so, i'm working on this set of ki techniques with the disadvantage "tied to a weapon: bow" and it got me thinking. how does this effects more complex weapons like crossbows or muskets.

i understand a person can get to the point where they can load and fire several arrows in a single round so the tech tree i'm working on doesn't seem to have any roadblocks, but what would happen if a character had a ki technique that granted extra attacks tied to a weapon that they themselves could only normally fire once every round or once every few rounds, like the arquebus for example.

i decided a good houserule for my games would be that the character would need to be able to fire said weapon at least twice a round to be able to make use of such a technique (or even just a none limited technique used with such a weapon.)

but i'm curious as to how some of you other fellows would handle such a thing. would the characters arms become a ridiculous blur as they reloaded or would the firearm simply manifest more shots? and would you even allow a character to use a technique that granted additional attacks with a slow reloading weapon?

i'm just dropping this topic here real quick before work, so i won't be checking on it till much later tonight.

Ki techniques have effects that you purchase with MK. They have no bearing on what it looks like. That's up to you! Do whatever you like best; the effects are only the mechanics, with the fluff to be added by whoever is putting them together.

I would allow it, but I would not allow them to get extra attacks per se, it would work just like they gained more attacks for the weapon.

For example:
A character with 120 attack can attack twice and uses a repeating crossbow. The reload time for a repeating crossbow is 3, so it takes 3 attack actions to reload. Normally he could attack and use another attack action to decrease reload to 2 (-25 to attack for 95 attack) then the next round complete reloading and attack the third round, fifth round, seventh round etc.
Same character with 120 attack "attacks" twice and uses a Ki technique for +1 attacks in the round. Thus he attacks with (120-25=)95 ability, uses his second natural attack to decrease the reload to 2 then uses the Ki technique attack to decrease it to 1. The next round he uses the first "attack" to decrease the reload to 0, allowing him to attack with it again at 95 ability, and use the ki technique attack to decrease reload to 2. Third round he uses his two natural attack to decrease the reload to 0 then uses the Ki technique attack to attack. Fourth round it starts over.

Isn't the repeating crossbow not the best example, as it only counts the reload time when you are out of ammo in your cartridge? And otherwise you can just attack as normal for your Attack ability.

Anyway, Ki techniques are entirely about overcoming limitations. It doesn't matter what the rate of fire is on your projectile weapons, if you have a ki technique that adds attacks, then you get the extra attacks as long as you have ammo or projectiles for it.

I also think Ki Techniques should overwhelm any limitation. For instance, since we're talking about an arquebus and a technique granting extra attacks per turn, either the technique allows the user to recharge the arquebus at mind-fazing speed, or it could multiply the bullets once they're shot.

Are you going to tell that to the guy who wants to attack 4 times every round with the cannon part of a Mace-Cannon? Or, you know, just a cannon?

Due to the existence of Canons, Mace-Cannons and Heavy Ballistas I made house rules on the reloading qualities of Extra Attack and Ki generated ranged weapons.

the rules already cover this, you cannot make multiple attacks with a ranged weapon unless the reload time is 0, if the reload time is 0 (as would be achieved with excessive slight of hand) you can make as many attacks as your attack ability or ki technique lets you.

the exception seems to be when using physical ki weapons with unlimited ammunition, it would appear that new ammo is created in an already-reloaded state so that you can in fact, cannon someone 4 times with a mace cannon.