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I'm planning on making a Goblin Ranger (Hunter subclass). I was reading over the Hunter ranger's Giant Killer option at 3rd level:

When a Large or larger creature within 5 feet of you hits or misses you with an attack, you can use your reaction to attack that creature immediately after its attack, provided that you can see the creature.

My ranger would have the Crossbow Expert feat (PHB, p. 165), one of the benefits of which is:

When you use the Attack action and attack with a one-handed weapon, you can use a bonus action to attack with a hand crossbow you are holding.

If I used my reaction to strike back against a human who missed an attack against me, would my feat also trigger a follow up attack of my hand crossbow?

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Lucky for you, the free SRD has the Hunter subclass of the Ranger here. Please review pages 34-38 and then revise your question to better capture what you are finding hard to understand. It does not have the feat \$\endgroup\$
    – KorvinStarmast
    Mar 20, 2019 at 15:05
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    \$\begingroup\$ Somewhat related on What does upper-case-A-Attack action vs. lower-case-a-attack mean? \$\endgroup\$
    – NautArch
    Mar 20, 2019 at 15:34
  • \$\begingroup\$ Welcome to RPG.SE! Take the tour if you haven't already, and check out the help center for more guidance. \$\endgroup\$
    – V2Blast ♦
    Mar 21, 2019 at 1:13
  • \$\begingroup\$ I was expecting whether the crossbow attack is at disadvantage or not due to being in 5 ft. \$\endgroup\$
    – Vylix
    Mar 21, 2019 at 4:02

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No, for at least two reasons.

Crossbow Expert (PHB, p. 165) is very specific about when you can make an attack with your hand crossbow:

When you use the Attack action and attack with a one-handed weapon, you can use a bonus action to attack with a hand crossbow you are holding.

You are using a reaction to make a single attack; you are not taking the Attack action.

Also, your Giant Killer feature does not apply to humans:

When a Large or larger creature within 5 feet of you hits or misses you

Humans are Medium-sized. As the name implies, you can only strike back against big creatures! (Sized Large, Huge, or Gargantuan.)

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    \$\begingroup\$ You might consider a third reason : crossbow experts needs the use of a bonus action, which is not available outside of your turn. \$\endgroup\$
    – Bash
    Mar 20, 2019 at 16:28
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    \$\begingroup\$ Three reasons! In almost every case where a Large creature would be attackign you, you don't have a bonus action to spend! (okay, more like 2.8, because you could trigger an enemy attack on your turn, but still...) \$\endgroup\$
    – Ben Barden
    Mar 20, 2019 at 16:30
  • \$\begingroup\$ Huh, ambiguous wording of "When a Large or larger creature"... I understood it (and OP probably as well) a Large creature, or a larger creature (than you). But now I got it right. \$\endgroup\$
    – Zaibis
    Mar 21, 2019 at 8:40

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