For my first effort I am going to take it from where I left off, and that is pistol builds. Hopefully I will be able to strengthen my character with new feats or even the new psi school, but I haven't thought about it yet. Eventually, I am going to try all new available weapons.
Against my better judgement I'll probably play a crossbow again, with quick tinkering, deadly snares and grenadier (for burrower spawns, The Beast etc). It's a relatively unique playstyle that's very under represented in RPGs which along with stealth nature of the build is the main draw for me. Sure the snipers are probably more powerful but there's something to be said about silently dispatching enemies 1 by 1 if positioning permits.
Oh man, I have tried twice to get a Xbow character going, but I always dropped it quickly. I love the strategic nature of the build in situations where I can survey the landscape and use it to my advantage, but in other situations I often found myself lacking raw power and AP.
Generally, I don't mind it when a build has specific disadvantages. However, I feel that I haven't figured out how I am supposed to play such a build. I would quickly replace it with a sniper/pistol build. The advantage of having a pistol as a secondary weapon far outweighed the Xbow's advantages in my tries.
