Hand cannon

Version 0.31: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Name	Hand cannon
Skill	Ranged Weapons
Damage	16
Accuracy	+3
Base delay (%)	19
Min delay	10 at 18 skill
Hands	1H
Size	Little
Ranged?	Yes

A machine that fires bolts via applied alchemy. Some enchant their projectiles to fall forward instead of down, others bewitch their bolts with a fatal attraction to their targets. All are slow, loud, and blast out thick smoke with each shot.

Hand cannons are the strongest one-handed ranged weapons, allowing for the use of a shield while being much stronger than a sling. However, they fire slowly, with a mindelay of 1.0. Also, they have a few unique mechanics:

• Hand cannons are particularly loud - they create noise of 11 for every shot, enough to attract nearby monsters.
• Hand cannons create harmless, transparent clouds whenever fired.

	Image
Mundane
Magical
Artifact

History

• Prior to 0.31, this item was known as a hand crossbow. Hand crossbows only had 15 base damage, but were half as loud and didn't create clouds when shot. Also, it was less likely for one to generate with a good brand.
• Prior to 0.30, hand crossbows had 17 base damage.
• In 0.29, hand crossbows were made heavier (previous stats: 12 damage, +5 accuracy, 15 base delay), and became designated for later portions of the game. They were affected by the ranged weapons rework that applied to all launchers, including the removal of the dedicated Crossbows skill and bolts. Prior to this version, Hunters and Arcane Marksmen could start with this weapon.
• In 0.15, hand crossbows (as well as arbalests and triple crossbows) were introduced, replacing the standard crossbow.
• In very old versions of Crawl, the hand crossbow was a one-handed ranged weapon which fired darts.