And who can train it?
I'm in Ch 1 at lvl 6 and haven't seen a xbow for sale or loot yet, but it would be so sweet to have.

In chapter 1, before joining one of the communities (Militia, FireMages, Mercenary), the only one teaching you Crossbow is Dragomir.


[SPOILER]
He is near the tavern and teaches you only at some conditions:
- you must complete his quest,
- he wants some golds ,
- you must have at least 30 Dexterity, if i remember well.

I remember a crossbow in the plateau over Khorinis, near a tree stump, before you meet Niklas. Also some bandits have it.
[/SPOILER]

In the first chapter, there are only Ruga (in the barracks, MIL/KDF only) and Dragomir (in a camp near the tavern; requires 30+ DEX and a quest - bring his crossbow from the ritual place).

About the merchants, check Jora (low-level crossbow/s), Rosi (medium-level) and Khaled (medium to high-level). Beware, though, most of the merchants equip their best weapons (they can use) after your first trade dialogue with them.

Everything is NotR-based.

One more question. Do I need to spend LP on crossbow skill or dex?

Just in case bump for my additional q

Not sure if I understand you correctly. Are you asking which one is more useful to learn? If so, you need to understand the basic scheme. As you can see, the crossbows are fairly unconvenient; you need to learn all three of them. STR to equip better pieces, the proficiency to fire accurately even from the bigger distances and DEX to deal even more damage. That's why I mainly stick with the bows.

That's exactly what I needed to know. I'm hoping to shoot a few times to pull a monster, then finish it with 2h melee.
And sometimes if I can shoot critters that can't reach me, so much the better. But if I need % to hit and dex for damage, then I'll never be very deadly with a xbow bcuz I use LP mainly for str & 2h skill.

This may not apply because my memory is so bad but in one of the first three Gothic games, even at advanced levels, cross bows were very slow to fire. Orcs fired theirs many times faster. True to reality (except for the French, Medieval field armies did not use cross bows because of heir slow reload speed (one had to lie flat on the ground with a foot in the ring to cock them) but it is not very useful to the game.

FYI I found a light crossbow, four bolts, and a potion on the ground by a tree stump next to the path leading up to Niklas.

It's been some time I played G2, but... Isn't strength/dexterity added to your damage only when you score a critical hit?

AFAIK. But the thing is it's strength with melee and dexterity with ranged.

Of course. I just understand your description that stats are added with every hit, not just criticals, which confused me.

Yes, sorry. I sometimes think everybody knows everything (or at least everything I know) about Gothic. :P

Happens to all of us. And thank you for clarification, for those who doesn't know. :)

By the way, where can I get bolts? Jora sold me 30 but those didn't last long.