Um, what is not thematically fitting about crossbows? They belong to the same era and place as most of the weapons available in Skyrim.

A crossbow is way too slow anyways to even fit in a game like this...unless there would be a "siege" scenario/quest where you barricade yourself in a city/keep!

I prefer the longbow anyways...

Good poll, I voted for every option because you gave me the ability to, even though certain options contradict each other.

I agree, and I would rather have throwing weapons too.

Doesn't matter to me one bit.

Why? It's not like we have anything else to discuss (apart from the various ratings)


To remind them that there are still those that like crossbows, those that don't want them have their bows, and can move along.


The crossbow is a fire & forget weapon, once readied it can be aimed and fired much faster than any bow. IRL the crossbow was devastating against armor, and used mainly as a defense weapon so you could take shelter while reloading. A crossbow is also less hampering than a bow, so it's better suited for close quarter scenarios. And by the time flintlock rifles replaced the crossbow they had developed quite ingenious designs, like mechanisms that used the recoil to partly span the string. The gun had the additional advantage that it could be held in any angle, and once they took care of that minor explosion issue, it replaced the crossbow and the bow quite quickly.

For a game, a crossbow is nice for a character that likes an easy to conceal and less hampering weapon. Personally I prefer throwing knives, though.

Even though they were in Morrowind, I've always felt they don't fit TES for some strange reason. It wouldn't hurt anyone if they were in, but they will not be missed by me.

Very few people seem to understand how crossbows work. Hand spanned crossbows (like what we had in Morrowind) are only slightly slower to load than bow. Maybe 3 bolts a minute vs. 5 arrows/minute. Of course, hand spanned crossbows aren't nearly as powerful as more mechanical ones, and were probably even less powerful than a longbow. BUT they were much, much easier to aim.

Even if Beth didn't get the intricacies right, and just had crossbows be slower/more powerful, it would improve the game regardless. We NEED more weapon types. Seriously, this series is getting so boring. Sword axe mace bow. Medieval DOOM clones from the 90's have more weapon variety.

Also, it's just an RP thing. Maybe I want to make a witchunter, in which case a crossbow just feels more right than a bow. Having ONLY bows as ranged weapon is as bad as having ONLY one handed swords for melee. The same way a stealth guy uses a short sword or knife, a knight would use a two handed sword, a berserker would use an axe, a paladin would use a hammer, some characters would use crossbows, throwing spears, throwing axes, throwing knives.

At the moment, almost 70% of voters DON'T want crossbows.


Wanna know why Bethesda haven't included crossbows, cross-bow lovers? That's why.

... So you want a weapon you can fire once every 30 seconds? 'Kay.

I agree, we need more weapons, badly. We need spears back, and I am sure everyone would love throwing weapons. We are very limited in the raged repertoire.