons only shoot once (in the engagement), then the crossbow wins.

Go to Tel Branora and start this quest.

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:A_Bounty_for_Trerayna_Dalen

Depending on how you do it, you can watch someone try to use a Crossbow against you. Then you can take it from him and see what it is like to use. I recommend using 3rd Person so you can see the reload sequence.

Ah, cool. Thanks!
I know I could have cheated and just used the console to get one, but I didn't want to do it like that.

If your looking for a crossbow in morrowind the easiest way to get one in the Razor Hole in Balmora the guy there sells a steel one.(loaded up my save file just to make sure I remembered correctly)

A crossbow fires fast compared to a bow. That's the advantage. If a bow and arrow chap meet a crossbow guy and they both have 100% accuracy, the corssbow guy will win. There's something fundamentally bada$$ about using a crossbow, as long as it feels powerful. No game I've played so far has had that feeling of power though..

if a crossbow is loaded than it will fire it's first shot faster, after that though you are essentially humped, because it is incredibly hard to load a crossbow quickly (it's really the hardest part), but provided your first shot is a kill shot than you'll probably win, (then again, an expert long-bowman would probably out-distance you)